Lionel’s Textbook of Model Railroading
By Joseph H. Lechner
Lionel’s 1957 consumer catalog has always been my personal
favorite. It also happens to be the first toy train wishbook
I ever owned, but I don’t think I’m prejudiced
by that fact. The 1957 train line was bigger and better than
any before or after it during the postwar era. Notable milestones
for that year included Super “O” track, the Norfolk
and Western “J” class 4-8-4, and the coveted Canadian
Pacific passenger set. Equally attractive, in my opinion, were
the Wabash GP7, the Milwaukee electric, and the first complete
train of Budd RDC cars.
A postwar Lionel catalog was a thing of beauty and a joy to
behold. Robert Sherman’s artwork brought each train set
to life. When a new catalog came out in September, the first
place we looked was those double-page spreads where Berkshires,
GG1s and sleek Alcos roared by larger-than-life. Even a lowly
2-4-2 became fascinating when Sherman posed it with a long
train in a detailed landscaped setting. Eventually, sated with
the newest in steamers and diesels, we would turn to the back
pages that described the old, the familiar and the mundane.
Straight track, 8 7/8” long; twenty-five cents per section.
And don’t forget a Lockon and some 18 gauge hookup wire.
But wait, there’s more. The 1957 edition offered something
special, unlike any Lionel catalog before or after it. Its
last four pages were a veritable textbook of model railroading:
a step-by-step guide for turning a starter set into a dream
layout like the one you saw in the toy department at Wanamaker’s.
Sure; every toy train catalog had a page of track plans in
the back: buy twelve curved tracks, four straight tracks and
a 90° crossing; assemble as shown to make a figure-8 that
measures 27” x 54”. However, this catalog did something
that no other catalog did before or after: it showed how to
grow a simple loop into an empire; and it provided inspiring
full-color artwork to show what the finished result would look
Demographics collected by The Lionel Corporation suggested
that the recipient of a train set was likely to be a boy between
the ages of 8 and 12; that he would add cars, track and accessories
for the next five years; and that most of the purchases would
be made on his behalf by female relatives. Lionel’s 1957
issue stands alone as a masterpiece of marketing. It showed
the young railroader how to expand his layout; it showed mothers,
aunts and grandmothers what items he’d be needing next;
and it all but invited a series of return visits to the local
The lesson began with a modest 027 train set: number 1585W, pulled
by the #602 Seaboard diesel switcher. Its only luxury was a battery-powered
air horn; but with nine freight cars, this set made history as
the longest train ever cataloged by Lionel. A banner proclaimed
the “brute strength of the new 600 series” that enabled
these diesels to pull longer trains than ever before. Actually,
#602 wasn’t more powerful than its predecessors; instead,
its cars were lighter. Seven of the nine cars rolled on new-in-1957
Timken plastic trucks.
“Isn’t she great!” gushed the catalog, recounting
the joys of transformer-controlled forward and reverse, sounding
the horn for imaginary grade crossings, and turning down the
room lights to better appreciate #602’s working headlight.
But running around and around a loop of track could get old;
this generally happened at about the same time the Christmas
tree came down and the fragile glass ornaments got packed away
in the attic. Time to visit a Lionel dealer for more track
and some accessories.
After acquiring a train set, one of the first additional purchases
was a pair of switches. At least, that’s what toy train
catalogs called them. Real railroads called them turnouts; scale
model railroaders called them turnouts; but Lionel always called
them switches. Depending on how they were arranged, a pair of
switches could either (a) provide a new route for the train to
travel, or (b) open up sidings where cars could be loaded and
You can tell a lot about a person’s psyche by the way
he or she operates a train. There are kinesthetic types that
want to keep a train barreling down the track at 120 scale
miles per hour, blasting the horn at every crossing; a Type
A personality needs a type (a) layout. Then there are the thoughtful,
contemplative types who are content to spend hours spotting
a #6342 gondola at exactly the right position for the #345
culvert unloader; the Type B railroader wants a type (b) layout.
The two-switch layout shown here just might be the most common
add-on track plan in the toy train universe, because it satisfied
both personalities. I ought to know; I received the exact same
layout for Christmas at age six. You could use the back track
for industrial switching, as the drawing demonstrates; or you
could use that track as a second route for the train, preferably
not while the gondola was still being unloaded. This particular
track plan was also very popular because the layout, consisting
of eighteen straight tracks, ten curved tracks and a pair of
switches, would fit on one 4x8 sheet of plywood.
Simple accessories that made this layout interesting included
a #133 station, a #71 lamp post, a #252 crossing gate, and
a #494 rotating beacon. I think it’s significant that
a small-town depot was the first scene developed on this layout.
#133 is a model of the quintessential station in Middle America
where Dad took Junior to see trains. For most of us, a clapboard
depot was our port of entry to the world of railroading, whether
we boarded a Pullman there to begin a journey, or else we merely
hung out there to watch. To reach the depot, we rode in the
family auto; and it bumped over the tracks at a crossing that
was guarded by a gate like #252. Usually, our first notice
of a train’s impending arrival was flashing red lights
and the silent lowering of the black-and-white striped gate.
If we waited for the train at night, the platform was well
illuminated by tall iron lamp posts like #71.
The remaining accessory, #494, relates to yet another form
of transportation, the airplane. Placing an aircraft beacon
on your layout was significant because it indicated there was
a world out there beyond the confines of your plywood table.
It also indicated that your layout was modern and sophisticated
enough to boast the latest in aviation technology. Every six-year-old
Lionel owner knew that those little red and green caps with
the concentric circles on them were called Fresnel lenses.
But I was in my forties before I learned that Augustin Fresnel
was a nineteenth-century French physicist who pronounced his
name “Fren-NELL”. Youngsters in the 1950s related
to #494 because they had all seen beacons just like it at the
local airport. In 1957, the airport had become the new location
for male bonding; a place where fathers and sons flocked to
see the Douglas DC-7, the Lockheed Electra, and perhaps the
new Boeing 707. Ironically, aviation diverted the public’s
attention away from railroading, a trend that would soon bring
about the demise of passenger service and nearly terminated
the toy train industry in the mid 1960s.
Lionel’s marketing magic was working. The lucky recipient
of set #1585W (or more likely his mother, aunts and grandparents)
have made several return visits to the dealer. Junior selected
his second train from the very 1957 catalog that came with his
Seaboard switcher. It's outfit #2276W, a commuter train pulled
by the #404 Budd RDC-4. This addition greatly increased the variety
of the layout; now he could transport both passengers and freight.
But wait, there’s more than meets the eye.
Once Junior brought home his new Budd set, he was in for a
surprise. #1585W was an 027 set, but #2276W was O gauge. Its
tracks were longer, the curves were wider, the rails were taller,
and the pins on O gauge wouldn’t fit into the narrower
027 rails. Those 16” long passenger cars couldn’t
go around 027 curves; and even if they could, they’d
look silly doing it. Welcome to the world of planned incompatibility.
Our young railroader has decided to set aside his 027 track
and replace it with the more durable, but also more expensive,
O gauge track.
That diagonal track where the RDCs stood was a subtle jab
at Lionel’s competition. As the caption pointed out,
the siding also served as a reversing loop. The train had been
running counterclockwise when it entered the siding at the
back; it will be going clockwise when it re-enters the main
line by the station. As Lionel was quick to point out, reverse
loops were easy with three-rail track. They were hard to duplicate
with American Flyer’s two-rail track, because the running
rails would short out unless you added special wiring that
Gilbert didn’t provide.
Junior soon made a second discovery: the little #1053 60-watt
transformer that came with his Seaboard set couldn’t
keep pace with a Budd set (with two light bulbs per car), a
station, a crossing gate, a beacon, a culvert unloader, a semaphore,
and two pairs of switches (with their total of twelve light
bulbs). O gauge sets didn’t even include a transformer;
so it was back to the dealer again for a larger, 175-watt TW.
Right now, our young engineer runs one train and leaves the
other parked. He’ll soon make a third discovery: it’s
impossible to keep both trains running continuously on this
layout. Once he realizes that, it’ll be back to the dealer
for more track, more switches—and this time, a KW or
ZW transformer that will let him control both trains independently.
Lionel’s textbook of model railroading shows how a bare
table top becomes more interesting when it’s landscaped.
The branch line runs past a lake; the main line passes through
a tunnel; an aircraft beacon atop the mountain points to a
bigger world beyond the edges of the train table. Plywood surfaces
have now been covered with realistic textures: grass, gravel,
Some of the landscaping was Lionel merchandise, and some was
not. Lionel sold ready-made tunnels, but also offered a #920
scenery kit that included tunnel portals. The lake was homemade;
catalog copy said it was a mirror. Other toy train publications
of the 1950s recommended glass, painted on the underside with
blue and white streaks, to represent water. Lionel didn’t
offer model trees. Life-Like did; however, popular hobby books
of that era explained how to make your own trees from wire
A generation ago, scale model railroaders might have dismissed
that table-top tunnel as toylike. But more recently, the two-rail
DC branch of our hobby has discovered that viewblocks make
train operation more fun by increasing the apparent distance
between stations. Today it’s quite common to see an HO
or N layout with two towns on opposite sides of a 4x8 layout.
Since you can’t see both towns at the same time, they
could be miles apart. Often, the train passes from one scene
to the other via a tunnel no bigger than Lionel’s #131.
Lionel’s 1957 catalog stands alone as a masterpiece
of toy train marketing. This unique sequence of illustrations
entertained, inspired, and sold products by showing how one
hypothetical customer assembled his first layout using Lionel
What ever became of that young railroader? As his collection
grew, he dismantled the 4x8 and went on to build the magnificent
9’ x 14’ layout featured on the back cover of the
catalog. But, that’s another story for another issue.