Legendary Lionel Trains John A. Grams and Terry D. Thompson. Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing, 2004. In the preface to Legendary Lionel Trains, Terry D. Thompson dubs Lionel products as icons of childhood and American culture (4). Who could doubt him? Over the course of the past century, the Lionel name has become synonymous with toy trains and has become, in many households, part of Christmas tradition and intergenerational bonding. In this beautifully illustrated coffee table book, Thomson and his coauthor John A. Grams chronicle the key products in the three stages of Lionel's history - Early, Golden Era, and Contemporary-focusing on their size, color, and action capabilities rather than their catalog numbers, condition, ratings, and current prices. Thus, the book's appeal is not limited to toy train collectors, but includes parents and grandparents [who] love pointing at a Lionel and exclaiming, 'That's just like the one I had when I was your age!' (7). Joshua Lionel Cowen, founder of the Lionel Manufacturing Company, did not set out to make toy trains. An inventor in the new Age of Electricity, he wandered past a store display window in New York City in 1900 and thought that movement, such as a motorized car on a circular track, might win people's attention and help to sell the merchandise. He was right about one thing: those who passed by were mesmerized by the toy trains and wanted to play with them. Thus, the Early Era of Lionel began in 1901, when the company produced its first catalog, which included products such as a wooden gondola car called Electric Express and a trolley car named City Hall Park. In the years that followed, Lionel pioneered two strategies that contributed to the growth of the toy train industry: creating a standardized track gauge and packaging some trains such as a locomotive, cars, and track-in sets (also called outfits). In the mid-1920s, Lionel's market researchers ascertained that although most trains were purchased as gifts for boys, the actual buyers were women, who would be drawn to brighter colors. This ushered in a new era characterized by trains in brilliant reds, blues, yellows, and greens. After the stock market crashed in 1929, Lionel faced a financial challenge and began manufacturing mechanical handcars with replicas of cartoon characters, the most popular of which was Disney's Mickey Mouse; they sold briskly. A Grand Central Station set became another beloved toy during this era. …