Karl Bub founded this company in 1851 in Nürnberg,
Germany. American toy train collectors are familiar with the 'KBN' trademark, which stands for
'Karl Bub Nürnberg'. Bub made a superbly enameled and later lithographed line of clockwork tin
transportation toys including trains. They started making trains that ran by clockwork in 1903. Then in
1914 an electric train was added to the product line. A partnership with Issmayer and
Carette allowed all three companies to produce similar looking
trains which often had only the logo that was different. Bub was one of the first companies to produce
diecast accessories for model trains. Many Bub toys reached the American market via exclusive
distributor F.A.O. Schwartz, New York City, during the 1920s-1930s.
Bub is known to have acquired the tooling for Bing toy trains when Bing went
out of business in 1932. Bub was able to keep manufacturing costs low during the depression era because
it utilized paper thin sheet metal. Bub restarted production of the Bing models in 1934 for the
German market but this in turn ceased at the outbreak of World War II. The original Bub factory in
Nürnberg was completely destroyed during the war.
After 1945 a production of trains in an 'S'
like gauge (1:64 scale running on 22.5 mm track) was created,
but these train products could not compete with the upcoming trend of HO gauge and was a commercial
failure. The company struggled to recapture its earlier successes by creating the popular BUBMOBIL.
During the 1950´s the company made a strategic error by not switching its production from diecast and tinplate
to plastic, as was the practice held by other toy train manufacturers of the time. By the early 1960´s Bub
was forced to completely cease production and close its operations. The company itself closed in 1966.
Bub trains and cars are hard to find and are highly collectible. Complete sets of these trains rarely
appear on the market except at auction when an old established collection is being dispersed.
In 2002 a new firm began producing HO and large scale trains under the Bub name. There is no lineal
connection between the old Bub and the new Bub. The new products are manufactured in China, but the
company offices are located in Nürnberg. Their web site address is www.bub-toys.de.
