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Where to buy Lionel trains in St. Louis

Dave Farquhar Toy trains September 22, 2017September 12, 2017american flyer, home improvement, lionel, lionel train, Mark Twain, marx, marx trains, o gauge, postwar lionel, Prewar Lionel, Standard Gauge

If you want to know where to buy Lionel trains in St. Louis, you have a lot of choices. It’s more than possible to make a day of train shopping in St. Louis.

I’ve never seen a comprehensive list of shops, so I made my own. If you know of any place I missed, I apologize. Please leave a comment and I will add it.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.

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Scale vs gauge: Not quite interchangeable

Dave Farquhar model railroading, Toy trains August 18, 2017March 3, 20221:64 scale, 1950s, 1960s, 1980s, 1990s, american flyer, HO, ho scale, lionel, Lionel 675, n scale, o gauge, o scale, s scale, Standard Gauge

Wondering about scale vs gauge? You’re not alone. It’s a common question, and I’ll try to provide a simple answer. The two terms may appear interchangeable, but they aren’t quite.

Dave Farquhar

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Why do Lionel trains have three rails?

Dave Farquhar Toy trains August 10, 2017August 5, 20171950s, 1960s, american flyer, electric trains, lionel, Louis Marx, marx, o gauge, Quaker Oats, Standard Gauge

Why do Lionel trains have three rails? After all, real trains usually have two. This unrealistic feature is a legitimate drawback for Lionel and other makes of O gauge trains, but the decision made sense at the time.

Dave Farquhar

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All about the Lionel RW transformer

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 13, 2017August 17, 2018american flyer, home depot, KW, lionel, LW, marx, power cord, Standard Gauge, tin, troubleshooting

The Lionel Multi-control Trainmaster RW is a sturdy tin box of a transformer from early in the postwar era. The presence of a whistle controller is the only thing that really distinguishes it from a prewar transformer. Lionel made it from 1948 to 1954. If you want to know all about the Lionel RW transformer, you’ve come to the right place. You probably won’t find a copy of the original instruction manual online but this will tell you all you need to know.

Dave Farquhar

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How to sell Lionel trains

Dave Farquhar Toy trains September 13, 2016April 22, 20171950s, american flyer, HO, ho scale, lionel, lionel train, marx, o gauge, o27, old trains, OO, receipt, Standard Gauge, TCA, video game

Since I’ve covered other makes of trains, someone asked me how to sell Lionel trains. So I thought I would give similar advice on selling Lionel trains. Lionel is an iconic, legendary part of Americana, so there will always be some market for its products.

That said, don’t expect to get rich selling off your Lionel trains. But if you keep your expectations realistic, you’ll find an eager buyer, or ideally, at least two interested buyers so you’ll realize a good price at auction.

Dave Farquhar

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The Aero Monorail Company of St. Louis

Dave Farquhar St. Louis, Toy trains May 3, 2016March 29, 2022CVS, erector, lionel, Popular Mechanics, Standard Gauge

The Aero Monorail was a futuristic monorail train that first hit the market in 1932. Manufactured in St. Louis by the eponymously named Aero Monorail Company, it was designed to suspend over Lionel standard gauge track and run faster than the standard gauge train.

The stands came in two varieties: a pair of free standing towers, and a series of towers that slipped under Standard gauge track and used the same 42-inch diameter. The motor looked like an Erector motor and ran on 6-8 volts, either DC or AC.

Dave Farquhar

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Measuring the voltage and amperage of your train transformer’s output

Dave Farquhar Toy trains April 17, 2012December 13, 2021american flyer, amperage, amps, electric trains, lionel, marx, o gauge, postwar lionel, Prewar Lionel, Standard Gauge, toy train

Sometimes you want to know how many volts your train transformer is feeding your trains, in order to avoid damaging the motors. And it’s also helpful to know how many amps you’re pulling from your electric train transformer, so you don’t damage the transformer.

Dave Farquhar

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How to clean inside Lionel tubular track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains March 12, 2011April 11, 2017conductivity, lionel, o27, Standard Gauge, tubular track

If the outside of your Lionel track is rusty or dirty, there’s a chance the inside is too. Here’s how to clean inside Lionel track.

The condition of the inside of the track is the standard reason people give for discarding old Lionel track rather than trying to fix it. But if you’re willing to put in some effort, this problem, too, is fixable.

Dave Farquhar

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What is On30?

Dave Farquhar model railroading January 25, 2011September 5, 2019Dept 56, HO, ho scale, holiday village, Lemax, lionel, o scale, Standard Gauge, Union Pacific

To a newcomer, and even many people with years of experience, the phrase “On30” is confusing. Basically, it’s O scale models (1:48) of narrow-gauge (30 inches in this case) railroads.

And that probably raises a few more questions, so I’ll try to answer them. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Making trees from wire, plaster and lichen

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 3, 2008February 3, 2017Missouri, o gauge, plaster, Standard Gauge

I like this tutorial because it uses common materials and works for almost any kind of train: Making detailed oaks and maples.

It doesn’t hurt that the results look good too.I don’t think there would be anything wrong with using these trees on a tinplate prewar O gauge, Standard Gauge, or 2-inch Gauge (Carlisle & Finch and the like) layout. I don’t know if hobbyists were using these techniques 100 years ago, but the materials were all available then.

Lichen is available at craft and floral supply stores. You could also buy floral wire there to use in the project in place of electrical wire. Plaster is available at craft and hardware stores. And you can paint it with craft acrylics, available at craft stores and even some discount stores.

A lot of projects require a good hobby shop close by, and not everyone has one of those anymore. Living where I do, there are three good shops within 15 minutes of home (one is only about three miles away) but some projects require specialty items those stores don’t have. About a year ago I went to the estate sale of a model railroader who was extremely good at building and superdetailing kits. Virtually everything he had came from a hobby shop much further away.

The first thing I thought when I saw this project was that I could probably go out and buy everything I needed to make some of these even if I was visiting my in-laws in southeastern Missouri. And I might not even have to drive 30 miles to the nearest Hobby Lobby to get what I need.

It might be the first project I’ve ever seen where this is true.

Dave Farquhar

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