BINNS ROAD – Welcome To the World of Classic 0 Gauge
Brian’s Train Room -U TUBE Videos
Clint’s Train Room
Plasticville Collector’s Association (PCA)
Ives Trains – Ivestrains.org
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE IVES MANUFACTURING COMPANY AND THE IVES TRAIN SOCIETY
The Ives Manufacturing Company of Bridgeport, CT was founded by Edward Ives in 1868 when it began making cast iron and mechanical toys. In 1900 a fire destroyed their factory and all the toy patterns. After rebuilding the factory Ives redesigned the toy line and began making clockwork trains that ran on sectional track instead of their existing mechanical floor trains. Ives continued to make clockwork trains until the company was shut down in 1932. Their earliest trains were O Gauge followed by 1 Gauge trains in 1904. The 1 Gauge line was intended to compete with the European toy train manufacturers. In 1910 Ives added electric toy trains to the O Gauge line. 1912 was the last year that cast iron floor toys appeared in the Ives catalogs. In 1913 Structiron construction sets were added to the Ives toy line but were discontinued in 1918 when they added clockwork powered boats to the toy line. The boats were dropped from the catalog in 1927. 1921 saw Ives phase out the 1 Gauge line of trains and introduce 2 1/4 inch Gauge trains. Ives used the term 2 1/4 inch Gauge since Lionel had a trademark on the term Standard Gauge. An important addition to the toy train line in 1924 was the R unit, the first automatic sequence reverse unit in the USA. Ives filed for bankruptcy in July of 1928 and the company was sold jointly to Lionel and American Flyer. In order to be able to fill orders for Christmas that year much of the line was made up of rebranded Lionel and American Flyer trains with Ives trucks, couplers and brass plates since Ives had so little inventory in the factory. In 1930 Lionel bought out American Flyer and began using their own car bodies, truck and couplers on Ives trains. By 1931 Ives trains were 100% Lionel design and construction. Lionel phased out Ives trains in 1932-33 during the Great Depression and rebranded some of the Ives line into the Lionel line.
Shortly after the demise of the Ives Company the Ives Train Society was formed by a group of Ives toy collectors in January of 1935. Kenneth R. Baldwin, Alfred Alain, Frances Cook and Edward Hoffman formed this organization to promote the collecting of Ives toy trains and to foster friendship among the hobby and to allow Ives toys to endure. They believed that Ives toys are among the finest toys produced in the World.
The Society continues to this day and has approximately 250 members. The Society’s website has a comprehensive photo library that is maintained by historian Dave McEntarfer. Dave has spent many years photographing Ives trains and accessories and the library contains nearly every known toy train and accessory made by Ives including all the variations of each item. The Library can be found on the Ives Train Society website home page under the Photo Library tab.