|
Joshua Lionel Cowen, born in New York City, began his toy train
enterprise in late 1900. Lionel's domination of the toy train marketplace
stemmed from Cowen¯s personality and skills. Most of the major innovations
came from companies that were already manufacturing toy trains at
the time of Cowen's entry into the world of toy trains. Cowen was
a skilled engineer, and possessed excellent market abilities. One
of the major marketing tools utilized by Lionel was the color catalogs
they produced each year.
Cowen came to toy trains almost by accident. At the age of 22,
he had perfected a small electric motor, but had not found a practical
use for it. The story is that he was standing outside a shop window
when he came up with the idea of a powered gondola to carry sale
items to attract customers. Cowen rented a shop, and began manufacturing
his gondolas in early 1901. People soon became far more interested
in the gondolas than the items they carried.
Early Lionel products ran on two-rail track with 2-7/8 inches between
the rails . In 1906, Cowen introduced a new three-rail track, 2
1/8" gauge. This new track was known as "standard gauge",
and this was the start of Lionel's dominance of the toy train industry.
Other manufacturers soon offered this type of track under their
own names.
By the end of World War One, the major manufacturers of toy trains
were Ives, American Flyer, and Lionel. All three manufactured Standard
Gauge as well as O gauge trains.
It was at this time that Cowen's superior marketing abilities made
their impact. Cowen is responsible for linking toy trains to the
Christmas season. It was Cowen¯s idea to include toy trains as part
of creche displays. Later, incredible showroom and department store
displays would leave every young boy wanting toy trains for Christmas,
and toy trains remain popular Christmas gifts today.
By the 1920s Lionel was the king of the toy train world. It was
during this period that Lionel produced some of their most beautiful
trains. The locomotives and rolling stock were highly detailed.
Ives and Flyer were also producing wonderful trains. This era is
referred to as the "Golden Age of Toy Trains". Financial
troubles forced the sale of Ives in 1928, and Lionel and American
Flyer purchased it. The partnership was short lived, and in 1930
Lionel became the sole owner of Ives. Ives continued as a separate
corporation, but was managed by Lionel. The merging of these companies
resulted in the production of some very unusual trains under the
Ives name. These interesting pieces are some of the most wanted
items today.
The company ceased toy production during World War II and manufactured
items for national defense. Lionel made nautical items for the Navy.
In 1970, the Lionel name and tooling was purchased by cereal manufacturing
firm, General Mills and became part of its Model Products Corporation
(MPC). MPC did have some success with Lionel despite a disastrous
move of production to Mexico in 1983. Production returned to Michigan
in 1985, and the name and tooling was sold to Richard Kughn, a businessman
and Lionel collector. Under Mr. Kughn, the company became known
as Lionel Trains, Incorporated. Mr. Kughn re-established the original
reputation for quality.
In September 1995, Mr. Richard Kughn sold the company to a group
of investors called Wellspring Associates L.L.C. of New York. The
group consists of Martin S. Davis, former chairman of Paramount
Communications, Greg S. Feldman, managing partner, and Neil Young,
rock musician and avid model train hobbyist. Young was involved
for several years in a joint venture with Mr. Kughn to build remote
controls that make it easier for handicapped people to use model
trains .
Mr. Kughn remains a minor shareholder of the new company and assumed
the title of chairman emeritus. The toy train company is now called
Lionel L.L.C.
|
