By Bryant Booth
References:
There is little literature in English available on PAYÁ trains. Even Pierce Carlson’s comprehensive book “Toy Trains, A History” devotes only two paragraphs to the PAYÁ marque. Count Coluzzi’s glossy "Trains on the Avenue De Rumine" provides only a very short history of the company. Three resources served as the primary reference material for this article:
1) Catalogos de la Exposicion "El Juguete Espanol y el Ferrocarril – 100 Anos de Historia" – This is the catalog for an exhibit of Spanish toy trains at the Railway Museum of Madrid in 1996-1997. This 90+ page book, only printed in Spanish, reviews the history of the Spanish toy train industry, covering and providing photos of trains from companies such as PAYÁ, Manamo, Josfel, Rico, plus HO companies such as Electrotren.
2) The internet blog Juguetes Antiguos de Ibe (Antique Toys of Ibe) at http://juguetesantiguosdeibi.blogspot.com . Written by Raimundo Payá Moltó, the grandson of Pascual PAYÁ, one of the original PAYÁ brothers, Senior Payá Moltó’s article “Los Trenes PAYÁ” provides many details of the company’s toy train development history.
3) Brochures and catalogs, produced by PAYÁ and several of the 1980’s distributors provided general information on the history and train products of PAYÁ.
4) Valencia Toy Museum at http://thebiggamehunter.com/museums-archives/valencia-toy-museum/
5) Trenes Antiguos de Juguete (Antique Toy Trains) at
http://www.redsiglo21.com/juguetesantiguos/trenes.htm
6) Email correspondence with Mr. Eugene McKeown, Sales Director of Reeves International during the late 1980s. March 21, 2012
7) Email correspondence with Enrique R. de Lara, June 5, 2012
Acknowledgements: I want to thank the following individuals for providing photos of the early PAYÁ trains and the original RENFE “Santa Fe” steam locomotive:
- Juan Requena
- Antonio Martínez Valcárcel
- Marco Van Uden
- Enrique R. de Lara
- Evelyn Ortiz Davis
- “Oslabo”
I enjoyed my dialog with them on the subject of Spanish PAYÁ toys and trains. I especially want to thank Enrique R. de Lara who answered several questions on the history of PAYÁ and, with the support of his daughter, translated a draft of this article to Spanish, read the article, and then provided important comments back to me, in English! Finally I want to thank my son, Chris, for his image sizing and digital media support.
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Do you collect and/or operate European 3-rail trains? If so, I'd like to hear about your interest. Write me at bfbooth@cox.net.
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