This is where what would later be called "Plasticville" began. In November of 1947 Bachmann released the No. 1-C Picket Fence and Gate for sale during the Holiday Season. It was designed to be displayed around a Christmas tree as is illustrated on the box cover, and the box contained 15 sections of Fence and one Gate. The 5002 Polybag contained only 12 sections of fence. The current issue 45991 refers to this fence as "Platform Fence."

These fences were made in large quantities, and after 1950 retailers like F.W. Woolworth would sell them out of large bins and throw the dealer box away (illustrated to the left). Finding these fence sections is not a problem. What is problematical is finding them unbroken. Often the top finials are broken or missing. Locating any quality box that originally contained these fences can be difficult.

Shown to the right is a section of fence that shows the mounting holes that allowed a 90 degree joint at any point.

Two Sizes!
The early size of this fence would be three sixteenth of an inch longer than those that were issued later. By 1956, when the dealer boxes of the 1002 were issued, the fence sections that they contained would be the smaller size. The easiest way to tell them apart is by looking at the foot of the post. We’ve illustrated the difference in the picture to the right.

The assembled length of the early fence is exactly six inches, and five and thirteen sixteenths for the later issue. Bachmann would state in their catalogs that they are 6-1/4, and 6 inches respectively.

While the different sizes will mate together, the result is "odd" looking, especially when they are used alternately.

The Postless Fence
Early fences would come without posts as is illustrated to the left. These are often found warped due to imperfections in the plastic. There were two types of posts. One had the mounting holes on two adjacent sides for use at the corners and the other had holes on opposite side for mounting straight through sections. One of these posts is shown to the right.

WHITE: Issued in both sizes.

GREEN: Bachmann called this color GREEN, but it is closer to TURQUOISE. Issued only in the 1002 dealer boxes. These sections were only made in the smaller size.

YELLOW: Issued only in the 1002 dealer boxes. These sections were only made in the smaller size.

"LET’S THROW EVERYTHING IN THE POT!": Bachmann issued this fence in the CF-5 dealer boxes. It was likely that they just decided to use up whatever colored plastic pellets they had left over to make these fences. Because of this, each of these sections is unique and the colors changes from piece to piece. These sections are of the larger size, which means they were made before 1956. Click HERE to see a larger view of this striking piece.

The jury is still out on these colored pieces. Bachmann never mentioned them in any of their literature and there may be other colors that have not been found. If you know of different colors, other than those that we’ve shown, we’d like to hear from you.

Current Issue Platform Fence

The current issue of this fence is called a Platorm Fence. It is only produced in the WHITE color. Click on the thumbnail image to the right to see a larger view.