Collecting and Collecting Information 37 - Cragstan, Nomura, and Rosko

I've often said that the primary source of information about postwar Japanese tin toys is the packaging. (Yes, I know there are books available about the high-end car models, but that's the exception.). The set pictured below was listed on eBay.

It's a set I know quite well. The locomotive and the passenger cars are all branded "TN" in a diamond - the mark of Nomura. What's interesting about this set is that it was not imported by Cragstan, but by Rosko. Rosko Steele, Inc, usually branded "Rosko Tested." was another importer who dealt with many of the same Japanese toy makers as Cragstan. 

No question - this is a Rosko Steele import.

I had previously thought that this set was imported by Cragstan, as it was so similar to one they imported from Distler of Germany. (See Distler vs. Nomura)

The Distler-made set imported from West Germany by Cragstan.

But I've never seen an original box for the Nomura-made Santa Fe passenger set with the Cragstan mark. I have, though seen several examples of Nomura-made Rosko sets, including variants on the F3 diesel used in this set.

That  Santa Fe diesel was offered both with and without
flashing lights.

So perhaps I have it wrong. Original boxes prove that Rosko imported Nomura H0 tinplate trains. Original boxes tell me that Cragstan imported a similar set from Germany, and that in the mid-1960s imported a second train set from Distler. This one was plastic. But I don't have any direct evidence that Cragstan imported Nomura's H0 sets. Yet.

The evidence suggests that Nomura was Rosko's source for battery-operated H0 train sets. And perhaps that relationship was exclusive to Rosko.