Standard Gauge (toy trains)
Encyclopedia
Standard Gauge, also known as Wide Gauge, was an early model railway and toy train
Toy train
A toy train is a toy that represents a train. It is distinguished from a model train by an emphasis on low cost and durability, rather than scale modeling. A toy train can be as simple as a pull toy that does not even run on track, or it might be operated by clockwork or a battery...

 rail gauge
Rail gauge
Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...

, introduced in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1906 by Lionel Corporation. As it was a toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

 standard, rather than a scale model
Scale model
A scale model is a physical model, a representation or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than the actual size of the object, which seeks to maintain the relative proportions of the physical size of the original object. Very often the scale model is used as a guide to making the object in...

ing standard, the actual scale of Standard Gauge locomotives and rolling stock varied. It ran on three-rail
Third rail (model railroading)
The use of a third rail in model railroading is a technique that is sometimes applied in order to facilitate easier wiring.-Two-rail versus three-rail system:Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains...

 track whose running rails were apart.

Origins

Lionel dubbed its new standard Standard Gauge and trademarked the name. Lionel's Standard Gauge should not be confused with standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

 for real railroads, or the later 1:64 scale S gauge popularized by American Flyer
American Flyer
American Flyer was a popular brand of toy train and model railroad in the United States in the middle part of the 20th century.- The Chicago era, 1907–1938 :...

 after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Due to the trademark, Lionel's competitors mostly called their similar offerings Wide Gauge.

Historians disagree on Lionel's reason for creating Standard Gauge, giving two stories. One story is that Lionel misread the specifications for Märklin
Märklin
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Wurttemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accessories, today it is best known for model railways and technical toys...

's European Gauge 2, measuring the distance between the inside portion of the rails rather than between the centers of the rails as Märklin did, thus accidentally making a slightly larger and incompatible standard. The other story is that the change was a deliberate effort to lock out European competition by creating incompatible trains. While many believe the latter is more likely, since several U.S. companies such as Carlisle & Finch
Carlisle & Finch
Carlisle & Finch is a producer of nautical equipment and searchlights, and the inventor of the electric toy train. It is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History :...

 were producing trains to that standard, no definitive proof in favor of either theory has ever surfaced.

Lionel's competitors

Whatever the reason for its initial creation, Lionel's Standard Gauge caught on at the expense of Gauges 1 and 2. No fewer than four American competitors adopted Lionel's gauge: Ives
Ives Manufacturing Company
The Ives Manufacturing Company, an American toy manufacturer from 1868 to 1932, was the largest manufacturer of toy trains in the United States from 1910 until 1924, when Lionel Corporation overtook it in sales.-Early history:...

 in 1921, Boucher
Boucher Manufacturing Company
The Boucher Manufacturing Company was an American toy company that specialized in toy boats and toy trains. It is best remembered today as the last manufacturer of Standard Gauge/Wide gauge toy trains until the much smaller McCoy Manufacturing revived the old standard in the mid-1960s.Boucher...

 in 1922, Dorfan
Dorfan
Dorfan was an American toy company based in Newark, New Jersey, specializing in O gauge and Wide gauge toy trains. It was founded in 1924 by Milton and Julius Forcheimer, two immigrants from Nuremberg, Germany, whose family was involved in the production of Fandor trains. The company is named for...

 in 1924, and American Flyer in 1925. While all the manufacturers' track was the same size and the trains and buildings approximately the same scale, the couplers for the most part remained incompatible, making it impossible to mix train cars from different manufacturers without modification.

The increased number of manufacturers seemed to give legitimacy to Lionel's gauge, and because the boom of the 1920s made large toy trains affordable, Standard Gauge had its heyday in the mid-1920s only to virtually disappear during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. Ives filed for bankruptcy in 1928 and its offerings were off the market by 1932. American Flyer discontinued its Standard Gauge trains in 1932. Dorfan went out of business in 1934. Lionel discontinued Standard Gauge trains in 1940. Boucher, the last of the Standard/Wide Gauge manufacturers, folded in 1943.

O gauge, was smaller, less expensive to manufacture and it required less space to operate a layout. Thus became the most popular scale in the United States almost by default.

After Lionel

However, Standard Gauge managed to survive in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. Doggenweiler, a firm in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, produced a small quantity of trains in Standard Gauge and Gauge 2 from 1933 until about 1960. Standard Gauge also was revived in the United States in the 1950s by the small firm of McCoy Manufacturing
McCoy Manufacturing
McCoy Manufacturing was a small American toy train manufacturer, based in Kent, Washington. It specialized in Standard gauge trains reminiscent of Lionel's offerings from the 1920s....

, who produced trains of original design well into the 1990s. In the 1970s, Williams Electric Trains
Williams Electric Trains
Williams Electric Trains is an American toy train and model railroad manufacturer, based in Columbia, Maryland. That was recently sold to Bachmann Industries in October 2007....

 began producing and marketing reproductions of Lionel trains of the 1920s and 1930s. This line was later marketed by Lionel itself, and is now produced and marketed by MTH Electric Trains
MTH Electric Trains
MTH Electric Trains, formerly Mike's Train House, is an American toy train and model railroad designer, importer, and manufacturer, based in Columbia, Maryland...

.

A number of smaller manufacturers, mostly one- and two-person operations, hand-build and market reproductions of very early Standard Gauge trains.

Manufacturers

  • American Flyer
    American Flyer
    American Flyer was a popular brand of toy train and model railroad in the United States in the middle part of the 20th century.- The Chicago era, 1907–1938 :...

  • Bing
    Bing (company)
    Bing or Gebrüder Bing was a German toy company founded in 1863 in Nuremberg, Germany by two brothers, Ignaz and Adolf Bing, originally producing metal kitchen utensils.-History:...

  • Boucher
    Boucher Manufacturing Company
    The Boucher Manufacturing Company was an American toy company that specialized in toy boats and toy trains. It is best remembered today as the last manufacturer of Standard Gauge/Wide gauge toy trains until the much smaller McCoy Manufacturing revived the old standard in the mid-1960s.Boucher...


  • Dorfan
    Dorfan
    Dorfan was an American toy company based in Newark, New Jersey, specializing in O gauge and Wide gauge toy trains. It was founded in 1924 by Milton and Julius Forcheimer, two immigrants from Nuremberg, Germany, whose family was involved in the production of Fandor trains. The company is named for...

  • Ives
    Ives Manufacturing Company
    The Ives Manufacturing Company, an American toy manufacturer from 1868 to 1932, was the largest manufacturer of toy trains in the United States from 1910 until 1924, when Lionel Corporation overtook it in sales.-Early history:...

  • Lionel Corporation

  • McCoy
    McCoy Manufacturing
    McCoy Manufacturing was a small American toy train manufacturer, based in Kent, Washington. It specialized in Standard gauge trains reminiscent of Lionel's offerings from the 1920s....

  • MTH
    MTH Electric Trains
    MTH Electric Trains, formerly Mike's Train House, is an American toy train and model railroad designer, importer, and manufacturer, based in Columbia, Maryland...

  • Williams
    Williams Electric Trains
    Williams Electric Trains is an American toy train and model railroad manufacturer, based in Columbia, Maryland. That was recently sold to Bachmann Industries in October 2007....



See also

  • Rail transport modelling
    Rail transport modelling
    Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale...

  • Three-rail track
    Third rail (model railroading)
    The use of a third rail in model railroading is a technique that is sometimes applied in order to facilitate easier wiring.-Two-rail versus three-rail system:Early toy trains used two metal rail tracks like most real trains...

  • Gauge 1
  • Gauge 2
  • Rail transport modelling scales
    Rail transport modelling scales
    Rail transport modelling utilises a variety of scales to ensure scale models look correct when placed next to each other. Model railway scales are standardized worldwide by many organizations and hobbyist groups...

  • Model railway scales

  • External links

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