The Lionel Legend: An American Icon [Hardcover]

Robert Schleicher (Author)

Book Description

An exhilarating, photo-filled journey through the history of America’s favorite toy trains, The Lionel Legend whisks readers through more than a century of Lionel. Veteran hobby historian and author Robert Schleicher conducts us all the way back to Joshua Lionel Cohen’s 1902 “electric cheese box”—the train that started everything—right up to the high-tech, meticulously detailed Lionels of today.  This thoroughly entertaining book features an astonishing variety of Lionels—the famous and the fascinatingly rare—steam and diesel engines, freight and passenger cars, action accessories and cars, track and transformers.

Lavishly illustrated with modern color photography, vintage advertising, and historic images of the “real” prototype trains, The Lionel Legend charts the course of what is arguably America’s most-enduring toy-industry icon.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

An exhilarating, photo-filled journey through the history of America’s favorite toy trains, The Lionel Legend whisks readers through more than a century of Lionel.  This thoroughly entertaining book features an astonishing variety of Lionels--the famous and the fascinatingly rare--steam and diesel engines, freight and passenger cars, action accessories and cars, track and transformers.

Lavishly illustrated with modern color photography, vintage advertising, and historic images of the “real” prototype trains, The Lionel Legend charts the course of what is arguably America’s most-enduring toy-industry icon.

About the Author

Robert Schleicher is a veteran hobby industry writer and publisher with dozens of books to his credit. His MBI titles include 101 Projects for Your Model Railroad, Slot Car Bible, How to Build and Fly Electric Model Airplanes, R/C Car Bible, and The Big Book of Lionel, among others. He lives in Niwot, Colorado.   

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Voyageur Press; 1st edition (December 12, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076033482X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760334829
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,035,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Needs Work, January 1, 2009

By 

JohnLM - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Lionel Legend: An American Icon (Hardcover)

This is a pretty book. Great photography and style. But enough historical errors on nearly every page to make it seem to have been written in a parallel universe. Not of this earth. The author has written some fine how-to books in the past but apparently didn't do the homework for this one. That's unfortunate because newcomers will believe what this pretty book says.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Waste Your Money, January 13, 2009

By 

Lionel Fanatic - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lionel Legend: An American Icon (Hardcover)

You have to give a book at least one star, but this one doesn't even desrve it. If your looking for beautiful pictures of Lionel trains, this book is for you...If you are looking for anything else, forget it. No new or accurate information here. What you are buying is a Lionel advertisement. A huge disappointment! Don't waste your money. If you want to see Lionel trains, buy a Lionel Nation video.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Get the facts right, December 4, 2008

By 

Franklin W. Jones - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lionel Legend: An American Icon (Hardcover)

The book police need to step in here. I got through two pages and found multiple errors. If the author does not even know the gauge of American railroad standard gauge track, let alone Lionel standard gauge toy train track, how can you expect the info in the book to be accurate?

Since Kalmbach bought Greenberg and quit publishing all but the pocket price guides, and TM stopped printing their series, the existing copies of their books have gone through the roof. And others are stepping up to write new books on the subject. Unfortunately, the writing must be accurate. This book is not. I only hope that in the future new collectors and hobbyists do not assume the information contained in this work is authoritative and accurate.