My Tin Toys

In 1935 Lionel introduced the Hiawatha Streamliner. The new 250E Hiawatha loco was the top of the line O gauge engine until the 700E Hudson was introduced in 1937.

The Hiawatha came in both passenger and freight sets, and was the first Lionel loco with a die cast shell. Prior locos had cast frames cabs with sheet metal boilers.

Streamliner toys were big sellers in the 1930s, and most toy manufacturers made toy streamliners. Lionel’s City Of Portland set introduced in 1934 was such a popular seller it helped Lionel emerge from bankruptcy. I am sure Lionel had big plans for the Hiawatha.

In order to build support for the new Hiawatha, Lionel gave away these cheap Japanese friction toys at the toy fair.

Every year in late January or early February the American toy manufacturers gathered together in New York for the annual toy fair. At the toy fair, companies would display their new lines, and take orders from jobbers and large department stores.

The toy fair allowed manufacturers like Lionel to judge demand for their products and allocate production lines. If a new toy wasn’t well received by retailers it might not be produced.

This 1935 Hiawatha friction toy might have been Lionel’s first specially produced giveaway. If Lionel did promo items before 1935, I’ve never seen or heard of one.

Made of lithographed tin with the Lionel name and the number 250 on the side, this cheap friction toy was made in Japan.

After I found the Lionel example shown above, I spent a year buying every similar toy on eBay. I assumed Lionel had custom ordered a cheap toy with special graphics, and was looking for the original version.

As you can see in the photo below, I found the original.

There is no maker’s mark on this cheap toy. It just says made in Japan on the cab. The original toy is blue and lettered for the New York Central. The New York Central was the largest railroad in the heavily populated northeastern corridor. It makes sense that a manufacturer of toys would use a railroad name commonly seen in it’s biggest market.

Here’s another view showing the other sides:

I have no idea who made these toys. I know they are from the mid 1930s based on the introduction of Lionel’s Hiawatha.

I’ll take a picture of the Lionel Hiawatha and add it to this page so you can compare the tin toy with it’s full scale brother.

Here’s a link to see Lionel Hiawatha locomotives on eBay

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Friction, trains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.