The Original Parktrains Website

The History of Parktrains

Miniature Train & Railroad Company

The Miniature Train and Railroad Company got its start with a small electric train built by Phillip Allan Sturtvant of Elmhurst, IL. The train, constructed in 1928, was a 1" scale steam-outline affair that ran on 7.24" gauge track. Mr. Sturtvant's interest began when he built a large backyard empire for his young son. The railroad came to the attetion of the Sears, Roebuck & Company, who were one of Sturtvant's National Air Racing sponsors. A new Sears store was opening on State Street in Chicago in 1932. The company wanted an attraction to raise the store above the competition. An electric-powered train was promptly installed for Christmas. The success of this installation led to the establishment of the Miniature Train & Railroad Company, a partnership between Sturtvant and R.D Robertson, Sturtvant's brother in law. Trains were manufacturered for leasing to stores at Sturtvant's Glen Ellyn, IL shop. The newly-formed company was initially an adjunct to Sturtvant's already established tool company, Creative Engineering. In 1948, the company built a new factory building in Rennselaer, IN that was dedicated exclusively to train production. At this point the "& Railroad" was dropped from the company's name.

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The Store Trains

The MT&RC electric "store trains" were based on the early diesel streamliners then seeing expiramental use on the nation's railroads. The Burlington's 1934 Zephyr and the Rock Island's 1935 Rocket were the models used. The Rocket-inspired trains were by far the more popular, withbetween thirty and forty sets produced as compared to less than half a dozen of the Zephyrs.

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The G-12

The G-12, also known as the "Addison" train, is a small train built to operate on 12" gauge track. The name Addison train came from the fact that the trains were built at the Stutevant plant in Addison, IL. Today these trains are more or less known by the model number G-12, but apparently this designation did not appear until the postwar era. Technically, the prewar trains are correctly called Addison trains, while the trains built after WWII are G-12s. The miniature articulated diesel-outline train was based on the early EMD E-series passenger locomotives with their distinctive slanted noses. The G-12 is essentially a gas-powered version of Sturtevant and Robertson's original E-series electric trains. In fact, the demand for an outdoor gas version grew directly out of the popularity of the earlier indoor store trains.

The G-12 featured a long, lean gas-powered locomotive pulling several streamline coaches. Unlike its larger G-16 cousin, the G-12 trainset is a fixed articulated consist. This means that each car shares a truck (bogie for you Continentals) with the car ahead of and behind it. Hershey Park operates a beautiful G-12 (original to the park, and recently re-installed) as a kiddie ride in their Midway America section (near the Wildcat coaster).

After Alan Herschell bought out MTC in 1958, they continued to catalog the G-12. There are no distinguishing features between an Alan Herschell and a MTC G-12. Herschell kept the MTC name and continued to produce trains under it until Herschell was itself bought out by Chance.

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The G-16

The success of the G-12 gasoline train prompted MTC to offer larger, more accurate miniature diesel locmototive. The Addison/G-12 was produced in huge numbers -- around a thousand units -- but the market demanded a larger, higher-capacity train. This new train proved to be the firm's largest seller. MTC G-16s are still immensely popular, and form the core motive power for many 16" guage railroads all over North America.

The 16" gauge G-16 is essentially a scale model of EMD's F2 diesel locomotive, with a few liberties taken to make the thing function as a park train -- in particular the large hole for the operator. EMD actually assisted MT&RC with the design by supplying drawings and other information. It has been reported elsewhere that MTC used the FP7 as the basis, but actually the unit is a model of the F2. This little-known EMD diesel was produced only in 1946 with fewer than 100 units made. See Louis A. Marre's Diesel Locomotives: The First 50 Years ( Kalmbach , 1995), pp. 90-97, or Jerry A. Pinkepank's The Second Diesel Spotter's Guide (Kalmbach , 1973), pp. 91-95.

Both A and B unit G-16s were available. A-B sets were relatively common, although the single A units were considerably more so. An A-B-A lashup was also offered, although only a few were sold. All of the B units had an operator's seat. When sold in conjunction with a B unit, the seat on the A unit was omitted -- the two (or three, in the case of the A-B-A consist) units were MUed and operated from the B unit's controls.

G-16s were available in any gauge from 13" to near 18". The 16" guage version seems to have been the most popular. All used the same trucks, which were easy to convert -- you just changed the wheel assembly with shims.

The G-16 came with individual eight-wheel, smooth-side coaches which represented the streamline coaches then being turned out by Pullman. In fact, Pullman authorized MT&RC to use their "Train of Tomorrow" design. These cars used the same Blomberg four-wheel trucks as the locomotive, although unpowered. All MTC/Herschell 16" gauge trains were equipped with vacuum train brakes as standard equipment.

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The G-12 and G-16 locomotives were originally equipped with an air-cooled Wisconsin engine. Most of the people who own or operate stock MTC products say that the Wisconsin is a great little power plant. However, some complain that the engine is not really suited to train service, claiming that it is designed to be run wide open all the time -- a situation rarely found in any sort of rail application. Whether this is true or not, huge numbers of relatively unmodified MTC trains are still plying the rails of parks and backyards the world over.

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All material on this website is copyright (c) Matt Conrad 1995-2002 unless otherwise noted. The copyrights of individual photographs remain with the photographers; all photos are used here with permission. Permission to quote limited blocks of text is hereby granted provided proper credit is given in a footnote, end note, or (in all web pages) by hyperlink. Permission is not granted to use photographs, but may be obtained by contacting the individual photographer.