If you don't know what "tinplate" means, this term basically refers to toy trains that are entirely made of sheet metal (as opposed to die-cast metal and plastic) along with brass and nickel. There are two different gauges of tinplate trains: O Gauge and Standard Gauge. Standard gauge is bigger than O gauge. Back then, many homes were large and there would be lots of space for Standard gauge. O gauge was developed for anyone who didn't have enough space and money for Standard gauge. Lionel, American Flyer, and Ives are the most well-known tinplate manufacturers and most tinplate trains were made before World War II. Lionel calls this time period the Prewar Era. Because the United States entered World War II, Lionel and other toy companies had to stop making their products to supply military equipment in order to win the war. After the war, Lionel continued making trains again, but never made tinplate-looking trains anymore. Lionel called this time period the Postwar Era.

Today, MTH Electric Trains offers lots of tinplate reproductions since its beginnings. Mike Wolf, founder of MTH, loves tinplate trains, especially Standard gauge. In fact, Mike used to work for Jerry Williams, founder of Williams Electric Trains. Williams used to manufacture reproductions of Standard gauge trains in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, Williams decided to sell the tinplate toolings to Mike, who now began his independent train business. As the business expanded in the 1990s, the original product line of MTH's tinplate trains was called Tinplate Traditions. Even though it represents tinplate reissues, the only exception was that these products only had MTH's own markings instead of Lionel or American Flyer logos. Around 2009, however, MTH finally got a license from Lionel to reissue tinplate trains with the accurate Lionel and American Flyer markings. This formed to become MTH's new product line, the Lionel Corporation Tinplate line. While the Lionel Corporation Tinplate line offers Lionel prewar reproductions, the original Tinplate Traditions line is still in business but it offers only the non-Lionel tinplate trains like Ives and Dorfan.

The tinplate train reissues not only look so gorgeous and colorful but they also bring back the memories of the hobby. I love to have lots of experience with Prewar Era trains as well as Postwar Era trains. I used to think that the more modern trains are better than tinplate trains because obviously, they are more realistic. But I now realized that tinplate trains are very important to know about in terms of the history of toy trains. They are meant to be fun and toyish, not realistic. I do like to collect tinplate trains from now on. Although the reproductions look so nice, they can be very expensive, even in O gauge which I normally collect. Nevertheless, they are still beautiful and represent the glory days of toy trains in America.