How they did it!

Perhaps you collect Lionel Trains, operate them or both. It really doesn't matter which, but have you ever wondered how Lionel actually accomplished what they have. Ever wonder how Lionel made those perfect gears on those steam wheels such as those on the 2046 for example? What was necessary to have Magne-Traction actually work? What holds the tires on your 700E, 763E or on the 1946 671 or 726? We will explore many topics that will examine all of these and more.

The Heart of Your Engine - Joshua Lionel Cowen did many things during his tenure at Lionel. Among them he surrounded himself with the right people and demanded of them near perfection. Don't think so? The heart of any of Lionel's steam or diesel engines is its motor. Choose any one of them starting with those manufactured in the early 1900's through the end of the postwar years. Clean one up; perform some basic maintenance and amazingly in springs to life. Lionel was obsessive about building simple sturdy products that can take abuse, that is except for the Scout Bakelite motors maybe. Their continual review of manufacturing methods and practices were outstand considering that we are talking about toys, and Lionel even went so far as to write their own consumer oriented Maintenance Manual. Let's take some pages right out of Lionel's maintenance manual! Read more about it here.

Magne-Traction - Lionel applied for their Magne-Traction patent on October 4, 1950, and that patent was granted June 10, 1958, nearly eight years later. When did development begin and when was the first use? How was Magne-Traction implemented? Read more here! (Coming)

Perfect Wheel Gears -If you look at many of Lionel's early steam engines, especially the wheels used on their motors, the wheels and their gears are often decayed or beginning to swell and disintegrate making their replacement necessary. This is largely because those wheels were of die cast ZA (zinc aluminum alloy), with the gear segments molded into the wheels. Now let's fast forward to Lionel's postwar production and the use of sintered iron wheels. Pick any of Lionel's steam or diesel locomotives and take notice how clean and well formed those gear segments are. How did Lionel do it? Read more here! (Coming)

Tires, Tires, Tires - During the 1930's, as Lionel began moving away from machine formed tinplate trains towards die cast, their molding methods and practices changed as well. Early on molding zinc aluminum alloy (ZA) was an art form in itself as there were many complexities involved. Lionel was only just beginning to explore compressed powdered iron to make wheels and sintering them for strength and durability. One carry over from the early wheel production was the addition of tires. Lionel added bands (tires) to their wheels to add durability and to ensure that the wheel would remain round. Once Lionel moved away from the big bulbous tires of tinplate era and towards the thin nickel tires as found on such engines as the 264, 224, 1666, 226 and the 700E they needed a way to ensure they stayed in place. The use of these thin rims even carried into the postwar period, appearing on the 1946 versions of the 671 and 726. Why were they used? What held them onto the zinc (Zamak) die castings? Read more about that here! (Coming)