toy industry and by 1958 reported a net loss of $469,057. Company founder Joshua Cowen officially retired that same year. On September 8, 1965, Joshua Cowen died at the age of 88 in Palm Beach, Florida. Beginning in the 1960s Lionel attempted to further diversify into other product lines, such as phonographs, science, weather station and plastics engineering kits while toy train sales continued to decline and with the company enduring a series of management turnovers. In 1967 Lionel purchased American Flyer trains from bankrupt A. C. Gilbert Company, but did not have a new catalog for that year. In December 1968 Ronald Saypol, Joshua Cowen's former grandson-in-law, became President and CEO of the Lionel Corporation, and in the following year, in an attempt to divest the company of what was by then determined to be a cash drain by the board and shareholders, began negotiations to sell their toy train line and lease the Lionel name to Model Products Corporation (MPC), a subsidiary of General Mills, Inc. 1969 would be the final year the Lionel Corporation published a toy train catalog and manufactured O gauge trains. Models Lionel started the postwar period in 1945 with a train set introducing remote-control uncoupling. The locomotive was the 224, a pre-war carryover 2-6-2 prairie. In 1947, Lionel produced a model of the Pennsylvania Railroad's GG1. One year later, Lionel began production of their famous Santa Fe F3. As a direct descendant of the pre-war 763E locomotive, in 1950, Lionel released the 773, another scale Hudson. The Lionel FA model was also introduced in 1950. Considered by many collectors and operators to be the best postwar Lionel locomotive is the 746 released in 1957. It is a model of Norfolk and Western's J class steam engine. During both the pre-war and post-war eras, Lionel made many models of electric locomotives; during the post-war era, Lionel made models of the EP-5 and Virginian EL-C in addition to the GG1. From 1946 through 1949, Lionel issued the 726 2-8-4 Berkshire, which is a prized item today. from 1950 to 1951, Lionel produced the 736 Berkshire, which was basically a 726 with Magne-Traction. In 1952, the Korean war caused a shortage of magnetic materials, so Lionel reissued the 726 as the 726rr (726 rerun). From 1953 all the way until 1968, the 736 was produced again. Construction set During the post-war period, Lionel produced a construction