Any PIKO Fans Onboard?

THANKS in advance for your responses! ☺

I should mention that I am, and have been, for decades a HUGE fan of the original German made LGB! I also had quite a few Pola buildings, for which I paid an expert modeler friend to assemble for me. 

Tinplate Art posted:

I should mention that I am, and have been, for decades a HUGE fan of the original German made LGB! I also had quite a few Pola buildings, for which I paid an expert modeler friend to assemble for me. I believe these were produced in the then East Germany.

Pola was a Western Germany company. The Pola factory was located in Rothhausen (North of Wurzburg) in what was then West Germany.

Regards

Fred

Fred: THANK YOU for that correction! Did someone acquire Pola? Their kits were always very sturdy and nicely decorated! Did Pola just go out of business? The PIKO structures are not quite comparable in my opinion, in terms of decoration or sturdiness, but their Beck's Brewery is quite impressive.

I am a huge Piko fan, have a large collection of Piko HO made in the GDR and recent Piko G gauge. A company with a long and interesting history.

Miketg

I have a fair amount of the current European HO locomotives offered. Run very well, and have a very good level of detail. So far I am pleased.

Tinplate Art posted:

Fred: THANK YOU for that correction! Did someone acquire Pola? Their kits were always very sturdy and nicely decorated! Did Pola just go out of business? The PIKO structures are not quite comparable in my opinion, in terms of decoration or sturdiness, but their Beck's Brewery is quite impressive.

From the Pola history:

"After the company Pola had to go bankrupt, on February 1, 1997, the kit program was transferred to Gebrüder FALLER GmbH, which took over the trademark rights and the entire injection molds in H0, N and G, but not land, buildings and workplaces. The remaining 30 employees were dismissed and the production facility in Rothhausen was closed. Part of the original Pola kits can be found today, in a modified version, in the program of the company Faller again."

Regards

Fred

I have a couple pieces of HO scale German rolling stock by Piko; they're fine, although I prefer Roco stuff...

Mark in Oregon

I have a couple of G Gauge structures, and a few pieces of HO rolling stock, but that doesn't qualify me as a "fan", per se.

THANK YOU, Fred, meine freunde, for the "rest of the story"! I found a new in the box original Schoenweiler" large station on e-bay.

Real sad thing about Pola is the founder and innovator died in a small plane crash in the mid 80's, way to young. I think if he had not died so young and unexpectedly, we may have seen Pola survive. One thing people overlook is that around 1970 Pola introduced the Pola Maxi line in 0 scale, which along with Rivarossi and Lima helped restart/start large scale manufacturing in European 0 scale.

Miketg

I bought a used PIKO HO set last year that continues to run great.

My experience with PIKO is limited to G but some of you have had success with their HO, and that is good!