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Toy trains were very popular in America during the 19th century. We can say with some accuracy that American boys developed a love affair with toy trains after firsr seeing them in early-19th century, a love affair that continued into the post-World War II period. We see boys with toy trains in early photograpphs. We do not know much about manufacturrs. The first trains were push/pull toys, but soon windup trains were developed. We don't know much about toy steam engines. The train as a toy was revolutiomnized by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen (1900). He was the father of model railroading in America. And the story began in a toy store window. Model railroading was immensly popular in America. I'm not sure when electrial trains first appeared, but believe it was the 1920s. A train set would have been at the very top of a boy's Christmas list in the 1930s. And train sets up began appearing under the family Christmas tree. Production was suspended during World War II and Lionel converted to war work. I had a toy trailroad in the United States during the late 1940s and early 50s. Mine was a Lionel. I absolutely loved it. My dad and I worked togerher on it. Virtually every boy wanted a model railroad setup. This began to change with World War II. Metal was not available for toys. After the War thre was a renewed interest, but this changed with the Space Race. American boys began to lose interest in trains. There is some indication that there is now a renewed. Here Thomas the Tank Engenine--a British import, has played an important role. And there is interest in bullet trains.
Trains wee an important part of the industrial Revolution. They significantly decreased tranportation costs which was a huge stimulus to industrialization and economic expansion. It meant that farmers even in remote Western locations could participate in the rapidly growing national economy. He could ship his produce out and buy indusrial and consumner products with his earnings. Trains would plasy an important part in American history. One of the great advantages the North had in the Civil War was its superior railway system. Toy trains have always attracted boys' interests. Until the 1940s, real trains had a mystique that captivated much of the United States, and both men and boys found them fascinating. Before the advent of the automobile, railroads were the principal connections that linked small towns with the world, and so a town's railroad station was where the action took place. Boys would ride their bicycles to the station to see the trains arrive and depart. And of course the steam locomotive was in itself immensely exciting. With bell tolling and puffing smoke, the engine's pistons and driving gear provided sound and action. What could provide more excitement for the small town boys of a century ago, when a railroad was central to the life and commerce of a small town. And what could be more desirable than to take a trip on the train?
Toy trains were very popular in America during the 19th century. When railroads first arrived in the United States, in the 1830s and 1840s, we can be confident that primitive toy models of trains were created. Initally they were mostly simple wooden affairs, typically a representation of a steam locomotive and a few cars, such as a passenger car or a box car. They might be equipped with wheels and could serve as pull toys, to pulled on a string or pushed along the floor by the child. Track for toy trains came later. Meanwhile, the child's imagination could suffice. After all, toys have always been intended to entertain the child, with the general realization that his imagination would fill in for the shortcomings of his toys, including his toy trains when compared with trains in the real world. But, children are generally very imaginative, so that even a one-year old exhibits degrees of imagination in play, and we can appreciate that play and imagination are aspects of thinking and learning that generally advance rapidly as the child continued to grow. We see boys with toy trains in early photographs. Trains appeared at about the same time as the invention of photography. We do not yet have any photograpohic images of toys trains from the early photography of the 1840s and 50s. With the invention of albumen images and the CDV, the number of images exploded and we begin to see images of toy trains. Some as early as the 1860s were quite realistic looking.
A good example is an unidentified boy in the 1860s. Here we see a great looking train in 1892 (figure 1). These were not self-propelled toys. Boys had go push or pull them. We do not know much about manufacturers for early toy trains. Presummably some were imported from Britain where the rail road first became a major institution.
A major advance in toy trains was the incorporation of locomotion. This greatly increased interest in the toys.
We do not know much about early locomotion. There were two kinds, winf-up and steam propullsion. The first powered toy locomotives were windup affairs, with spring clockwork mechanisms that could be wound by the child (or his parent if he was very young) We are not sure when they first appeared. Think about it. Here was an immense advance from a toy standpoint. The child could see the train run around and perhaps even pull cars on its own like a real train. The wind up mechanisms were limited in the size and weght of the trais they could propell. Some of the cast iron trains were quite large ad were too heavy to be propelled by a wind up mechanism. We do not know much about these wind-up toys. Some may have had tracks and layouts, but we know little about this. Besides limits on weight, a major disadvantage was that the spring ran down in only a short time.
We don't know much about toy steam engines, but they did exist. We have noticed the Biggs company that made a rather realistic toy train that rather impractically had paper cars, but operated on an alcohol-powered steam engine. Steam engines, however, were probably too complicated an expensive for mass-produced toys. And there are always dangers with fire. Here we need more information.
The train as a toy was revolutionized by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen (1900). He was the father of model railroading in America. And the story began in a toy store window. Cowen noted a toy train in a window display. But there was not action. The train and toys were just sitting there. Cown spoke with the owner of the store. He told him that he could create a moving train that woyld attract attention and more importantly, customers. What he invented was a moving freight car. He called it the "electric Express", but it was essentally a wood box with wheels--not a locomoive. It was a battery powered device which ran on tin rails. And he was dead on. Not only did it attracy inteest and custimers, but the customrs wanted to buy Cowen's train. Electrucity ws still very new in 1900. Most Americans still did not have electrity in the home or if they did had it to light a few light bulbs. Thus a toy moving on electrity was a very exciting sight.
Cowen was a little suprised that the customers he attracted wanted to buy his train. But he created the Lionel Company to what was still a toy, albeit moving train. Toy manufacturers in the United States and in Europe soon became aware of the market for such toys. A major competitor, American Flyer, as well as other companies also appeared. There were also competitors in Britain and Germany, and for that matter in other European countries.
Clockwork locomotives were soon superseded by electrically powered locomotives. Cowen "Electric Express" ran on batteries. This limited the operaion of the train and also made them very expensive. Cowen worked to change this and to make his Lionel trains more accessible to the public. A major step was the transformer. This allowed the rains to run safely on household current that was appearring in more and more city homes. The first electric trains ran on a two teack DC current. These early train sets needed complicated wiring for circular operation. And boys wanted circular operation, not just a straight line. Cowen invented an three-track AC system that could be used for cirular set up, including complicated set ups with more than one train. The trains operated by supplying low voltage alternating current to the rails, with electrical pickups on the locomotive. These electric toy trains could run endlessly when the current was turned on, and the voltage varied at the transformer by which the household voltage was stepped down to a safe level, and the speed of the locomotive adjusted in acccord with the voltage level selected. Talk about advancement! The toy train had truly arrived and the American boy was captivated. Now, well over century later, the toy train manufacturers are still at it. Iterestingly, the basics haven't changed, but the detail and degree of realism have.
Model railroading became immensly popular in America. It did not take long for Cowen and Lionel to take the final step in mdel railroading. He introduced the first model train (1907). The model train differ from a toy train in that it was a minatured replica of a real train. It was scaled down , but made to look like a real train. Lionel a few years later offered the first model locomotive (1910). This of course was the most important part of the train. It was a realistic looking locomotive and I think a caboose. Of course, toy trains and model trains are scale-downed replicas of real trains, so their proportions with respect to real trains are always important considerations. But, how is their relative size defined? Before the advent of tracks for toy trains, there was little consideration of gauge, which is defined as the distance between the inside of the outser rails. When tracks were introduced, the gauge of models was define, The company gradually added diiferent kinds of cars, including a cattle car, a box car and a pullman. Gradually a variety of operating specialty cars were introduced, including a milk car that had a worker unloading the cans. Lionel attempted to stay abreast of the times. After World War II a radioactive waste car was introduced.
Age was a factor with train toys. Electric trains and model railroading were great for school-age boys. They were a ittle complicated for pre-schoolers. Thus basic train push/pull train toys continued to be made for younger children. They were made in all kinds of sizes. Most were made in metal. Most boys wanted model train sets. Model railroading was alittle complicated for younger boys. So we see all kinfs of toy traons being mafe for them. Some manufacturers, such as Marx, produced very low-priced toy train sets in that era, some selling for as little as a dollar. These were toy trains for younger boys, not the model trains that school-age boys wanted. They were sheet metal stamped out in simple train shapes with painted details. Some made by Japan began appearing in America during the 1920s. This became somewhastless commonm in the 30s as Japan began to reserve metal for its expanding war industries. Some of these toys had track and electric motors. After World War II the wooden Thomas the Tank Engine appeared in Britain and soon had its followers in America. This occurred at a time when electric model railroading was declining in popularity for older boys.
The 1892-vintage boy in the Fauntleroy suit playing with the train on the carpet judging from his elegant clothes and curls, we may infer that he was from a well-to-do family (figure 1). In general, boys of that era who had toy trains were principally from wealthy or comfortable middle-class families. After World War I in the 1920a we begin to see boys from families of more modest circumstances receiving model train sets as gifts, particularly at Christmas. Of course in the Great Depression, sales of toys of all sorts were seriously affected. We ewant to analyze the sociological role of toys in general (and perhaps toy trains in particular) with respect to the relative wealth of families, although the historical photographic record is probably domewhat biased, but not as much as it would have been in the 19th century. Toy trains of boys from relatively well-to-do families are much more likely to appear in the record than those of less well-off families. The inexpensive snapshot, however, means that se see a fairly wide social-class range in the 20th century. While we probably have a somewhat imperfect measure of wealth in the relative elegance of boys' clothes and hair styles in the visual record, there must be strong correlations. For example, a century ago or longer, boys in long curls wearing Fauntleroy suits would signify wealthy families, whereas boys in overalls would not. In the 20th century we see a steady democratization of fashion along with increasingly casual styles. After World War II the social class differences still apparent at the beginning of the century were rapidly disappearing.
The model train in America gradually became associated with Christmas, We see them arranged around the Christmas tree. I am not sure why thus was, after all a train does not have a lot to do with the baby Jesus. We suspect that it was an economic matter. Electric trains were a realtively expensive gift, so parents may have saved it for Christmas. Also Department stores began using them in their Christmas windows. Department stores were quick to pick up on the attention getting potential. And they had the wear-with-all to build wonderful model train displays with multiple lines, tunnels, towns, and entertaining feaures. Stores would set up train display windowns as Christmas approched, some as early as September. I remember these displays as a little boy in Washington in the 1940s. The best one was a Woodward & Lothrop. And this fueled the desire of boys to have a train set. As they were expensive, they were generally purchased as Christmas presents. That was when a kid got the most expensive toys. A train set would have been at the very top of a boy's Christmas list in the 1920s-50s. And train sets up began appearing under the family Christmas tree. A good example is an American boy, Dick Trippe in 1921. Some families set up the trains just for Christmas. But as dads got interested, some families with space set up permanent model train set ups.
The Word's Fair in New York was a huge event. Several of the exhibitors bought Lionnel trains to enliven their displays.
This began to change with Workld War II. America entered the War after the Jaoanese attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941). Metal was not available for toys. Production was thus suspended during the War and Lionel converted to war work. The company did sell a paper train, but of course what boy wanted a papr train?
I had a toy trailroad in the United States during the late 1940s and early 50s. Mine was a Lionel. I absolutely loved it. My dad and I worked togerher on it. Virtually every boy wanted a model railroad setup. After the War thre was a renewed interest.
Interest in railroads changed with the Space Race. American boys began to lose interest in trains.
There is some indication that there is now a renewed. Here Thomas the Tank Engenine--a British import, has played an important role. And there is interest in bullet trains.
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