Being a Baby Boomer, I was lucky enough to grow up in the late 1940s, 50's and 60's. and fondly remember every Christmas when Mom and Dad would get out the layout pieces and send us up to the attic for the decorations, toy towns and train.  Dad's work was done when the saw horses and layout was stable, so the kids could get up and dance on it.  Then Mom took over after our older brother laid the American Flyer S gauge track and Dad pounded it down.  We handed her the paper mache 5 & 10 houses and the Plasticvile pieces, the wooden bridge our cousin made and the Britians skiers, town folk and skaters.  With mountain decorating paper, boxes,cotton and tin foil, Mom grew a magnificent town scene around the live christmas tree.

My wife remembered those stories of trains and villiages and at a garage sale she overheard a gentleman asking about toy trains.  She made his acquaintence and bought a full set of used Lionel trains, track, and transformer.  What a fathers day present that was in 1984 when our twin daughters were a year and a half old.  The train whistled and ran around the figure 8 track and the milk car worked just like I remembered at my cousins house next door.  He had Lionel and I remember being so jealous, as we did not have the animated trains he had, as with our Flyer set.

That simple toy  present started me on a hobby that lives on today.  The memories that we all have seeing old toys still stires the senses of a childhood long gone but lives today in the toys of yesterday. Toy train collecting developed into collecting the toys of my youth so my habit is limited to the toys of that era. During the Cal Stewart train show one year I stumbled across a table with 3 Marx reproduction play sets, the Alamo, Battleground and Cape Canveral.  I took them home with great enthusiam as one of my favorite sets growing up was the Fort Apache set with the 7th Calvary.  I remember having two and destroying them both.  Since I was a begining avid Ebay trader, I moved from Trains to Vintage Toys and to my delight found many playsets and items I desired.  What a treasure trove of toys Ebay was in its early years for the toy collector.  Boxed playsets of the 1950's and 60's were plentiful and I begun to learn of the many variations of space and castle playsets.  Through this medium I discovered that the Louis Marx and Company was indeed the toy "king" for many generations and a truly prolific toy manufacturer.  From cap guns to doll houses and everything iin between, Marx was truly a genius and many or his toys both pre and post war are are highly prized by collectors.

There are many toys of my era to choose from beside Marx.  There was ample competition for the little folk after the war and they include such well known names such as Mattel, Tootsitoy, Ideal and Hubley to name a few but lesser known companies such as Nichols and Daisy , T. Cohen and Superior, Lido, Wyandotte, Remco (Every boy wants a Remco Toy and so do girls),  Reading, Bachman Brothers (Plasticville) and Renwal produced great  toys and if you have the time and money, they can be found and Ebay is a great place to start.

I limit myself to the "boys" toys which include ships, cap guns,  trains, tin litho buildsings, military and playsets.  Since our children are grown, my wife and I downsized and I have to be content with a one car garage sharing my toy displays with the washer and dryer and the tool bench. It is still a pleasant toy room and one that I can escape to and enjoy watching an electric train go around the layout, See Ben Hur racing the chariot or view the Battle of the Blue and Grey all over again. The layout du jour is currently the American Flyer All Aboard panels using a playset theme from the Rifleman.  5 robbers are sticking up the Pony Express T Cohen Building just across the street from Lucas McCain's house, all while a herd of cattle is coming into town.  Lucas is helping the town folk fight off the robbers while son Mark is hailing down a Calvary line coming into town also.  The indians on the mountain top are taking it all in as the American Flyer Frontiersman comes rolling into town.  What else but toys can be collected and simultaneously played with and displayed while they appreciate in value?  Tough to do with a stock certificate!

If you are interested in being a toy train enthusiast consider joining one of the national societies and if they have a local chapter become involved.  That is how I started and there is nothing like the interaction with knowledgeable people to learn more about the hobby.  Consider Train Collectors Association TCA: Toy  Train Operating Society TTOS; Lionel Operating Society LOTS; or the Lionel Collectors Club of America LCCA.  One I recently joined and find to be of fabulous interest is the  PCA or Plasticville Collectors Asscociation.  Everything you want to know about those little towns of the 1950's  and today can be found there and special member benefits are great including some wonderful built up (assembled) buildings at special prices.  There are publications to consider too, such as the Greenberg Guides, All Aboard, Ron Hollander's book on the History of Joshua Lionel Cowan and Lionel Trains, magazines such as Classic Toy Trains, Model Railroader and O Gauge Railroading are terrific resources. 

For the Playset collector  a must have is Playset Magazine and their video series on playsets from Atomic Home Video.  The internet is also a great place to shop for toys and figures.  Try Tim Geppert's Classic Toy Soldiers, a great site for playsets, Toy Soldiers of San Diego and Michigan Toy Soldier Company.  Newer playsets companies include BMC,  Barzso, King and Country and Conte Toys.  And the king of all sites of course is Ebay for you can find at any time most of what you are looking for and of course at auction prices.  For parts, particularly Remco and Reading, Chris Vaughn has many originial molds for parts and pieces that are just like the factory and you can catch him on Ebay under redvenomrepros.

Research is a big part of toy collecting, so purchase the Big Toy Box at Sears book which has 500 pages from the Sears Wishbooks of 1951 to 1969.   Tim Geppert currently has it on sell at CTS or you can go to the Windmill Group site, as they are the publisher.  Another recommendation is the Volume I Marx History and Museum DVD coming out soon from the Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, WV near the site of the old Marx playset factory.  Others include Horowitz Marx Western Playsets the Authorized Guide, great color pictures of Western playsets plus Smiths Marx Toy Sampler, Pinsky Marx Toys and the bible O'Briens Collecting Toys. While Tom Terry's great publication Plastic Figure and Playset Collector does not publish any longer, look for this ground breaking playset magazine on Ebay for great articles on toys and playsets, generally with original instructions, which help with the accessories.

I sincerely hope this article is helpful in getting  your started on your toy collecting quest.  If you need help write to me at trainmanvb at msn.com

As Rusty and Kathy Kern of Playset Magazine always say........Happy Hunting!...........well I say Happy Hunting and Playing!

The author Dan Palaschak is a toy collector who resides in Virginia Beach, Virginia and his sales and purchase are done under Marxieboy on Ebay.