In 1957, BRIO, based in Osby in southern Sweden, introduced its wooden toy train system with wooden tracks in Europe. It may have been the first company to use the "peg and hole" system to connect the track pieces in mass production. The metal hook system for the rolling stock has since been replaced by magnetic connectors.US patent 3850310 filed 1973 concerning BRIO's "Coupling devices for toy vehicles"Brio figure eight train set with magnets before 1975, Spielzeug Museum Nürnberg, Number 1975.996 BRIO was also one of the first companies to use beechwood for such products.
