A neighbour of mine has recently given me two incomplete sets of these "collectibles". They are called:
1) World's Greatest Locomotives. These are marked "85" presumably meaning 1985.
2) World's Greatest Railroad Cars. These are marked "88" presumably meaning 1988.
I have no real interest in these items but I would like to find out more about them.
Although close to N scale, it appears that the Franklin Mint used a variety of scales when producing these models. For example, "Mallard" is almost exactly the same size as a Lone Star A4 pacific but the model of "Gladstone" looks to be much smaller - closer to Z scale.
The models are all made of pewter and I remember them being advertised in railway publications of the time. They are all heavy.
Unfortunately, neither set I was given is complete. The Locomotive set has 18 pieces and I think that there should be 28 pieces (25 locomotives) and the Railroad Cars set has 23 out of (I believe) 25 pieces.
Only three of the steam locomotives are provided with tenders which makes them look odd.
The definition of "Railroad Cars" seems to be pretty broad: There are a mixture of passenger cars, freight wagons, a German WWII rail gun (an impressive model!) and a crane.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/96/3276-120720225017.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=96839)
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/96/3276-120720225048.jpeg) (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=96840)
Each set comes with a wooden display frame complete with n gauge track but, because the models are of different scales, they do not all sit squarely on the track.
The reason that I am making this post is to see if anyone can provide me with a complete list of models for each set or advise where it can be found.
I thought this would be easy to find on the internet but initial searches proved fruitless.
There are many people selling these sets on eBay and other sites (most of them are incomplete sets) but I could not find any kind of list of models for each set.
Can anyone provide assistance?
Thanks,
Ian
This has piqued my interest to see how many of the locomotives I could identify (not too bad 8) – but has anyone heard of the "John Bull" locomotive before?) and what the missing items were.
I have found two ebay auctions where the names are listed. I guess the names come from the accompanying Franklin Mint booklets as some are a bit vague (the additional descriptions in brackets are from me). At least the names led to further identification.
Loco names from www.ebay.de/itm/324226186693 (http://www.ebay.de/itm/324226186693):
Rocket (Stephenson 0-2-2, 1829)
John Bull (Stephenson 4-2-0, 1831, preserved at the Smithsonian, oldest workable steam loco in 1981)
Adler (Stephenson 2-2-2, 1835, first railway in Germany)
Class A Shay (two-truck Shay)
T3 (Prussian T 3, 0-6-0, later BR 89)
Gladstone (first of the LB&SCR class B1, 0-4-2, preserved at NRM York)
New York Central (NYC 999, 4-4-0, claimed as first locomotive to reach 100 mph, 1893)
Class P 8 (Prussian P 8, 4-6-0, later BR 38)
G 12 (Prussian G 12, 2-10-0, later BR 58)
Class C 11 (JNR C11, 2-6-4T)
Class S 3/6 (Bavarian S 3/6, 4-6-2, later BR 18)
Flying Scotsman (LNER A1 4472, 4-6-2, speed record 1934)
K4 Pacific (partly de-streamlined Pennsylvania K4s, 4-6-2)
Yorkshire (first of the LNER class D49, 4-4-0)
Class C-62 (JNR C62, 4-6-4)
Royal Hudson (Canadian Pacific H1, 4-6-4)
Asia Go (South Manchurian Railway streamlined Pashina-class, 4-6-2)
Mallard (LNER A4 4468, 4-6-2, speed record 1938)
Class 05 (DRG BR 05, 4-6-4, speed record 1936)
Southern Pacific Daylight (Southern Pacific GS-4, 4-8-4)
E 44 (DRG/DB E44 electric, Bo-Bo)
French Tgv (SNCF TGV-PSE power car)
Japan Class D-51 (JNR D51, 2-8-2)
Jupiter (Central Pacific 4-4-0, with UP 119 at the Golden Spike ceremony 1869)
Big Boy (Union Pacific 4000 class, 4-8-8-4)
So, in your photo are Flying Scotsman, GS-4, K4s, D51; Mallard, Gladstone, Yorkshire, Rocket, Shay, E44; Big Boy, Adler, T 3, NYC 999, John Bull.
Carriage names from www.ebay.com/itm/233623310989 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/233623310989):
Amtrak Superliner
Pullman Car
Car Carrier
German W W II Railway Gun
Rio Grande Zephyr
Lincoln's Funeral Car
The Tank Car
D&H Gondola
French Retractable
AT & SF Stock Car
Reach -in Car
Hopper Car
Circus Car
Vinegar Car
Coach Car
French 40 et 8 Boxcar
King Ludwig's Royal Saloon Car
Russell Snowplow
Flatcar
Rock Island Caboose
Covered Hopper
Pacific Fruit Express
The Great Northern Rotary Snowplow
Penn Central Wrecking Crane
Logging Flat Car
The California Zephyr dome-observation is one of the two missing but you have to look for the other as the wagons all look the same in pewter. ;)
These sorts of collectables have never really grabbed me at all. So often they they just look like someone's taken a rubber cast of an N gauge (or whatever) model and reproduced it. Same goes for the black "coal" models that you find from time to time, a lot of those look suspiciously similar to Airfix kits to my eyes :worried:
At least the DelPrado models are good enough (mostly) to be placed at the back of loco depots etc. as static items.
Quote from: ntpntpntp on July 13, 2020, 07:52:10 PM
Same goes for the black "coal" models that you find from time to time, a lot of those look suspiciously similar to Airfix kits to my eyes.
That's because they *are* Airfix kits, with the frames & spaces between the wheels filled with Plastic Padding and then painted all over matt black. It took me a while to work out how they got away with it until I noticed that they were described as "made WITH coal", i.e. there are some small chips of coal glued on the base of the model, or in the tender/bunker, so the model is made with (some) coal - plus an Airfix kit... Subtly different from "made OF coal" (coal is the raw material from which the model was made), but close enough to give a misleading impression that skates past Trades Descriptions....
Richard
Hiawatha: Thank you VERY much for the lists you found - that is exactly what I was looking for.
Also, thank you for adding the loco identification notes - that will be very helpful.
Quote from: Hiawatha on July 13, 2020, 07:19:40 PMThe California Zephyr dome-observation is one of the two missing but you have to look for the other as the wagons all look the same in pewter. ;)
The other missing item from my collection is the Penn Central Wrecking Crane.
I always think that things that are sold as "collectibles" are really just using the word as a marketing ploy. I much prefer things that were manufactured and sold for a real purpose that became collectible when manufacturing stopped e.g., Lone Star models, Hornby Dublo, Tri-ang TT, Micromodel card kits, Playcraft, etc., etc.
One last question, does anyone have any original advertising material for the Franklin Mint models? IIRC, these were possibly on separate advertising cards that were included in railway magazines (and embarrassingly fell to the floor when you were browsing the magazine in the newsagents). Or were they ads included in the magazine pages? I must take a look in my magazine library this afternoon.
Thanks again,
Ian