Last night I just finished assembling a cabinet and suddenly I was struck by the unusual idea to try finding if people are still into the old metal construction set toys many of you probably have seen or played with in the past.
What I discovered didn't let me go to bed until 5 a.m.
I entered a world of people called meccanomen, felt the excitement of the kids that once was playing with their Bayco builders and believe it or not - I saw working models of steam toys that are still in production.
Enter the world of Meccano
Meccano is a company founded in 1901 by Frank Hornby - a remarkable man who got bored of cutting metal to make authentic toys for his children and invented a construction system that allowed every kid to construct their own toys or follow instructions and build pre-created models printed on a paper manual.
Photo by Elsie esq. on Foter.com / CC BY
Did you recall some memories from your childhood? :) This company is still producing metal construction sets and owns a manufacturing facility in Calais, France. They've built a whole movement and if you start reading about the subject you'll discover that it started from the very beginning of 20th century. Nowadays there are clubs, exhibitions, competitions annual meetings, second hand markets for old sets and parts and a whole bunch of incredible Meccano models. Just search for 'Meccano' or 'Meccano models'on Youtube and take a look at few videos. I could bet that if you are at least 30 years old male your head will start spinning in less than 10 minutes of watching.
Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is another legendary British brand founded by the same man who invents the Meccano system back in 1901. Frank is an incredible personality and it's worth checking his biography somewhere. It offered a number of railway models since 1901. The brand is still alive and popular among the railway models society and millions of kids.
Photo by James E. Petts on Foter.com / CC BY-SA
Steam Toys by Mamod
Mamod specialize in live steam models. It was found more than 80 years ago by Geoffrey Malins. Since then the company has build a legendary image of a leader in this so unique sub-niche. What you see on the image below is their 1312 Steam Roller who's still in production. I guess this one is made somewhere in the 1960s. I found a brand new 1312 Steam Roller for £162.20 on the company eShop.
Photo by Elsie esq. on Foter.com / CC BY
Here's one of the many videos I could find yourself if you start researching about the company's toys:
And lastly we'll head over to a company who was manufacturing plastic building sets between 1934 and 1967.
Bayko
The company's building sets were popular both among boys and girls. The building toy was invented by Charles Bird Plimpton who has initially saw its future as a construction set for modelling buildings. Here's one of the relatively smaller models of a house.
Photo by foundin_a_attic on Foter.com / CC BY
Since this brand is already part of the British toys history, I was excited to discover http://www.bayko.org.uk as one of the main resources to read and learn about the toys and its thriving community.
I've grown up with my metal construction set and various types of vehicles.
What were your favorite childhood toys?
P.S. I found much more interesting brands like MINIBRIX and Dinky Toys, but just couldn't include absolutely everything in a single post. I reserve the right to publish another post devoted on the old British posts, but my honest advice would be heading over to Google and discovering some curious facts by yourself - it's far more exciting!