Gamages layouts

[rockershovel]

Who remembers the Gamages Christmas layouts? 

 

I always picture these as Lionel O Gauge, but is that correct? We left London in 1963, so any memories would date from the 1958-63 period (assuming that I don’t remember anything in sufficient detail before 1958, when I would have been three years old). 

 

There isn’t much on line. The much-reproduced picture (below) is dated 1936, and clearly features Hornby. 

 

 

 

The 1954 layout, below, is specifically described as O Gauge, and an oil refinery is mentioned - which suggests Lionel - but it appears in Meccano Magazine, which suggests Hornby

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by rockershovel

[gordon s]

Remember them well. Lionel 0 gauge was certainly there one year. As a young lad it was one of the highlights of the year.

 

I could spend the rest of the year daydreaming through their catalogue.

[Bartb]

I remember them as well, I would often go to Gammages to lok at the railways, tho most times it was just to look not buy. Happy days

[Oldddudders]

Wot a scrum in that brilliant picture! And everyone wearing a hat!

 

I think I shopped there Xmas 1964, buying a Tempo V160 DB diesel. 

[rockershovel]

25 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Wot a scrum in that brilliant picture! And everyone wearing a hat!

 

I think I shopped there Xmas 1964, buying a Tempo V160 DB diesel. 

 

Well, you’ve got a hat in YOUR picture, so it seems only fair....

 

 

[rockershovel]

9 hours ago, gordon s said:

Remember them well. Lionel 0 gauge was certainly there one year. As a young lad it was one of the highlights of the year.

 

I could spend the rest of the year daydreaming through their catalogue.

 

A lost time, when Londoners actually bought things in the West End! I worked on a tunnelling job in that area at the beginning of the 90s, and it occurred to me then that I hadn’t been there since I was a child. 

 

Lionel are a bit “special” for me. America was “the land of plenty” for my generation of Londoners. I had (still have) cousins there whose parents seemed very prosperous, and sent occasional (colour!) photos featuring huge cars in glittering primary colours, and huge snow capped mountains in the background. When we joined the exodus to the New Towns of East Anglia, I encountered the American service personnel in places like Alconbury and Mildenhall. 

 

For all the events of subsequent years (and although I did have the chance to go, and didn’t, for good and sufficient reasons) the “Land of the Free” has never QUITE lost its tantalising shine..

 

[RateTheFreight]

What a fantastic picture that evokes so much about the era. It was alas well before my time but I wish I’d been able to see it in person. It’s sad in many ways that I never got to see they heyday of the big department stores; most of those left when I was growing up in the late 80’s/early 90’s were a shadow of their former self. My dad did manage to purchase the entire G scale stock of the old department store in Solihull though! 

 

There was a fascinating article in the US magazine ‘Classic Toy Trains’ recently about the big layout in one of New York’s department stores.

 

Fantastic stuff! 

Edited October 5, 2019 by RateTheFreight

[steve1]

I remember being taken to see them at Xmas when I was young in 1950s. Would also have a visit to Santa. We lived in Slough and went by train. Well, it was free as Dad worked on the railway.

 

steve

[brianusa]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<For all the events of subsequent years (and although I did have the chance to go, and didn’t, for good and sufficient reasons) the “Land of the Free” has never QUITE lost its tantalising shine..>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I went to the US for the usual reason  -  money!  At the time I was only making 15 Pounds a week with not much prospect of  future improvement so off I went!  Over the years its lost its charm, but still a great place to live in spite of current politics  and its been good for my wife and I.

    Brian

[gordon s]

Slightly off topic, but when I worked in electronic components, I dealt with a supplier in California and over a period of time I got to know their MD fairly well and railways came up from time to time. I went over to the US and took him O Winston Link’s ‘Steam, Steel and Stars’ as a gift.

 

He and his wife took me out to dinner and afterwards they took me to their home. He said he had something to show me and took me into another room around 30’ square and the whole room was filled with Lionel 0 gauge tinplate with loads of action accessories. Turned out he had collected Lionel for years and nearly every piece was pristine, yet provided continual pleasure for him and his family.

 

Miles from the finescale modelling we see in forums and magazines, but wow, what a lot of fun. An evening I’ll never  forget....

[rockershovel]

3 hours ago, brianusa said:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<For all the events of subsequent years (and although I did have the chance to go, and didn’t, for good and sufficient reasons) the “Land of the Free” has never QUITE lost its tantalising shine..>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I went to the US for the usual reason  -  money!  At the time I was only making 15 Pounds a week with not much prospect of  future improvement so off I went!  Over the years its lost its charm, but still a great place to live in spite of current politics  and its been good for my wife and I.

    Brian

 

My niece’s husband went there about 6 years ago, for a 6 months’ contract.. they are getting nationality at present. My American, Canadian and Australian cousins derive from uncles who made the same decision between about 1930 and 1960. 

 

America has been good to me at arms length, over the years, mostly in the form of Big Oil. However, and it’s a big however, my late mother was widowed in her late 30s, and suffered chronic ill-health until her death in nursing care, thirty years later. I did my engineering degree at no cost, and my sister would inherit mum’s house... so that’s the other side of the coin. 

 

[sagaguy]

My Father took me to see Gamages model railway on a Saturday morning for several years in the 1950s.You entered through a door at the side of the building,queued on the stairs & once you got to the railway,it was so popular that the staff kept you moving slowly along & you exited through a furniture store room into the main store.I used to visit Gamages regularly on my Thursday afternoon off due to early closing of the shop where i worked in the early 1960s,catching the trolley bus from Edmonton to Chancery lane,to buy mainly Hornby Dublo equipment but they had a fascinating toy & joke dept.Happy days!.

 

                                    Ray.