Lionel Corporation Showroom Layouts: Lionel Corporation Showroom Layouts Classic Toy Trains, the magazine for the O gauge collector and operator, presents vintage newsreel footage of...

DIRTY HARRY Loc: Hartland, Michigan

Lionel Corporation Showroom Layouts

Classic Toy Trains, the magazine for the O gauge collector and operator, presents vintage newsreel footage of the legendary prewar and postwar O gauge layouts built by Lionel for its New York City Showroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMAu9aPJNaI

nervous2 Loc: Provo, Utah

WOW! What good memories. I just sent my Lionel trains to my daughter. I have more or less switched to LGB G scale and this video reminded me how much fun it would be to set everything up early this year for Christmas and beyond. Thanks for posting.

FrankR Loc: NYC

When I was a kid, we used to go there often to see those great layouts. American Flyer had a showroom nearby, as did several other toy companies. We would spend the whole day in the area around The Flatiron Building and Madison Square Park, which used to be know as the Toy District. Once in a while we would go over to 20th street and visit the Theodore Roosevelt birthplace, then head back to Brooklyn the same way we got into The City, by sneaking on the subway.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Thanks for the link.

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

Lionel toy trains are still in production after 120 years, although the original company formed by Joshua Lionel Cowen and Harry C. Grant is history. Although I never visited the layout in New York city, I did see similar layouts in our local department store. Nice video! Thanks for posting.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

DIRTY HARRY wrote:

Lionel Corporation Showroom Layouts

Classic Toy Trains, the magazine for the O gauge collector and operator, presents vintage newsreel footage of the legendary prewar and postwar O gauge layouts built by Lionel for its New York City Showroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMAu9aPJNaI

I wish I had known about these showrooms at the time. I would have been down there in a shot. I can't help but notice that these kids look like kids and not premature grownups. And they are decently dressed. Something to be said for the good old days.

rdemarco52 Loc: Wantagh, NY

That was a great video. Brings back memories. there are still model railroading clubs around and I visit when they open to the public. There is a huge layout in Flemington NJ that is truly amazing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Excellent! Cell phones and video games don't come close to the fun you can have with a set of trains. Right after Thanksgiving dinner, we would set up the Lionels.

OlinBost Loc: Marietta, Ga.

I am still working on my AF set. You never finish or grow too old.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

berchman wrote:

I wish I had known about these showrooms at the time. I would have been down there in a shot. I can't help but notice that these kids look like kids and not premature grownups. And they are decently dressed. Something to be said for the good old days.

Even until recently, there was a “hobby store” in our area. “Lionel” was one of their listed brands - I believe it was listed first.

rdemarco52 Loc: Wantagh, NY

We still have Trainland on long Island. They sell Lionel. The place is famous for being the store where Bobby Bacalla met his fate in The Sopranos.

Cragzop Loc: NYC

I'M 68 and got my Lionel set for Christmas 1959. I remember watching it go around and around, for hours and hours, in grandma's living room in NYC.

That huge transformer with those big red handles was impressive.

Got older and migrated to HO....Bought a 4x8 piece of plywood, and built a complete scenario for my HO set on it. Used chicken wire and plaster to build tunnels and mountains.

Great memories.

Thanks for the post.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Cragzop wrote:

I'M 68 and got my Lionel set for Christmas 1959. I remember watching it go around and around, for hours and hours, in grandma's living room in NYC.

That huge transformer with those big red handles was impressive.

Got older and migrated to HO....Bought a 4x8 piece of plywood, and built a complete scenario for my HO set on it. Used chicken wire and plaster to build tunnels and mountains.

Great memories.

Thanks for the post.

I guess my family was poorer; I got a set made by competitor “Marx”. I ran it into the ground. My parents wouldn’t tell me, but they already had its replacement {this was November, I think 1958} - an “Athearn” HO set - hidden in their bedroom.

billmck Loc: Central KY

I got a Lionel O-27 train for Christmas when I was six in 1952. My dad was running it when I came down from my bedroom on Christmas morning. Nowhere near NYC, but the Sears store in Covington, KY had a really large Lionel layout at Christmas.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

We had Lionels. Never had all those accessories though.