Maker record
Munier
Munier was a French artisan maker of 0-gauge model railway equipment. Founded in Compiègne in 1948, it first supplied parts for railway-model construction, including wheels and axle boxes, as well as sand castings made to order. It later concentrated on all-metal scale rolling stock, sold either as kits or ready to run. Its products included locomotives and passenger and freight vehicles modelled on French railway equipment, among them Nord, Est and SNCF types.
- Founded
- 1948
- Final year
- 1964
- Countries
- France
- Locations
- Compiègne, France
- Founders
- André Munier
The story of Munier
Munier was founded in Compiègne in late 1948, after the Second World War, as an artisan railway-model firm. Its early advertisements offered 0-gauge parts for builders, including wheels and axle boxes, and sand castings made to order. The firm then focused on all-metal rolling stock, available as kits or ready to run. Its work belonged to the French tradition of small specialist makers producing detailed models in 0 gauge.
Early products included a KKuw covered wagon kit in 1949, made from bronze parts, and a cast-metal Est passenger-car kit. Advertisements from that year also offered 222T and 141TC Nord locomotives as kits or assembled models, with Nord and Est coaches. The 230 D Nord appeared in June 1950, followed by the 141 R for Christmas that year. In late 1952 Munier introduced SNCF Forestier coaches, including several passenger-car types and CIWL dining cars; a DEV unified brake van and two-axle C6t coaches followed in 1953. Production wound down progressively toward the end of the 1960s, and Lyon-based artisan Guillermet later took over the coaches.
