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Hello Tinplate world ...in the beginning of "electric toy train" manufacturing in America .. most the manufacturers were in lower Manhattan , the owners and employees rode the street cars / elevated to and from work ...which greatly influenced their products.
1904 Lionel was building 2 7/8" electric trains , DC riding on 2 rails .. they added the #800 & #900 box cars .. lovely called "jail cars" ... Lionel also sold elevated sections which mirror was was outside the factory .
please see link for action packed video    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz1PCqkxFWE
Cheers Carey 1207202318~21208201007~21208201235~21208201233~2briggs frieght aHigh-Line-NY-Historical-Society-Looking-North

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Agreed @Tinplate Art ! These fantastic 2 7/8 Gauge Lionel, along with Carlisle & Finch, Voltamp, Marklin And a few others- are the ”Genesis” of the modern electric toy train hobby- at least, in my opinion. While floor trains such as  Milton Bradley’s wood & paper certainly predate these. Electricity applied to rails found their birth with the aforementioned. Thank you, Carey, for sharing not only these fantastic trains also their prototypical backstory! Just awesome!

Really thought there would be more response to Carey's generous sharing of some rarely seen ORIGINAL Lionel in its historical context. Guess 2 7/8" gauge is not everyone's "cup of tea", but it should be appreciated for what it is!

Agreed. These are rare and important pieces, and I for one am thrilled to see them. I never tire of Carey's posts. ( But then again, Art, you and I remember playing with these as children. Most of the Forum members are younger folks. )

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