Toy Museum

Technology and Work

Right from the beginning, technical innovations such as the steam engine and railways, the cinema and telephone, the motor car and aeroplane have fascinated children and adults alike, so that toys appeared alongside the corresponding inventions. In times when people believed in technical progress, children - mainly boys - were supposed to learn about modern technology through play in order to be well prepared for the future.

Iron, the most important raw material for industrialisation, also became the basic material for a new epoch of toys. Clockworks set them in motion. From simple "penny toys" to solid metal construction kits right through to dancing figures, fully functional steam engines and model train sets: an entire world was fashioned from tin - and for a century, Nuremberg was its capital. Around 1910, about 5,000 people were employed in more than 100 companies in this field, among them well-known names such as Issmayer, Heß, Bub, Carette, Fleischmann, Plank, Doll and most importantly Bing, then the world's largest manufacturer of toys.

As a contrast to Nuremberg toys, numerous objects manufactured by Louis Marx & Co. show the American style of tin toys. Japanese tin cars from the 1950s supplement this overview.

Metal Construction Sets

Playing with metal construction sets was one of the main preoccupations of boys throughout the 20th century. Numerous budding engineers learnt the basics of technology by playing with Meccano, Walther Stabil, Märklin or Trix.

A new attractively designed display in a small area presents a wealth of sumptuous construction sets and beautiful models manufactured by the four major companies.

Model Train Layout Omaha/Nebraska

One of the museum's highlights is the 30 square meter model train layout (scale 1:64, gauge S) which recreates the American railway junction in Omaha/Nebraska. Between 1950 and 1974, and without ever having been there, Nuremberg geologist, Dr. Wolfram Bismarck, painstakingly handcrafted this model, in incredible detail and based on the real functions of the railway junction.

This masterpiece of model building inspired a very unusual film portrait: "Omaha in Nuremberg". In a special screening room, state-of-the-art visual and audio technology takes visitors on a journey to a railway world where the barriers between model and reality seem to disappear.

Regular demonstrations have always attracted enthusiastic audiences. After the death of the long-term "minder" of the model railway layout in 2005, no shows could be held. Fortunately, asuccessor was found. Volunteer, Mr. Ulrich Friedhoff, has shown the model railway in action since 2007. There are plans for regular demonstrations, on the last Saturday of the month, starting at 3 p.m.

You may find the dates when the model railway will be shown in action on the Toy Museum's German website.
Show Model Railyway in Action
<http://www.museen.nuernberg.de/spielzeugmuseum/technik.html>

LGB Model Train Layout

The Museum's historic courtyard forms the backdrop for a beautifully designed model train set with large gauge trains produced by the Nuremberg E. P. Lehmann Patentwerk. At the push of a button, three trains may be set in motion: a long American goods train, a passenger train with steam engine and the famous Zugspitz train roll along 70 metres of tracks.

The layout was donated to the Toy Museum by E. P. Lehmann Patentwerk (LGB) on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the LGB large gauge train in 1998.