Wecome to your childhood! Lionel electric trains have been part of America since the year 1900. Now, after being perfected over the past 106 years, you can bring the latest and greatest that Lionel has to offer. The current catalog has everything that you could ever want in toy trains.
If you are just getting started in Lionel, one of the many Ready-To-Run sets are your best bet. Each RTR set comes with a loop of track, transformer, locomotive, and an assortment of rolling stock. It is very easy to set up and run on any level surface (carpet, hardwood, table, concrete).
If you already have a Lionel collection, there are hundreds of products that will take your basic train set and turn it into a marvel to behold! Add boxcars, flatcars, reefers, tank cars, hoppers, and cabooses. Once you've got all your tains, buildings and scenery are the next step...and Lionel has buildings and working accessories that will add motion, sound and excitement to your layout.
Lionel Track: So you've decided to buy a Lionel O gauge/scale train set...now what? Buildings and scenery allow flexibility but track size must be standardized. Lionel makes three types of track:: O-27, FasTrack, and Standard O. All three are the same gauge of track and measure 1 1/4" between the outer rails. The pictures of the three tracks are shown below. The FasTrack is the one with the molded grey road bed and is now the Lionel standard. FasTrack is included in all new "ready to run" sets
Lionel Track Types: O-27 Track, O FasTrack and Standard O.
No matter what type of track you use, every layout must have curved sections. As shown in the drawiing on the left, curved sections are named for the diameter of the circle that they form. The diameter of the curves usually determine the overall size of the layout.
The current Lionel standard is a FasTrack layout 40" wide by 60" long. This size layout uses curves which have diameters of 36" (the FasTrack standard curve). FasTrack layouts can also be built with curves of 48", 60", 72", or even a super layout with 84" curves.
O-27 track (the standard between 1950 and 2004 and probably the type of track most of us remember from our childhoods) can have a diameter of 27" (the standard curve), 42" and 54". This track is not as high as the FasTrack above or the Standard O track bellow.
Standard O track (the original O gauge track and the standard until the second world war) can have diameters of 31" (its standard curve), 42", 54", and 72".
Even though we handle most of these curves we recomend that beginners use FasTrack with the 36" diameter curves. This provides a nice starter 40" by 60" layout which will fit under most Christmas trees. It can easily be expanded by adding FasTrack 10" straight pieces.
Dunn's Toy and Hobby
Dunn's Toy and Hobby 8300 Sudley Road Manassas, VA 20109
