industry manufacturing retail founded 1997 headquarters louisiana missouri key people mike whitworth products wooden toy trains website whittle shortline railroad whittle shortline is a toy company owned and operated in the united states . contents 1 history 2 products 2.1 holiday car series 2.2 the little engine that could 2.3 mega trains 3 references history edit during the mid 1990s former us air force pilot mike whitworth received a compound mitre saw as a gift from his wife ostensibly for doing home improvement projects . the saw sat unused for almost two years when whitworth got the inspiration to produce toy trains for friends and family . by 1997 word of his craftsmanship had reached local retailers who in turn asked that he make the wooden trains on a professional basis . in 1999 the production moved from the family home some miles to the historic building of the frisco hotel in valley park a suburb of st. louis . by 2005 most of the production was moved north to the city of louisiana missouri . in the recent wake of the recalls of many chinese made consumer goods including toys 1 whittle shortline have seen a heightening of interest in their products . products edit a colorful engine pattered from a chessie system gp40 2 one of many wooden toy trains offered by whittle shortline . wooden toy trains and accessories are their specialty . these are non motorized and suitable for children . the cars and locomotives couple together using small magnets and are easy to manipulate . whittle shortline differ from their peers in that most of their trains are patterned from prototype north american railroad equipment . the company proudly state their products as being made in the usa . the high quality woods used make whittle shortline toys more expensive than many other brands that use the same type of track . however they are compatible with brands such as brio and choo choo track & toy co. aside from their standard line of wooden trains whittle shortline also offer special versions of their toys . holiday car series edit each year since 2002 the company has offered a freight car decorated in a colorful holiday theme aimed at collectors . typically featuring a boxcar although the 2002 and 2005 release saw a gift adorned flatcar and hot cocoa themed tanker car respectively . the little engine that could edit in 2006 the company released a wooden toy train line based upon the little engine that could as a domestic alternative to thomas the tank engine . mega trains edit whittle shortline introduced in 2007 a line of mega trains . these featured greatly enlarged locomotives and rolling stock while retaining compatibility with standard wooden track . references edit gil mcclanahan 2007 06 19 . recall on thomas the tank engine toys . wowk tv . retrieved 2008 11 29 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title whittle shortline & oldid 700189758 categories toy train manufacturerswooden toystoy companies of the united statescompanies based in missouriprivately held companies based in missouri navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 january 2016 at 23 57 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view