Born to a Jewish immigrant family in 1877, Joshua Lionel Cowen would go on become the founder of Lionel Trains. With his family, Lionel landed in New York after the Civil War. It was in the midst of major changes in the world, namely the industrial revolution that Lionel Cowen began his life in America. Edison had just created the electric light and trains signaled the progress of change. The west and east were finally connected in America via the Central and Union Pacific railroads, this led to a sense of expansion, optimism and exciting possibilities for some. Given the context of his formative years during the westward expansion and the industrial revolution, it’s quite fitting that Cowen would grow up to build and invent. As a college drop out, he had been quite productive, being credited around the turn of the century with some notable inventions, including the flashlight, and a patent for a device used to ignite the photographic flash of a camera.

 

Before the age of ten, it was said that Cowen had created his first working model trains. He made a small locomotive by carving a train out of wood and attaching a working miniature steam engine to it. His parents however weren’t too pleased when the steam engine exploded, damaging their kitchen. Despite this exploding mishap, Cowen was undeterred and eventually founded the Lionel Corporation around the turn of the century. This was the time when passenger rail travel was fascinating and cutting edge. People of all ages were fascinated by this new technology.

 

The first successful Lionel train was the Electric Express. Ironically this train was not designed   to be a toy or something for hobbyist. Its intended purpose was that of a store display gimmick. In it’s task of featuring store items, the flat electric express gondola wasn’t very successful however, it succeed in a then unexpected way. It didn’t really help in highlighting the store items. Instead, the train itself became the star. Both customer and store employees wanted to purchase the train for themselves. Lionel Cowen took notice of this and focused Lionel Corporation on what we know and love them for, model trains.

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