Mettoy and Chad Valley

[Il Grifone]

Best known for their (undernourished)  0 gauge trains, I can remember in my younger days late fifties) being intrigued by a 00 Mettoy set in the window of a rather dingy toy shop near my school. It was quite cheap (£1 IIRC), but I didn't purchase. I 've never seen one since*. so I would assume its sales were somewhat restricted.

The net came up with this: https://spur00.de/mettoy

Does anyone know anything more?

 

* I did see a couple of wagons at a toyfair a few years ago, but the price was distinctly Grifone unfriendly.

Edited December 12, 2022 by Il Grifone

[Paul H Vigor]

47 minutes ago, Il Grifone said:

Best known for their (undernourished)  0 gauge trains, I can remember in my younger days late fifties) being intrigued by a 00 Mettoy set in the window of a rather dingy toy shop near my school. It was quite cheap (£1 IIRC), but I didn't purchase. I 've never seen one since*. so I would assume its sales were somewhat restricted.

The net came up with this: https://spur00.de/mettoy

Does anyone know anything more?

 

* I did see a couple of wagons at a toyfair a few years ago, but the price was distinctly Grifone unfriendly.

Copy & paste into Google: 'Mettoy 00 Train Set images' - lots of Mettoy model railway images!

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/inside-swanseas-famous-toy-factory-19502501

[Tom Burnham]

Thanks. I'd heard of Mettoy but hadn't realised that Corgi was one of their brands. The South Wales article suggests that Playcraft were also part of the group, but I had the impression that Playcraft model trains were from the Jouef stable.  Apologies if this is covered in another thread.

[sncf231e]

1 hour ago, Il Grifone said:

 

Does anyone know anything more?

 

 

In British Toy Trains Book 5 by Michael Foster you can read all. 

By the way: Why is the thread title Mettoy and Chad Valley? These are completely different toy manufacturers. 

 

Regards

Fred

Edited December 12, 2022 by sncf231e

[andyman7]

50 minutes ago, Tom Burnham said:

Thanks. I'd heard of Mettoy but hadn't realised that Corgi was one of their brands. The South Wales article suggests that Playcraft were also part of the group, but I had the impression that Playcraft model trains were from the Jouef stable.  Apologies if this is covered in another thread.

'Mettoy' = metal toy. They wanted a cut of the diecast model car market that Meccano had cornered with the Dinky range - so what better name that that of of small (or 'dinky') Welsh dog? They merged with Playcraft in 1956 to make 'Mettoy Playcraft'. The train range was indeed sourced from Jouef with a few British Outline items but was a later (1960s) venture to try and create a budget range to undercut Triang. 

[roythebus1]

The Playcraft trains accessory range had a rather nice signal kit which could be made in several variants. about 3/6d a kit IIRC. There was also a model of Macclesfield Station building, one of those featured in the famous issue of Railway modeller where the term "modelling the modern Image" was coined by Cyril Freezer.

[BernardTPM]

The scaling of the Macclesfield/Bletchley kit is interesting. The door height and width is pretty much 4mm scale but whereas each standard element on the real thing had four panels, the model only has three. So it's forshortend 00 rather than H0.

[33C]

Did Playcraft out source to Ireland? I recall a BR Blue "Warship" which was actually a resprayed DB 220 class diesel manufactured there. Or did i dream it.....

[Tom Burnham]

In the early 1960s a school friend had a largish layout in his loft with Wrenn track, and I used to take some stock over to run on it. We had mainly Triang with some HD and I had a couple of the GF suburban carriages that you had to assemble. My friend had a Playcraft D6100 diesel loco that he'd repainted in LNER apple green.  Big motor geared to all axles as I recall.  Noisy and too fast but it would pull anything we hung behind it.

[Johann Marsbar]

12 hours ago, sncf231e said:

In British Toy Trains Book 5 by Michael Foster you can read all. 

By the way: Why is the thread title Mettoy and Chad Valley? These are completely different toy manufacturers. 

 

Regards

Fred

 

I see where the inspiration for this came from now......😀

 

 

...though the Mettoy one was only an 0-4-0 !

 

[sagaguy]

Playcraft produced a very nice red brick loco shed very similar to the HD model,i have one in my collection.They also made a very good girder bridge based on the GC one at Rugby.

 

                      Ray.

[railroadbill]

This is Playcraft as well.

As can be seen.

 

 

On some track. Daughter's train set when she was very little, somehow it's survived and now her children have enjoyed playing with it although they are now a bit too old and have moved on.

 

The colours of the plastic are the same as a Corgi garage that I found on-line.  Playcraft seemed to have brought plastic moulding expertise to compliment   Mettoy die casting originally. 

The loco is battery powered, although it looks like Playcraft made some Brio type pushalong locos as well. The track "gauge" is 1 1/4". 

 

 

The track fits together like Brio.  Easy to put down a big layout on the carpet then pack it all away afterwards.

Great fun! The loco mechanism was quite heavily engineered for what it was, with a clutch mechanism so it could be pushed along without turning the motor.

 

Anyway, just for fun! 🙂

 

 

[Johann Marsbar]

8 minutes ago, railroadbill said:

This is Playcraft as well.

As can be seen.

 

 

On some track. Daughter's train set when she was very little, somehow it's survived and now her children have enjoyed playing with it although they are now a bit too old and have moved on.

 

The colours of the plastic are the same as a Corgi garage that I found on-line.  Playcraft seemed to have brought plastic moulding expertise to compliment   Mettoy die casting originally. 

The loco is battery powered, although it looks like Playcraft made some Brio type pushalong locos as well. The track "gauge" is 1 1/4". 

 

 

The track fits together like Brio.  Easy to put down a big layout on the carpet then pack it all away afterwards.

Great fun! The loco mechanism was quite heavily engineered for what it was, with a clutch mechanism so it could be pushed along without turning the motor.

 

Anyway, just for fun! 🙂

 

 

 

One of my friends had a push along train that used track like that, though it was red in colour - would have been mid to late 1960's.  Can't really remember much about it now, but the "couplings" were a bar with a T at the end which fitted into a suitable slot on the next item of rolling stock.

[DaveF]

 

The photo below shows my Mettoy 2-4-0 Merchant Navy.  I think it was battery powered and I ran it on Dad's 0 gauge layout.  In the foreground is a Bassett Lowke live steam 4-4-0.  I was about 3 at the time.

 

David

Edited December 13, 2022 by DaveF

[33C]

18 minutes ago, Johann Marsbar said:

 

One of my friends had a push along train that used track like that, though it was red in colour - would have been mid to late 1960's.  Can't really remember much about it now, but the "couplings" were a bar with a T at the end which fitted into a suitable slot on the next item of rolling stock.

Yes! I had a lot of that red stuff at my nan's. Loved it, reversible too. She would top it up with bits from the jumble sales. A double slip and the turntable were great additions!

[Johann Marsbar]

26 minutes ago, 33C said:

Yes! I had a lot of that red stuff at my nan's. Loved it, reversible too. She would top it up with bits from the jumble sales. A double slip and the turntable were great additions!

 

Looks like it was a Playcraft product as I just found this.....    https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/mettoy-playcraft-train-set-red-track-1779403443

If you click on the image displayed on that page, it does expand to give a better view of it all.

[Fat Controller]

14 hours ago, 33C said:

Did Playcraft out source to Ireland? I recall a BR Blue "Warship" which was actually a resprayed DB 220 class diesel manufactured there. Or did i dream it.....

I wonder if this was the factory that  Jouef were using in the 1990s, given the Playcraft/ Jouef connection?

[sncf231e]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

 

The photo below shows my Mettoy 2-4-0 Merchant Navy. 

 

David

In the video a Mettoy 2-4-0 Brittania with correct number/name (Robin Hood, 70038), but that is about all that is correct 😉.

Regards

Fred

[Il Grifone]

22 hours ago, sncf231e said:

In British Toy Trains Book 5 by Michael Foster you can read all. 

By the way: Why is the thread title Mettoy and Chad Valley? These are completely different toy manufacturers. 

 

22 hours ago, sncf231e said:

 

Regards

Fred

 

No reason beyond that remembering the Mettoy 00, then recalled its rival Chad Valley (made in Birmingham hence the name). I had a few items of each, but they were not really compatible with my much superior Hornby 0 gauge.

I thought that seeing we've overlooked both, a joint thread was in order.

 

One of my cousins had a black plastic battery loco (Allegedly a Britannia and Mettoy IIRC). It took 2 U2s which lasted about 5 minutes.

 

EDIT

Running the video. I see it was exactly that one!

Edited December 13, 2022 by Il Grifone

[TheSignalEngineer]

3 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

then recalled its rival Chad Valley (made in Birmingham hence the name).

I remember Chad Valley using the old Harborne railway station  as a sawmill and packing case workshop when my Dad was based at the fire station situated between the two parts of the toy factory. We used to go up onto the top of the fire station to watch a Johnson 2F or Stanier 3P Tank shunt the goods yard in the days before an 03 shunter took over the trip duty.

[Fat Controller]

12 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I remember Chad Valley using the old Harborne railway station  as a sawmill and packing case workshop when my Dad was based at the fire station situated between the two parts of the toy factory. We used to go up onto the top of the fire station to watch a Johnson 2F or Stanier 3P Tank shunt the goods yard in the days before an 03 shunter took over the trip duty.

I've seen some photos of this recently; possibly on RM Web. I wonder if it was the only rail-fed toy manufacturer?

[GoingUnderground]

Rather OT I'll admit,  the late Kenneth Horne, famous to my generation for being the "straight" man on the BBC Radio comedy series "Beyond our Ken" and "Round the Horne" was the chairman of Chad Valley.

[sagaguy]

A bit of useless information, a"comedian"a few years ago won the best joke in the world,pity that the following day,R4xtra broadcast a round the Horne episode from 1967 containing the very joke told by Kenneth Horne.It just goes to show that 

 

there's not a lot new in the world!.

 

Ray.

 

[Nearholmer]

10 hours ago, Fat Controller said:

I've seen some photos of this recently; possibly on RM Web. I wonder if it was the only rail-fed toy manufacturer?

I think Triang’s works would qualify, so I think not. The Merton Abbey Branch was kept going by it IIRC.

 

 

 

[railroadbill]

29 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I think Triang’s works would qualify, so I think not. The Merton Abbey Branch was kept going by it IIRC.

 

 

 

 

That's really quite an old map, (pre-grouping)  as it show LSWR and LBSCR lines also the City and South London tube.  As 3 of Joseph Lines's sons formed Tri-ang after the first World War (just looked this up on Wikipedia!)  it must have been printed at or close to the start of the company.  Not too sure about the half hour commuting time "from any part of London" though.  Wonder how long the siding was in use.