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. 

Collecting - And Collecting Information 35

When labels fail

In the early postwar years, Japan provided a steady supply of inexpensive toys to the American market. Many of these cheap tin toys were brought in by American importers under their own brand. Others were simply brought in and distributed to jobbers for placement in dime stores, department stores, and pharmacies.

Margins were low, and it was never about brands -- just price. Many of the small friction cars I've accumulated for the Straco Display Layout have no logos on them. Sometimes it's possible to figure out which company made a particular piece. 

If a company didn't always brand their toys, the original packaging can often help.  But not always.

Another dead end

When I saw this new old stock convertible for sale, I was hopeful. It's identical (save in color) to one I already own (see Straco Express Layout, Part 35). The vehicle itself has nothing to indicate which company made it.

The new old stock convertible (top), and the example
I own (bottom). Origin still unknown.

Unfortunately, neither does the packaging. The label simply reads "Four wheels friction car, Japan" in a generic font. Obviously, these toys were made for the low end of a rack jobbers' selection. My guess is they retailed for a nickel or less, and were sold in the late 1950s.

And another insight

I ran across another vintage Japanese friction car in its original packaging on eBay. The label was of better quality than the convertible's. It was printed on cardstock and in color! The information was equally unhelpful, though. "Assorted Cars" is pretty generic.

But I own an example of that same vehicle (see Straco Express, Part 31). So I know the car itself is branded. On the side is the "TN" trademark of Nomura. And that provides some additional information. Nomura either provided an importer with these cars, or another Japanese company sourced them to put together packages for importers.

Either way, I now know that Nomura was at least one of the suppliers for "Assorted Cars." The next step will be to find other vehicles in bags with this same label. Will they all be Nomura toys? Hard to say. Nomura usually put their brand on the packaging (even when making products for other companies). I think it likely that other toy manufacturers also provided products for "Assorted Cars" (whoever they were).

No question - this is the same car that 's in the bag.

And there's the TN mark on the back.

Straco Express Layout, Part 62 - Nomura Variations

Read all the installments of the Straco Express layout project here.

I recently added a new vehicle to the display layout, and it's one with some interesting features (at least, I think so).

There's something a little odd about this Nomura vehicle.
Note the side windows.

Made by Nomura

Nomura was pretty consistent about branding their pieces -- even those made for another company. In this case, their TN logo is easy to find on the side.

The design is readily recognizable as well. I already own a set of four Nomura service vehicles. The cars have the same chassis and their bodies are stamped in the same shape.

My original set included a taxi, a police car, and a fire chief's car. And this vehicle is also a working car. Note the uniformed driver in the front and the passengers in the back.  This is a chauffeured limousine.

Two passengers in the back, a uniformed driver at the wheel.
Home, James!

 A question of sequence

Here are the four Nomura cars together.
I believe the limousine was made sometime after the other three.

Setting the cars side-by-side it's easy to see that they are identical, save their lithography. But were they made at the same time? 

I don't think so. The limousine has a shiny plated chassis. It's actually a little thinner than the duller alloy chassis of the other three. 

I believe that the limousine was made in late 1962 or early 1963, at the end of the pure tinplate era. 

In 1963 the United States passed child safety regulations for toys. The stricture against sharp edges spelled the end for most tinplate toys. 

Molded plastic had no sharp edges, and Japanese toy companies quickly made the transition to plastic-bodied vehicles. 

End of an era?

Right from the beginning of the era in 1949, companies looked for ways to economize the manufacture of their toys -- particularly these inexpensive toys that were sold by jobbers to dime stores and drug stores. 

The metal shell and chassis of the limousine is much lighter (relatively speaking) to those of the set. That tells me that it's very late in the life cycle of this toy. 

An oddity

There's something else, too. These vehicles have the occupants projected onto all the windows. To indicate someone's sitting in the back, their head will be shown on the back window and the side window. This limousine has a design error. The driver is not shown in profile on the side window. Whoops.

Still an interesting piece

The Nomura limousine is still a welcome addition to the Straco display layout. It's especially good for use with the Shioji trucks. Proportionally, the larger Nomura cars look correct with the Shioji trucks. 

Layout construction:

• Pegboard: $4.95
• Flathead Screws: $0.40
• Molding: $2.49
• SilClear: borrowed from a friend
• Green Paint: leftover  from another project
• Wood Screws: $3.60
• Felt Pads: $1.99

Power Pack: $5.90
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29

Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
Bandai Station: $10.00
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99
Cragstan HO Light Tower $20.49
4 nesting houses $4.99
Tinplate gas station: $5.00

Vehicles:

• Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00
• A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
• Taxi: $2.99
• Ambulance: $2.99
• Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
• Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
• Haji three-wheel tanker $5.00
• 1950's sedan $2.99
• LineMar Police Car $9.00
• LineMar Pepco Truck $8.50
• LineMar Bond Bread Van $8.00
• LineMar Fire Engine $4.95
• LineMar Dump Truck $12.99
• LineMar GE Courier Car $10.98
• LineMar County School Bus $9.99
• Nomura Red Sedan $5.00
• Nomura Police Car $2.52
• Nomura lumber truck $3.48
• Nomura limousine $11.99
• 6 Nomura vehicles $16.99
• Shioji Express Truck $10.00
• Shioji Covered Truck $12.50
• Shioji Dump Truck $9.95
• Shioji Shell Tanker $10.50
• Shioji Tow Truck $25.00
• Orange Sedan $10.99
• King Sedan $9.95
• Indian Head logo sedan $4.99
• Indian Head (?) convertible $18.00
• Yellow/red Express truck $9.99
• Red limousine FREE
• Jeep $12.00

Total Project Cost: $324.29

Collecting - and Collecting Information Part 30

Starting from nothing

There is very little source material about the Japanese toy manufacturers of the early postwar period. Most of it centers around the currently popular areas of collecting: space and robot toys, and large metal car models. Well-researched reference works can help you date a particular piece, and identify its Japanese manufacturer and its American importer.

No such luck for these companies' entry-level toys. There are no reference books -- just information printed on the boxes.

Nomura, the original

Most of the larger companies, such as Nomura, Alps, and Yonezawa, supplied toys to several U.S. importers. And sometimes interchangeably. These cross-currents complicate the picture -- like the examples below, made by Nomura.

The original - made by Nomura (TN), branded by Nomura.

The first example is the original box art for this Santa Fe H0 set. The Nomura logo ("TN" in a diamond) is right there on the box. The set is exactly as pictured. And note how artfully it's pictured. The last part of the second boxcar is hidden behind some trees, implying more freight cars and a long train.

Not so. One locomotive, two boxcars, that's it.

Rosko, the importer (of Nomura)

The second set is branded Rosko Tested. Rosko was a US importer of battery-operated tin toys in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As you can see, Nomura didn't go out of their way to change the cover art for Rosko. The maintenance instructions have been resized and moved over to make room for the Rosko logo. And, for some reason, a red film was laid over the front of the loco.

I don't think the color change on this box art is fooling anyone.

At this time, four-color printing involved using different plates of film - one for each for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. If you wanted to alter the image, you had to change each color plate the change affected. The black plate had to be changed, of course. And the only other color in the Rosko logo is red (which would change the magenta plate).

So why overlay the loco with extra magenta?

No idea. The set inside is still the same, with bold red, yellow, and black Santa Fe markings. Did they want the box to look different in case the two brands showed up side by side in a dime store? Perhaps, but I doubt the average customer would notice.

Whether branded Nomura or Rosko, the contents are the same.

No, this one's a mystery.

Distler vs. Nomura, Part 2

The American importer Cragstan brought in a tinplate toy passenger train from the German firm Distler in the late 1950s. In the early 1960s, they imported a tinplate toy passenger train from the Japanese firm Nomura. 

Were they the same? In Part 1, I compared the rolling stock. But the real answer was in the locomotives.

Even placed side by side, it's easy to see some differences in the lithography between the Distler and Nomura locomotive. Superficially, though, they appeared almost identical.

Nomura diesel (top) and Distler diesel (bottom)

Distler (left) and Nomura (right) - there are slight variations in the design.

When I turned over both locomotives, it was easy to see that the mechanisms were more than a little different.

Nomura (left) and Distler (left). Note the Distler motor casing.

The Distler motor was encased in a thick, clear plastic shell.

The Nomura motor was more basic.

Distler was famous for their motors, and I can see why. The contacts were stronger than Nomura's, and the clear plastic casing kept the motor dirt-free. The gears are more precise, making the motor work more efficiently (although, like Nomura's, it only provided enough power to pull the two cars that came with the set).

The Nomura shell (left) had a metal weight, while the Distler (right) had just
a thick cardboard one.

Both locomotives had weights in the back to help the powered wheels maintain traction. The Distler motor was heavier and required less excess weight.

My original speculation was that Cragstan moved the manufacturing from Germany to Japan because of lower costs. I think that's now partially true. I don't believe Cragstan moved stampers and lithograph plates from one company to another. The differences in the locomotive decoration suggest that Nomura copied the Distler design (but not exactly). 

I think the lower costs were achieved by cheapening the product. The Nomura motor was certainly less expensive than Distler's. And by using a tighter radius curve, they reduced the circumference of the loop. And that made the track was less expensive, too.  

 And both companies continued to use their versions of this set. Nomura made freight sets and added flashing lights to the locomotive.

Distler, according to Spur00 originated the design. They offered this German prototype train in 1957, along with the Santa Fe set. As you can see, only the nose was changed. 

The Distler TD5000 set featured a powered and dummy locomotive.

This TD5000 set came in several configurations. The train was available in either brown or green. All the sets featured a powered and a dummy locomotive. Some only had the two pieces, while larger sets added a passenger car (with a different frame than the Cragstan-commissioned set). 

As I said in Part 1 -- there's nothing like first-hand research. Through it, I was able to better understand the relationship between two toy companies with a common importer.

Distler vs. Nomura - Part 1

There's nothing like first-hand research.

I've written before about how closely the Distler passenger train set imported by Cragstan from West Germany in the late 1950s resembled the Nomura passenger train set imported by Cragstan from Japan in the early 1960s.  (see: Japanese Litho Train Sets, Part 3)

My theory was that Cragstan had ordered the set from Distler, then switched suppliers to Nomura, taking the stampers and designs with them.

After obtaining a Distler passenger set, I revised that theory -- especially after I compared the two sets side by side.

Distler passenger car (top) and Nomura passenger car (bottom)

Comparing passenger cars from the two companies, I found them virtually identical. The Distler graphics more closely resemble European prototypes, but the frames, bodies, trucks and couplers were the same.

There were two primary differences. Distler's couplers held the cars closer together than Nomura's. And their track had a wider radius. But even with that gentler curve, Distler's cars still almost touched each other.

So far, the contrasts were interesting, but not particularly meaningful. 

But further research (thanks to the discovery of the German website Spur00.de) revealed that Distler also used these same basic designs for some European sets offered at the same time. Since only the one passenger set was imported by Cragstan, it seemed unlikely that the stampers and designs originated with the American importer. 

Then I looked at the locomotives, which I'll cover in Part 2.

Straco Express Layout, Part 54 - Milwaukee Set Complete!

Read all the installments of the Straco Express layout project here.

It wasn't that long ago that I wrote about the Nomura Milwaukee set I was slowly accumulating (see:
Part 52 - Nomura Milwaukee Road Flashing Light Diesel). I knew the Nomura set consisted of three pieces: an F3 diesel, a box car, and a gondola car. I had found the gondola car a while ago, and only recently acquired the diesel.

Then I went to theTrain Collectors Association (TCA) Eastern Division toy train meet in York, PA. (see: Lessons from York). At the meet, I ran into a collector who was looking for me. He'd been reading about the Straco Express project, and he had a present -- a working Milwaukee Road set.

It had been part of a box lot he'd bought at auction, and wanted me to have it -- free! I'm very grateful -- I had never seen the boxcar appear on the market, and even if it had, I wasn't really prepared to pay a lot for it. Well, you can't beat free.

And when I got it home I discovered some interesting things when comparing them to similar sets that Nomura produced.

I had assumed that the only alteration to the boxcar graphics was a change in the primary color and the addition of the Milwaukee logo. As you can see, that's not quite the case.

From the Flashing Light Santa Fe set (top) and
Flashing Light Milwaukee set (bottom)

Nomura changed some other elements of the lithography, which is a little surprising. There's no need to shift the numbers around.

This shot makes it easier to see the difference in couplers. Milwaukee set at
left, Santa Fe set at right. Note the small differences in the design, and
that both sport the Nomura logo - "TN" in a diamond.

The second thing I noticed is the relative ages of these pieces is apparent. The brown car (top) is newer. That confirms that the sets with the simpler couplers were made first, then the more complex couplers added later. So now I believe the manufacturing order to be:

1) Freight Set - Santa Fe diesel, Santa Fe refrigerator car, Santa Fe stock car - simple hook couplers
2) Passenger Set - Santa Fe diesel, 2 Santa Fe passenger cars - simple hook and loop couplers
3) Milwaukee Road Flashing Light Set - Milwaukee Road illuminated diesel, blue Mobilgas automobile car, yellow Milwaukee Road gondola - simple hook couplers
4) Santa Fe Flashing Light Set - Santa Fe illuminated diesel, brown Mobilgas automobile car, green Santa Fe refrigerator car - Mantua-style hoop and latch couplers

When I took apart the first Milwaukee Road diesel I got, I discovered that Nomura used the recycled tin for a concealed flywheel.

See that yellow surface? That pulley started out life as something else.

The diesel I received at York also had a pulley made of recycled tin -- and in the very same color and pattern. That suggests that both of the locomotives were part of the same manufacturing run.

I'm grateful to my colleague for sharing this set with me. It's about time to put my duplicates on the market so others can enjoy them.

I believe this rounds out Nomura's H0 scale offerings. But without any reference materials to consult, I'm never quite sure...

Layout construction:

• Pegboard: $4.95
• Flathead Screws: $0.40
• Molding: $2.49
• SilClear: borrowed from a friend
• Green Paint: leftover  from another project
• Wood Screws: $3.60
• Felt Pads: $1.99

Power Pack: $5.90
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29

Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99
Cragstan HO Light Tower $20.49
4 nesting houses $4.99
Tinplate gas station: $5.00

Vehicles:Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00

• A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
• Taxi: $2.99
• Ambulance: $2.99
• Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
• Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
• Haji three-wheel tanker $5.00
• 1950's sedan $2.99
• LineMar Police Car $9.00
• LineMar Pepco Truck $8.50
• LineMar Bond Bread Van $8.00
• LineMar Fire Engine $4.95
• LineMar Dump Truck $12.99
• LineMar GE Courier Car $10.98
• LineMar County School Bus $9.99
• Nomura Red Sedan $5.00
• Nomura Police Car $2.52
• Nomura lumber truck $3.48
• 6 Nomura vehicles $16.99
• Orange Sedan $10.99
• King Sedan $9.95
• Indian Head logo sedan $4.99
• Indian Head (?) convertible $18.00
• Yellow/red Express truck $9.99
• Red limousine FREE

Total Project Cost: $238.35

Straco Express Layout, Part 53 - Nomura/Rosko Flashing Light Train Set

Right color, but the wrong number of cars.

Read all the installments of the Straco Express layout project here.

Recently I found -- and purchased -- three Nomura train sets in rapid succession. Individually, each one provided some additional information about Nomura's manufacturing processes and marketing. And collectively, they provided even more. This and the next two Straco Display Layout posts covers these three sets, with some cross-referencing between them.

Part 51 - Nomura Santa Fe Flashing Light Set
Part 52 - Nomura Milwaukee Road Flashing Light Diesel
Part 53 - Nomura/Rosko Flashing Light Train Set

The third Nomura set I found was a Rosko Electric Train Set. This set came in two different versions -- with and without a tank car. I was lucky enough to find a set with the tank car. Examining the set, along with photos of other sets and my recent acquisitions helped me flesh out my knowledge of this piece.

This is the set found in the box pictured above. Note that
the train is blue (rather than red, as pictured on the box)
Also note the power pack and cardboard accessories. These
are identical to those in my Nomura-branded Santa Fe set.

Even though it was branded as Rosko, this is clearly a Nomura-made set. The cars -- as well as the box top -- bear the "TN" Nomura brand. The box shape and design mirror those of the Nomura flashing light sets.

The cardboard figures that came with the set are the same that Nomura put in their own sets.

The locomotive is remarkable, both in construction and complexity. It's modeled on the GMD 1001, a General Motors demonstrator unit built in 1956, and retired in 1958. The GMD 1001 was designed to tow locomotives needing repair but didn't have the horsepower to handle the new, heavier diesel being built.

The unit had a two-year run GM London, Ontario locomotive plant.According to Old Time Trains, only five other units were built. Those were shipped to Brazil.

The prototype for the Rosko/Nomura locomotive

So how did such an obscure prototype come to the attention of Nomura's toy designers? Perhaps someone at Rosko in the States was a train buff. It's a mystery, for sure.

Not the two drive shafts on either side of the motor.

Like the Nomura flashing light F3's the 1001 has a rotating light bulb. The mechanism is a little different, though. The light perches atop the motor. The cab has red opaque plastic windows for the light to (sort of) shine through, plus an opening on the top of the cab.

All of the other Nomura sets have two pieces of rolling stock. The Rosko set has three, and perhaps because of this, the 1001 has a beefed up motor. Unlike the F3's both trucks are powered through the same drive shaft.

This is the set I purchased.

The rolling stock is also unusual. When I first obtained a Rosko box car, I noted the differences between it and the standard Nomura box car (see Collecting and Collecting Information 15).

The other two Rosko cars are unique Nomura products. The tank car and the crane car share the same chassis. The crane car features an operating boom with a hand crank.  The hook and line were missing, so I replaced them with jeweler's chain and a bent wire hook.

The loop and hook couplers have an interesting feature. The hooks are all bent to the left, so you can just slide the couplers together. Both the locomotive and the crane only have couplers at one end, so you're kind of limited in how you connect the cars together.

Overall, the set has a striking appearance. Not only are the pieces beautifully lithographed, but there's a lot of extra detail added. The box car has embossed slats; the crane car has an open cab for the boom cable.

The Rosko/Nomura set. Just as great-looking as the box art, I think.

The GMD 1001 has multiple contoured surfaces, with a body that has five separate parts (plus a plastic horn) that needed to be joined by hand. By contrast, the Nomura F3 only has three pieces. It's a great addition to the Straco Display layout, and will probably be the last train set to join the collection. Unless I can find the two-car version in the blue livery, that is...

A great addition to the Sta

Layout construction:

• Pegboard: $4.95
• Flathead Screws: $0.40
• Molding: $2.49
• SilClear: borrowed from a friend
• Green Paint: leftover  from another project
• Wood Screws: $3.60
• Felt Pads: $1.99

Power Pack: $5.90
Small Houses: $3.00
Testor's Gray Paint for road: $1.29

Bandai Areo Station: $8.99
2 tinplate signs: $1.00
4 tinplate signs (with train) $5.99
Cragstan HO Light Tower $20.49
4 nesting houses $4.99
Tinplate gas station: $5.00

Vehicles:Two Japanese toy cars: $2.00

• A.W. Livestock truck: $4.99
• Taxi: $2.99
• Ambulance: $2.99
• Two Japanese patriotic cars: $6.99
• Haji three-wheel sedan $3.00
• Haji three-wheel tanker $5.00
• 1950's sedan $2.99
• LineMar Police Car $9.00
• LineMar Pepco Truck $8.50
• LineMar Bond Bread Van $8.00
• LineMar Fire Engine $4.95
• LineMar Dump Truck $12.99
• LineMar GE Courier Car $10.98
• LineMar County School Bus $9.99
• Nomura Red Sedan $5.00
• Nomura Police Car $2.52
• Nomura lumber truck $3.48
• 6 Nomura vehicles $16.99
• Orange Sedan $10.99
• King Sedan $9.95
• Indian Head logo sedan $4.99
• Indian Head (?) convertible $18.00
• Yellow/red Express truck $9.99
• Red limousine FREE

Total Project Cost: $238.35