PLAYCRAFT MEMORIES

[chev32]

I had a rumage through my old triang collection and found my playcraft set, clockwork 0-4-0 (my 2 yr old sister chewed the chimney off ) and and wagons.  I was suprised to find that the loco still runs . I was 6 years old some 51 years ago  and it was a Christmas present from Mum and Dad .Later addtions come birthday and following Xmas the class 22 Deisel and  more rolling stock and track.It was battery powered and had forward and reverse pretty cool I thought at the time !   My first venture into Triang was the Defender set class 8 shunter exploding car ,searchlight wagon and rocket launcher I still have these treasures but missing a couple rockets and the radar dish
 

[Fat Controller]

They did a strange collection of vehicles. The low-sided wagon before the brake van in the first photo is an OCEM standard one from the 1920s, whilst the high-sided coal wagon is from the CF du Nord, I believe: both taken straight from the Jouef French range.  However, they also did a 21t steel mineral( whose body was a reasonable model of the 21t fitted BR type, but on a 4-shoe unfitted chassis) along with the brake van shown, which were HO models produced specifically for the British market.

The bogie well wagon is of a type still to be seen in France, albeit now with modern bogies; apart from use carrying AFVs for the French army, they are used to carry tracked vehicles from the Caterpillar factory near Grenoble for export.

The 'Class 21' diesel had a big can motor driving both bogies via what I think are called 'crown and pinion' gears; mine would struggle with the skin of a rice pudding, and would never stop where you wanted it to.

The bogie hoppers were a curiousity as well- they looked to be from a Leeds Forge design, like the Southern's 'Walrus'. The closest I've ever seen to them were Italian ballast wagons; I filed the side detail off mine, put on new from Plasticard, and called them Walruses. This would be about twenty years before Cambrian did one.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

If they could do Mk1 coach roofs without prominent ribs then, why not now?

[Xerces Fobe2]

I still have couple of Class 21's that I added split headcode boxes to make then look like Class 22's !

 

XF

[Il Grifone]

I seem to remember there was an article on beefing up the diesel to 00 in the model press. (They had a head start with the width!).

 

The track was cheap and I used it to build a layout. H0 scale of course and brass rail, but it looked OK to my young eye. Dublo would run on it and that was the main thing.

 

Most of the rolling stock was French reliveried, but, apart from the Mark Is, there were two British LWB open wagons and the brake van.

 

http://www.playcraftrailways.com/

[Delichon]

The D6100 body is reasonably accurate length- and height-wise for HO - some modellers in this scale have reduced it to the correct width. Excessive width also seemed to afflict the wagons of UK outline (presumably to match the rest of the range). I have cut down several of the 21T (the moulded numbers are actually for a 24.5T type) minerals to HO scale width as well as converting to 16T / 24.5T wagons. The main problem is that the bodies were invariably welded to the underframes so separating them is the hardest part of the project . There was also a "Tube" wagon although as it was short (same chassis as the 21T) and overheight with chunky detail it was hardly accurate (I tried slimming one to HO width but it looks strange - perhaps it is nominally an OO model).

The Mk.1 coaches are OK in height and width for HO but are underscale in length although the spacing of the first-class compartments is about right for scale second-class - so producing scale length coaches requires a lot of cutting and shutting. The roof profile was also a bit strange and the bogies were too short. Playcraft also produced a TPO which seems to be a reasonable representation but is again a bit short.

[BernardTPM]

There was also a "Tube" wagon although as it was short (same chassis as the 21T) and overheight with chunky detail it was hardly accurate (I tried slimming one to HO width but it looks strange - perhaps it is nominally an OO model).

I think you'll find the 'Tube' shared more than the underframe with the 21t mineral. I think it is the same basic tool but with different 'wooden' detail inserts, hence it is not only the same length as the mineral (too short for a tube) but also the same height as the mineral (too high for a Tube). Not surprising you couldn't get it too look right.

[Delichon]

I think you'll find the 'Tube' sghared more than the underframe with the 21t mineral. I think it is the same basic tool but with different 'wooden' detail inserts, hence it is not only the same length as the mineral (too short for a tube) but also the same height as the mineral (too high for a Tube). Not surprising you couldn't get it too look right.

 Indeed - a full upgrade would be more the province of the Trigger's Broom school of modelling

[BernardTPM]

Ironically, I suspect the height of the sides might not be too far off for a 4mm scale Tube!

[roythebus]

I've got a tube wagon and mineral wagon handy in my cupboard!

 

Probably the best models in the Playcraft range were the signal kits, quite good models of standard BR semaphores, and the model of Macclesfield station building.

 

The Playcraft point were good value; they could be easily and cheaply electrified using a reel of copper wire as they had the bobbins for the wire to be wound onto! I built a small exhibition layout ion about 1967 using Playcraft track.

[Delichon]

Here are a couple of items from my Playcraft stockpile :

 

Playcraft produced a rather strange Restaurant car - as can be seen from the photos, one side is a BSK and the other a CK. The interior moulding has foil strips attached to simulate the counter contents and intriguingly the tables have holes moulded into them - were there plans to fit table lamps?. Seating is 2+1 as in the open second.

 

 

 

The TPO mechanism consists of two levers projecting beneath the underframe, one of which extends the net and the other retracts it. There appear to have been changes between batches - one of my vehicles has all-plastic levers whereas the other has brass-faced. Also, the standard roof moulding was evidently altered to provide clearance for the net although one vehicle has a separate moulded insert (with guides for the net) welded in place whereas the other (all-plastic levers) has guide tracks moulded into the roof.

 

 

 

 

 

Maroon and chocolate & cream coaches seem to turn up on Ebay much more commonly than green or blue & grey. The TPOs and 21T mineral wagons seem to be fairly uncommon unlike the brake vans and Tube wagons.