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Child Guidance Highway

After seeing success with the first Child Guidance Railroad sets in the early 1960s, Child Guidance developed a companion plastic highway system using a similar road gauge and system and similar soft plastic cars and trucks, allowing for the two systems to play together well. Also released cross-compatibly was the Guidancetown U.S.A. series of buildings. Unlike Child Guidance Railway, it does not appear that any new sets were brought out after the initial assortment, and the range faded away in the later 1960s.

Although it does not seem Child Guidance Highway ever saw the same success as Child Guidance Railroad, it is a fine and neat road system with some cool features and odd quirks. It did see some international adoption, with Toltoys releasing a version in Australia alongside their version of Child Guidance Railroad.

Vehicles

There are a few different types of little soft plastic (almost vinyl feeling) cars and trucks. They are fairly basic and shot in a single color but have some molded details, particularly the Jeep. The cars are a little smaller than Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars but do not look out of place and

The standard "car" is this sedan which I think looks quite nice in its all-black form.

The Jeeps include a tow hook and a little attachment that lets them tow around another vehicle.

Also included is a classic North American school bus, although I unfortunately don't have a yellow one.

Some of the coolest vehicles are the trucks with interchangeable truck beds. This allows you to change the colors and style of the truck, and have something like a matching tanker truck or a pickup with a mismatched bed or a big container truck. It is a very neat system.

A variety of six cars and trucks (two sedans, Jeep, bus, and two trucks with six snap-in truck bodies) cost one dollar circa 1963.

Road

Road is based on the Child Guidance Railroad rail standard and has rounded connectors and flippable surfaces. Most road could be purchased individually or in pairs for ten cents.

Curved Road (1963)

Child Guidance curve road is based on the Child Guidance Railroad standard and matches with the radius of its curves and the length of both system's straight rails at ~197mm. The highway road is made from softer plastic and is rougher around the edges with more fleshing than the railroad track.

Straight Road (1963)

Child Guidance Highway road measures about 197mm, about the same as the Child Guidance Railroad straight rails.

Road Fork (1963)

Being based off of Child Guidance Railroad and in turn Tot Railroad, the somewhat odd "yoke" switch was used for Child Guidance Highway.

Switch Exit Section (1963)

The tight parallel switch that appeared in Tot Railroad was also produced for Child Guidance Highway, still only in one orientation.

Half Straight Road (1963)

Half straight road sold in a pair for ten cents.

Despite the name, these road pieces are not half of a normal straight road, and instead measure around 84mm long.

Entering Section (1963)

Two ramped "entering sections" adapted from Child Guidance Railroad, sold in a two pack with one each concave and convex

Stop Section (1963)

Two "buffer" stop sections also with Railroad ties (although not railroad ties, as it were), one in each orientation.

Bridge Overpass (1963)

Also inherited from Child Guidance Railroad is a rather steep ascending bridge road. Because of the integrated support and handedness of the track connectors, there are separate "up" and "down" pieces. One of each bridge piece and two supports were sold for 35 cents.

Funnily enough, if you look closely at some of these bridges under the light you can see what look like train track sleepers under the surface... perhaps this tooling was adapted from a Child Guidance Railroad ascending track tooling.

Overpass supports (1963)

These supports are basic but function perfectly fine and come in different colors. Child Guidance Railroad used this same style earlier on in its life and each can be used to support either system.

Accessories

Child Guidance Highway had few larger accessories, primarily a 10 inch service station center included in larger sets and sold individually for a dollar.

Highway Service Center (1963)

Ten inch highway service centers with two wide ramps were sold on their own for one dollar. The service station has a rotating central pylon with lifting dividers and a small booth and gas station on one side. It was produced in several color combinations, like most everything else in the range.

Wider ramps than the black road-type were produced in several colors for these service stations.

Restaurant and Rest Station Set (1963)

Using parts from the Guidancetown U.S.A. range, this set included pieces to make a rectangular two-story restaurant (or railway depot, or bus depot, or Sears, thanks to the included sign inserts) and a square one-story building with roofs. Sold for 50 cents.

These buildings came with a variety of roof colors and sometimes the set was included with the smaller 502 set. It seems that the set included a selection of the cardboard Guidancetown window inserts and the restaurant does not really have to be a restaurant.

Traffic Signs and Signals (1963)

Sold individually and included in sets were a variety of small roadside details like streetlights, stop signs, stoplights, and other signs. These came in a variety of colors with any particular example of a 45 piece set usually coming in three different colors, two for the streetlights and stop signs and another for signs.

Also included sticker sheet for signs. A set of 45 accessories with 38 stickers (enough to sticker 19 double-sided signs) cost a dollar. It seems not all the stickers came in pairs and some signs would have different labels on either side.

Sets

Three sizes of Child Guidance Highway set were released in 1963.

Year Set name Description Photo
1963 602 Child Guidance Highway System 2 Small 55+ piece starter set with loop of road with switch and off-road with bridge and overpass. Some releases included the 16 piece Restaurant and Rest Station Restaurant and Rest Station variant can be seen here
1963 603 Child Guidance Highway System 3 Medium 85+ piece intermediate set with service station, switches, bridges, cars and trucks and accessory pack
1963 605 Child Guidance Super Highway System Large "Super" set with a service center, three overpass sections, restaurant and rest station, vehicles, road, and roadside accessories  
1964 4614 Child Guidance Highway System 1 Sears exclusive 65+ piece set with the layout of the System 2 set with added girder bridge, Guidancetown building, and other added accessories Can be seen here
1964 4616 Child Guidance Highway System 2 Large Sears set with girder and swing bridges and several Guidancetown buildings including the restaurant and rest stop as well as three motel cabins and garage Can be seen here

603 Child Guidance Highway System 3 (1963)

The "Intermediate Set" introduced in 1963, this is a very nicely featured set with over 85 pieces including the service station, two overpasses and supports, six cars and trucks, and a variety of road pieces.

As noted on the sides of the box, Child Guidance Highway is in scale with (and works will with dimensionally, and connects to and operates well with) the Child Guidance Railway and Guidancetown building sets.


Set contents
Quantity
Item
Photo
12 pieces Six cars and trucks and six interchangeable truck bodies
23 Curved Road
3 Straight Road
2 Switch Exit Section
2 Half Straight Road
4 Bridge Overpass (2 pairs)
6 Overpass Supports
1 Entering Section (concave)
1 Stop Section (concave)
3 pieces Highway Service Center
45 pieces Set of Traffic Signs and Signals

The set includes a mix of six vehicles - two sedans, a bus, a jeep with car carrier, and two trucks with six interchangeable beds. The exact color and specification of cars and trucks likely varied from box to box on the production line...

I really like the truckbed interchangeability aspect of this system - it is very simple but makes the trucks much more interesting and you can make whatever color and type of trucks you want to compliment the other vehicles or other toy cars and trucks.

The road in these sets is somewhat roughly finished with pieces often having sprew.

The ten-inch service station has a central rotating divider with lifting "STOP" arms. Cars can enter and leave from the different exits and the service center itself with gas pumps lies to one side.

Although my copy of the set does not have the original layout literature (I would not mind picking up another set in the range that has a copy, ideally boxed and cheap), it does have a parts order form with the prices for the individual pieces in the range.

To be honest, all set up the set is rather impressive. The small signs and lights are perhaps a bit fiddly but there are enough to cover pretty much the entire layout. The Jeep with tow hook and the interchangeable trucks offer a lot of potential play scenarios.

Toltoys (Australia) (1970s)

In the 1970s Toltoys of Australia released several railroad sets based on the Child Guidance Railroad standard in Australia as well as New Zealand. Toltoys also produced their own version of the Child Guidance Highway system in Australia alongside the Railroad and in some large crossover sets. Toltoys road was a bright blue and had some additional road pieces like a short double-concave piece and a six-way intersection. Some color variations include. More information about the Toltoys highway system can be found here.