Egger-bahn

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Egger-Bahn was a German model railway maker founded in 1963 by three brothers. After one brother left early, Theodor Egger (a technician) and Jonathan Egger (a salesman) ran the company. They released the first H0e ready-to-run models for N gauge track, representing narrow-gauge lines about 600–750 mm wide, and helped establish HOe as a standard. The new models appeared at the 1963 Nuremberg Toy Fair, and in 1964 the range grew to include a steam locomotive. Their trains were popular for display layouts, and in the US they were sold by AHM as H0n30 under the Minitrains name.

The company pushed ahead with new molds but faced fast changes in design and sometimes had to simplify models to meet demand, which disappointed some customers. To raise money, they partnered with Constantin Film to make western trains to accompany the Old Shatterhand and Winnetou films, but these were not realistic enough and were fragile, so sales suffered. The firm broke up in 1967; Jouef bought the tooling and produced the models for a while, until the early 1970s.

In 1983 the old molds were found again, and Jouef tried selling them in France, but production ended by the early 1990s. The name is now owned by private individuals, including Theodor Egger. Besides trains, Egger-Bahn made a small N-scale boat designed to run in water (only one was made) and slotcars called Egger-Silberpfeil that used Jouef motors. The Egger-Lectron system, a modular electronic-building set with magnetic links, was licensed by Braun and Raytheon and later became Lectron GmbH, which still exists today.