Workbench52

Maybe just a passing juvenile camel looking for his mum and dad!!!!

. Just before packing up on the nostalgia theme . . . . because it was the Warley club's 50th birthday in 2017 one stand was made up to show what a model shop of 1967 looked like. When the word went out asking for contributions, it was surprising how much stuff members still had from that era even things like unmade Eames kits! It took me right back to the little shop where I worked in 1967. . . . but also made me realise how far we've come since those times.

. Yes, the shop where I worked was just as you describe. The only equivalent that I can think of today are musty old book shops run by eccentric owners . . . . . . more for the love of it than making any money!!! The fact that we get almost perfect models handed to us on a plate today is good in one way of course, but I do miss the happy "doing things up to make a better model" side of the hobby. I may have the name wrong, but I think it was Craftsman Models, who had a nice little business selling kits containing all the parts you needed to do up a proprietary model to turn it from a basic model/toy into a really good representation of the real thing. There were lots of them including one to back date the Triang/Hornby BR/LNER B12 into the original GER S69 Holden version, complete with Belpaire firebox and ornamental frets over the wheel arches. (Photo of the original No. 1500 outside Stratford works in photographic grey below)

Model Shops Closing It is very sad to see Model Shops closing. I worked in one in the 60's and early '70's on the outskirts of Birmingham. Even then though it was something of a 'labour of love'. The boss was a very skilled model maker and could have made much more from that or other engineering work. When my Dad retired he started to do the books for some of the local shopkeepers. My boss was only too keen to take up the offer, especially as V.A.T. was coming in to add to the complications. In the shop we had some beautiful sets of tiny draws that the boss had made. These contained all the myriad of small parts, detailing items and spares that we carried. However, he was strongly criticised by his accountant who told him that the return on the items sold from them was so low that he could make 5 times the money by selling them and putting the money in a building society!! He explained that it was something of a 'sprat to catch a mackerel' since it brought people into the shop who later came in to buy boxed items (locos, rolling stock, track etc.) which we did make money on. So far so good. Getting stuff from Triang . . . . . later 'Triang Hornby' . . . . in Margate was always a bit of a nightmare in those days. You had to put your order in for what you wanted for Christmas in the Summer. Then when it arrived in November you opened the cartons to see what you had actually received. It was never everything that you'd asked for and sometimes little more than half. As it wasn't consistent you couldn't simply order twice as much as you wanted, for fear of getting stuck with stock in the late spring that you hadn't sold over Christmas/New Year. At that time there were only two model shops in Birmingham City Centre. Both were quite small though, and only one was exclusively model railway. They were no threat as competitors and the boss knew the woman who ran one of the shops quite well. If she needed something in a hurry we'd often send it to her and occasionally she could return the favour. Then one year Beatties opened a big shop in the newly opened shopping centre built over New Street Station. We started to notice that we were losing a few boxed sales to them, even in the summer. Then one day near Christmas the boss had to go into town for something and when he came back he was fuming. Apparently he'd decided to check out Beatties while he was there. He was amazed at the retail shelf prices . . . . they were SO low that they were less then the wholesale price Triang Hornby at Margate were charging us. Just to rub salt into the wound . . . . . we always had a lot of returns after the Christmas/New Year period. No problem as we were an approved repairer. We were quite good at fixing locos and other equipment. (I must say that they seem so simple compared to today's offerings from Hornby, Bachmann et. al.!!). But this year the Boss asked each customer where they had bought the item and time and again it was Beatties and sometimes one of the mail order firms that were getting started then. These were nearly all faces that we didn't know and so the boss told them in no uncertain terms to take it back to the place that they'd purchased from! I didn't realise it at the time but it was the beginning of a slow decline that would take quite a few, increasingly difficult years, before the boss finally 'threw in the towel'. (I think it would have been sooner but he built commercial models, town centre plans, new machines, factories etc. which paid well while the work was available). By then I'd decided to do a bit more with my education and, having a clearer idea about what I wanted to do, gone off to college as a a 'mature student'. (so easy then with a grant for support and no college fees to build up a huge debt). None-the-less I remember that time in my life with great affection and modelling has stayed with me as a hobby all my life. So model shops closing isn't a new phenomena. I think the ever rising costs of retail . . . . rents, business rates, wages for staff etc. coupled to changing shopping habits such as on line purchasing is going to continue the trend for the foreseeable future. A few big traders will do very well but your friendly local shop will increasingly be a thing of the past. I think small business owners expect more from running a shop these days too. The difficulties and risks must weigh heavily upon you and if you are getting less than the average wage from it you can't help wonder if it is really worth it. Addendum . . . . . . . . . . . . There was a time a few decades ago when a lot of people in quite well paid jobs were being offered early retirement with a generous lump sum or golden handshake. With a good lump of money behind you many were tempted to change their hobby into a business. Some brought model shops and many set up little 'cottage industry' manufacturing concerns. These retirement deals are now very much a thing of the past and most of these people are well past retirement age. Much as they love the business, when the income gets below a certain level they are deciding that enough is enough and it is time to hand over to someone else. But who is out there with the available cash today? It is noticeable that many small manufacturing firms are being sold to existing business for whom that firm now becomes just another line of theirs. The reduction in overheads works sometimes . . . but not always. If you had a shop it is probably difficult to find someone to take it on. So if you get a good offer for the premises and a reasonable deal for the stock . . . why wouldn't you realise your assets and go off and enjoy your retirement . . . even if the shop will now be yet another take away food outlet!!! (The shop below isn't actually Beatties in Birmingham but this is pretty much how it looked inside)

. Thanks. Watching the TV documentary on Hornby I did wonder if it was the moulds for older models like these that had been capriciously scrapped though?

. Yes, the Peco wagon kit system was quite canny. As a small firm they couldn't afford expensive tooling so the key part was the diecast 'box'. That could be used for lots of different models. It kept everything square and rigid and also gave some much needed weight to the vehicle. The plastic used for the frames etc. was a funny soft flexible type (some type of vinyl perhaps?) which didn't matter as the diecast box provided the strength and rigidity. It also had the benefit that the leaf springs did actually give a little springing. If I remember rightly soft plastic arms also gave springing to the buffers too. The W irons were a metal sheet stamping. The printed and embossed card sides were cheap to produce in small runs, and enabled lots of different private owner liveries to be produced. As well as open wagons they also produced low sided wagons, 'roofed' wagons (for salt, lime etc.) and vans. They used the Hornby Dublo type of 'clasp' coupling which was popular at the time but by the '70's the Triang 'Hook and Bar' type had become more dominant. I made loads of these at the time . . . . which I guess was the 1960's. Compared to the ready to run stuff of the time it was quite good although I seem to remember they weren't cheap. Once Airfix started reissuing the Kitmaster models and then went on at quite a rate to produce new models from their own tooling they seem to be eclipsed as they were less than half the price. I think they were still available through the 70's though and had a small but dedicated following . . . just like the soon to disappear Hornby Dublo! (Just remembered that they also produced some of them in TT during the brief 7 years that Triang produced that scale and for some years after). Here are a few pictures that I've found on the net just now . . . .

Yes, I did find the photos thanks. Took a bit of finding as you are an amazingly prolific member with well over 7,000 posts/comments . . . . . Wow !!! I see what you mean about the roof's being different. I will get mine out again sometime but at present they are buried in a box in a trunk up in the loft! At the demos I used to encourage people to buy cheap second hand models and do them up . . . then if the worst happened they have lost much. The only thing now is that the second hand prices seem to be climbing to keep pace with the new ready to run prices. Old Triang stuff is still quite cheap though. This is an example. The old refrigerated van is a bit of a dogs breakfast but, surprisingly, the body moulding is almost spot on. The prototype they chose is really obscure, being a Hull & Barnsley Railway vehicle. Presumably they were used to bring frozen food, like New Zealand lamb, from the docks inland to Barnsley and beyond. I suspect they chose it as they found the drawing in the old 'Wagon Drawings Book' by Roche and noticed it would fit their standard chassis. As an exercise I limited what I did and used as much of the original model, albeit altered, as possible. I didn't want to get into that silly situation most of the wagon was replaced. . . . but at least the buffers were from the original!! That wasn't the point. So I trimmed the roof to the correct size, fitted proper vents, and added vac pipes to the body. Most of the work was on the chassis. I couldn't be sure from the drawing if it was wood or steel. I suspect it probably would have been wood, but some steel chassis were coming in at that time and tended to go on posh priority fitted vehicles, like this, first. So I left it as a steel one, trimmed off all but the lever and V hanger from the brake gear, fitted a cross shaft and links to the cylinder and fitted clasp brakes. The real wheels were 3' 6" (as the wagons were expected to travel at passenger speeds) so the original Triang ones were quite close, in reality being a bit too big to represent the standard wagon 3' 1" wheels. The real wheels were the Mansel type with wooden segments so I just cut discs from plasticard, painted them to represent the wood centres and force fitted them into the Triang wheels. Surprisingly, they looked quite good! Lastly I made up a set of steps for each side below the doors with brass wire & scraps and added a couple of other details from bits of plastic or brass. Then it was just a full repaint and the fiddly job of picking out all the ironwork on the body in black. The cost of the original was £2 (I brought two and kept one to show how it started life) and the only additional parts, that weren't just bits of scrap plastic or metal, were the roof vents. So for £3 and a couple of hours work you had a reasonably scale wagon. It certainly meets your "2 foot test"! The photos aren't too flattering as they are larger than the original and the flash illuminates parts that would normally be shaded ( a problem that is even worse with N gauge models!)

It would be nice if they did a bare unpainted moulding of i) Each of the two different old short clerestories and ii) the roof moulding (I think they used the same one for each?). These could be sold in a plastic bag as "Modeller's Aids". In the 60's the Railway Modeller was full of imaginative conversions to produce dozens of coaches from this 1880 - 1910 period, both bogie as well as 4 and 6 wheel types, not just for GWR but most of the other pre-grouping railways. Look closely at the coaches on Peter Deny's Buckingham and you'll see what I mean. The other reason I think this would be a good idea is to try to get modellers to "have a go" at some real 'hack it and stick it' modelling. I do demo's at a few small local shows encouraging people to do this, as an antidote to the prevailing 'take it out of the box and plonk it on the layout' ethos. So many people seem convinced that they don't have the skill to do even simple things and would make a mess of anything that they try, which is such a shame.

I think the blurring of the children's faces is something to do with new restrictions, legal or otherwise. So the joke about it being so that they could get girlfriends later in life was just a throw away joke . . . but it made me smile too! A year or so ago I was going around our model railway club's open day innocently taking a few photos as a record of the day. I popped my head around the junior club's door and, as soon as I lifted my camera to my eye I was told in no uncertain terms by the adult in charge that I couldn't take any photos as the junior members were there in shot. I was amazed, but apologised assuring him that I meant no harm and left. It does seem sad that things have come to this today . . . but I guess it is the world that we live in.

Hi, at a recent model railway exhibition at Bloxwich in the Midlands one of the exhibitors showed me a "New Rail Models 40018 Blue Point Manual Turnout controller". It seemed just what I was after and I quickly found information about it on the internet. However, after an hour and a half further searching I can't find a UK supplier. So the questions are 1) Has anyone used them and what has been your experience and 2) Does anyone know where to get them in the UK . . . ideally the West Midlands?