Triang catalogues.... 1962-1967

[Newportnobby]

I've always liked the M7. It is of course available in N, and is yet another model on my wishlist.

I reckon the only way I'm going to see one is if Dapol do another run and, by the time it is produced, I won't even be able to remember what one is

This has been a great romp through the past, George. Thoroughly enjoyable and thanks for putting it all together. Presumably the threatened epilogue is just the one liner - "and so I drank some beer"

[Bealman]

You'll just have to wait and see, won't you.

Don't hold your breath, though - I threatened an epilogue for my Japanese adventure, and that was two years ago.... 

[joe cassidy]

The Model-Land stuff didn't stay in the catalogue very long.

Did it not sell well, or were Triang unable to produce it ?

[Bealman]

Can't answer that one! Was it in the 1968 catalogue, I wonder?

[OneTrackMind]

The 1967 catalogue - I so remember my Dad bringing this home and I spent hours looking through the pages. A strong edition in my view!

[joe cassidy]

Here's some info about the fate of Model-land :

https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Model-Land

Best regards,


Joe

[joe cassidy]

History then repeated itself with the launch/demise of Lyddle End.

[Bob G]

I shall have to look out my old catalogues and continue the thread.
Just don't know quite where they are....
Bob

[Newportnobby]

I shall have to look out my old catalogues and continue the thread.
Just don't know quite where they are....
Bob

(All together now)....."In that safe place, Bob"

[Gizzy]

Just read through this thread and I found it most interesting.

Probably because Mizzy Gizzy has a Tri-ang set, with a 0-6-0 tender loco, a coach and a SR bogie parcels van.

When we tried out the set, we only had to change the fuse in the 13A plug to get it up and running again. That ozone smell was most familiar from my own childhood.

Whenever we go to antique shops, I often have a look for the old Super 4 track and pick up the odd piece cheaply. Our plan one day, is to mount it on a baseboard and make a simple 60's trainset for display....

[martyn]

I found the Brighton toy museum link for Arkitex;

https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Arkitex

It would appear that it was produced in two scales, 1;43 and 'OO'. the 1;43 scaled with 'Spot On' cars, and O gauge railways, and I'm pretty sure that this is the scale that I have, not the OO version; I remember at the time trying to use it with the trains, but it was much bigger.

It would appear to have been axed circa 1965, according to the history.

Martyn

[Bealman]

Here's some info about the fate of Model-land :

https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Model-Land

Best regards,


Joe

Thanks for that link, Joe, but unless I'm missing something, I can't find anything that says with absolute certainty when the range disappeared. In fact the header at the top says "1963 - "

Now if that was about an author on a book jacket, it's saying he/she is still alive!!

The link does confirm something I've long suspected though - that the Trident aircraft never saw the light of day. 

[Bealman]

Gizzy: Great idea! How about some pics of the set?

Martyn: Not long before my Triang train set came along, I actually had quite an extensive Spot-On road set which I'd lay out on the carpet. The road sections were made of shiny grey metal, with plastic curbing.

Dunno what scale it was, but it was big - the cars were much bigger than the Corgi and Dinky vehicles of the day.

Edit: Just found this link, Brighton Toy Museum again:

https://www.brightontoymuseum.co.uk/index/Category:Spot-On_Models

It also says that the ARKITEK models carked it in 1967.

[Bealman]

EPILOGUE.

Especially for @Newportnobby (but for also for anyone else remotely interested).

As hinted at in my final Triang Railways thread of 1967, the company had plans for their Minic Motorway system. Sure enough, in January of that year, a dedicated catalogue appeared:



Price one shilling, but interestingly, Bealman's copy has 1/3d pencilled in on it. Ripped off! Anyway, the catalogue had awesome artwork, and convinced the young Bealman what he'd be chasing Christmas 1967.



Triang realised that they already had the infrastructure in place to go head-to-head with the existing slot car producers. They introduced new cars, touted as GT racing and rally cars. An Aston Martin DB6, an E-Type Jag, Ferrari 500 Superfast, and even a Corvette Stingray!



The fact that Minic was OO scale, meant much more racing in a smaller space. New racing sets were introduced:



Along with motorised roadside gimmicks (powered by clockwork, incidentally), which allowed slot car rallying to occur!





More retasking - even the flying helicopter found a place with Minic!



The extensive range of roadway components allowed novelty sets like the "Cops and Robbers" set - the police car could come out from the police station and run the bad guy off the road at the chicane!!



The artwork was so good it even made mundane vehicles look exciting! Too good, actually - Bealman remembers the sense of disappointment when he saw the real models.... piddly little plastic things with not much detail, but I'm getting ahead of meself again...



There can be no doubt that the small size was in Minic's favour. That's a pretty impressive circuit in 5' x 3'6". You could also copy real life circuits in a reasonable space! The catalogue even gave you a list of track parts.





Plenty of accessories to be had, and the back cover still pushed the railway connection.





Coming up: More Minic stuff, and the Bealman connection 

[Bealman]

EPILOGUE PART 2.

I have another catalogue here, which is virtually identical to the one above.



Same cool artwork, but almost identical inside. I don't know if it was before, after, or ran concurrently the one above.
There was a different painting inside, however:



Anyway, to cut to the chase, so to speak, Bealman did indeed get a set that Christmas. It was the smallest race set, because that's all the Bealmother reckoned she could afford. That was probably true, but I'd like to think that she was maybe a bit shitty that I was deserting the trains. Who knows.

Ironically, none of my trains made it to Australia, but this set did, probably because it's in a small box and I was able to ship it easily. Can't quite remember, but it's here with me now as I type this.





It's the European Silver Eight Trophy Race, and while being small, had a chicane and was a lot of fun. Two different layouts were possible, the figure eight or a kidney-shaped affair. During 1968 I actually added a bit more road to it (including a junction), and the working frontier post. The car set still works, by the way, even on my old trusty Triang P5 power unit! 

For some reason, my set had a Porsche and an Aston Martin DB4 rather than the Jag and DB6 shown in the post above. See what I mean though, about the difference between cars in the catalogue and the model cars in real life? Let down! 

One impressive inclusion with the set was a comprehensive "Owner's Handbook - Third Edition". Fifteen pages long, it shows how to connect the power supply, connect track pieces together, and all sorts of useful info - roundabouts and reversing loops caused the usual sorts of polarity problems that railways are also confronted with, so there's a section on that. There are also comprehensive notes and diagrams on how dismantle the cars. Thumbs up for the documentation!











I seem to recall a little pamphlet advertising Railway Modeller magazine was included in the Car-A-Belle train set. Well, this little curiosity came with the Minic set:



It is of course, a Peco Publication from Seaton, Devon, and I suspect it lasted for like 5 nanoseconds!

Scenic slot car sets never really caught on, did they? The magazine quite obviously drew heavily on the format of it's railway-oriented cousin, even to the point of having a "ROADway of the Month"!





Miniature Autoworld "shows you how" was the catch phrase - wonder where that came from, and monthly features included:

* Out and About - places to visit by car

* Model car racing

* Saloon and racing car plans, photographs and descriptions

* Latest trade news

....and two VERY suss columns... they'd be Bealman's favourites, for sure....

* Leisure Girl (I assume that's her in the Hillman Imp on the front cover)

* Various indoor activities



Anyway, as I say, the mag probably lasted nanoseconds - in fact I very much doubt Peco would have had enough for 12 issues!