How to Collect Antique Model Trains
Collecting model trains gives adults and children alike a great sense of history and a lot of fun. Lionel and a handful of smaller companies manufactured the first model trains distributed in America. Here's a rundown on how to collect antique model trains produced during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
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Instructions
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Look for locomotives made in the early 1900s. Lionel made many of these toy trains, complete with tiny electric motors and accessories like crossings, stations and tunnels. The small electric motors could be attached to a pulley which was used to power the accessories for these antique trains.
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Admire the earliest model trains distributed in the United States. Replicas of the first locomotives, these antique model trains operated manually or by spring apparatus. Check for the Weeden and Garlick name on antique trains if you're interested in collecting the first mass produced American toy trains.
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Locate antique toy trains by smaller manufacturers. The Bergmann Company in New York City produced miniature tinplate trains in the 1870s. Among the earliest toy trains manufactured, they were powered by spring mechanics or clockwork. Other tinplate train makers included Brown (Connecticut) and Fallows (Philadelphia).
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Buy cast iron trains. Manufactured by many companies after tinplate trains went out of style, these trains were manufactured in greater quantities than previous trains by Pratt and Letchworth and J and E Stevens.
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Find antique model trains made of light metal. By the 1890s, lightweight, lithographed tinplate replaced the heavier cast iron, reducing production costs.
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Tips & Warnings
Join the Train Collectors Association (TCA) to meet other antique model train aficionados.
