Jouef

Jouef is a (former) French toy brand, particularly known it was through the manufacture and distribution of model trains.

The company " Le Jouet Français " ( German: The French toy ) was founded in 1944 by Georges Huard, household products manufactured from plastic.

End of the 1940s ( 1:87 ) published a first model railway railcar, a copy of the famous Trans-Saharan train Algiers- Timbuktu from sheet metal, the first models were powered by a rubber motor, in the nominal size H0. By the 1950s, was from " Le Jouet Français " or simply " JF " brand " Jouef ".

From 1952 onwards, a complete program was offered to model trains from sheet metal. In 1955, electric trains were produced. The first locomotive BB 9003 was soon replaced by the BB 9004. Another novelty of 1955 was the Tank Locomotive № 020 708, which was sold over two million copies in 40 years of production.

To expand the product line, electrical, track-bound car racing sets were offered at the end of the 1960s, where Jouef was one of the first manufacturers of car racing with Überholfunktion. The vehicles in 1:40 scale or 1:43 ranged from Le Mans race cars to luxury cars to average family vehicles.

After a change of ownership in 1972, the company Jouef was integrated into the group Le Jouet Français, the (models of plastic ) also included the companies Delacoste (manufacturer of balloons and small toys), Solido (specialist for miniature vehicles) and Heller. The production of the racetracks at Jouef was adjusted. The Group reported in 1980 to bankruptcy. 1981 Jouef was integrated into the French toy manufacturer CEJI. This had to stop its operations in 1995.

After another change of ownership was from June 2001, production of model trains in the Jura Mountains in Champagnole by the then owner, the Italian Lima Group, closed. Thus, the final model railway factory in France disappeared. The Railway models offered afterwards under the old name came from Italy.

In October 2004, the English model railway manufacturer Hornby Lima bought up and took with it the trademark as well as forms of Jouef. Since 2006 Model Railway products are again under the name Jouef commercially available. The development of the models was carried out first in England and Italy, since 2009 in Spain. In addition to existing models, which come in a revised form to the market every year completely new Jouef models in nominal size H0 ( 1:87 scale ) are being developed for the H0 since the restart of the brand.

Sales of brand models Jouef 's focus is still in France. However, models for Luxembourg are produced sporadically. Sales are made in France Hornby France.