Toy train dealer warns public of scams

Ray Sorensen Jr. shows off part of his extensive Lionel layout with seven trains, buildings and other time-honored equipment.

A Pinellas Park toy train dealer who also refurbishes vintage equipment warned that some toy trains sold on and off the Internet this holiday season are fraudulent knockoffs or built from counterfeit parts.

Some early Lionel sets purported to be 60 or 70 years old are in fact modern equipment with electronic circuitry rather than mechanical components.

Ray Sorensen Jr., one of few toy train repair experts in the United States, said the Internet has spawned a cottage industry of fraudulent engines, train cars and accessories.

Sorensen has repaired electric trains for such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, did layouts for department stores and Busch Gardens in Virginia. He even supplied toy railroad equipment for movies, including “Arthur,” which starred Dudley Moore.

The Collector’s Den Toy Train Repairs and Museum is operated by Sorensen and his mother, Pat, and father, Ray Sr. They recently relocated the business from Pennsylvania to 11100 66th St. in Pinellas Park, where he repairs and rebuilds equipment sent to him from throughout the United States and overseas.

Lionel does not repair its vintage equipment. It refers people to Sorensen.

The museum, adjacent to the repair area, consists of seven trains, accessories, buildings and bridges. The layout and equipment together are worth about $1 million, not counting the items still in storage.

“I’ve always enjoyed electric trains,” Sorensen said. “I took my first train apart as a young boy then put it back together.”

Eventually he worked for the Hazlet Train Shop in New Jersey where he learned his trade.

Toy trains have a long history. Bing and Marklin exhibited the first electric train at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Windup sets were produced by The Ives Company of Bridgeport, Conn., in 1874, but it was Joshua Lionel Cowen who invented a reliable battery-operated toy train in 1901 and began producing them in his lower Manhattan factory.

The popular 027 gauge track, named so because of its 27-inch turning radius, and the “O” gauge were the standards.

The success of the toy trains grew in the 1900s as more homes were electrified. Lionel’s best year was in 1953, but by 1959 sales slipped drastically. The company changed hands many times, eventually being bought by a group of investors. Lionel trains, despite the financial ups and downs, were selected as one of the top 10 toys of the 20th century.

Basic Lionel train sets in the 1940s sold for as little as $7.95. They cost about $175 today, and up to thousands of dollars for high end equipment.

“There are many old train sets still hidden away in basements and attics,” Sorensen said. “Some are in pretty rough shape due to rust and other damage.”

Sorensen brings them “back to life” by using only actual parts in the repair and refurbishing process.

His shop is filled with boxes and cabinets of authentic electric train wheels, rods, screws and other parts. They are cleaned, replated and installed on the toy trains he services.

Besides repairs, he sells Lionel and Williams-built trains. He offers a full line of new and used equipment and will even build train layouts at homes and businesses.

Most model railroaders are in it for the nostalgia. Others just collect and never run them.

“Repairing and refurbishing old trains is a dying art form,” Sorensen said. “There aren’t many of us left.”

The business is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and from noon to 6 p.m. on weekends.