Wooden bricks for toy train stuctures...??

[mpzpw3]

I received my first train from my Father in about 1974. I then inherited his scout set from the fifties, and some odd wooden bricks.
These wooden bricks were maroon, and yellow. They were constructed like Lego's, only made of wood, and with different dimensions. They came with some green cardboard roofs, nicely imprinted with shingles. We spent a lot of time building structures for the railroad with these "bricks", and the instructions seemed to state that they were made for lineside structures for trains.
Does anyone know who made them?, or even what I am describing? I would like more info. on this item, and if possible, would like to buy some more. Any help would sure be appreciated!!

[csxt30]

If I'm not mistaken, you have the wooden ones that were made before the plastic ones. I have run across these before, but I don't see them too often. They have come up on Ebay before & here is a link if it works & otherwise just just search using plastic bricks & you should get them. I still have my bricks from when a child & bought more on ebay a while back. I used to make a lot of houses & that for my trains as a child back in the 50s. there are a couple other guys with them here also I have seen.
http://toys.search.ebay.com/plastic-bricks_Other-Building-Toys_W0QQcatrefZC3QQfclZ3QQfromZR2QQsacatZ19015QQsspagenameZFAVQ3aFQ3aSRCH
Hope this helps !

[martinden]

If you go to the link csxt30 provided, then change "plastic bricks" to "american bricks" and search, you'll get (at this time, at least) four listings for sets of the Halsam American wooden bricks (though the last doesn't actually say "wooden":

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-200-pc-set-wood-American-Bricks-original-book_W0QQitemZ120001416042QQihZ002QQcategoryZ19015QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/AMERICAN-BRICKS-BY-HALSON-SETS-60-1-60-2-GREAT_W0QQitemZ130001328255QQihZ003QQcategoryZ19015QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-WOOD-AMERICAN-BRICKS-BUILDING-BLOCKS_W0QQitemZ6067496106QQihZ009QQcategoryZ19015QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/American-Bricks-by-Halsam-Lot-of-195-pieces_W0QQitemZ280001560505QQihZ018QQcategoryZ19015QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Broadening the search to "Toys & hobbies" gives several more wooden sets. None of them have boxes, through two or three include booklets.

As csxt30 said, these are the predecessors of the plastic bricks which were made originally by Elgo and then Halsam. Apparently Halsam was then bought by Playskool, and then, in turn by Milton Bradley. One site says that the American bricks were last made in the 60s, then succeeded by the Playskool bricks, which look (in the photos) very similar (or identical) to the plastic American bricks, though with more colors. They also led to Lego blocks. See

http://cgi.ebay.com/HALSAM-PLAYSKOOL-VINTAGE-AMERICAN-PLASTIC-BRICKS-329-PC_W0QQitemZ260000940631QQihZ016QQcategoryZ727QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Just BTW, I've often found ebay to be a really useful resource for initial research on toy and train items.

[traindaddy1]

Yes, I remember them but don't know much about them except that (from personal experience) if you get them wet, they sort of warp and stick together. Then your father, who bought them for you,gets a little angry and you hear about it!

[cheapclassics]

To all,

The wooden bricks came first, and the plastic ones came after WW II. There is no connection between ELGO and LEGO other than that LEGO paid some money to ELGO when LEGO first came to the states as compensation for any confusion in the names. Whatever it was, it was not enough as ELGO/HALSAM/PLAYSKOOL faded from the scene in the 1970s. I collect the ELGO sets and pieces, but I do not have any wooden sets yet. I use the plastic sets to make buildings for my standard gauge trains.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana