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Post by thebigcrabcake on Feb 21, 2020 0:25:08 GMT
Ok, in the spirit of retracing history......here is the definitive beginning of the “Toy Mfrs USA” logos appearing on those 1940’s Lionel orange boxes. From my research this appears to be a type, or if you will, a seal of approval by the Toy MFRs USA organization established in 1916 and now known as the Toy Association. Everything you would care to know about the organization and its mission over the years is located here....... www.toyassociation.org/App_Themes/tia/pdfs/events/centenary/theycametoplay.pdf. The site even includes a diagram of the organization over the past 100 years....some excerpts shown below... -Pete Outstanding find Pete. I spent my lunch hour going over the PDF History of the Toy Association. It's interesting the level of Legislative involvement the Toy companies (Lionel Included) engaged in. Even now there is a Congressional Toy Caucus in Washington, DC. That's big business and big money! The toy companies like to taut their "Humble" beginnings, but they weren't humble for long. Emile
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Post by thebigcrabcake on Feb 21, 2020 0:28:55 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2020 0:53:15 GMT
Colber was a company started up by two guys. I can't recall the main part of their business but they did maufacture train accessories such as the bridge you have pictured. The company was sold off. I'll need to do some digging to get the facts.
There's an article in the latest isuue of Classic Toy Trains that gives quite a bit of info on Colber. Not sure if they mention anything about them producing bridges.
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Post by bfi66 on Feb 21, 2020 1:01:16 GMT
Google search indicates they made aquite a few train accessories besides the bridge. Interesting they were located in Irvington, Nj ......the same as Lionel at one point.
-Pete
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Post by thebigcrabcake on Feb 21, 2020 1:36:55 GMT
Colber was a company started up by two guys. I can't recall the main part of their business but they did maufacture train accessories such as the bridge you have pictured. The company was sold off. I'll need to do some digging to get the facts. There's an article in the latest isuue of Classic Toy Trains that gives quite a bit of info on Colber. Not sure if they mention anything about them producing bridges. It would be great is we could find a Colber catalog from the Late 1940's. It looks like Colber was ahead of the curve on Freight Sounds with this record. Notice in this photo from TRAINZ.COM how similar the Colber box is to the Lionel box. That couldn't have been an accident. If they weren't actually affiliated with Lionel, they sure were trying to look like it. Emile
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Post by Adam on Feb 21, 2020 2:05:51 GMT
Just by sheer coincidence, Roger Carp has an article in the latest CTT about Cobler. They were one of the first companies to offer gift packs that basically included a few accessories for the layout. Seems like they were a fairly creative company. Interest article. I’ve never heard of Cobler until I read it.
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Post by Country Joe on Feb 21, 2020 4:31:42 GMT
Emile, I had a bridge very much like the one you showed but I'm 98% sure it was made by Marx.
I also remember having a record of train sounds. As best as I remember it was made by Lionel but I might well be wrong about this as it was about 60 years ago.
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Post by bfi66 on Feb 21, 2020 5:44:22 GMT
Ok, Emile....looks like your bridge was made in 1949 by Colber Corporation, a competitor of Lionel. Here’s the history. -Pete
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Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2020 10:55:02 GMT
Ok, Emile....looks like your bridge was made in 1949 by Colber Corporation, a competitor of Lionel. Here’s the history. -Pete Interesting article Pete. I'm surprised they were able to get away with their packaging and the colors that were used. Maybe Lionel thought that potential customers would automatically think Lionel when they looked at a Colber box. A case of subliminal advertising. Gary.
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Post by bfi66 on Feb 21, 2020 13:00:46 GMT
Gary, from the article and what I researched, Colber intentionally tried to imitate Lionel’s boxes and only developed their own look after Lionel threatened a lawsuit.
This has been a fun research project.....looking forward to Emile’s next mission into this historical treasure hunt!
-Pete
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Post by highvoltage on Feb 21, 2020 15:34:56 GMT
That envelope is the coolest piece of history from that collection. I can imagine Mr. D as a little boy receiving this train and catalog. I recall how cool it was when I got my first train in the early 80s. Mr. D did the same in the 40s, when trains absolutely were on the top of the list for most boys. Very neat that this envelope survived! It is very interesting to take this look back. Even the return address is historical: No zip code! Just "New York 10, NY". What did that mean? It's all fascinating. In 1943 the post office began dividing large cities into delivery zones, using up to two digits, which were inserted between the city and state. That all changed in 1963 when they adopted zip codes.
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Post by thebigcrabcake on Feb 21, 2020 15:45:01 GMT
It is very interesting to take this look back. Even the return address is historical: No zip code! Just "New York 10, NY". What did that mean? It's all fascinating. In 1943 the post office began dividing large cities into delivery zones, using up to two digits, which were inserted between the city and state. That all changed in 1963 when they adopted zip codes. Excellent explanation! So the Lionel office located at 15 East 26th Street was in New York Postal Zone "10". Almost 80 years later were using 9 digits with ZIP+4. A lot has changed but Mr. D's 2020 will soon be running just like it did back then.
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Post by Adam on Feb 22, 2020 15:06:35 GMT
Looking forward to seeing it run. These are very well made and will run forever with the proper TLC. BTW, of all of my Pullmor powered engines, this one runs the strongest and seems to be able to run at a decently low speed, something not very common on Pullmors.
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Post by thebigcrabcake on Feb 26, 2020 2:44:53 GMT
Next up on Mr D's collection, we have the Lionel No. 310 Billboard Set. This set was produced from 1949 - 1968 and consisted of two components; a set of five green frames and a set of billboards. The green frames were produced in both light and dark green, with the darker version being more common. Original billboards were sold as a set of 10 billboards and gradually decreased to only 5 billboards in the 1960's. Mr. D's collection is missing the frames and 2 of the billboards have been mounted to plywood. While the collection has 11 billboards, 1 is a duplicate which was likely a replacement for it's damaged look-alike. Does the set of 10 billboards help us date the set? When was this combination offered or were they always random like baseball cards? What material would the frames from our set have been made of and in which shade of green? What do you think?
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Post by Country Joe on Feb 26, 2020 3:51:33 GMT
I don't know anything about this set so I won't be able to help.
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