Lionel Lines
Christmas Village


A Christmas Tradition

No Christmas would be complete without a train set around the tree. The Pennsylvania Railroad engine #681 above, circa 1950, spent many years travelling around the Christmas tree.

In the mid-50's the train outgrew the Christmas tree and moved to its own room. You can see a house under construction in the top center of the above photograph, one of many built in the 1950's and 1960's.

Blow the Train Whistle

All the town grew, a business district developed. The park, shown at the right of the above photo was built in 1959.

The Sante Fe Presidential Campaign Special made regular stops in Lionelville from 1960 on. Starting in 1975, the special Bicentenial Train seen above was scheduled.

The steeple of the church on the left in the above photograph could be seen from everywhere in the town. As you can see, the village grew and became quite crowded.

Early immigrants to the village in the 1950's came from Amers in Boardman, Ohio. In the 60's and early 70's almost all new additions to the village were from Stambaugh, McKelvey, and Strouss in Youngstown, Ohio. From the mid 70's to the early 80's all immigrants to Lionel village were from Kiddie City in Pennsylvania.

With a bank, post office, hardware store, and fire house, the Lionel Village was one of the most impressive villages of its kind in the mid 1960's. Several train lines ran through the village.

The village went through several name changes. It was also known as Lionelville, and Plasticville. Many buildings in the village still bear these names.

Links to Related Sites

Lionel Trains Commercials and Film Shorts on line

The Lionel Station Homepage

Classic Toy Trains Magazine

Lionel Trains and Accessories at eBay

Plasticville Buildings at eBay

Standard Catalog of Lionel Train Sets 1945-1969

Greenberg's Repair and Operating Manual

Lionel Polar Express Train Set


Back to The World Christmas Home Page

Back to Christmas in the Slovak and Carpatho-Rusyn Tradition

Back to Czech, Bohemian and Moravian Christmas

The photographs on this page may be freely reused and copied
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