The founder of the Munier brand used to be a balloonist. André Munier (the father) was thrilled about developping the precision mechanism. He left the realisation for his employees. In his early career André Munier he started to create film projectors and cinematographic material. He even created for the industry some electric engines.

In 1925 his model train career took a start as employee for Robert Marescot. During quite some years he was considering to create his own artisanal production of trains. It was in 1944 that André Munier started with its own company. His son René Munier helped him to design the material. René was a graduated designer at the National Professional School of Creil. René quit the Munier company in 1959.

In the early 1950s it was quite a challenge to survive as rather small toy train company. Especially if you were offering toy trains of high detailed quality. During that decade it was almost impossible to compete with toy train manufacturers for 0 gauge from abroad, such as the United Kingdom or the United States. The manufacturers in the latter countries were able to produce in mass quantities. Exactly that was not possible for Munier (and others such as Fournereau). Hence, Munier had to choose wise to gain the attraction of the toy train enthousiasts. One of his best choices was the creation of the famous passenger cars, called "FORESTIER".

During his period of production, which lasted until the early 1960s, Munier produced mainly models from his area, the northern part of France; Compiègne was in fact his hometown. Therefore, the models of the french railway company NORD were mostly produced.