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to Lionel in the interim. K-Line also licensed some of its technology to Lionel, and reimbursed $ 700,000 of legal costs. Shortly thereafter the settlement fell apart and on August 23, 2005, MDK filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. On October 27, K-Line and Lionel reached a new settlement, including a permanent injunction against manufacturing products containing the disputed technology, a $ 2 million damage claim in its bankruptcy case, and royalty-free access to several K-Line patents.
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237:-like Marxville buildings and accessories for train sets at bankruptcy. K-Line was able to recover additional Marx tooling by scavenging through old factories and warehouses. In an oft-repeated story, Maury Klein and his plant manager, Brent Chambers, found the molds for the Marx model 333 and 1829 4-6-2 locomotives in a dilapidated
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Over the next few months, K-Line's operations slowed and there were numerous layoffs and rumors of potential purchasers, which were highly publicized among hobbyists. On
February 16, 2006, Lionel announced it had purchased K-Line. Since Lionel was also in bankruptcy, the deal, which actually involved
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K-Line and Lionel were known to criticize one another's offerings in print advertisements, and the two companies challenged one another in court as well. The two companies settled the suit on August 10, with K-Line agreeing to withdraw the infringing products by
January 31, 2006 and paying a royalty
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During the first few years of this K-line by Lionel period, the extravagant passenger trains which competed directly with Lionel's premium products were conspicuously absent, with the initial offerings focusing more on K-Line's value line. Increasing amounts of scale products, including some of the
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In the 1990s, K-Line was able to purchase more disused tooling from other manufacturers, allowing it to offer full-size O gauge for the first time, which it supplemented with pricier O gauge locomotives and rolling stock of its own design. Shifting its emphasis away from its budget offerings, K-line
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Many collectors consider K-Line's 1:48 scale offerings to be not only the best value, but also the very best mass-produced O gauge trains. K-Line's heavyweight passenger cars are among those exhibited at The
Brandywine River Museum Railroad's annual "A Brandywine Christmas" celebration in Chadds
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By 1985, K-Line was producing O27 locomotives, cars, and figures from former Marx and Kusan tooling, and, with minor changes, began marketing them under the K-Line brand, competing with Lionel at the low end of the market. The dies mostly remained unchanged, with only the branding changing—for
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the purchase of K-Line by Sanda Kan, its
Chinese subcontractor, followed by Sanda Kan's licensing of the trademarks and intellectual property to Lionel, took several weeks to become final. The deal was finalized on April 18, 2006, and Lionel made the announcement the following day.
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Ford, PA. Its 21-inch extruded aluminum passenger cars are prized by 3-rail collectors and operators, and are often converted over to 2-rail "scale" operations. Lionel even began selling them for high dollars in 2010, before its license for K-Line products expired.
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made some of the very best mass-produced O scale trains with their detailed models that it released in its latter years. In
December 1996, about 20,000 model trains were recalled due to a potential fire hazard from the coil spring overheating if the train derails.
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to K-Line, and K-Line produced a number of repair manuals for postwar-era Lionel. K-Line has also produced commemorative cars celebrating some of Lionel's significant anniversaries, whose graphics has sometimes caused confusion among collectors.
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in the late 1970s. MDK first used the K-Line name on a line of aftermarket Lionel-compatible tubular track as well as a copy of the A.C. Gilbert
American Flyer line of two-rail S-Gauge track which Maury Klein acquired at Gilbert's demise.
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From 2006 through 2010, Lionel continued a limited run of K-Line trains called K-Line by Lionel, and issued separate K-Line by Lionel catalogs until 2010, when those products were folded into a section in Lionel's own catalog.
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example, "Marxville" plastic buildings became "K-Lineville". K-Line changed the couplers on the Marx-derived trains to make the cars compatible with Lionel, and, eventually, improved the graphics.
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During the 1980s, K-Line filled much the same role that Marx had in the model railroading arena, supplying similar trains at a lower price than Lionel, but with less prestige.
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The relationship between Lionel and K-Line had generally been more amicable than Lionel's relationship with MTH, before the 2005 legal debacle with Lionel. Lionel had licensed
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In a twist of fate, Lionel now has possession of the rights to produce
American Flyer track, which until now was missing from its American Flyer train line.
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More recently, the Lionel license expired, and Sanda Kan sold the dies to several other companies, with some going to each of Atlas, Bachmann, and RMT.
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Because K-Line's budget offerings remained almost unchanged from the old Marx designs, Marx collectors sometimes sourced spare parts from K-Line.
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license expired, and Sanda Kan sold the dies to several other companies, with some going to each of Atlas, Bachmann, and RMT.
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well known 21-inch alumumum passenger cars, were added late in Lionel's license period.
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in 1984. The warehouse was unlighted, unheated, and was missing part of its roof.
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locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings. Formerly the brand name under which
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This article is about the model railway company. For other uses, see
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dealer, and its mail-order ads appeared in magazines such as
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may be in need of reorganization to comply with
Knowledge's
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MDK was founded in 1975 by Maury D. Klein. Like competitor
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160:Learn how and when to remove this message
404:Model manufacturers of the United States
45:Relevant discussion may be found on the
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