Lights, Camera, Lionel Trains! A Photo History of an American Icon

Roger Carp has been fascinated by Lionel trains and the people who created
them since he received a small steam engine and some freight cars as a
youngster in 1956. His interest directed him, after earning a Ph.D. in
American history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to
Classic Toy Trains magazine, where he has served for 20 years as senior
editor.

Roger has written or edited more than 20 books and special-interest
publications about Lionel—its trains and accessories, its leaders and
workers, its showrooms and displays, and its legacy. Among them are The
World’s Greatest Toy Train Maker (1998), Classic Lionel Display Layouts You
Can Build (2000), The Art of Lionel Trains (2003), Authoritative Guide to
Lionel’s Postwar Operating Cars (2005), Authoritative Guide to Lionel’s
Promotional Outfits 1960–1969 (2007), Inside the Lionel Train’s Fun Factory
(2008), Collectible Lionel Classics (2017), Lionel Trains of the 1950s
(2019), and Lionel Trains of the 1940s (2022). He also oversees production
of the annual edition of Greenberg’s Pocket Price Guide to Lionel Trains.

A native of Los Angeles, Roger lives near Milwaukee with his wife and
Lionel trains.