Magazine rates top 25
By: Sue Kramer
Model railroad fans have been following with interest a series of articles in Classic Toy Trains magazine commemorating the top 10 "most significant Lionel toy train developments of the past century."
The magazine, which is widely read by both collectors and model railroad operators alike, culminated its reader survey this month by revealing the number one innovation in an article titled "ZW: The Power King."
The ZW was, and continues to be, the power-horse of the model railroad layout. Introduced by Lionel in 1948 and produced for 20 years, the massive transformer was designed to simultaneously run two trains and all the accessories on a layout. With special controls for whistles, the ZW was promoted in Lionel’s catalog as being "almost like being in the cab of a real locomotive when you grip those engineer-type throttles and begin rolling your hotshot freight or fast passenger."
Lambertville’s Craig Reading, an avid collector, agreed the ZW was one of the top three Lionel innovations.
"There are transformers that are only now starting to rival what they (Lionel) came out with in the ’50s," he said.
His favorite, though, is the "5344 Hudson, made in 1938" followed by Lionel "State sets."
"Definitely, the ZW transformer is pretty nice," Lambertville collector and model train buff Ron Tillett Jr. agreed.
But when it came to choosing the top three things that stood out above and beyond all others in the Lionel line, Mr. Tillett’s overall love of toy trains shone through.
"I think they’re all good," he said.
John Frangakis on the other hand chose the advent of smoke and whistles as top Lionel inventions.
"They just brought more realism to a toy train layout than ever before," he said.
Mr. Frangakis, a collector who has been repairing Lionel trains since 1982, named the 700E (Hudson) engine as the number one Lionel creation.
"It’s just simply scale detailed," he said. "It replicated faithfully the original."
Rick Carmosino didn’t have to think about his answer.
"The GG1," he said emphatically of his favorite engine. "It’s built like a tank. I like its durability. It has Magne-Traction, doesn’t derail, and it’s modeled after a real train."
Mr. Carmosino also included the Hudson in his list of Lionel’s top three all-time innovations. He has a 1952 2056 Hudson with seven passenger cars in his collection. He also likes Lionel’s yearly Christmas collection boxcars.
"Basically, I don’t like the new trains," he commented. "They’re not up to the pre- and post-war trains. The ones built after 1964 just aren’t as good."
Solebury Township’s George Leopold is in complete agreement with Mr. Carmosino about Lionel’s top innovations.
"The GG1 and the Hudson," he said.
While four out of five local collectors named the Hudson as one of the top three Lionel innovation of the past 100 years, other Lionel items, such as the Hell Gate Bridge, the 400E Standard Gauge engine and the Standard Gauge Blue Comet set were mentioned by these collectors as being outstanding developments.
For the record, the 600 collectors surveyed by Classic Toy Trains voted the following as the top 25 Lionel developments in the company’s 100-year history:?
The ZW Transformer; Knuckle Coupler; MagneTraction; Smoke Units locomotive; Santa Fe F3; Nonderailing switches; Scale Hudson; RailSounds; Milk Car; Air Whistle; GG1 locomotive; 6464 series boxcars; TrainMaster Train Control; Automatic uncoupling track; 226E locomotive; Tied for the FM Train Master and Odyssey motors; Steam turbine locomotive; Operating cattle car; Tied for Super O track and rheostat transformers; Bascule Bridge; Magnetic gantry crane; Operating gatemen; and Hell Gate Bridge.