Maker record
Pico Express
Pico Express was the original name used for PIKO’s H0 model railway, introduced in 1949 at the Leipzig Autumn Fair. Produced initially in Chemnitz, the range established the company’s model railway business. Production moved to Sonneberg in 1952, and the name changed from Pico to PIKO. PIKO’s later range expanded to locomotives, rolling stock, track and railway accessories in several gauges.
- Founded
- 1949
- Locations
- Unknown
- Founders
- René F. Wilfer
The story of Pico Express
PIKO introduced its Pico Express H0 model railway at the Leipzig Autumn Fair in 1949. The railway was produced in Chemnitz. In 1952, production moved to Sonneberg, Thuringia, and the name changed from Pico to PIKO, an abbreviation of ‘Pionier-Konstruktion.’ The PIKO name entered the company name in 1962, when it became VEB PIKO Sonneberg. In 1981 the enterprise joined the Spielwarenkombinat Sonneberg. After German reunification, the Treuhandanstalt transformed the state-owned operation into PIKO GmbH Sonneberg in 1990.
In April 1992, René F. Wilfer founded PIKO Spielwaren GmbH, which acquired the toy and model railway production operations, tooling and equipment. Wilfer and his wife Ortrun took over the Sonneberg operation that May. The company invested in its production facilities, including plastic injection moulding and computer-aided design. It added G gauge locomotive and rolling stock production in 1995, initially making models for LGB, and presented its own garden railway range in 2006. In 2006 PIKO also established a factory in Chashan, Guangdong, China, for much of its H0, TT and N gauge production; garden railway models continued to be made in Sonneberg.