Triang catalogues.... 1962-1967

[Paddy]

Some of those buildings would look lovely on John's ( @Train Waiting ) Poppingham Railway.  If they are perfectly scaled for OO, HO and TT then no doubt they will fit for N as well! 

Kind regards

Paddy

[Southerngooner]

This thread has got me thinking a lot about my old Triang collection, and in particular the thought that I had had CKD MK1 coaches in - shock horror - LMS livery. I remember being very disappointed when getting them as a present that the colour wasn't like BR maroon, and the LMS on each end needed to be changed.

However, at that time I was using (amongst other things) balsa glue to fix metal chimneys from Lone Star bodies onto boilers made of paper wrapped round a pencil, so that show the level of my modelling skills at the time. Repainting and lettering were most definitely out!

Searching for these on the net bought little results until I noticed that an auction site had a box of random OO gauge models advertised last year, and lo and behold, LMS Mk1 coaches! I wasn't going mad after all. I suspect these will not feature in Bealman's excellent trawl as they must have come out 1968-9 or even a little later. Anyone else remember them?

I do remember the Minix cars, but I only had one transporter. I also vividly remember spending Xmas with my mums parents in a dingy flat next to Kings Cross station (the good thing about going there!) and coming home with just over £1 in hard cash, enough to buy me a passing loop set.......

Those were the days!

Dave
Dave

[Bealman]

Anyway, returning to the catalogue page above, industrial locomotives #6, "Connie" and #7, "Nellie were joined by #9, "Polly". Above was a new model - a Co-Co Class E.3000 electric locomotive. Now that's a model I wouldn't mind having in my N gauge collection. Has anyone ever done one?

I doubt it, as the E3000 locos were Bo-Bos so another typo there.
There's my EM2 shown. What year did the working catenary come out please?

Thanks to a generous gift from @Paddy of PDF's of Triang catalogues from 1955 to 65, I can confirm that the overhead catenary system did indeed make it's debut in the 1959 catalogue. Present day tension lock couplings too, by the way. 

[martyn]

The transformer/controller I saved up for was the RP13, and it still works, though not used. This was the basic controller, with a single 12v dc output only; there was a 'deluxe' version which had, IIRC, 2 x 12v dc (might have been only 1x12 v, not 2) and 1 x 16v ac. My friend with the large Transcontinental collection had two of the previous version of these which were smaller, and had a high/low resistance switch, which neither of us understood what it did. When I eventually aspired to two tracks, I bought an H+M Clipper, which is still used to power the points on my layout.

Seeing the Triang/Hornby catalogue, he had been given a railway collection from some-one who was quite a bit older than us, and who had no further use for it. This included the large overall Hornby station canopy, but the previous owner had completely painted it grey.

This friend also acquired quite a lot of Battle Space; together with Corgi and Britain's die cast model army field guns, we had quite a few battles. As these guns fired small metal 'shells', and with the Battle space rockets, they would have been a nightmare in today's H+E atmosphere!

Somewhere along the line, I acquired the Hornby 4MTT, CoBo, and also the Deltic. I renumbered the Deltic with plates from King's Cross models (conveniently next door to the station); the plates had to be cut out from 'solid', no etched tabs here! One of these diesels was missing, I think, traction tyres, and as I had no idea where to get spares, that's how they remained. I really can't remember where these three locos came from (possibly a school mate selling up), nor what happened to them.

I note that you didn't mention another range produced and captioned in the catalogue; ARKITEX model buildings. I still have quite a large collection of this in the loft. Basically, the main supports of the building was made with H-section yellow plastic beams which plugged into plastic 6-way connectors, which in turn plugged into the baseplate. The building exterior was made from a range of panels similar to the pre-cast ones then in fashion in the 'real' world; these included various door and window panels. Roofs and floors were made of coloured card panels which were laid on the cubic framework built up with the H-sections. The range also included stairway sets (single and double width) and roof/floor panels WITH LIGHTS that were fed by battery via a system of copper strips, which were held in place by the methodology of the H-beams and plastic plugs. I don't know if this was very popular; it was certainly difficult to get 'extra' packs soon after introduction.

And also to be contrary (think Playcraft instead of Triang), I had Airfix Betta Builda instead of Lego.......which I again still have a small collection of in the loft. I remember making a 'ship' from Betta Builda, which I loaded with rice via the Triang open wagon with opening doors given to me!

I'm now realising that I had a lot more toys and models than I would have thought I had; and that's without going into my Airfix kits and Matchbox cars!

Martyn

[Bealman]

Yes, you are indeed correct about those ARKITEX buildings. The text in the third from last pic describes exactly the same construction method you have explained, and the R.589 set could be configured as any of the three buildings shown on that page. 

As you suggest, I don't think they were around for long.

[martyn]

Thanks, George, about the Arkitex.

Unfortunately, I can't read the text, even on highest magnification.

The window panels shown are slightly different to mine; the lower coloured panels are metal and reversible and just slip in to the bottom of the panels. Mine are bright red or blue, not as illustrated.

Martyn

[Bealman]

No Martyn, nobody will be able to read the text, thanks to my crappy phone photography!! Sorry!

[Newportnobby]

Still great stuff, George. I thought the Hymek was earlier than 1966 as my Mum has a pic of me at Christmas when I got mine. I also had some of those godawful station buildings in (quite heavy) metal and some of the Battle stuff, although whenever I fired mine the wagon just fell off the track from the recoil
By right clicking on your pics and using 'Save image as.....' I did manage to save it to my laptop and then enlarge it so I could read the typo on the E3000.
Shame the thread is nearing its end but by 1967 other things took my attention

[Paddy]

Please Sir, can we have a Co-Bo in N gauge?  Happiness is a freight train called Condor...   

Kind regards

Paddy

[Newportnobby]

Please Sir, can we have a Bo-Bo in N gauge?  Happiness is a freight train called Condor...   

Kind regards

Paddy

@Paddy Do you mean the class 28 Metrovick Co-Bo, Paddy?

[Paddy]

Hi @Newportnobby - I do indeed and thank you for spotting my error.  Post now amended. 

For some strange reason, I like the look of the Co-Bo despite it not having the best of reputations.

Kind regards

Paddy

[themadhippy]

How long was the mini motorway available for as i remember seeing it in the catolouge and drooling /pestering parents for both the road way and the train road interface,would have been early-mid 70;s i'd guess,never got one,or even saw one in the flesh though.
As for smoking and  chuffing engines i had both,this set

although im sure the car was blue in mine.

and

not only did it make a noise,but also had a glowing fire box.

Going slightly ot,but the smoking effect was also common in adverts and films were a steaming plate of food or similar effect  was required,a tampon would have a coil of nichrome wire wrapped around it and soaked in oil,add a few volts and voila,"steam" coming of the plate. It can also be used to make a dragon puppets mouth give off a gentle  waft of smoke in between the  blasts of flames (brake cleaner fluid  ).O the fun we had in the days before elf and stasi

[Bealman]

Thanks for posting those pics! I must admit I've never seen those. My last Triang Hornby catalogue was the 1967 one I'm about to take a look at, so these sets were most certainly after my time, so to speak.

In 1968 my interests turned to electronics, the Triang stuff was boxed away, and the baseboard was cut up and turned into a work bench.

By the end of 1970, I was off to college, studyng (HA!) and drinking beer, chasing girls and drinking beer, playing football and drinking beer, playing cricket and drinking beer, making 8mm movies and drinking beer, and in 1972 travelling regularly through Eaglescliffe ( @Jonner ) and drinking beer.

[Bealman]

Please Sir, can we have a Co-Bo in N gauge?  Happiness is a freight train called Condor...   

Kind regards

Paddy

Yes, I like it too, Paddy. I'd love to see it in N gauge, if simply to duplicate The Condor! 

[Bealman]

Bealman's last Triang catalogue.... 1967. Are you going to San Fransisco? Make sure you wear some flowers in your hair... 

The front cover returned with a Cuneo painting, with the mouse visible on the sill behind the guy tending the M7 locomotive.



And sure enough, right inside the front cover, is the new M7 model - complete with opening smoke box door and firebox glow!



I've always liked the M7, and this model found it's way onto quite a number of layouts featured in Railway Modeller magazine over the years. It is of course available in N, and is yet another model on my wishlist.

The next page showed some of the features of the Triang Hornby system, accompanied by some very impressive artwork:



The models continued to reflect the 1954 British Railways "modernisation programme":



While the steam locomotive page was revealing. There is not a Hornby Dublo locomotive to be seen anywhere in this catalogue - in other words, dropped like a ton of bricks a year after amalgamation!



The 0-4-0 motive stud was reduced to two, poor old "Connie" had even vanished from the last year's catalogue! The CKD range was now referred to as "Assembly Packs", and the Princess Elizabeth was joined by the B12 loco. The EM2 loco "Electra" was still available in this form, and the catenary system was still going strong. Interestingly, the steam loco in the photos below appears to be the Dublo "Barnstaple", not available anymore!



The 1967 catalogue hinted at the future to come.... container trains.....



...and the new corporate colours....



The "Assembly Pack" range now included three coaches, all in the new blue and grey livery. A passenger pack was also introduced - presumably for the Blue Pullman!! 



The newly-liveried Battle Space range continued to expand - talk about a classic but successful re-tasking of existing equipment! Take a look at these pages:



* Q car: the existing exploding car now falls apart but has missiles inside

* Ambulance car: existing Transcontinental stock

* Multiple Ground-to-Air Missile Site: Missile turret from my mate's Defender set re-liveried and re-tasked

* Command car: Re-liveried Transcontinental operating mail car

* Sniper car - the giraffe on the giraffe car replaced by a sniper!

* Tank recovery wagon: re-liveried Transcontinental crane car

* Honest John Pad: Re-tasked rocket launcher from the bogie bolster wagon, put onto a platform crane base

Let's face it, pretty smart marketing strategy when you think about it!



Unlike the locomotives, the Hornby Dublo railway building range was retained, as was the ARKITEK range at this point:



Finally, the back cover showed the railway/motorway combination was still there, but by now Minic Motorways had it's own catalogue - watch out for an Epilogue, dear viewer!