About Our Products

Lionel Corporation products are designed to give you the same thrill that a child would have felt in the early decades of the twentieth century, when he (or she) received a tinplate toy train as a holiday or birthday present. The graphics on our boxes and literature are done in the style of that long-ago period, and our toys are built with the same sheet metal and die-cast construction and shiny enameled finish as the originals.

Mechanisms

Lionel Corporation offers you the choice of enjoying tinplate trains that perform just like new toys of eighty years ago, or updated with modern technology. Most locomotives are offered in both Traditional and Proto-Sound® 2.0 configurations

Traditional versions don't just look like the prewar originals; they operate like them, too. Traditional locomotives feature open-frame AC motors and mechanical E-units (reverse units) for operators who want to recreate the full tinplate experience — complete with buzzing E-units, growling motors, and the smell of ozone in the air!

Proto-Sound® 2.0 versions feature the same accurate, nostalgic appearance on the outside but the latest M.T.H. technology inside. Proto-Sound offers today's tinplate operator more features than a child of the 1920’s or ’30's ever dreamed of; CLICK HERE for details.

Accurate Graphics

Previous reproductions of Lionel and American Flyer tinplate often lacked the complete original graphics because the reproducers did not have the rights to the Lionel and American Flyer names. As Lionel Electric Trains owns the rights to both of those names, Lionel Corporation products will offer fully accurate graphics and nameplates on its tinplate trains.

Track

Lionel Corporation O gauge engines and cars are compatible with most common brands of three-rail O gauge track and switches, including traditional Lionel tubular track, Lionel FasTrack, M.T.H. RealTrax, Gargraves, and Ross.

Couplers

Original tinplate trains had a variety of couplers, even on different product lines made by the same manufacturer. In most cases, Lionel Corporation reproductions feature the same couplers as the tinplate originals, so some of our engines will not couple easily to some of our cars. The catalog page and the Web page for each locomotive indicate which series’ of cars have compatible couplers.

Transformers

Lionel Corporation engines with traditional mechanisms are compatible with virtually all AC transformers. Proto-Sound® 2.0 locomotives are compatible with most modern transformers; a compatibility chart is posted in the instruction manual for these engines. Lionel Corporation also offers a variety of UL-approved transformers with fast-acting circuit breakers, in sizes from 50 to 400 watts, that are appropriate for all Lionel Corporation tinplate engines.