How Were They Made?

There was a “How it’s Made” episode where they did visit a model train factory. We had a TV in the lunchroom at work, and it was one of the only programs worth watching at the noon hour,…

Pat

Yeah, the 'How it's Made' show was phenomenal.  Many streaming channels will have that show on the Discovery Channel I think.

According to Wikipedia, “How It’s Made” ran from 2001-2019. I found the whole catalog of episodes on their “tube” channel. They also run on Discovery on most Sunday mornings.  

Also, if you search for “how model trains are made,” there are many documentaries from several manufacturers.

Regarding O-Gauge trains, one of the better insights into how trains are made is in Mike Wolf's live 2017 Chinese MTH factory walk-thru. The video is a bit crude and low resolution but still fascinating.

https://www.facebook.com/Train...os/1754924534523351/

I recall one of the mid or late 90's Lionel catalogs showed some of the tooling and manufacturing process that went into building trains in Michigan at the time. There was a recent episode of 'How It's Made' that showed an injection-molded O-scale boxcar being produced and decorated. Looked like it was the former Weaver factory as the employees looked American and the car was an American-style boxcar.

In 2005 TM Productions made a VHS on the "Lionel Hudson".  Was put on a DVD a year or so later with new footage.  I think you can find it on U tube now.  Still see it for sale around at train shows.  Shows the making of the scale Hudson in the Dick Kughn's era.  118 minutes long.

Dave

@harmonyards posted:

There was a “How it’s Made” episode where they did visit a model train factory. We had a TV in the lunchroom at work, and it was one of the only programs worth watching at the noon hour,…

Pat

If it was the one I saw, that was the Weaver factory, and Gary (the main service guy) - with whom I spoke several times on the phone - was doing some painting. Hoppers, I think. I spoke to him later on some subject and congratulated him on his celebrity status. Never got an autograph, though....

@FuzzyD posted:

In 2005 TM Productions made a VHS on the "Lionel Hudson".  Was put on a DVD a year or so later with new footage.  I think you can find it on U tube now.  Still see it for sale around at train shows.  Shows the making of the scale Hudson in the Dick Kughn's era.  118 minutes long.

Dave

I still think this video is the best source to look at if you want to learn about the making of model trains, despite the original release being almost 35 years old.

Truly from a bygone era.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I figured I could do a search of some kind but wouldn't get the best results or the context. That will be amazing if I can find the "How It's Made" episode.

Well, this thread piqued my interest and went looking on youtube and found a ton of very interesting videos.  Some old Lionel, and a more modern ROCO showing the modern way it is done, but still amazingly labor intensive if you want a detailed model.  If you go a looking, bring some coffee and snacks, you could be hooked for hours.  In one of the Lionel videos by CTT, wonder if the skill set building Lionel track started with the guy placing the tie, and working up to the guy that put the last rail in place.  Perhaps they had some good conversations sitting around that track building station.

Lionel's Model Builder magazine ran at least two articles showing various steps in production at the Lionel factory. These were reprinted in Kalmbach's book about the magazine.

The book All Aboard by Ron Hollander also had much information about Lionel manufacturing and some of the key people.