RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted November 30, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2011 What a fantastic and fun topic, throws into sharp relief how curmudgeonly we can collectively be sometimes Having left those early days' naivety behind it's seems somehow harder to suspend disbelief and get quite as much satisfaction from adult modelling (STOP IT!). No wonder you have so much cash available for leisure interests such as railway construction! Lol! I do agree that this is a wonderful thread. I wonder if you have to be a certain age to go teary-eyed at the thought of a long-dead loco whizzing round a track? Wish I had some old photos to show everyone. Must keep looking. Regards, Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catkins Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 I do agree that this is a wonderful thread. I wonder if you have to be a certain age to go teary-eyed at the thought of a long-dead loco whizzing round a track? Regards, Jeff If you have to be a "certain age" then it ranges from late 20's through mid 30's to nailing the coffin lid down, and I agree with 'Chard that this thread is good for bringing our hobby back down to reality. Now where did I leave my Hornby 47 and shorty mark 3s? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 another one from the same time as last, this was mine and I was aloud to touch it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted November 30, 2011 Author Share Posted November 30, 2011 Another clockwork Thomas!!! I've still got mine somewhere, but like yours he is missing his funnel. Electric Percy? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 No chance of tiny bits breaking of those! Well, actually it is the steps that get snapped off on these locos, and the chimneys!. That and the securing screw in the back of the bunker being overtightened so that it eats through the bunker.... Nothing is totally indestructible (Except for Captain Scarlet?). Some of the R.355 gang. Early Connie, Nellie, and later 27. (Nellie and 27 have replacement "Rivet" chimneys made using a Tri-ang Bogie Fxing "eyelet". Connie was later made in Yellow. Polly was the Red loco. There were also two Black BR versions, and a few more in the1970s, including the Rural Rambler "Somerset & Dorset Railway" loco. For Angus..... The Original version of the London Brick wagon.(The Red version was from the 1970s.) Tri-ang Railways R.219 Bogie Brick Wagon. Tri-ang Railways R.240 Bogie Brick Wagon with Brick Load. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
10800 Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Did anyone ever query how the bricks were loaded into that wagon? Other than by hand that is! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Q Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 THe triang equivalent of a smoky joe set, one oval of track, one 0-4-0 loco, 2 goods wagons and a guards van. Shortly after we moved to the Outer Hebrides... no model shops there and I tried to model from memory the railway station from the village we had just moved from, on a 6X3 board. 40 years later I'm now modelling the same station somewhat more accurately....... on a 34ft by 8ft board just for the station and thats a tight squeaze!! The Q luckily there are no photos!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Another clockwork Thomas!!! I've still got mine somewhere, but like yours he is missing his funnel. Electric Percy? yeah it was the clockwork thomas and an electric percy, I remember it not having the funnel and trying to fix it, I remember a bit later i noticed it only had 4 wheels. i think the Hornby gwr 0-4-0 tank thing had lost its chimney too also the metal coupling bars always seemed to go missing that board later gained some green painted sawdust grass and a Hornby tunnel, and some roads with roadsigns cut out of the highway code that layout died when the girl next door ripped up some of the track Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim V Posted November 30, 2011 Share Posted November 30, 2011 Oh well, here is me aged 5 back in 1960. That was my new Lone Star push along set. When I turned 7, I was given a 2nd hand Hornby Dublo 3 rail set. In 1965 the family went on holiday to Mid Wales, and we rode on the Talyllyn Railway. When we got back, the Lone Star was resurrected, and became the narrow gauge feeder. A bit of plasticine on that tender, made the engine. Oh happy days! Then I was given a Minitrix 009 set, and the rest is history. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Delamar Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 even earlier id love to find out who this toy was made by and get one again, the elephant went round one lap and then got on the back of the train that would then do a lap. i can just about remember it but my dad still mentions it to this day Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catkins Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Did anyone ever query how the bricks were loaded into that wagon? Other than by hand that is! It's obvious - you put the load in the top!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 sarahagain, I had that pack too, however mine was the later BR blue version. I've still got the Class 31. I love how the artist has drawn the hook coupling. >SNIP< The BR Blue 31, Freightmaster sets 1969-1970 (The wagons changed in 1971). Photographed on Ffrwd Locks. (The Horsebox is actually the earlier metal framed version. It should be the Plastic framed version...) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted December 3, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 3, 2011 Thanks Sarah, you have clearly done your research on the Freightmaster set I mentioned earlier in the thread. To be honest, probably because I'm of a slightly older vintage (!), I never realised that Triang released the set in BR blue form. Makes sense, I suppose, but I'm glad I got the (nicer looking IMHO!) green one. I must inquire what my brother did with the constituents of my first "layout" as your photos have piqued my curiosity! Thats the great thing about this forum. Best wishes, Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
St. Simon Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Hi, Unfortunatly, it has only been a few weeks since my childhood layout was broken up. It was my first ever layout, apart from the mandatory circle on the carpet. I spent many many hours and years playing trains on it. Went right around the bedroom, well actually, pretty much took it over. But around 18 months or so ago, we decided to rebuild it, so it went from: To this: The final change I didn't get a picture of, but it basically ended up as a pile of bits of wood around the back in the rain. It's a shame to lose it and I'm quite sad it's gone I've still got my exhibition layout, Hythe Parkway, but that's packed away in the garage with little room to set it up and my challenge layout, which will be extended for the new layout Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Thanks Sarah, you have clearly done your research on the Freightmaster set I mentioned earlier in the thread. To be honest, probably because I'm of a slightly older vintage (!), I never realised that Triang released the set in BR blue form. Makes sense, I suppose, but I'm glad I got the (nicer looking IMHO!) green one. I must inquire what my brother did with the constituents of my first "layout" as your photos have piqued my curiosity! Thats the great thing about this forum. Best wishes, Jeff Hi Jeff, I well remember being jealous of a friend who had the Freightmaster set. His was the "Experimental Blue" 31 with the BR Late crest (1968 issue). The green set pictured has been passed on now, but I have been collecting the stock to re-create the FM sets, though the later sets with Class 31, 47, and Hymek would have to wait until such time as I come across the locos! 1964-1968 Green 31 1968 XP Blue 31 1969-1970 BR Blue 31 1971 BR Blue 31 (Tri-ang wagon replaced with Cable Drum Wagon. Tri-ang Hornby sold to DCM, so Tri-ang logo had to go.) 1972 New Green 31 with Pick up from both bogies (The best one?) Later sets to follow.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I'm wondering howmany people still have some, or all of the stock from their first model railway? And, thanks Tom for that photo, it has jogged my memory. Mine was sold over the last year to fund the current layout, having decided that modelling in N I no longer require my 00 stock, however I have kept the larger locos (4F, Fowler etc) and coaches, which ironically didn't get run much on my layout before it got dismantled. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I never did go through the train set on the floor phase. I was given my first layout for Christmas when I was about four and my mum bought it second hand from one of the other teachers at her school. It was a Hornby Dublo three rail oval with a reversing curve across the middle (not a problem for three rail of course) and one or possibly two sidings which I think came off the reversing curve. I don't know if it was one of the plans in the HD plans book. All three or four points were wire in (plastic) tube controlled from a small lever frame using Hornby point levers and I think there was even an isolating section though I only had one loco. I had a Duchess of Athol and three coaches which I suspect were the original train set it grew from and a few wagons. It worked really well and of course wiring with three rail must have been dead simple.There was a Hornby controller screwed to the baseboard which was probably hardboard braced with odd timbers- in those days it may even have been an old blackout frame- I'm not sure how big it was but probably about five by three. My mum told me she used to play with it when she was cleaning my room. When Triang introduced TT-3 my dad persuaded me to change to that so presumably the Hornby layout was sold to pay for it. I never did achieve very much with TT-3 and spent all my time trying out different track plans on a piece of chipboard in my bedroom to come up with the perfect one. That of course never happened partly because my dad lost interest in modelling soon afterwards and partly because I was given a Meccano no 6 outfit. I did do an engineering degree and never worked on the railways so I guess the Meccano won even though I never did get my Meccano plus John Bull printing press to work !! I've still got the original TT-3 Jinty with a body modified to look GWR (so definitely not collectable) but it no longer works. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium mezzoman253 Posted December 5, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 5, 2011 The layout I'm building now is my first, some fifty years after wishing I could have one. I was 10 at the time. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidR Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 What a fascinating thread this has turned out to be. My first layout in the 1950's was Trix Twin 3 rail, although I did want Hornby Dublo! The retailer persuaded my Dad that it was better, because you could double-head loco's. Dad also noted that Prince Charles had a Trix Twin layout and if it was good enough for him....... My layout of raised plastic track was basically a loop with a further loop outside, fed by two points. The 0-4-0 loco's were 16v AC and reversed by clicking a button on the controller: but, whilst they could pull a house down, they had those dreadful motor bush covers sticking out and the first row of people I put on the platform were scattered to the four winds! Father built a baseboard on 1"x1" timber, topped with hardboard - it had more flex in it than a shock absorber! Later we added an outside loop laid on Wrenn track, with the most G*d-awful adaptor ramp from the TT track to the fibre-based stuff: only a short-wheelbase loco could manage it. My cousin had a Triang "Princess' and matching coaches. He brought them round one day and we tried them out: the 'lizzie' just sat and fizzed: neither of us knew about AC or DC current differences, so it never turned a spoke on my layout. Happy days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted December 6, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 6, 2011 I'm wondering howmany people still have some, or all of the stock from their first model railway? I still have about 95% of the stock from my first model railway. The first clip below shows my original Hornby Dublo N2 and two open wagons and brake van celebrating their 50th birthday in 2008 on the original table and original RAF blanket, using original controller and sitting more or less in the same place in the room as in Christmas 1958. http://www.youtube.com/user/noelledog?feature=mhee#p/a/u/1/i5SemQO3idM The second clip shows the same loco on my Hornby Dublo heritage layout which is on a shelf above my main 2 rail layout. http://www.youtube.com/user/noelledog?feature=mhee#p/a/u/2/D1vJ8tuoaUQ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 even earlier id love to find out who this toy was made by and get one again, the elephant went round one lap and then got on the back of the train that would then do a lap. i can just about remember it but my dad still mentions it to this day Dont remember the elephant train but we had a carpet just the same Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
richbrummitt Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 My first locomotive was an N gauge minitrix dock tank as part of a starter set. I'm lucky that it didn't put me off railway modelling! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 2ManySpams Posted December 7, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted December 7, 2011 Sometime in the late 70s I received my first Hornby trainset bought from Bagnalls model shop in Stafford. It was an Intercity 125 (2 power cars, one coach and a oval of track) in blue grey livery. Very exciting! It was all assembled and.....nothing happened. It may have been Christmas as we had to wait a few days to return the set to the shop. As they only had one 125 set, I instead got something different instead. The LMS Duchess of Sutherland and 3 or 4 coaches with a larger oval of track, cardboard tunnel and level crossing. This one worked and so I became a steam modeler! After a while I seem to remember getting a LMS Jinty (16440?) in Crimson and a few wagons, including Prime Pork, Birdseye, Norstand etc. I invested in a bit more set-track including a few points and eventually a board that must have been about 2'6" x 5' was bought. An oval was nailed down with some sidings in the middle. Another line came off the outside of one of the straights, turned through 180deg around the outside of the loop and then on a steep gradient, ran up to join a circle of 1st radius over one end of the oval. A big papermache mountain was built in the middle of the circle and somehow the whole lot fitted under the bed. Not a prototypical element anywhere but lots of SuperQuick buildings including the two-road engine shed, goods shed, shops, church and black and white pair of cottages. It got played with no end and the various sidings were often relayed in different forms to try and get extra play value. A Fowler 2-6-4T, also in Maroon, soon joined the fleet and hours spent looking through the limited pages of the Hornby catalogue. Smashing times - sadly no photos. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Invicta Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 I'm wondering howmany people still have some, or all of the stock from their first model railway? Still gota lot of my early stock, including some from my first trainset I started aged about 4/5 in 1971/2 with a Triang (or Triang-Hornby as it was by then) freight set featuring a BR Black Jinty '47606'. My parents must have been feeling generous that Christmas as this was supplemented with a Princess Elizabeth (Livery apart, a nice bit of LMR joined-up thinking!) and a couple of coaches- a maroon BR Mk1 brake and a Pullman brake. Think this is the closest match to the set http://www.tri-angma...28-2863_IMG.JPG though I seem to remember slightly different wagons- Definitely had the London Brick wagon and the grain wagon, though I don't think I remember the lowfit and Minic Triumph 2000 combo. I don't think these came as part of the same Christmas present (grandparents maybe?), they were probably a subsequent birthday present (my b-day is shortly after Christmas) or came later, but I also had a bogie bolster with 3 Minix Thames vans, a Cartic, a Freightliner wagon and the Freghtliner depot crane. The track got fixed down onto a baseboard, but the resulting layout (an oval plus a siding for the Freightliner depot) only reigned for a couple of years at most before it fell victim to poor baseboard choice, and got stored away in the garage. Most of the stock survived, and was resurrected in the late 70s/early 80's for a new layout with my younger brother's first trainset (the original Hornby HST set from 1977/ 78, which formed the basis of my subsequent teenage layouts. This time we started with what looked like a double oval (though the inner line was basically a long siding which did half-a-circuit before curving into the middle of the layout) on a 6x4 of chipboard, which after a couple of years got mounted onto a frame and legs to form a permanent layout, later being extended to 10x4 with a station and engine shed, and again into a U-shaped terminus to fiddle yard arrangement around three sides of my bedoom, which was left unfinished when I went away to University. This last version got stripped down during a uni summer break and rebuilt in my parents loft, where the baseboards still survive , now seeing service as a shelf unit (albeit with some track still fixed down) I've still got some of the original stock- the Jinty (much repainted- currently in LMS black and out of service) the Princess (Still in it's original box, albeit very playworn), the two original coaches, and a couple of the wagons- the bogie bolster (missing it's Minix vans sadly) and London Brick wagon (though this did get a teenage repaint into LMS grey to match a Ratio CR bogie iron ore wagon kit I'd just built). The rest of the wagons seem to have got lost/broken over the years... My 'serious' modelling started when I was about 12/13, when we put the 6x4 trainset board onto a frame, and was prompted in part by the opening of a local model shop and the arrival of Mainline and Airfix in the market- I've still got pretty much all of my stock from then, although some of it hasn't been run since the late 80's - Some does still see pretty regular service on club running nights though. Wish I had some pics- think I olny ever took a couple. Brings back some great memories though- and I wish I'd still got the rest of that original Triang stock! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffnut Thorston Posted December 7, 2011 Share Posted December 7, 2011 Still gota lot of my early stock, including some from my first trainset I started aged about 4/5 in 1971/2 with a Triang (or Triang-Hornby as it was by then) freight set featuring a BR Black Jinty '47606'. My parents must have been feeling generous that Christmas as this was supplemented with a Princess Elizabeth (Livery apart, a nice bit of LMR joined-up thinking!) and a couple of coaches- a maroon BR Mk1 brake and a Pullman brake. >SNIP< Here is a 1973 Princess Elizabeth, with Smoke and DC Sound(!). From the R.506 Express Freight Set. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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