For generations of Americans, gazing at a spanking new Lionel train set as it chugged along loops of tracks laid out beneath a brightly lit Christmas tree is an extra-special childhood memory. Lionel trains are not the only electricity-powered toys marketed to American children and hobbyists. But of all electric train manufacturers, Lionel is by far the most famous, a status it earned for the quality, craftsmanship, and durability of its product.

Joshua Lionel Cowen (1877–1965), a young man who since childhood had been fascinated by trains and railroads, founded the Lionel Manufacturing Company in lower Manhattan, New York, in 1900. The story goes that, when he was seven, Cowen carved a small locomotive out of wood, which exploded upon his attempting to attach it to a miniature steam engine. Although Cowen did not invent the electric train—one had been displayed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair—he...