COLLECTION #134: Keystone Fire Department and Service Station

These two awesome vintage Keystone boy's playsets are from the late 1940s. Finding these toys is partially the reason I became a toy collector back in the mid '80s. We were living in Rhode Island, where I was working for Hasbro. My husband and I had a side business that involved some light assembly and storage work, and Bruce rented some space in a self-storage unit to do the work. He got acquainted with the owner of the units, and at one point, the owner needed to clear out units when the owners defaulted. In one of these abandoned units, they found a chache of old toys, including these. We were able to get these toys, and my collections were up and running!

I especially love the Fire Department toy.. this one is slightly larger than some of the others I've seen online and in person- with three doors and three vehicles. It has a working 'siren', and fun little levers on the back of the station where you can pull them back, and then let go, and the fire trucks come roaring out of the front.

It also comes with it's own 'burning building'. How fun is that! The 'flames' can be swiveled out so the fire can appear and disappear. The hoses connect to the flaming building.

The Service Station looks a lot like a gas station must have back in the late '40s, early '50s. It comes complete with a car wash, 'elevator', ramp, oil change bay, 2 gas pumps, air dispenser, and a few other features. It's a little rough looking, but it's really fun to look at. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the vehicles it might have come with.

I hope you enjoy these wonderful playsets... I'm sure the little boy who owned these toys had many years of imaginative play!

A 1950 Toy Fair ad featuring Keystone toys, including these playsets.