Come Into My Parlor Car By Ken Foust

In the Late 19th Century, toymakers that worked in paper and wood often turned to the railroad for inspiration. Bliss and Reed made dozens of wooden pull trains. Sets of paper covered alphabet blocks, whether sold alone or included inside another toy, often had a train on one side. Trains also appeared frequently in puzzles, both those cut with a jigsaw and those composed of rectangular cardboard strips.

There were no rules about how realistic the artwork should be; or whether they should carry passengers or freight, although passenger trains are more common. There were also no rules about who the engineer was; so you might see Santa Claus, Mr. Punch, the Brownies, General Grant, or even well-trained (we hope) apes at the throttle. The one thing that was consistent was that the owner only saw the outside of the cars. Always that is, except for one wonderful exception that showed him what went on inside them too!

That remarkable toy is “Bradley’s Sectional Railroad Puzzle,” a strip puzzle created by Milton Bradley, and copyrighted on May 30, 1882. While most strip puzzles are composed of equally sized pieces, here they ranged from 3″ to 91⁄2″ in length and came in various widths. Just four pieces made up the locomotive and tender, but the cars were another story. Each was built from six pieces, including a car body exterior, a wheeled underframe, a clerestory, and two platforms which, when assembled created a car 113⁄4 inches long. The sixth piece was the car interior, fully furnished and filled with passengers and railway personnel all going about their business.

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