McCoy Manufacturing was a small American toy train manufacturer.
This Kent, WA company produced
larger scale stamped steel trains. Between 1957-61 McCoy specialized in Standard gauge reproductions
of Lionel's 2 7/8" gauge line from the 1920's. It also made Standard gauge
parts. McCoy ceased building reproduction Lionel Standard gauge items in 1965 after its owner learned
that people were artificially aging them and then selling them as originals.
In 1966 McCoy introduced its own Standard gauge line of trains. First issues were freight and passenger cars.
The operation was financed by making pulleys for rock
tumblers. 
The inital catalog was only six pages, but by 1974 the catalog was
up to 32 pages. In 1969 the first electic locomotive was made in the form of The Cascade Railroad's #1 4-4-0
"Chief Seattle" steam engine.
The engine was modeled after Lionel's pre-war Standard gauge #7 locomotive. McCoy also built their own
electric motors. Eventually diesel and electric outline engines were also produced.
Various individuals had input into the design of the McCoy trains. Herb Morley created the caboose, tank,
hopper and passenger cars. Bob McCoy developed the box, gondola, stock, log, bulkhead, flat, pipe,
reefer, and drover caboose.
McCoy production differs from earlier vintage production in its use of thicker steel and its use
of silkscreening, rather
than lithography, decals, rubber stamps, or brass plates, which were the methods of lettering
cars in the 1920's. However, McCoy kept with the simplicity of the vintage designs, choosing not
to add large amounts of detail.
McCoy had special relationships with the Train Collectors Association and the Toy Train Operating
Society, creating many Standard gauge convention cars, club cars and locomotives for these organizations. Between
1966 and 1983, McCoy manufactured a series of freight cars for the divisions and chapters
of TCA. Many of these cars are displayed here on this page (below).
Bob McCoy, the company founder,
died in 1995. His wife and son, Bob Jr., ran the company until 1998, when they
ceased operations.
Although not widely known, McCoy offerings have a following with Standard gauge collectors,
particularly because the company often did very small production runs of its cars. The series of McCoy
cars that is the most cherished and sought after are the Christmas cars. These cars were made by hand
in very limited quantities starting in 1966, and were given by Bob and Margaret McCoy to their closest friends
as gifts.
