Maker record
Ribas
Ribas was a Barcelona toy maker specializing in hand-built railway models. Its trains included the 1:45 scale ‘Tren del Centenario’, made around 1948 to represent the locomotive and carriages associated with the Barcelona–Mataró railway. The model combined materials including brass, zinc and wood and was propelled by hand. Ribas also made a 1700 steam locomotive and a set of military transport wagons.
- Founded
- 1940
- Countries
- Spain
- Locations
- Barcelona, Spain
- Founders
- Jose Ribas
The story of Ribas
Ribas was a Barcelona artisan toy maker whose documented output included railway models. The Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid describes Ribas among small-scale Spanish toy makers and identifies its workshop at AmÃlcar Street, 129–133, in Barcelona, where the firm was based until the 1950s. The museum characterizes the work as manual production by a tinsmith.
Around 1948, Ribas made the ‘Tren del Centenario’, a 1:45 scale model commemorating the centenary of the first public railway service on the Spanish peninsula, between Barcelona and Mataró. The hand-propelled train represented the full-size commemorative locomotive and comprised a locomotive, tender and three passenger carriages. Its construction used brass, zinc and wood. Other models attributed to Ribas include a 1700 steam locomotive and three military transport wagons.