Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment.

History

The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became successful, the model line was expanded with model trains in HO scale and the smaller N scale. TT scale was also subsequently added to the product line. The model rail product line covers many European countries including Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and also the USA. In the mid 1970s, Lionel HO trains were produced by Roco and Athearn before moving production to the Far East by 1978. On July 15, 2005 ''Roco Modellspielwaren GmbH'' was declared bankrupt and taken over by the creditor Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Raiffeisenbank. After restructuring, a new company ''Modelleisenbahn GmbH'' was formed to consolidate the model railroad market. The Roco brand and associated logo continued to be used. To sharpen the focus on model railways, on October 1, 2007, the 'Minitank' product series was divested to the German model car manufacturer Herpa. In February 2008 Modelleisenbahn acquired Fleischmann (model railroads), Fleischmann from the owner family. Moving some production to lower cost factories like Slovakia and later Vietnam, the companies saw profitability again. Roco and Fleischmann continue as separate brands under Modelleisenbahn GmbH, while benefiting from economies of scale through joint development projects, marketing and procurement.Modelleisenbahnen: Fleischmann und Roco wechseln das Gleis
Handelsblatt, dpa, 14. Juni 2011Spritzgussproduktion wird aus Gloggnitz in die Slowakei verlagert
OTS, 2 March 2018

Products

From 2019 Roco is focused on HO scale, HO gauge railroads, while Fleischmann is focused on N gauge railroads. Roco has also focused on innovation in digital train control for multiple gauges under the Roco Z21, Z21 brand, where users can use iPhone/iPad/Android devices to operate railway models. With these strategies Roco/Fleischmann is the number one company in the DC railroad market segment in Europe, and number two company in the overall railroad company after Märklin which is focused on AC railroad models.Wer will Roco Fleischmann haben?
August 2017 Below are some examples of Roco train models. DSBs damplokomotiv N 202.jpg, DSB N 202 Roco M61 019.JPG, M61 019 Roco 63431 BR 132 201-5 DR.JPG, DR BR 132 201-5 DB E 144-5 Roco.jpg, DB E 144 480 Roco ACME.JPG, MAV 480 001

References

External links

{{Commons category, Roco
Company website

USA Distributor

Model railroad manufacturers Austrian brands Model manufacturers of Austria