Do you like Lionel toy trains? Enjoy corporate history? Or just want to take a nostalgic journey back to your childhood? Then Inside The Lionel Trains Fun Factory: The History of a Manufacturing Icon and The Place Where Childhood Dreams Were Made is for you. It delivers a fascinating trip through the rise, fall and rise again of Lionel, one of the manufacturing and pop icons in modern American life. The impeccable research by Lionel historian Robert J. Osterhoff, along with hundreds of unpublished photos and images, tells the history of Lionel's trains, factories, employees and business practices from the late 19th century until today.

To commemorate the milestone of Lionel Train Company's 100th anniversary comes an updated second edition of ALL ABOARD!, the marvelous story of Joshua Lionel Cowen and the toy trains he created. Originally published in 1981, ALL ABOARD! brings back the classic electric trains for all those who remember them. The Santa Fe came in gleaming silver and shiny red. The New York Central was gray and white. World War I models carried seige guns, a 1957 engine came in pink for girls. There were Pullmans and steam locomotives, Lehigh Valley coal cars, lumber cars, and a design from 1964 that carried radioactive waste and the Mercury capsule. A&E Network named Lionel trains a "Top Ten Toy" of the century-#4 specifically. But the story of Lionel trains is far from over. Co-owned by rock star Neil Young, who bought the company because of his autistic son's love for the trains, the Lionel Train Company is stronger than ever, and is evolving with the times by employing remote control, sound chips, and other technical innovations. With 32 all-new pages and scores of colorful illustrations from the archives of Lionel catalogs, ALL ABOARD! is the definitive collector's book on the subject.

"This officially licensed, centennial celebration of the Lionel electric train tells the story of the first one hundred years of Lionel and showcases stunning, full-color photographs of some of the famous--as well as some of the rarest--examples of the Lionel output."--Cover.

For Lionel Train enthusiasts the name "Madison Hardware" invokes thoughts of toy train treasures stacked to the ceiling of a small Manhattan store front. For over ninety years Madison Hardware supplied New York, and later Detroit, with the Lionel Trains that millions of children longed for. The Madison Hardware Story is more than just toy trains. It is the story of a store and how it's owners impacted an entire collectible's market.

The story of the man who invented the Erector Set.C. Gilbert was all of these, but he made his name by refusing to grow up.