Lionel purchased tooling from John English’s HObbyline and used those models as the basis for its HO products during the 1960s. The agreement would see only a year of cooperation between the two companies, and Athearn started producing HO for Lionel in 1958. The company selected to import its first collection of HO for 1957 from Rivarossi in Italy. According to Greenberg’s Guide to Lionel HO Volume I 1957–1966 (Greenberg Publishing, 1993), Lionel had been considering an HO line for a number of years. The closest Lionel came prior to 1957 to marketing to the more serious or hobby end of HO was a pre-World War II line of OO-scale (1/76) model trains.Īs many know, the O-scale market’s dominance in the hobby diminished in the 1950s, and HO became the scale with the most sales by the decade’s close.
Introduced in 1957 and dropped following its appearance in Lionel’s 1966 catalog, the 1950s/1960s Lionel releases mark the company’s first run at HO model trains. In-depth features on Lionel and its history is planned for future editions of MRN’s sister publication, HO Collector. There is far too much history to cover in “From the Archive,” but here’s a brief journey through Lionel’s history with HO model trains. The upcoming holiday season, along with Model Railroad News’ examination of the latest group of Lionel releases for the HO market, presents an excellent opportunity to take a look back. Much has been written about Lionel and its place in history. From the Archive: A Brief History of Lionel HO
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