Merkur (Mercury, in English) is a Czech company, who began producing construction sets, similar to Meccano, in the early 1920s, and continue to this day, although production ceased during WWII, and the company was nationalised in 1953. Merkur was privatised in 1989, following the end of the Communist era, but was insolvent by 1993. Merkur was purchased by Jaromír Krí Snr, and toy production continued.
0 gauge railways, originally nut and bolt construction, were added to the range in 1930, with production continuing until 1968, except the WWII years. Railways were reintroduced in 2003, with a comprehensive range of metal built locos, wagons and coaches, as well as track, buildings and accessories.
Today (2020) Merkur is part of the revived Tioka Ikaria group, run by Jaromir Kriz Jr, son of Jaromir Kriz Snr who purchased Merkur in the 1990s. There are therefore three eras of Merkur trains, the original production 1930-1968, the Jaromir Kriz Snr era c2003-2019 and the current Merkur-Tioka-Ikaria era. Retailers outside the Czech Republic are apparently experiencing difficulties in obtaining new stock of Merkur trains, the company believed to be concentrating their efforts on the Merkur construction system.
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