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on Sunday, June 27th, 2010 |
No CommentsMantua was originally Mantua Metal Products, founded in New Jersey in 1926. The company first began manufacturing wood and metal sailboats.
In 1932, a friend from England showed John Tyler, one of Mantua's founders, a British-made HO locomotive. He told John that British model railroad enthusiasts were going crazy over these small-scale model trains.
But the motors available at that time were only powerful enough to haul short trains. John Tyler immediately began experimenting with a more powerful motor for HO scale engines.
World War II slowed the company's progress in model train manufacturing. During the war Mantua's manufacturing facility was used to make precision measuring and mapping equipment for the war effort. Mantua's machines were operated twenty-four hours a day by three shifts of workers to turn out stainless steel scale map-reading rules and protractors for the Army and Navy and beam compasses for the Army Air Corps.
After converting the plant back to producing model railroad products after the war ended, in mid-1946 Mantua announced that it was back in production. An all-metal gondola was the first new model of the post-war production era.
In 1967, Mantua Metal Products became part of TYCO Industries, Inc. After the acquisition by Tyco Industries, the Mantua brand name was retired. Although the Mantua name was no longer used, many locomotive kits were still sold but under the Tyco name.
In 1970 Consolidated Foods bought Tyco Industries. In 1973 when Consolidated Foods decided to move more production to the Far East, the Mantua facility was put up for sale.
Later bought by John Tyer's relatives, the company eventually shut down in 2001.
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john tyler,
locomotive kits,
Mantua,
Mantua HO trains
