Well here it is Monday afternoon - Yikes ! Trouble is I have to take the wife to Ft. Worth for an 0830 medical appointment tomorrow which means a 0630 departure...too early to also post to the forum. So I guess I will post tonight. I will admit to having some fun lately in posting some of the less well known brands so today I will use Hafner.
First some toy train history. William Hafner started making clockwork toys in 1902 and produced his first clockwork train in 1905. Needing money to expand the business he looked for financial backing and approached William Coleman who at the time was involved in the operation of Edmonds-Metzel a firm that made agricultural hardware. By 1907 the toy manufacturing had become so successful that Coleman decided to devote the full resources of E-M to toys especially mechanical trains and in 1910 changed the name of Edmonds-Metzel to "American Flyer Manufacturing Company". This partnership with Hafner lasted until 1914 when in a dispute over business shares resulted in William Hafner leaving American Flyer to start his own toy train business. He called his trains "Overland Flyer". Hafner never made electric trains, he felt they were too expensive to be used as toys. Much later, this led to a very interesting development...from the 1930's until the beginning of WWII, Lionel distributed Hafner trains overseas to feed a robust market for mechanical trains (especially in areas without electricity) . Since Lionel had curtailed its production of mechanical trains, it used Hafner trains to fill its line. OK, so what do we have on this fine Tuesday.
This caboose is from the later (actually the last) period of Hafner trains made by the Hafner Company. In 1951 John Hafner (founder's son) who had operated the business since his father's retirement during WWII, decided to also take retirement and offered the assets of the company for sale. This caboose is from that last period just before the sale of the company in 1951, made between 1949 - 1951.
The assets of the Hafner company were taken over by the All Metal Products Company who produced toys under the name Wyandotte Toys. They continued most of the line with few changes until they were forced into bankruptcy in 1956. The #41021 Caboose below was actually offered both as a Hafner toy and as a "carry over" under the Wyandotte name. All that changed was the printing in the circular logo between the windows. Offered 1951-1956.
The lithography with the trainmen in the windows shows some influence from Unique Lines toy trains also created in 1948-49 and some "cross talk" between the designers has been postulated. To me its a neat effect and increases the toy like quality of the items. Note that although the Hafner company was taken over by Wyandotte the trains for some time still carried the "Hafner Trains" name. Presumably to take advantage of the fact that the name was well known for quality mechanical trains.
Best Wishes
Don
