11/22/2006

Lionel united fathers and sons
By Tom Range, Sr.

Once upon a time, the secular celebration of Christmas rested upon Santa Claus, the Christmas tree and the set of electric trains set up to circle the tree.  More than likely, the trains had been the product of the Lionel Company.

Joshua Lionel Cowen (originally Cohen) was born in 1877 in New York City, the eighth of nine children of Jewish immigrants.  Though a college dropout (he enrolled both at Columbia and City College of New York), his inventive genius produced his first patented product in 1899, a device that ignited a photographer's flash.  That same year, Cowen received a defense contract from the U.S. Navy to produce mine fuses. 

A year later he established the Lionel Manufacturing Company in New York City to manufacture electricity-powered toy trains.  At first these trains, powered by wet-cell (acid filled) batteries, were sold to department stores as advertising displays for the toys that were being marketed during the Christmas season.  Soon after, the retailers started ordering Lionel products as stock items.  The kids visiting their stores had fallen in love with the trains rather than the traditional toys being offered for sale. 

The company soon developed the first plug-in 110-volt electric transformer.  By 1906, with the introduction of pre-assembled track and a selection of engines and rolling stock, the familiar layout was born. 

By 1912, a rheostat was incorporated in the transformer to control engine speed.  A few years later, o-gauge trains and track debuted, ultimately replacing the awkward trackage of the early days of the company.  Lionel's locomotives and cars meticulously reproduced, in miniature, the equipment of the nation's railroads, down to decals duplicating railroad signage and logos.  During World War I, the company marketed an o-gauge armored train complete with a turret containing two cannons mounted on its miniature locomotive.

In the 1920s Lionel introduced crossing gates, highway flashers and traffic warning bells to entice the layout hobbyists.  Slogans such as "Lionel: The Father and Son railroad'' and "Real enough for a man to enjoy - simple enough for a boy to operate," were early sales pitches to promote intergenerational father-son bonding.

During the Depression Lionel's sales and profits slumped and 1933 was its first year in the red.  Ironically, as times grew tougher, the company introduced its greatest standard-gauge steam locomotive, whose $42.50 price was beyond the means of most families.  In 1934, financial troubles led Lionel into court-ordered receivership to stave off bankruptcy.  That year the company's fortunes were boosted by the debut of the wildly popular "Mickey and Minnie" handcar, a $1 windup toy. 

Meanwhile, streamlining was all the rage on America's railroads and Lionel followed suit with its own miniature designs, like the Union Pacific, the Hiawatha, and the Flying Yankee.  Lionel showed profits again in 1935, and the receivership was discharged.  Innovations introduced in this period include the simulated steam whistle, a coal elevator and an automatic gateman.

World War II brought the production of toys to a virtual halt for the duration.  Postwar production included the introduction of a bridge, which raises and lowers automatically, and a miniature log loader with a working conveyor belt, a searchlight car and cattle cars.  To power all these accessories, a 275-watt transformer was introduced in 1948.  It could power four trains at once.

The success of the Lionel Manufacturing Company paralleled the fascination of America's youth on the innovations of the modern railroads.  The 1950s experienced the decline in the importance of railroads, which were rapidly overshadowed by competition from highways and airlines.  To counteract this trend toward downplaying all things connected with "old fashioned" railroads, Lionel set up its own television program on NBC "The Lionel Club House" which was hosted for a time by New York Yankees great Joe DiMaggio.  The company also boosted its modern image by adding Cold War and space age themes to its rolling stock.  Flatcars featuring rocket launchers and radar arrays circled the Christmas tree.

The Cowen family sold its interest in the Lionel Company to a distant relative Roy Cohn in 1959.  Joshua passed away in 1965 at the age of 88 and is buried in Brooklyn.  Two years later Lionel filed for bankruptcy.  In 1969, the emasculated company licensed its electric train manufacturing to the breakfast cereal conglomerate General Mills.