Down By The Chein Station

Sometimes the oddest things can add interest to your collection.

This is an interesting group of tinplate stations made by the J. Chein (pronounced chain) & Company of Burlington, New Jersey.  The company was in business from 1903 through the 1980’s.  The company is known for its mechanical toys made from stamped and lithographed tin that were produced from the 1930’s to the 1950’s.  In the mid 1960’s, the government started regulating the toy industry and the sharp edges on the metal toys became a problem as retooling to meet the new regulations was cost prohibitive so the company diversified into other types of toys.

The stations were probably made from the 1930’s to the 1950’s.  I know of 6 varieties of the stations.  All the stations are made from three pieces of lithographed tin held together with bent tabs.

The unique station of the group is the Toy Town depot.  The front is the same as the other stations with a door and 2 open windows but the lithography is unique.  The back and sides are windowless.  Both sides has a hole that could be used for a light bulb.  The sides have the Toy Town sign on one side and the Telegraph office on the other.  The back has the American Railway Express sign and baggage window with a baggage handler.  The roof and base are green.

The other stations are the same except for the name of the town on the roof of the station.  The sides are a reddish lithographed brick pattern.  The base is green and the roof has a red lithographed shingle pattern.  The front edge of the roof has a tab that is bent up to form the station name.  The ends have two open windows and a hole that could be used for a light bulb.  The back has an open door and two open windows, the same layout as the front.

There are at least 5 station names, probably named after locations in New Jersey.  They are:  Oakland Station, Glenwood Station, Parkville Station, Glendale Station and Grove Station. 

There may be more but I have yet to find additional names.