Bassett-Lowke
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Bassett-Lowke was a toy company, based in the Northampton, England founded by Wenham Joseph Bassett-Lowke in 1898 or 1899 that specialized in model railways, model boats and ships, and construction sets. Bassett-Lowke initially started as a mail-order catalog business and primarily remained so, although it sometimes designed and even manufactured some of its own items.
Bassett-Lowke were primarily a sale organisation, contracting out the manufacture of models and parts to other manufacturers, such as Twining Models, and Wintringham's also of Northampton. They did, however, keep the manufacture of shipmodels for display purposes in-house.
Bassett-Lowke produced trains in a variety of sizes, from 15-inch gauge live steam models to Gauge 2, Gauge 1, and O gauge. In the 1920s, Bassett-Lowke introduced OO gauge products as well.
Bassett-Lowke's decline starting in the late 1950s can be blamed on at least two factors: Sometimes people would browse the firm's free catalog and then buy similar or nearly identical items elsewhere at a lower price, but also consumer interest in technical toys in general began to decline in the late 1950s and even more so in the 1960s. Bassett-Lowke's fall was mirrored by two of its U.S. counterparts, the A. C. Gilbert Company and Lionel Corporation. The original Bassett-Lowke went out of business in 1965.
Because of the premium nature of Bassett-Lowke's toys, they tended to be well preserved, and many examples survive today. They are highly collectible.
Key competitors to Bassett-Lowke were Hornby and Exley.
The brand name has been acquired by toy manufacturer Corgi, who has made efforts in recent years to revive it.