All Aboard! The story of Joshua Lionel Cowen and His Lionel Train Company is the history in words and pictures about the beginning of the Lionel Train Company and its founder Joshua Lionel Cowen.  In 1901 Joshua Lionel started building his electric battery powered trains. 

The first chapter “In the Station” is a history of Joshua’s childhood, Joshua’s family and toy trains from 1877- 1900.  Pulling Out, Chapter 2 is about how he developed his battery-operated electric trains and marketed them during the period 1901-1910.  The next chapter, Picking Up Speed 1910- 1919, showed an immense growth in demand and sale of electric trains.  The trains become more detailed and operating accessories and various freight and passenger cars were added to the offerings. 

In All Aboard! The story of Joshua Lionel Cowen and His Lionel Train Company next chapter, “Full Steam Ahead” 1920-1929, Lionel increases its offerings of standard gauge trains and accessories.  There main competitors were American Flyer and Ives.  

The 1930- 1944 chapter “Sidetracked” covered the great depression and World War II.  Joshua Cowen found himself in the middle of a bank scandal.  During the war his plant made military hardware.  “Right on Schedule” 1945-1953 cover the best years of the Lionel Corporation.  New equipment such as streamliners, diesel and various steam engine configurations were added to the line.  Automatic accessories loaded and unloaded coal and lumber.  As a side note, one of my cousins, Kux Machinery, molded the die casted bodies of the steam engines.

Then came the period 1954-1965 titled Off the Track, when Lionel got into cameras, racing sets and HO gauge electric trains. 

In 1937, Roy Cohen took over the company.  Roy Cohen was Joseph McCarthy’s attorney during the witch hunt for communists in the US.  Under his management, the company slowly went downhill until it filed for Chapter XI bankruptcy in 1982.  As a footnote, after the Lionel assets changed hands several times, it was bought by Wellspring Capital Management and has made a resurgence as a profitable corporation. 

If you love Lionel electric trains, you will enjoy reading and leafing through this All Aboard! The story of Joshua Lionel Cowen.  The pictures are wonderful.  If you like this book, we have other Lionel books and catalogs on the website.