With the current lockdown in place and with nowt better to do on a Saturday afternoon, I dug out my old Triang catalogues from the 1960s.



They date from 1962 to 1967, and all but one of them (10th edition, 1964) have Cuneo covers. I have spent a long while this arvo looking for the mouse on all of 'em, but so far have only located it on the 1967 cover!

There were a lot of developments going on during these years, and it is my intention in this thread to look at the more interesting of these as they occurred. It's certainly bringing back memories of Bealman's yoof, and hopefully forum members may find it interesting from a historical viewpoint.

Probably the biggest shock-horror of those years was the amalgamation of Triang with Hornby Dublo.



This was particularly traumatic for a mate of mine who had quite an extensive Dublo two-rail setup. I took a smug satisfaction that I was on the winning side. 

The supplement in the catalogue showed that all was well, there would be a convertor wagon with a Triang tension lock coupling on one end, and a Hornby Dublo coupling on the other. The two operated in different planes, of course, as the adolescent Bealman points out here:



A convertor track was also made available, so the Hornby track could connect to the Triang Super 4 track, as shown above. In reality, of course, the Hornby Dublo track was much superior to the Triang stuff. The Triang Super 4 was steel rail (so the company's Magnadhesion locomotives could stick to it), and was hopelessly overscale with thick sleepers and huge gaps under the rails, so lineside accessories could simple clip in.

The Dublo track had a lower profile (in fact the convertor track was a ramp to bring it up to Triang height), and, best of all, was nickel silver rail. Bealman found in later years that if you tried ballasting the Super 4 using the methods suggested by the model railway press of the day, the rails became rusty quick smart. And I'm talking REAL rust, not painted on rust!!

Anyway, the supplement insisted the two systems could coexist, and provided a picture of a layout to drool over, incorporating the creamy vanilla Dublo buldings with the Triang Model-Land products.



A selection of Hornby locomotives were retained (including "Barnstable"), but this move effectively marked the beginning of the end of Hornby Dublo.

@Bealman . George. April railway modeller sadly reported the death of Richard lines
I've a book the art of hornby. Heres a screenshot .... great idea.something to reminisce. Chris

Best screenshot of railway modeller article

Thanks. I'll see if I can turn 'em around!

No worries george. I'm happy to pm and send a copy guess you will wait for the railway modeller if subscribe. The article in the now out of print art of hornby is rare

Quote@Bealman  There were a lot of developments going on during these years, and it is my intention in this thread to look at the more interesting of these as they occurred. It's certainly bringing back memories of Bealman's yoof, and hopefully forum members may find it interesting from a historical viewpoint.

Superb idea for a thread George, and I for one shall greatly enjoy the journey down memory lane.

Of course, you could alway photo/copy every page spread of the mags you have and post them all!

Oh, right. Colour photocopies too, I suppose 

Thanks, Daffy. I intend to look at each year in turn, and add a few anecdotes and photos of my own.

Stay tuned! 

.... and that last photo in your post looks like @Train Waiting 's Poppingham on steroids!

Fascinating stuff George, this was a mere 20 years before my existence BUT even though dad had his N gauge stuff in boxes as a kid I had a Hornby OO layout.

I loved my 1990 catalogue and wanted lots of stuff out of it.

The Silcock Express (probably where my Cl. 47 admiration started)
A 2 tone blue Cl. 142 Pacer
A rake of Yeoman hoppers
And the huge station that they built

In reality I never got any of them but like 98% (I imagine) Hornby OO stated my love affair with the model railway world and to have the ability to learn about their history is going to provide some fantastic reading

@Bealman

Cheers, buddy. Stay tuned! 

Hi @Bealman

Great thread and really looking forward to hearing your memories from that period.  I was fortunate to get all these early catalogues on CD a few years ago so look at the quite often on my tablet.

It is the model artwork that I love.  These catalogues are far more exciting and atmospheric than today's glossy, high quality books from Hornby, Bachmann etc.  Our models may have improved massively but alas not our ability to sell a dream.

Kind regards

Paddy

Thanks, Paddy. You've got that right. Stay tuned! 

Quote from: daffy on March 28, 2020, 07:47:51 AM
Superb idea for a thread George, and I for one shall greatly enjoy the journey down memory lane.

Me too!  Hopefully I might be able to contribute from time to time.  Great idea, George.   

Quote from: daffy
link=topic=48785.msg625795#msg625795 date=1585382018
.... and that last photo in your post looks like @Train Waiting ‘s Poppingham on steroids!

Thank you so much, Mike.  That's a compliment+++! As well as my own memories, I looked at a lot of photographs like this when planning and building the Table-Top Railway.  It took four attempts to get something remotely resembling the picture in my mind's eye.  The main difficulty was that I kept straying into more conventional model railway techniques like ballasting and weathering.  Just look at all the gorgeous bright and shiny models in that amazing photograph that George posted.  I'll spend much of today gazing at that picture!

Best wishes.

John

Quote from: Train Waiting on March 28, 2020, 09:21:44 AM

Quote from: daffy on March 28, 2020, 07:47:51 AM
Superb idea for a thread George, and I for one shall greatly enjoy the journey down memory lane.

Me too!  Hopefully I might be able to contribute from time to time.  Great idea, George.   

Quote from: daffy
link=topic=48785.msg625795#msg625795 date=1585382018
.... and that last photo in your post looks like @Train Waiting 's Poppingham on steroids!

Thank you so much, Mike.  That's a compliment+++! As well as my own memories, I looked at a lot of photographs like this when planning and building the Table-Top Railway.  It took four attempts to get something remotely resembling the picture in my mind's eye.  The main difficulty was that I kept straying into more conventional model railway techniques like ballasting and weathering.  Just look at all the gorgeous bright and shiny models in that amazing photograph that George posted.  I'll spend much of today gazing at that picture!

Best wishes.

John

Compliment highly intentional John.

And I may be wrong, but in George's photo is that white smudge half hidden by a bush in the front left of the paddock behind the turntable possibly a prototype Flossie?     

No sign of an out of scale cat though.

Looks like Flossie to me! 

Glad you like the pic, John. Here's a teaser photo for you of what's ahead. Poppingham with moving cars!!

Looks like you may have to start looking at the Faller road system....