Tyco Toys is an American toy manufacturer. Since 1997 it has been a division of the Mattel

Mattel

Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...

 toy

Toy

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...

 company.
Mantua Metal Products was a Woodbury Heights, New Jersey

Woodbury Heights, New Jersey

Woodbury Heights is a Borough located in Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 census, the borough had a total population of 2,988....

, metalworks

Metallurgy

Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...

 business founded in 1926 by John Tyler and family. In the 1930s Mantua began to manufacture HO scale

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...

 model trains

Rail transport modelling

Railway modelling or model railroading is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale...

 of die-cast

Die casting

Die casting is a metal casting process that is characterized by forcing molten metal under high pressure into a mold cavity. The mold cavity is created using two hardened tool steel dies which have been machined into shape and work similarly to an injection mold during the process...

 metal, and became a leading hobbyist brand.

From 1942 to 1945, production of model railroad products was suspended as the company participated in manufacturing of precision measuring and mapping equipment for the U.S.