Egger-bahn
Encyclopedia
HO scale
HO or H0 is the most popular scale of model railway in the world.According to the NMRA standard S-1.2 predominantly used in North America, in HO scale, represents 1 real foot ; this ratio works out to about 1:87.1. According to the MOROP standard NEM 010 predominantly used in Europe, the scale is...
(1:87) scale narrow gauge rolling stock using N gauge track) models, and established HOe as a viable model railway standard. The firm was founded in 1963 by three brothers. One of them, a performer, soon left the firm. Theodor Egger, technician, and Jonathan Egger, salesman, continued. The models first appeared at the 1963 Nurenberg Toy Fair.
The scale/gauge combination represented 740 mm gauge lines, but could reasonably depict several similar narrow gauge sizes. 009
009
009 may refer to:* OO9 gauge model railways* O09, FAA identifier for Round Valley Airport* 0O9, FAA identifier for Ward Field, see List of airports in California* Cyborg 009, a 1964 manga* 009-1, a 2006 anime* British secret agent 009, see 00 Agent...
is a similar concept, used mainly for modelling UK-based prototypes, again on N gauge track, but to the OO scale of 4mm to 1ft (1:76.2). Egger was the first to produce H0e ready to run
RTR
RTR can mean:* UNIX-RTR * RTRFM RTR FM, an Australian radio station* Royal Tank Regiment, the British Army Tank Corps* Radio e Television Rumantscha - Rhaeto-Roman Radio and Television...
models, and they were a great success. In 1964 the range was expanded, including a steam loco. Models from Egger-Bahn were often used in presentation lay-outs. For instance Faller
Faller
Faller is a German toy company founded in Stuttgart in 1946 by brothers Edwin and Hermann Faller. The company later relocated to the brothers' home town of Gütenbach in the Black Forest....
used them in their magazine, because Faller produced models more in a scale of 1:100 than 1:87. The small Egger_bahn models suited it very well. In the USA Egger-Bahn was marketed by AHM (as H0n30 scale) together with Roco
Roco
Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment.-History:The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in H0 scale and the...
Peetzy models under the name of "Minitrains".
In order to cope with the market demands Egger had to produce more models. Besides, technical improvements, as Magna-Kraft, meant that models and moulds had to be reworked very often. Furthermore it was decided to simplify the models in order to cope with the demands. Customers respond badly to this change and sales went down. The company had to find new financial resources. These were found with Tristan movie company (Constantin movie company) that produced the Old Shatterhand movies. Tristan was forced to produce more USA-style models suiting the Winnetou-scene. This was not successful. In the end the firm was broken up in 1967 and Jouef
Jouef
Jouef was a French manufacturer that specialized in model trains and other vehicles. Jouef is one of the world's most famous hobby brands, perhaps only slightly less well-known than Schuco, Marklin, Lines Brothers or Lionel..-History:...
later acquired the toolings and produced the models. Jouef ended production in the early seventies. In 1983 the old moulds were discovered in an old bunker. Jouef retried to market these models under the name of Egger-Bahn in grey boxes. As sales were mostly directed inside France, the market was not large enough and production finished in the early nineties. The company name registration was not renewed and now is possessed by private owners including and Theodor Egger.
Apart from the narrow-gauge trains, Egger-Bahn produced a boat in N-scale. It was meant to become a mechanical moving boat in real water. This was the great love of Mr Theodor. He only produced one Mississippi-styled boat. Egger also started the production of slotcars with the name of Egger-Silberpfeil. These models can also be found with Jouef. The Egger-models ran with a Jouef motor.
One success was the production of Egger-Lectron. These were electronic elements one could combine on a metal underground to instructive articles. It was taken over by Braun
Braun (company)
' , formerly Braun AG, is a German consumer products company based in Kronberg, Germany.From 1984 until 2005, Braun was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Gillette Company, which had purchased a controlling interest in the company in 1967...
who produced these elements for a long time.