rekoboy Posted July 29, 2022 Share Posted July 29, 2022 (edited) I thought I might present you with a little Roco history. I was not sure whether to add it to the German Railways section or this one - but here we go! Some of you may think that Roco started out as a manufacturer of high quality H0 trains - that development came much later. Roco started life around 1960 under Karlheinz Rössler as a manufacturer of cheap plastic toys, often as free gifts for food and drink producers! The very first locos produced by Roco were approximate TT-120 scale unmotorized 'push 'n go' overhead line electric locos, sold with either 4-wheel passenger carriages or 4-wheel goods wagons in blister packs or given as free gifts with Korona coffee or with sweets and bubble-gum made by Schatzmann. A while ago I bought two of the ÖBB electric locos from a German acquaintance with the intention of motorizing one of them using a BTTB/Zeuke chassis and adding proper pantos, glazing etc. There are copious hints and reports on the German TT-Board website on projects involving early Roco toys. I have still not started on the electric loco - my attic and study are littered with unfinished work, I am sorry to say! What is interesting about these Roco toy trains is the quality of the mouldings - there are a lot of the toy goods wagons and carriages in service still across Germany, usually just the very good bodyshells mounted on BTTB, Zeuke or Tillig chassis. Following the production of these toy trains Roco entered the real model railway market, first as a sub-contractor for the American company AHM, and in partnership at first with Mehanotechnika of the former Yugoslavia. This website in German might be of interest....http://www.bahnmuseum.at/herst.roco01.html Edited July 30, 2022 by rekoboy 3 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted July 31, 2022 RMweb Premium Share Posted July 31, 2022 Makes sense, I have one of these locos and couple of wagons from when I used BTTB locos for 0-12 conversions. It has a passing resemblance to an EM1 electric loco. I did say passing! Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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