Rowa H0

(Germany)

Rowa was founded by Willy Ade in 1959, following the closure of his previous business WIAD, makers of H0 plastic building kits. Willy Ade and Rowa were contracted by Trix to improve the Trix range with new plastic models, Trix then being a traditional die cast and tinplate manufacturer. The relationship with Trix lasted until 1968, ceasing due to Trix resisting modern development such as scale length passenger cars, and insisting that any new Trix models had to be fully compatible with earlier Trix production.

Following the end of the Trix relationship, Rowa produced and sold its own models, and joined forces with TT scale manufacturer Rokel. Rokel were bankrupt by 1974, and Rowa followed in 1975. Much of the Rowa tooling was acquired by Roco, and Willy Ade formed a new business, Ade, producing scale length H0 passenger cars as both kits and Ready to Run models.