VICTORS MODEL SHOP MEMORIES

[railroadbill]

On 29/11/2019 at 22:23, bécasse said:

The NMRA National Convention was held in London (at a hotel just off Oxford Street, the Portman perhaps?) in the summer of 1971. We were invited to show Bembridge as an example of the latest (P4) in British modelling. It concluded with a very pleasant Saturday evening reception at the (then) Clapham Transport Museum - with every exhibit fully accessible!

Ah, Clapham transport museum!  Those were the days.

[railroadbill]

I've just come to the end of the bottle of Labelle oil I bought in Victors in, must have been mid 1990s.  Last drop now used.  It's been keeping locos running round my loft for all those years.  (Actually a handy squeezy type bottle with a nozzle like a syringe needle, so very good at getting a drip of oil in the right place). Have to refill it...

[Oldddudders]

25 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

I've just come to the end of the bottle of Labelle oil I bought in Victors in, must have been mid 1990s.  Last drop now used.  It's been keeping locos running round my loft for all those years.  (Actually a handy squeezy type bottle with a nozzle like a syringe needle, so very good at getting a drip of oil in the right place). Have to refill it...

I bought Labelle 102 from Victors in the '80s, still have some left. It was alleged to be plastic-compatible, a claim I have never had cause to refute. 

[friscopete]

I was browsing through some Eisenbahn Journals bought in Victors a few days ago .Great memories ,I do remember filling up an Escort van  with customers  brass locos to paint .Half way home   to Norfolk I realised they probably were not insured  so drove  very carefully .I  supplied one customer  of Victors who had lots of logging locos painted and lettered for  O Hooligans Lumber Company and the KIlikitat ,Klamath and Seattle railroad .I still have a pile of Champ Decals lettering  sheets some where all in their little envelopes somewhere .

Edited December 9, 2019 by friscopete

[TEAMYAKIMA]

Ahh, Champ Decals - I remember them well!

[railroadbill]

15 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I bought Labelle 102 from Victors in the '80s, still have some left. It was alleged to be plastic-compatible, a claim I have never had cause to refute. 

Agree. I never had any problems with it. (I have a compuction to keep bearings lubricated going back to Hornby dublo days) ;-)

[Nearholmer]

Wow!

There is clearly an opening for a a ‘Vintage Labelle 102 Bought in Victors Users Club’.

 

My half-used bottle sits on top of a 13A socket above the layout, always to hand. I am very sparing with it, and considering that I have been running Coarse-scale 0, which has Hornby Dublin style not-really-bearings, it’s lasted very well.

[railroadbill]

 

 

Of course this is the ultimate classic collectable model railway oil bottle.  

 

A friend  (who passed on some years ago, sadly) had a large coarse scale O gauge layout and used bottles like these to oil his fleet of Bassett Lowke and similar locos.  Don't know what oil was in the bottles by then, but the "pin in cork"  method seemed to work well.

 

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by railroadbill

[andyman7]

57 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

 

 

Of course this is the ultimate classic collectable model railway oil bottle.  

 

A friend  (who past on some years ago, sadly) had a large coarse scale O gauge layout and used bottles like these to oil his fleet of Bassett Lowke and similar locos.  Don't know what oil was in the bottles by then, but the "pin in cork"  method seemed to work well.

 

 

Ah yes, the Tri-ang bottles. I definitely wouldn't rely on that stuff being plastic compatible, the number of Triang locos I have had with disintegrated motion brackets etc as decades of oil has decomposed them... 

[railroadbill]

Disastrous!  I did use the shell oil on my H-D 3-r which was of course all metal, and that worked fine (insofar as the locos I kept still run excellently 60 years later, when I get them out...)   I think the modern oils like Labelle are formulated to be plastic friendly, fortunately modern lubricants have developed a lot.

[cravensdmufan]

Just started weathering some Joef Cargowaggons I purchased some 35 years ago!

 

I remember buying them from a shop in Pentonville Road but couldn't remember the name.  Then a quick Google brought me straight here to good old RMweb (is there anything model railway related that's not featured somewhere in within these pages?!).

 

So yes, I remember now.  Victors!  I was never a Continental modeller but I seem to recall a Victors advert, (probably in RM) featuring these H0 wagons and it saying they wouldn't look out of place for 00 (could have been a review of them).

 

Well here they are after spending all those years in a drawer - and certainly not looking out of place!  Edit:  Apart from the couplings, which I'll have to change, no problem!

 

 

Edited January 16, 2021 by cravensdmufan
Additional wording

[cravensdmufan]

On 09/12/2019 at 20:26, Oldddudders said:

I bought Labelle 102 from Victors in the '80s, still have some left. It was alleged to be plastic-compatible, a claim I have never had cause to refute. 

Labelle 102 is still available - though somewhat difficult to source in the UK these days (there is one supplier at present on eBay).  Still advertised as safe on plastics.  I've been using it for years along with their PTFE white grease and dry lubricant powder.  A great range of products IMO, completely safe.

[Mr. A. Weijts]

Hello, I am from Holland and visited in 1966 (!!) the shop of Victors, 75 Chapel Market, London Islington to buy some EPs with steam sounds from the Argo Transacord range by Peter Handford. Afterwards I ordered nearly all LPs of the same range from Victors. They always trusted new customers to my opinion, because they first sent me the parcel and afterwards I paid the invoice. Nice people and I would like to have a photograph of the outside of this shop. Hope to get an answer after so many years (56 years later), Kind regards,  Andrew from Holland.   

[bécasse]

This is what 75 Chapel Market looks like today (with thanks to Google Streetview). I was horrified to realise that it must be almost half-a-century since I last visited it to buy some American N gauge stuff from the back room, although I had visited the later Pentonville Road shop a little more recently.

[Oldddudders]

I certainly spent some time in the back room at Chapel Market. I found I came out with an earworm going "Oom-chicka, Oom-chicka, Oom-chicka, Oom-chicka" because that was the Ska music the locals wanted. That said, I also heard and bought Red Beans & Rice by Brian Auger. And yes, I did buy some exotic locos and stock, too!

[John M]

Victors had a joke "Special Offer" for multiple Model Power American N Gauge freight cars that worked out more expensive than the ordinary price when I first visited the Pentonville Rd shop during the late 80s.

 

Shop staff used to get a kick out asking customers who selected the 'special" whether they read the displayed pricing.

 

Victors was my introduction to Atlas & Kato N Scale locos and serious American outline modelling during the late 1980s.

[friscopete]

I mentioned a while ago  that I painted brass for Victors and names the O'Hooligan Lumber Company  as one of the private roads I lettered . Fairly recently I bought a mix of  good and some damaged H0n3 rolling stock for a song and guess what was included  ? Only the  PFM   Pagosa combine I painted for the said lumber company .It has a step missing as did all the coaches, which is odd , but a nice souvenir of my association with Bernie who I  am still in contact with. I need a steps set now .

Edited February 25, 2022 by friscopete

[robertc]

I visited the shop in 1969 on my trip to Europe. think I bought a Jouef 2-8-0.

cheers

Bob

[boxbrownie]

Victors…..that was in my local market, but it was never called Chapel Market, my Nan always just said c’mon we are going up’chap……and off we went, but I seem to remember I wasn’t allowed into Victors because of the shop at the front…..but I was allowed a nice hot sarsaparilla in the winter and if lucky I got a bag of roasted chestnuts, in Summer I had to wait until we got home for a drink, my unfailing memory of up’chap was standing at the open window at sainsburys watching the lady battering the big block of butter into 1/2lb blocks and wrap in grease poof paper before you could blink 😁

 

When I was a bit older I went to Victors in Pentonville Road but none of the stuff was of much interest to me, no Triang.

[lakeview770]

 

Yes Ive fond memories when I was stationed at High Wycombe, I'd often drive down the A40 to pick something up rather than mail order. Very helpful on a few occasions I wanted a dummy or a powered Athearn loco and if they didnt have it they'd just swap another chassis for me.

[roundhouse]

I spent many a lunchtime when working in London travelling to and from the shop in Pentonville Road. Quite a few items purchased there are still in use on Fort Myers.

[CloggyDog]

On 29/04/2019 at 16:29, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

LEADING RECORDS - that brings back memories

 

A fellow Maidenhead cluub member recently gave me a 'Mark III NMRA H0 Standards Gage' with a Leading Records price tag. 

[TEAMYAKIMA]

5 minutes ago, CloggyDog said:

 

A fellow Maidenhead club member recently gave me a 'Mark III NMRA H0 Standards Gage' with a Leading Records price tag. 

 

Next time I contact Bernie I'll send him that photo. :-)