TRAIN TIME: Issmayer Crossing Gate House without Base

Sooo, sometimes I see things on fleaBay that intrigue me and I go ahead and buy them if they don't cost much. So was the case with this small tin-litho house. After looking at the photos of it I thought it would make a great background piece as it wasn't very deep but as tall as some of my Bing houses. This was during the height of the pandemic and it was coming from France so it took a l-o-n-g time to get get here. But once it arrived I posted it to a couple of facebook groups to see if anyone could identify it. Seems that this was a gatekeepers cottage which would have been a part of a larger accessory. As it turns out, there's no room on my layouts for such a big accessory, so re-purposing this as a background structure was the right choice! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Courtesy RacerX Toys

Issmayer Pre-war Train Station

I'm kinda pooped today so this will be short.  Our selection is what I believe to be an Issmayer Pre-war train station.  There are no manufacturer's marks but the shingle pattern and overall look point to Issmayer, a German manufacturer of toy train accessories prior to World War II and is approximately from the 1920s.  It's kind of hard to tell from the photographs but not only is all the detail lithographed, it is embossed as well!  The lithography neatly follows each brick, window, and door frame.  What an excellent job!  Although the awning sticks out quite far, there are no apparent attachment points for supporting posts.  Instead there are two sturdy beams running from the back wall to the front of the awning.  The door is missing on my example unfortunately.  Size-wise this is a large structure more suitable for Standard Gauge trains than O-gauge.  It's a wonderful example of the toy maker's art.  Enjoy!