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| Beginning early on, Hess made some models of the same basic toy in different sizes . The three different sized locomotives pictured are all circa 1880 - 1890. The largest locomotive has 2.56" wheels (6.5 cm) and is 7.06" long (18 cm). These locos are not marked with the Hess logo, but do have the Hess wheel patent number (44408) stamped on the wheels. The German patent with description is listed under the patent section of this website. | ||||
| Possibly made by Hess is this circa 1900 candy train produced for the Delespaul-Havez Chocolat Company, a French company founded in 1848 and based in Lille, France. Hess appears to have made many special contract pieces for other companies. Many times the contract pieces were simply graphics changes, such as the penny toy trains for Carette, the named steamboat for Selright and the "America" battleship made for some unnamed distributor. Other times, mechanical changes were made such as the "Odin" locomotive, a sub-series 300 locomotive with no catalog reference known, but either made for the Danish market or a Danish toy distributor. The survival of this candy train continues to amazes me as these pieces are very rare. | ||||
| Hess Pasted Paper Litho Set Loco: L 6” (15.25 cm) W 2.75” (7 cm) H 5” (12.7 cm) Passenger cars: L 5” (12.7 cm) W 2.75” (7 cm) H 3.75” (9.5 cm) An early Hess pasted paper litho set. Before chromolithography (lithographic printing on tinplate) was perfected, Hess printed images on thin paper and pasted them to their trains. Hess produced several size paper litho sets and this set is the largest I have observed as it measures a full 33 inches (84 cm) long when put together. The locomotive is marked “London” and “No. 5000” with the tender being marked “No. 10”. Brown and yellow passenger cars marked “No. 100”, red passenger car marked “No. 400”. Freight car marked “T2500”. Tab and slot construction, wheels affixed with lead and all pieces having the Hess logo embossed in the frame.
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