Lionel: A Century of Timeless Toy Trains by Dan Ponzol

This attractive, oversized book blends striking color photos with a history of the production of Lionel trains. For toy train enthusiasts, the photos will be the most interesting facet of the book. Most illustrated books of collectible toy trains are fairly straightforward, with endless pictures of locomotives and cars viewed side-on to show what they really look like. By contrast, commercial photographer Milne has produced almost impressionistic photographs. They feature selected details, limited depth of field, dramatic lighting, unusual angles, and train layout backgrounds. Given the large page size and high-quality paper, the pictures are particularly attractive. Fun to read, the text by dealer and collector Ponzol covers very familiar territory, but with the addition of comments on the interrelationships between the toys and their times. It also has occasional errors, and it's sometimes uncritically enthusiastic, perhaps reflecting the role of the current Lionel company in the packaging of the book. Still, Lionel trains have a wide nostalgic and collector appeal, and Lionel should therefore have a large public library audience. Frederick A. Schlipf, Urbana Free Lib/GSLIS, Univ. of Illinois
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Reader Reviews
This is best described as a "coffee table" book, both because of its large format of 11" by 12" and because of its content. While the text gives an adequate overview of the history of Lionel electric trains, it does not approach the depth and detail that has already been attained by other authors. Perhaps it is best compared to a textbook for a freshman level survey course, somewhat on the superficial side and with scant detail but adequate to provide a general understanding of the topic. While there is a bibliography, there are no citations within the text, so it is impossible to pursue the author's source for any particular claim or assertion. As disturbing as this are textual omissions; for example, while external socio-economic factors are often cited as causes for the decline of large-scale electric trains in the late 1950s through the 1960s, other authors have also called into question the competency of internal management once Lionel passed from its founder's control. Yet, there is no hint of mismanagement in Ponzol's book, and very few names are named anywhere in it. Inasmuch as the book is "officially licensed" by Lionel, one must wonder whether special pains were taken to avoid any innuendo or slight where the Lionel name might be concerned. Speaking of omissions, the list of model train clubs in the back omits one of the major ones, the Lionel Collectors Club of America, while including a listing for the defunct Lionel Ambassadors Club. The full-color photography occupies a major portion of the book, with quite a few full-page photos. Most of the pictures are of extreme close ups of Lionel locomotives, cars and accessories chosen to provide examples of the major manufacturing eras of Lionel trains, i.e., pre war, post war, and modern. This is not intended as a photographic inventory of all or even most Lionel production, and only a very minute percentage of that production appears. Many photos focus sharply on a front corner of the model, allowing everything else to dissolve into a blurry cloud. Considering the extensive depth of field achieved by using a pinhole lens, this blurring must result from a conscious artistic decision, one that should have been reconsidered. Better histories are available in Ron Hollander's "All Aboard!" and in Tom McComus and James Tuohy's six-volume set "A Collector's Guide and History to Lionel Trains," although neither extends to the present day. The "Collector's Guide" volumes also contain a fairly comprehensive photographic inventory of Lionel production through 1980. However, for those who want an overview of Lionel's history without committing the time required to study multiple volumes, Ponzol's book does provide a satisfactory solution packaged in an attractive, well bound volume.

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