McCoy Manufacturing

From TrainSpottingWorld, for Rail fans everywhere

McCoy Manufacturing was a small American toy train manufacturer, based in Kent, Washington. It specialized in Standard gauge trains reminiscent of Lionel's offerings from the 1920s.

Starting in the 1950s, McCoy produced reproductions of Lionel's original 2 7/8-gauge equipment, as well as Standard gauge parts. By 1965, it was producing entire cars, financing the operation by making pulleys for rock tumblers. McCoy ceased building reproduction Lionel Standard gauge items in 1965 after its owner learned that people were artificially aging them and then selling them as originals.

McCoy production differs from earlier vintage production in its use of thicker steel and its use of silkscreening, rather than lithography, decals, rubber stamps, or brass plates, which were the methods of lettering cars in the 1920s. However, McCoy kept with the simplicity of the vintage designs, choosing not to add large amounts of detail.

Bob McCoy, the company founder, died in 1995. His wife and son ran the company until 1998, when they ceased operations.

Although not widely known, McCoy offerings have a following with Standard Gauge collectors, particularly because the company often did very small production runs of its cars.