For more information and images of Paya, Ribas, Rico and other Spanish toy trains, please visit the Spanish Old Toys web site. The language is Spanish, but the pictures are international.
Ribas Centennial Train, 1948 (see below) Text and image credit Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid (Madrid Railway Museum) |
This toy from 1948, called the “Centennial Train”, is a representation of the life-size replica of the one that Renfe commissioned to make to commemorate the first peninsular public service train, the one that made the trip between Barcelona on October 28, 1848. and Mataró. This full-size train is kept fully operational in the Catalan Railway Museum.
The toy is designed with total realism and detail, with impeccable workmanship. It is a manual impulse train, nothing to do with other contemporary spring toys or with the electric ones that at that time were already delighting the most capricious. Made on a 1:45 scale, it is composed of the “Mataró” locomotive running 1-1-1, painted in green, made of brass and wood on the front. Zinc is used for the tender, painted in the same green color, and this same material for the three cars or "floats." The 1st class one painted in red-black, the 2nd class one in yellow-black and the 3rd class one in brown-black, the latter with practicable access doors, inside which you can see the seats.
The production number of this toy is unknown, but given its characteristics, very few examples were made, making it a highly sought-after toy in the collecting market. In Ribas's short production, his 1700 steam locomotive also stands out, as well as the set of three military transport platform cars, made up of an anti-aircraft spotlight, a jeep and a cannon.
This toy was donated in 1967 by Gustavo Reder, industrial engineer and great collector of miniature trains, to form part of the Railway Museum, then located on San Cosme and San Damián streets.
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