Gone but not forgotten

[andytrains]

ECoS, We give up tell us please!

[Enterprisingwestern]

ECoS, We give up tell us please!

Oh, go on then.

 

Expedient Coin of Service.

 

No, I don't understand it either

 

Mike.

[Phil R]

Intercity Models at Sandiacre anyone? Almost opposite the entrance to Toton depot. Started up in the eighties, lots of stock plus bits and pieces. Always worth a look when I was in the area. Unfortunately didn't last too long. Nothing to do with the business as such I believe. The guys wife didn't take to living over the shop and having railways everywhere as I understand it. Unless anyone else knows otherwise of course?

 

 

Yes, great shop.  Owner always seemed friendly, good range of stuff including some not bad repaints (done by a driver IIRC). Think it closed around 1994 - just as I was learning to drive and could have gone there more often!

 

Re Derby shops - someone must remember Golden Gains on the Wardwick, toys downstairs, model railways (Hornby) upstairs. You had go out the shop and up a big staircase next to the other floor, seem to recall a dance school in the building as well. They closed mid-late 90s to concentrate on mail order diecast I believe.

 

Regards

 

Phil

Edited May 9, 2013 by Phil R

[Coldgunner]

Anyone a former customer of The Model Shop in Lincoln Rd, Peterborough? Up the back staircase of the electrical shop downstairs was a mecca for modellers of all persuasions, particularly finescale modellers with a preference for the Eastern part of the country. Being our best, local "proper" model shop, I was a regular visitor for over 20 years until Chris and his Mum finally shut up shop in about 2002.

 

I still see them at shows from time to time, even still selling the remaining oddments behind the club sales stall at Market Deeping MRC show!

 

Brings back memories, it used to be opposite what is now Morrisons. I bought my HST from there, was about £30 iirc in the mid 90's. I often wondered what happened to that shop as all we have now is Trains4U, who are also very good tbh.

 

I know I went in there several times, but mainly to get my 4472 repaired and to buy the HST.

 

I also miss Beatties in Queensgate, with its Hornby and Scalextric upstairs.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Coldgunner

[sandwich station]

I think it was the only place where I ever saw a Wrenn Brighton Belle in stock

 

I only ever saw one of these (new) in the flesh and that was at Kingcraft Models in Sandwich, many years ago.

 

 

 

Edit.

 

Kingcraft models opened in Sandwich in the early to mid 80's before that they were in Ramsgate. Great shop run by Alan Western originally with help from Phil. Used to get all my Triang and Hornby spares from there and cheap Hornby bodies which were seconds or unfinished for cutting and shutting etc.

The shop was sold on to another Alan before closing and eventually all the stock being purchased by East Kent Models (Whitstable) on the start up of their business.

Edited April 21, 2014 by sandwich station

[darren01]

In the late 70's early 80's i used to go to a model shop in one of the side streets near Ealing Broadway Station, it was a small shop, Run by a chap that chain smoked!.

The shop used to be packed from roof to floor, but for the life of me i can not remember what it was called?.

Brought my first loco in there a Lima 08.

Darren

[The Stationmaster]

In the late 70's early 80's i used to go to a model shop in one of the side streets near Ealing Broadway Station, it was a small shop, Run by a chap that chain smoked!.

The shop used to be packed from roof to floor, but for the life of me i can not remember what it was called?.

Brought my first loco in there a Lima 08.

Darren

Are you thinking of Baileys Dailies (or something like that) just across the road from West Ealing station Darren.  I cleared him out of a large number of Airfix railway kits just after their closure was anounced - they're all still in my 'stock cupboard', genuine Airfix made turntable kits using 'proper job' kit plastic

[bodmin16]

No mention of Eames of Reading yet? There was also a model shop in the Oxford Road. And was it Platform 5(?) in Wimbledon?

[Catkins]

When my parents first moved to Bourne (circa 1981) there was a model shop in The Austerby, but the owner decided to pack up and all the stock was sold at auction. There used to be Hawleys, a toy shop in Stamford, that sold Hornby stuff. And I remember the model shop on Lincoln Road in Peterborough.

 

When I got my first car I used to go to Grantham - I now live there, but that's a different story - and there were four model shops,

Arbon & Watts did toys, with a section of Hornby stuff behind the counters.

Access Models did all models, with the emphasis on radio control, but they also had railway and airfix stuff - and it was a crowded shop.

There was a small shop in Blue Court, Guildhall Street that primarily did N gauge models, and also did re-sprays.

And finally there was a shop at the bottom of Watergate, next to a motorbike dealer.

 

The re-spray people packed up first, followed by the chap in Watergate, then Arbon & Watts and finally, Access Models called time in Grantham.

But things have improved - Grantham Model railway Shop is back in the same Watergate shop that he was in originally, after having started in the shop in Blue Court.

 

Not forgetting that Access Models are still in Newark, and Trains4U are in Peterborough.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Catkins

[Fat Controller]

Are you thinking of Baileys Dailies (or something like that) just across the road from West Ealing station Darren.  I cleared him out of a large number of Airfix railway kits just after their closure was anounced - they're all still in my 'stock cupboard', genuine Airfix made turntable kits using 'proper job' kit plastic

I thought 'Bailey's Daileys' was in the Bristol area? 

[The Stationmaster]

I thought 'Bailey's Daileys' was in the Bristol area? 

I might be confusing the names Brian - the one at West Ealing was just across the road from the station and I think had a fairly unusual.

 

No mention of Eames of Reading yet? There was also a model shop in the Oxford Road. And was it Platform 5(?) in Wimbledon?

That is surprising unless it's a long way back in the thread (it might be).  Ted Morris started out with a premises in the Market Place, roughly opposite the present Post Office but moved down to Tudor Road in, I think, about the first half of the 1950s.  An excellent shop in which I spent many happy hours and spent many happy shillings and £s and where I bought both of my secondhand H&M masters both of which are still doing their stuff around half a century later.

 

It was a great shame they had to close (along with an excellent pub, 'The White Horse' just around the corner) in order to allow an office block to be built and then stand empty for several years apart from playing host to various filming jobs including, I believe, 'The Office'.  It isn't even fully occupied now as far as I know.

[trisonic]

I remember EAMES for it’s adverts. Never visited, however. I also remember a decent model shop visible from the Southend Victoria line at Hockley station. Very good; but can I remember the name?

 

Best, Pete.

Edited April 20, 2014 by trisonic

[Xerces Fobe2]

Here a few from the 1960's/70's

 

Bold & Burrows - St Albans

Hobby Centre - Watford

Obourne's - Watford

Barham's  - Falmouth

 

XF

[The Stationmaster]

I remember EAMES for it’s adverts. Never visited, however. I also remember a decent model shop visible from the Southend Victoria line at Hockley station. Very good; but can I remember the name?

 

Best, Pete.

What many people didn't realise and what dropped out of sight over the years was the fact that the name was an acronym - for Electrical And Model Engineering Supplies.

 

The other shop in Reading was Sleeps in Kings Road although they were much more diverse in their modelling hobby stock than EAMES with a relatively limited model railway range and all sorts of other things but especially boats and aircraft plus things like veneers for cabinet makers.  They subsequently moved to a shop under Chatham Place multi-storey car park but seemed to lose a lot of impetus (I think due to staff retirements) plus they were unable to compete with Trents, when the latter opened in the Butts Centre, and they eventually closed.

 

Trents also closed when the owning group went bust but were taken over by Beatties who continued with the former Trents premises until they too went bust.  reading was then left without any sort of model railway shop as the hobby shop in the Oxford Road offered little apart from a small range of Hornby items.  then ModelZone opened in the Butts Centre (renamed Broad Street Mall) and Hobbycraft also stocked a fair amount from the Hornby range plus an excellent coverage of Woodland Scenics itms.

 

The town has now gone back into the doldrums model railway wise as Model Zone has gone the same way as Beatties and Trents while Hobbycraft have drastically cutback their Hornby stock and even reduced the breadth of their Woodland Scenics range.  Hornby plus various other things, is available - in a very limited range - from the Model Zone within WHS concession and that's about it.

Edited April 20, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[lightengine]

About 15-20 years ago I replied to a local newspaper ad. The guy was a builder who had taken some stock from a shop as there was no money to pay his bill. I went to buy some stuff from him and in his room over the garage he had 2 or 3 old tea chests, fitted out with drawers. Each tea chest was packed solid with boxed items with pre decimal prices. The amount of stuff he had was amazing.

I believe the shop was in Portsmouth and the male shop owner had died.

[andyram]

Yes, great shop.  Owner always seemed friendly, good range of stuff including some not bad repaints (done by a driver IIRC). Think it closed around 1994 - just as I was learning to drive and could have gone there more often!

 

Re Derby shops - someone must remember Golden Gains on the Wardwick, toys downstairs, model railways (Hornby) upstairs. You had go out the shop and up a big staircase next to the other floor, seem to recall a dance school in the building as well. They closed mid-late 90s to concentrate on mail order diecast I believe.

 

Regards

 

Phil

 

Yes I used to spend many a happy time in the upper room of Golden Gains. The upper room was accessed by a staircase next to the downstairs shop and there was indeed a dance studio up there too. There was a big bay window at the front of the room which had shelves full with the old red Hornby boxes. If my memory serves me right there was a small glass topped 00 gauge railway in the centre of the room.

 

 I think the upstairs closed before the lower floor finally went in the early 1990's. The shop's owner, a Mr John Barnes, did the swapmeet circuit for a while. I believe he tried to conduct an auction at one of the early Donington Park Toy Fairs. In later years his son opened a model shop in one of the outlets at the front of the old Art Deco style Derby Bus Station, adjacent to the old glass over bridge. I think it specialised more in Tv related toys. I still see them selling off old stock at some of the bigger local fairs.

[Coppercap]

Are you thinking of Baileys Dailies (or something like that) just across the road from West Ealing station Darren.  I cleared him out of a large number of Airfix railway kits just after their closure was anounced - they're all still in my 'stock cupboard', genuine Airfix made turntable kits using 'proper job' kit plastic

 

Err, Bailey's Daileys was in Sandy Park Road..................Bristol! 

[Tim Chambers]

Err, Bailey's Daileys was in Sandy Park Road..................Bristol!

 

 

 

Certainly was, run by a chap called John "Baggot" or similar in the mid/late 70s.

Edited April 21, 2014 by Tim Chambers

[trisonic]

"It’s deja vu all over again!” Yogi Berra.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra

 

Bailey Dailies/ John Baggot has received more mentions in this thread than customers that he/they had.............    

 

Best, Pete.

[Froxfield2012]

As I recall, the shop in the Market Place Reading was called Rogersons.  And Ted Morris's shop existed at the same time.  We are well back in the 1950s here.  Ted Morris offered a discount to member of the Reading Society of Model and Experimental Engineers and this is where my father, then Hon Treasurer of the RSMEE, bought a OO Graham Farish Spamcan and a couple of Pullmans and three green suburban coaches (all long since deceased) in exchange for our O gauge Hornby Princess Royal (Grrrr!!) one Christmas well before I was ten years of age.  Another modeller, from Woodley, by name Stan Birch worked for Rogersons (I think) together with an amiable soul called Gerry (who had a substantial wood block lift under one foot).  Around the time Rogersons closed, Stan Birch set up his own business (Reading Model Supplies) in Hosier Street off the Butts in the late fifties and was active pretty much until the buildings were demolished to make way for the new market place and Hexagon/Butts Centre.  Then they (not Sleeps) moved to Chatham Place Car Park.  Stan Birch was always much more approachable than Ted Morris, who could be a little gruff with the "non-modeller", more toy train oriented, kids.  I certainly moved my pocket money business!!  But then the Butts was on the bus route home from school.

 

That at least is my recollection of Reading's model shops from way back then

 

Richard

[5050]

Isn't the Reading Rogersons the same company that made point motors and also other electrical stuff?  And another premises somewhere on the South Coast?  Plenty of adverts in Model Railway News of the early 50's and later.

[Dazzler Fan]

+

 

In the 1950's there was a great shop at the base of The Marina in St Leonards-on-Sea

- can't remember the name.

 

+

[The Stationmaster]

As I recall, the shop in the Market Place Reading was called Rogersons.  And Ted Morris's shop existed at the same time.  We are well back in the 1950s here.  Ted Morris offered a discount to member of the Reading Society of Model and Experimental Engineers and this is where my father, then Hon Treasurer of the RSMEE, bought a OO Graham Farish Spamcan and a couple of Pullmans and three green suburban coaches (all long since deceased) in exchange for our O gauge Hornby Princess Royal (Grrrr!!) one Christmas well before I was ten years of age.  Another modeller, from Woodley, by name Stan Birch worked for Rogersons (I think) together with an amiable soul called Gerry (who had a substantial wood block lift under one foot).  Around the time Rogersons closed, Stan Birch set up his own business (Reading Model Supplies) in Hosier Street off the Butts in the late fifties and was active pretty much until the buildings were demolished to make way for the new market place and Hexagon/Butts Centre.  Then they (not Sleeps) moved to Chatham Place Car Park.  Stan Birch was always much more approachable than Ted Morris, who could be a little gruff with the "non-modeller", more toy train oriented, kids.  I certainly moved my pocket money business!!  But then the Butts was on the bus route home from school.

 

That at least is my recollection of Reading's model shops from way back then

 

Richard

Yes, you are right about Reading Model Supplies - age dims memories (on my part) yet again.  I rememberStan Birch well and the chap with the lift under one foot.  The big advantage of EAMES was that it was much nearer to the station than Chatham Street and David Morris was far more gregarious than his dad  (it was David who converted a couple of my HD locos to 2 rail in teh days before they took over Kings Cross Models and he went off to take charge there.

 

David was still around the last I heard but he has had at least one heart attack which knocked him back somewhat - always a very nice chap I found.

[Chris116]

A few more:

Wasn't there a model shop in N. London called "Chuffs"?

I seem to remember it used to advertise itself as full of rusty trains!

I bought a die-cast 00 GWR 2-6-2T, I think it is a Farish one.

 

Keith

 Chuffs was just around the corner from my workplace in the City of London and it had lots of rather over priced items that would have been of interest if they had been a little bit more reasonable! They had a large number of Eggerbahn 009 loco's which were priced at £5 each when the going rate at most other shops was £3. I went in to buy two of them but found all eight I tried caused a short circuit so told them I did not want them. The guy who was serving me then proceeded to take one of them apart and put it back together to see if he could find the fault but when he put it on the track the short circuit was still there so he offered them to me for £1 each. I suppose I should have told him not to put the wire between the two brushes back but I soon got rid of those wires on the way home and had eight very good locos for my narrow gauge system!

[Stevelewis]

Bradford Model Railway Exchange on Mosley St, Manchester - remember that well and because it was in the arcade I would visit every time I got the bus to Manchester.

 

Going back a little further there was the 'Sports Depot' on the corner of Wilbraham Rd (a la the Manchester RC model exhibition) and Wilmslow Rd in Fallowfield which despite it's name had a whole section devoted to model railways and a whole floor devoted to childrens toys - as a child it was a full on grotto.  Nowadays the building is a big old student bar.

The  Sports  Depot  Wilbraham  Road  I remember  them  long  before  their  move  to wilbrham Road,  when  they  were in  Princess  Road  MOSS SIDE !!!  I first  saw Triang  TT there!!