In 1946 John Gützold and his wife Erna started a piston foundry in Zwickau, Germany. They had three sons Bernd, Hans, and Lutz. In 1948 he gave each of his sons a train set made of wood and metal. The boys really had a lot of fun with them, which pleased John. For Christmas 1950, he gave his sons a complete H0 model train layout with a tank locomotive for the 3-Rail AC system . The locomotive had a cast aluminum housing with a zinc frame. In the same year Gützold had already begun with the production of HO plastic structures. With that, John Gützold laid the foundation for a professional production of model railway locomotives in H0 scale. (How did he get from structures to locos? In 1952 he produced the first prototypical locomotive of the German locomotive class BR24. The model was produced in both 2-Rail DC and 3-Rail AC and it was equipped with a Ehlcke universal motor one of the first such motors on the market. In 1968 John Gützold handed the company over to his son Bernd Gützold. In 1972, as part of the nationalization of private enterprises in the GDR , the company was turned into a state-owned enterprise and traded under the name VEB Railroad Model Zwickau. In 1974, Bernd Gützold merged the operation with several Zwickau toy manufacturers. In 1982 the group was merged again into Toys Sonneberg , and the Gützold products were sold under the trade name Piko. After the German reunification in 1990, Gützold again became a family business and the company was incorporated as Gützold GmbH & Co. KG. After initial difficulties Gützold could re-establish itself on the model railway market with new developments such as the German “Kriegslok” BR52. Gützold produced high-quality locomotives and rolling stock both in H0 and TT scale. In the fall of 2012, the company ceased production because Bernd Gützold decided he wanted to retire. In March 2013, a group of investors from Dresden acquired the the company, and production began again on April 15 of that year. The first new model under the new ownership is the exquisite German express locomotive BR03.10. This new models is excellent and the beginning of a bright new future for the Gützold company. Gützold models have extensive details and an incredible running performance. When compared to other manufactures Gützold best feature is that they are MADE IN GERMANY.
Gutzold HO Scale Locomotives
