Just got a paper mache train tunnel/mountain and want to know what year it was created.

[Anonymous]

I just got a paper mache train mountain/tunnel and was wondering if it was mass produced in the 1930s and what train set it might have been made for? If anyone knows the history of the piece or a website to look it up that would be great. Thanks. Below are the links to the mountain/tunnel images.
(Dimensions are 10" wide by 13 1/2" long and 8" tall. The tunnel entrance is
2 1/2" wide and 3 1/2" tall.)

http://home.earthlink.net/~brechtbug/data/TUNNEL_01.jpg

http://home.earthlink.net/~brechtbug/data/TUNNEL_02.jpg

[daan]

If I look closely to the pictures of your tunnel, it looks like it has been moulded. As far as I know paper mache was done over a preformed mould and does not have the moulding joints, which are typicall for something being made in a mould instead of over it. I know they didn't have the foams back in the 1930's, but it looks like if it's foam which is sprayed into a mold.
It does looks nice for a paper mache tunnel and has nice tunnel entrances.

The mould of this tunnel was a 2 part mold, mostly since the inside of the tunnel isn't smooth. It could be that they used a 2 part outside moulding frame and sticked the paper mache to the insine. When settled, the mould was removed by taking the 2 parts of sideways. Probably the tunnelentrances had 2 small parts coming off seperately or they where cut out later on.
Today those molds are typicall for foaming or reinforced plastics like glassfiber, since they lack an inside part of the mold, like mold for a locomotive shell has.

Unless there is a name or mark of the creator on it, it is very hard to tell who made it. The mold-joints indicate it was indeed mass-produced, but it could have been anyone.