Lionel mth-10-1197-0

# 200 WOOD GONDOLA - AN ACCURATE REPRODUCTION OF THE FIRST LIONEL TRAIN EVER MADE

 

  • Here's an accurate reproduction of the first train ever made and sold by Lionel
  • The first Lionel train was not a toy, but an "electric novelty." The twentieth century had just begun, electricity was still a technological wonder
  • Joshua Lionel Cowen was in his early twenties when he started selling shopkeepers the battery-powered Electric Express with a circle of track
  • The idea was that storeowners would put goods - jewelry or flowers, for example - in the self-powered wooden gondola, and the novelty of the electric car running in a store window would attract shoppers.
  • Customers, however, came in and wanted to buy the train.
  • Then, everyone began playing with the Electric Express, so Cowen added a trolley to the line and went into the toy business - tentatively.
  • The earliest catalogs were titled "Miniature Electric Cars with full accessories for Window Display and Holiday Gifts."
  • Cowen also felt it necessary to reassure customers that electric toys were safe to play with: "The word 'electric' does not always stand for a power dangerous to handle. It is true of current sufficiently powerful to operate large street cars and big machinery but as applied to our models (only a few dry batteries or in connection with the house lighting circuit) it is totally impossible to experience the slightest shock."
  • The new model, produced in 2004, accurately recreates Lionel's first train, the 1901 version (Type I) of the No. 200 Electric Express
  • The body is a simple wooden box about 15" long with a motorman's controller; not until the following year would the Type II version feature brass corner braces and end steps, as well as a longer body. (Some of the few surviving No. 200's bear Cowen's initials on the bottom in his own hand, making it likely they were assembled by the young entrepreneur himself.)
  • Like the original, this model rides atop a cast metal frame housing the motor, and is supplied with a circle of 2 7/8" gauge track. Unlike the original, however, this Electric Express can be powered from any standard AC transformer.
  • Precision AC Motor
  • Brass Trim
  • Metal Wheels, Axles and Gears
  • Wooden Body
  • Reversing Lever
  • Unit Measures:17 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/8
  • Metal Chassisk
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