Quote from: Bob G on May 28, 2026, 02:09:53 PMWhen I started in N a Minitrix Mk 1 coach was £1.01 discounted to 96p. A Peco 5-plank wagon was 40p and a steel mineral wagon 44p. I think the 15' wheelbase tank wagons were about 65p. The Jubilee was £9.50. There were only a handful of UK RTR locos, and half of those were not to scale or in some cases even recognisable as UK outline! Britannia was £7.17. The Farish Holden tank and 94xx pannier were around a fiver.

We were poor but we were happy, and we made do.

Peco actually painted a Minitrix V200 to look like a Warship for one of its early N catalogues (a reverse of what was done to a real Warship in preservation, which was painted to look like a V200), hauling a block train of its 15' tanks (later to become TTAs).

i cant remember prices when i started--around '75 i think. First loco was the lima 4f--then the farish 94xx.  I quickly collected all the british outline stuff--then bought a fleischmann 38. That did it for me--i sold all my british outline and went all out for german steam and old electrics.

Yep, I like that - just checked out his credentials, quite a pedigree! Slight hint of Johnny Cash?

Tim

Tom Morello

Looks like a track gauge to me.

Not exactly full of info there, either, so far!

When I started in N a Minitrix Mk 1 coach was £1.01 discounted to 96p. A Peco 5-plank wagon was 40p and a steel mineral wagon 44p. I think the 15' wheelbase tank wagons were about 65p. The Jubilee was £9.50. There were only a handful of UK RTR locos, and half of those were not to scale or in some cases even recognisable as UK outline! Britannia was £7.17. The Farish Holden tank and 94xx pannier were around a fiver.

We were poor but we were happy, and we made do.

Peco actually painted a Minitrix V200 to look like a Warship for one of its early N catalogues (a reverse of what was done to a real Warship in preservation, which was painted to look like a V200), hauling a block train of its 15' tanks (later to become TTAs).

Thank you @Southerngooner for your generous donation.

 

Quote from: Papyrus on May 26, 2026, 11:58:07 AMAs I always say, you can never have too many brake vans. Do you always say that? Oh, good.

Seeing as I have 26 of various types, I could well be guilty of that

Quote from: Bob G on May 28, 2026, 12:40:06 PM

Quote from: Roy L S on May 28, 2026, 10:22:38 AM

Quote from: maridunian on May 28, 2026, 10:12:40 AMI wonder how many of these have been made over the past half century?

Mike

Indeed even longer than half a century I think, the wagon was, if memory serves introduced in the early 70s so that tooling has well and truly paid for itself!

The first batch of these wagons were built in 1966. The Peco model is close to the first design, but the spacing of the outer stanchions is wrong. Later designs had fewer vertical stanchions.

They were probably first made by Peco in around 1969, because the 15' tank wagons came out in about 1967 (made originally by Minitrix IIRC) and then by Peco around 1969. I was still into OO at that time. I remember the adverts in the RM called "Whisky galore". They had sprung couplings at the start. Elsie couplings came about on the 10' wheelbase wagons first. I had some of both 15' and 10' wheelbase wagons in 1971 when I started in N. The Peco wagon chassis were considered much better than the Farish ones at the time.

Not sure if I've added anything to the discussion! And very off topic.

The oldest price list I can find is 1988 when these sold for £3.25 each. According to the Bank of England, that would be £9.29 in today's money.

I've no idea whether these have been in continuous production or batched, but my impression is they have always been available to buy, and are clearly a profitable enough product!

Mike

I've asked the question on RMWeb:
https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/200762-mystery-triang-gauge/