Early Toys Trains
by Wayne Mattox
About 100 years before Neil Armstrong took "one
giant leap for mankind" another historic milestone was
attained when rival railroads Union Pacific and Central
Pacific met at Promontory Point, Utah. When the last two
spikes were produced, one of gold and one of silver,
Western Union telegraph wires relayed the message
instantaneously to the nation. From Philadelphia to San
Francisco bells clanged and people cheered. Many
hardships and difficulties were encountered in the wild
five year race that laid down 1,776 miles of track. The
result was that mankind could now ride her great "iron
horse" from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The west was
open and a new modern era had begun.
Grasping even the basic fundamentals in a
subject as colossal as antique toy trains is a huge chore
left best in the hands of specialists. However, for
enthusiasts and treasure hunters the topic is too
important to dismiss. This column's perennial message is
that you already understand more about antiques than you
know. To imagine the experience of a locomotive crossing
paths with a wagon train is to comprehend our
forefather's shared joy when the costly toy model was
unwrapped around this time of the year. That enthusiasm
is carried on by collector's today.
The earliest toy trains were hand-fashioned out
of lead and tin from the cottage industries of Germany
and France. Models made for the American market will
often include American names on the cars and the
locomotives will be front-fitted with the western
"cow-catcher." In England, instrument makers fabricated
sophisticated models out of iron and brass for rich
children and their parents.
Early American toy industries mass-produced
their products due to shortages of labor, focusing on
locomotives. The first American self-propelled
"clockwork" tinplate trains were produced in 1856 by
George W. Brown & Company. Not surprisingly, Brown
was located in the center of America's clock making
industry; Forestville, CT. Pioneer toy manufacturers like
Ives of Bridgeport, CT, Wikins of Keene, NH, Carpenter of
Port Chester, NY, and Milton Bradley, of Springfield, MA,
followed suit producing wide varieties of trains from
tin, cast iron, and lithographed wood block. Pristine
examples of these early vintage toys can fetch hundreds
and even thousands of dollars today.
The great German toy company Marklin (whose
ingenious antique toys are amongst the most sought after
today) revolutionized the train industry by introducing
tinplate track in standardized sections in 1891, and
electric train sets in 1898. The train was no longer just
a toy to be scooted about on the floor like a wooden
boat; it was now part of an operable railway
system.
Late 19th and 20th century model trains are
distinguished by the width of their track, called
"gauge." Dominant 19th C. German firms like Marklin, Karl
Bub, Plank, and Bing were gradually surmounted in the
early 20th century by American electric train
manufacturers Ives, American Flyer, and Lionel. Joshua
Lionel Cowen, founder of Lionel Corporation understood
that the new generation of children would tire of toys
that just go round in circles. He introduced interactive
automated systems to his train sets that raised bridges,
pumped oil, and herded cattle so that the "little nippers
wouldn't set fire to the curtains."
Following the path of its archetype, the glory
days of the toy train and the model railroad would end
shortly after the conclusion of W.W.II. The great era of
the iron horse will always be remembered by collectors of
history.
by AntiqueTalk.com
Reprinted with
permission
Copyright by
Wayne Mattox ©
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