More than a few people over the years have been confronted by a classic American OO gauge die cast 4-6-0, 4-4-2 or 4-6-4T model and have wondered what company made it. The only marking on the locomotive itself is “Scale Models Chicago” as in the photo below. The words are on a builders plate below the smokestack.

I remember wondering why this Scale-Craft model was marked this way when I first got started in OO. The answer is actually pretty simple. When Scale-Craft introduced their OO gauge line in 1937 the Chicago-based company was officially known as “Scale-Models, Inc.” They produced “Scale-Craft Working Models.” Even at that time the line was known primarily as Scale-Craft, and later the name was officially changed to Scale-Craft, but the dies remained unchanged and these locomotives are marked with the more obscure Scale Models Chicago marking. But rest assured that these are Scale-Craft products.