There can’t be many of us who haven’t seen this train at one time or another.
But it’s not a model train from one of the big manufacturers we all know and love like Hornby, Märklin, Atlas or Bachmann.
No, this one predates all of those and yet it’s been played with by over half a billion people!
You probably won’t guess it so I’ll put you out of your misery.
It’s the train featured on the Monopoly boards and the train seen above is the actual toy train that the claimed inventor of the game, Charles Darrow, used for the four station illustrations on the game board.
According to Mike Mozar, who runs the rather cool Toy Channel on YouTube and is seen in the photo with the toy train, Darrow received this train as a Christmas Present when he was a young child in the 1880s.
Darrow then used this as the basis for the train sketch on the Monopoly boards that have since seen been seen by hundreds of millions of people around the world. You only have to look at the picture of the train on Monopoly boards and you can see his drawing has this exact train configuration with two small wheels only and the curved cab at the rear.
Nice to know this bit of history is still around.
Source: IMGR
Andy is a lifelong modeler, writer, and founder of modelrailwayengineer.com. He has been building model railways, dioramas, and miniatures for over 20 years. His passion for model making and railways began when he was a child, building his first layout at the age of seven.
Andy’s particular passion is making scenery and structures in 4mm scale, which he sells commercially. He is particularly interested in modelling the railways of South West England during the late Victorian/early Edwardian era, although he also enjoys making sci-fi and fantasy figures and dioramas. His website has won several awards, and he is a member of MERG (Model Railway Electronics Group) and the 009 Society.
When not making models, Andy lives in Surrey with his wife and teenage son. Other interests include history, science fiction, photography, and programming. Read more about Andy.