For those amongst us who remember:- "When I was a boy"!

[petercharlesfagg]

In my thread of "Four Firsts", it has developed into a reminiscences topic.

Bealman got me thinking and things are going completely off topic, no bad thing but lets bring it back here?

"When I was a boy"  I was fortunate to be fanatical about Tri-ang trains, all my pocket money was spent before I got it and then I would indulge my fantasies for those lovely Red boxes!

Apart from the wrong locomotive and the wrong coaches, I was lucky to have:-

The Grand Victorian Suspension Bridge.  (Cannot remember how long it was but it was at least a mile!)
I think it was R254 the electric turntable.  (Only went round 90 degrees, made one heck of a noise but it was the centre point of Crewe!)
A Britannia Locomotive with Magnadhesion.  (It was a retirement present made with extras by Rovex as their employees left.  It included Brass rails, whistles and various other bits that were non-standard!)

A CKD kit (Completely Knocked Down) of the Elektra with twin working overhead pantographs in a fantastic Green livery + Magnadhesion.

Super 4 track to which everything extra could be clipped, catenaries, signals, level crossings, you name it and it attached to the track!

Come on lads and lassies, what do you remember from 50 years and more ago?

Regards, Peter.

[Jack]

Come on lads and lassies, what do you remember from 50 years and more ago?

Regards, Peter.

Starting school and not being able to play with 'my' train set "in case I broke it". I couldn't tell you what sort it was, I can just about remember that everything was LMS as that was my father's favorite colour 

[Malc]

I too had a triang layout. It was a figure of 8 and lived in our fitted out loft in Redcar. My elder brother used to buy me some rolling stock most weeks and I had quite a bit by the time my younger brother started destroying it. I only had one loco, a prairie in British Railways black, but my prize possession was a working Royal Mail coach, complete with ejecting mailbags.

[railsquid]

Come on lads and lassies, what do you remember from 50 years and more ago?

Regards, Peter.

Make me feel like a youngster again, will you? I mean I can remember when TVs used to have just two knobs (on/off/volume and tuning) and phones were wired directly into the wall (and not everyone had one) and there were New Pence, from which I deduced there must have been Old Pence, and two-shilling pieces with a King on them, but any further back I'd need to borrow a tardis.

[javlinfaw7]

When I was 10 my aunts gave me a Hornby Dublo train set an oval of track with a cast metal duchess and two tin plate coaches, My younger brother was given a prairie with two coaches but his was the older three rail system . As both managed shops for a small local retailer who sold everything from paraffin to three piece suites I have no idea how long they had been in stock.I gave the Duchess to a friend 25 years ago after years of trouble free running but still have the coaches in my attic somewhere

[port perran]

I had a large  (running right around the loft) Hornby Dublo Three Rail layout with a real mixture of locomotives and stock.
From memory 8F 48158, Castle - Bristol Castle, Duchess-of Montrose, standard 2-6-4T, an A4 (can't remember which one), a Class 20 diesel, an eastern region 0-6-2T and several more which I have forgotten about.
Everything used to run like a dream but probably at break neck speeds.
Not at all sure what happened to everything though .

[talisman56]

Visiting my Grandparents on a Sunday and sneaking round the corner to Norwood Yard, investigating the shed and steam locos and the Bulleid diesel shunters therein...

[Newportnobby]

As a Tri-ang kiddy I also used to have the catenary and the 'Elektra' loco and used to love the fact you could run 2 locos - one from the track and one from the 'knitting'. Also had the operating Mailcoach which collected and fired out miniature mailbags
Wonder what happened to it all, although stuff used to mysteriously vanish in house moves

[Jerry Howlett]

Big brother had the REAL Hornby (pre the Triang Hornby) 3 rail, with the N2 as in my avatar.

I also progressed to the loft where I had a layout laid on fibreboard fixed direct to the rafters so was basically at floor level,  I had a large double oval with a "GWR Branch line" that climbed a hill that was probably 1 in 12 , luckily Peco did STEEL railed track and Triang used the wonderful magnadhesion. Lord of the Isles and three clerestory coaches running alongside a Blue streamlined Duchess was not unusual, oh and the Scotsman (?) with the chuff chuff noise , a small piece of metal attached to the tender axle rubbing against a piece of sand paper.  Hi tech or what ?       To this day in the roof of my Mum's house is the inscription in chalk GWR/LMS/SR/LNER joint railway.....  Luckily by the time I was 16 I had discovered girls so it remained frozen in time until big brother removed it all and gave it to his grandson.

And then there was the experiment in 009 the Gurgle Wobble Railway I sold all that to my Doctor in return for 2 weeks sick leave,,,,  Oh I also swapped some matchbox cars for a Lone Star Electric set...so that's where the rot set in.

Well its YOUR FAULT PETER you started this nostalgia trip.

Jerry

[petercharlesfagg]

working Royal Mail coach, complete with ejecting mailbags.

Thanks Malc, I had forgotten that one, yes I had one also!

[petercharlesfagg]

Well its YOUR FAULT PETER you started this nostalgia trip.
Jerry

My fault YES! Isn't it fun?

[joe cassidy]

I had the Tri-ang "Night Sleeper" train set with a Princess class loco in maroon livery, 2 sleepers and a full brake. It's still around, in my Mum's loft.

We lived in Reading then and I used to visit Eames shop regularly just to drool over the big demonstration layout.

Best regards,


Joe

[Jerry Howlett]

We lived in Reading then and I used to visit Eames shop regularly just to drool over the big demonstration layout.

Best regards,
Joe

Eames !! I had a 50p an hour cleaning job at the Chippenham Model Railway Centre in 1972 ?.  They went bust and owed Eames ££££.s  When the Guys from Eames came for their goods I tried to hide a Triang Hornby Evening Star in my mop bucket but the b~~~ers found it, If only I had gone for the N Gauge then , I could have smuggled a complete train out in the Tea pot..

I'm telling you Peter this nostalgia is going to run....

Jerry

[joe cassidy]

I understand that Eames eventually went the same way as the Chippenham Model Railway Centre - sad but maybe poetic justice ?

Best regards,


Joe

[longbridge]

I must be getting old because I like these old days type threads, my first layout was a Honby Dublo Duchess of Atholl 3 rail set, I got it for Christmas when I was 12 years old, my Nan and Grandpa bought me an LNER tank loco to go with it and my Uncle built me a great station, that was the beginning of a lifetime hobby.

Going slightly of topic I was lucky enough to live near the Birmingham - Bristol main line and spent every spare minute trainspotting, I could not stand the thought of missing all those great trains passing while I was a school so armed with my LMS Ian Allan train ref, a notebook, my school lunch and a packet of five Woodbine fags I would wag school and log some great cops, ah they were the days.