Maker record
Transeurope
Transeurope is the name of a Joustra friction-powered bus, rather than a documented maker of model railway trains. Joustra was a French manufacturer of mechanical metal toys based in Strasbourg. Its products included tinplate aircraft, trolleybuses and military vehicles, as well as later cranes and trucks. The Transeurope bus was made of lithographed tinplate and came with a driver and four cardboard suitcases. It is one example of Joustra’s transport toys, whose range encompassed both friction and clockwork mechanisms.
- Founded
- 1960
- Countries
- France
- Locations
- France
- Founders
- Francois Dupont
The story of Transeurope
Joustra began in Strasbourg in 1934 as Le Jouet de Strasbourg, making tinplate toys that included aircraft, trolleybuses and military vehicles. Production stopped in 1939 during the German occupation and resumed in 1946. The company then introduced its “voiture miracle”; from 1950 it expanded its range of cranes and trucks and began making remote-controlled vehicles. In 1968 it became a limited company under the name Joustra, and in 1969 it joined Générale du Jouet, followed by the CEJI group in 1970.
The Transeurope name appears on a Joustra friction bus. A 2023 auction catalogue describes it as lithographed tinplate, with a driver and four cardboard suitcases. The example documents Joustra’s production of friction-powered transport toys alongside its broader mechanical toy range. The museum record notes that Joustra was acquired by Heller in 1999.