Freight train

Originally known as the Kenton Lock Manufacturing Company, the Ohio-based firm changed its name to the Kenton Hardware Company in 1894 and at that time began producing cast-iron toys and still banks. Kenton eventually became one of the world's largest cast-iron toy manufacturers. The company offered a broad range of toys, inspiring its president Louis Bixler in 1923 to call Kenton's line of toys "the most complete manufactured in the United States." Though best known for its horse-drawn vehicles, fire engines, planes, nodding toys, and comic strip character toys, Kenton also produced cast-iron floor trains, like this model that includes a steam locomotive, a tender, two cattle cars, and a caboose. The company shut down operations in 1952, but its toys remain popular amongst collectors to this day.