Old Trains from across the ocean

[Anonymous]

I came into some old European made trains, wind-up really, really old and I'm new at all this. What would be the best source for some guidance or information to help me determine what I have. I have a general time period but need a source of some specific info on Bing trains, windup.

[Anonymous]

Well, I can give you a bit of a history on Bing. Bing was founded in the 1860's in Nuremburg, Germany. They produced a wide variety of toys, but are probably best known for their trains. Bing was doing very well, but things were put to a halt in 1933. That was the year that Hitler took power in Germany. The company's president, Stephan Bing and his family were Jewish. The company was forced to close and Bing went into exile in England where he started the train company Trix Twin. All of the Bing tooling was sold to rival toy company Bub. Some of the company's directors who were not Jewish went on to make Trix Express trains, which were simmilar to Trix Twin.

As for the trains you have, if you want values, your best bet would be to check ebay for simmilar trains and see what they sell for. There are a couple of tips I can give you about identifying what you do have. Look for a manufacturers logo on the trains. It will either be the letters "GBN" in a diamond or else a sideways "B" over a "W". If it's GBN, it dates from before 1923. GBN stands for "Gebruder Bing Nuremburg". If it's BW, it dates from 1923-1933. BW stands for "Bingwerke", meaning "Bing Works".

Also, measure the distance between the rails on the track or the wheels on the trains. This will determine the gauge that they are. If it is 3/4" then it is HO or OO gauge. If it is 1.25", it is O gauge. If it is 1.75" it is gauge 1. Bing also made some trains in gauge II and II, but these are gigantic and extremely rare, so the odds that you would have one of them are very slim.

I hope this helps you out.