BAYKO in South Africa
and South Central Africa

This section is intended to cover BAYKO a number of countries, all of them were former British territories, in South and South Central Africa, specifically they are : -

I currently have just one BAYKO document, in this case from South Africa and it's perfectly possible, as happens today in many cases, that the other countries effectively formed part of the same market.

Before I look at the document, some general comments about the countries concerned.

If you have any more information on any of these BAYKO markets then I'd love to hear from you…

I have had direct and indirect contact with several BAYKO modellers from South Africa, though I've yet to persuade any to provide much information. However, I understand that BAYKO was available post-war, at least in the major cities like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, but I've no information from the pre-war period.

I think it's also a fair bet that MECCANO era BAYKO would also have been available, given that the MECCANO product range was well established before the BAYKO takeover. The catalogue below supports this - though the price list, which would provide conclusive proof, is missing.

Unfortunately, that's the limit of my knowledge.

The evidence I have for BAYKO in Zambia, or Northern Rhodesia as it was then known, is indirect.

It comes from the January, 1958 issue of the 'MECCANO Magazine' and the image [left].

The image shows two BAYKO models [top and bottom centre] being used to enhance the scenery on a HORNBY DUBLO model railway layout.

The layout concerned belonged to James Davidson of Nkana, in Zambia.

There were a number of entries in 'MECCANO Magazine' with similar 'background' appearances of the world's first, and finest, plastic construction toy…

Here I unfortunately have no information at all from either country. However, even today, despite their decades of independence, it is common for import and other agencies operating on relatively modest scales, to manage these, and neighbouring, countries as joint markets. I certainly know this to be true, from personal experience, both with KELLOGG'S and some of their suppliers. Knowing how Plimpton dealt the with Benelux countries and France, through a single agent, it's not a major stretch to suggest that BAYKO would indeed have been available in both Malawi [formerly Nyasaland] and Zimbabwe [formerly Southern Rhodesia]. If so, I expect that this too was restricted to larger cities.