The time was the 1950's. World War II and the Korean War were over and the USA was finally at peace. There were no Interstate Highways and the automobile factories were at last shifting back from war production to once again making consumer cars and trucks. Automobiles were scarce. Commercial air travel, basically non-existent during the war years, was in it's infancy, expensive, and out of the reach of the general public. This was the heyday of the railroads. Travel by train was glamorous, comfortable and affordable and when it came to long distance passenger and freight hauling, the train was king. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were returning to their peace-time jobs, had leisure time on their hands and needed a hobby. Model railroading, born in the late 1930's, proved to be just what the hobby doctor ordered and companies like Lionel, American Flyer, Wardie-Jay, Circus Craft, Roundhouse, Bachmann/Plasticville and many others couldn't make their products fast enough. With changing times, as is always the case, many of these once innovative craft manufacturers couldn't, or wouldn't, adapt and have faded into history.

The beautiful scratch built white pine and metal circus wagon kits offered here from long gone Wardie-Jay and Circus Craft, like this MRCHQ Collectible O Scale Circus Craft CW13 Commissary Wagon, are fine examples of this bygone era of model railroading and, as one might expect, are becoming very hard to find. There's no injection molding, laser cutting or computer graphics here. To build and decorate one of these models is a similar process in miniature to how actual full size circus wagons were built back in the day, an experience you will never duplicate with any modern model kit. Collect them or build them, while you still can.

Long Discontinued: New, never assembled. Mint condition in original box. All parts still sealed in original plastic bags.

Traditional O Scale 1:48