Ken S

Thanks for the thoughts. No surprises there , then, so I'll stick with my trusty H & M Duette It's still a mystery as to why, amidst all the rubbish "vintage" controllers on ebay, this type doesn't appear. Obviously that collector's shop has decided that it has the only surviving one in the world. Actually the greater mystery is how this item came to be in friend's attic at all, as she says her ancient kiddies never had an electric train set. It came to my attention because it was in a bag of mangled scrap tin she gave me, that used to be the kids' clockwork 0 gauge Hornby (and yes, I did give the controller back to her, just in case it might be worth a million, though warning her that I thought even to get into double figures as a curiosity would be pushing it!)

Hi, A friend has an Eisenmann speed controller, a company I'd not heard of before. I note from googling that the company was active in dolls, teddy bears and other toys and researching here on RMweb revealed that Eisenmanns were once UK agents and collaborators with Lima. I wondered whether this item was rare and found several for sale references internationally. They transpired to be the same item from an English company and are offering it at a penny under £400. I'd have thought these were a common item even though, as in my friends case, all the others are still languishing in attics across the land! This ebay one is stated to have been made in Italy , though my friend's one has "Made in England" moulded on the casing. Can anyone shed any light on these controllers. please? Perhaps they were made to accompany Lima train sets in UK?