Deliberately Old-Fashioned 0 Scale - Chapter 1

[ChrisN]

8s 6d strikes me as not being very cheap.  Still Hornby coaches today are not either.

 

PS.  Umm, just checked.  It appears that one pound in 1925 would equal sixty pounds today.  Not quite sure it works like that though as it would make these nearly five hundred quid.

 

Still, my dad earned £5.00 in 1939 and he was on good money.

Edited May 17, 2019 by ChrisN

[rocor]

53 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

8s 6d strikes me as not being very cheap.  Still Hornby coaches today are not either.

 

PS.  Umm, just checked.  It appears that one pound in 1925 would equal sixty pounds today.  Not quite sure it works like that though as it would make these nearly five hundred quid.

 

Still, my dad earned £5.00 in 1939 and he was on good money.

 

Assuming a 40 hour week, that would not equate to a present day minimum wage. 

[Northroader]

1 hour ago, ChrisN said:

8s 6d strikes me as not being very cheap.  Still Hornby coaches today are not either.

 

PS.  Umm, just checked.  It appears that one pound in 1925 would equal sixty pounds today.  Not quite sure it works like that though as it would make these nearly five hundred quid.

 

Still, my dad earned £5.00 in 1939 and he was on good money.

Your calculations out. Using the rate of exchange you quote, 8s 6d comes in at £25:50. The “s” is shillings, not pounds.

[ChrisN]

14 minutes ago, rocor said:

 

Assuming a 40 hour week, that would not equate to a present day minimum wage. 

That is interesting.  My dad was quite pleased with it at the time.  Then war broke out and afterwards he never earned as much in real terms again.

 

3 minutes ago, Northroader said:

Your calculations out. Using the rate of exchange you quote, 8s 6d comes in at £25:50. The “s” is shillings, not pounds.

 

Doh!  Yes of course.  I saw 8s, read eight shillings but thought eight pounds.  Sorry for the thread drift.

[Northroader]

Spell in the booking office, my lad, with Mr. Price watching over your shoulder.

[Nearholmer]

I refer readers to a much earlier page in the thread, where the subject of how best to compare historic and current prices was discussed at great length.

 

The price of these coaches looks to be on a par with comparable Hornby and Bing products of the time. I think this is probably Bassett-Lowke aiming at the "quality toy" market that had been opened-up by Hornby, rather than the "model railway" market, which they served with somewhat less compressed tinplate bogie coaches (made for them by Bing, IIRC) now known as "1924 series", as well as bespoke items for those few with plenty of money to lavish on their hobby.

[Nearholmer]

Time to draw attention to the annual pop-up museum of retro model railways:

 

2019 TCS Public Summer Exhibition

July 6 @ 10:30 am - 5:00 pm, Stoke Mandeville (=Aylesbury)

 

Further and more detailed particulars here https://traincollectors.co.uk/event/2018-tcs-public-summer-exhibition-2/ , although the server seems to run on clockwork, with a weak spring, so you may need to be a bit patient.

[Martin S-C]

At the Forest of Dean Railway museum, Norchard, I saw this and thought of you.

 

[Mark Carne]

On ‎10‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 09:57, Nearholmer said:

Time to draw attention to the annual pop-up museum of retro model railways:

 

2019 TCS Public Summer Exhibition

July 6 @ 10:30 am - 5:00 pm, Stoke Mandeville (=Aylesbury)

 

Further and more detailed particulars here https://traincollectors.co.uk/event/2018-tcs-public-summer-exhibition-2/ , although the server seems to run on clockwork, with a weak spring, so you may need to be a bit patient.

Looking forward to it, I'm doing a layout, glutton for punishment that I am, this year it's Bing German market O gauge, from the late 1920s, early 1930s, mostly stuff rarely seen in the UK. 

 

Cheers, Mark

[Nearholmer]

It’s in my diary, but I’ve got a bit of a cycle tour planned for the following week, so might decide not to test domestic harmony too far.

[St Enodoc]

9 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

It’s in my diary, but I’ve got a bit of a cycle tour planned for the following week, so might decide not to test domestic harmony too far.

Fell off near Bovey Tracey, The pump caught in my trouser leg, and my sandwiches were badly crushed.

 

G. Pither

[Nearholmer]

Don’t worry; I shall be sure to take a shorter pump.

[Nearholmer]

I’ve hardly played trains for weeks, due to a combination of other more pressing matters, and using hobby time to puff and groan up hills on a bike, but today .....

 

A convocation to admire Swiss electrics!

 

Mr H bought his HAG Re4/4i along, and it was joined by another of the same, but with two motors, a HAG Re4/4ii, and a Fulgrurex Ae3/6, which being two-rail finescale was confined to a test track.

 

Many volumes of tech detail were perused too.

 

Predictably, these locos, the HAG ones about the same vintage as their owners, run like Swiss watches and make contemporary British models look rather crude.

[Martin S-C]

10429 looks like a superb model. When was it built?

[Nearholmer]

The model?  I’m not certain, but I would guess late 1970s or sometime in the 1980s. It might be older though, in that Fulgurex started to produce/commission such exotica in the early 1960s, superbly engineered and fully detailed from the outset, so finesse doesn’t betray the date.

 

History of Fulgurex here. http://www.tcawestern.org/fulgurex.htm  I haven’t picked through it looking for this particular model.

 

PS: just found “Between 1989 and 1990 Lombardi made 2 'O' scale brass versions of the SBB Ae 3/6 electric locomotive for Fulgurex. These were limited runs of 60 in brown and 60 in green.” I think this is the one.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Martin S-C]

Wow. Must be worth a fair bit.

[Martin S-C]

Seen at the King's Lynn show 22/06/2019. All French models apparently:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nearholmer]

Tres Bon, Rodney!

 

There is one Swiss, a Buco, loco among them, I think.

[brianusa]

Courtesy of the local Meccano club who came this last weekend but spent more time with the trains.

     Brian.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sW73Rp8YPxFuSgDs6

 

[Nearholmer]

Superb!

 

I can get a real sense of it all from that ......... there is a lot going on.

 

To be frank, I've never quite seen the attraction of Meccano, so I can understand them spending more time on the trains.

[Martin S-C]

I have no connection at all with this seller and was looking at one or two of his 4mm scale items but then noticed he has some interesting 0 gauge tinplate wagons.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/m.html?item=113790161775&_ssn=christophehandfort0&rt=nc

Do please tell me to stop linking items like this if you'd rather I didn't.

[Nearholmer]

He is a fairly well-known dealer, but you did get me overly excited for a moment, because the first item on display was a model of diesel 10800, which is something I would seriously like to have ........ but it is 4mm scale!

 

10800 was an important prototype, overshadowed by its big twin brothers, and it operated for a time (and failed a lot) on the very part of BR(S) that my layout occasionally purports to be inspired by. Added to which, it looked really rather funky, being a sort of condensed Alco road-switcher.

 

http://www.semgonline.com/diesel/10800_01.html

Edited June 26, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Martin S-C]

I liked the look of the model too, but not the price!

 

EDIT:

"Then in 1961 Brush of Loughborough were seeking a loco for experimental traction purposes and Nº10800 filled the role adequately so was sold to Brush in 1962. Following rebuilding, Nº10800 was tested by British Railways at the Rugby test plant and on the GC Leicester-Nottingham route. In this guise Nº10800 received a green and brown livery."

I wonder what the green and brown livery looked like?

Edited June 27, 2019 by Martin S-C

[Nearholmer]

Horrible combination.

 

The sort of thing only the Italians normally do to a locomotive.

 

The loco was so much altered anyway that it was barely recognisable.

 

PS: This thread has photos of it post-reconstruction (keep scrolling down), including a very good colour picture, which shows it in overall sherwood green. if anything is brown, it must be the running-gear. https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/83327-hawk-the-forgotten-prototype/

 

Edited June 27, 2019 by Nearholmer

[Martin S-C]

The Brush rebuild did make it into a much different looking beastie. I prefer the original BR black colour and design. One day lad, I'll have one...