Those were the days...

the hobby changing emphasis?

away from the toys?

or are such things just a bit too naff in folks eyes in our hi tech environment?

QUOTE I only hope it went to someone who will use it and have fun, not a stuffy and dry collector who will lock it away (unlikely as I didn't have the original box).

My little lad and I annoy collectors....we buy [rare?] items like cars, etc in fancy display boxes.....and remove them and chuck the boxes to play!

same with those fancy buses.....they all get PLAYED with......I keep a tube of superglue permanently[?] in the fridge, for those broken mirrors , wipers, etc.

its HIS pocketmoney, after all.....and I feel a nice Yorkshire Coastliner bus is a better buy than some nintendo DS game!

QUOTE (dwb @ 18 Aug 2007, 04:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Whilst replying to 34C's overhead electric topic, I was reminded of the action accessories I had and those I noticed in the old catalogues I looked through while researching the class 2 review. This has me wondering if there were far more "action" accessories in the range back in the 60s. For example I have the mail coach. There was a colour light signal which you could hook up to start and stop the trains. Is this just rose tinted nostalgia?

David
I don't know about that David. Hornby have a range of action accessories like a conveyor belt logging thingy. Maerklin have their gantry crane and coal loader. Brawa have chair lifts and a whole range of different lights. Hlejan have a container crane. There is a whole range of signals and lights etc. I think it was just that the older ones were more affordable and easier to work.

QUOTE (goedel @ 17 Aug 2007, 22:19) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...something so outlandish would never be made now but undoubtedly gave my father much pleasure when he was young! It was well made and still worked perfectly when I listed it on eBay last year...

Goedel

We will never see the likes of these working accessories again - the health & safety culture & fascist's would see to that.

As Neil says, we have some excellent working accessories now - they are more realistic of course & precision built, but there is something about those Triang Battle Space series & other things (like DWB's mail coach) that we will never see again (in production).

The current Hornby catalogue still has a working mail coach - R4155 in 'LMS' livery. Bearing in mind that line-side pick-ups and drops ended in 1971 on the main line, it is now only a few preserved railways (especially the Nene Valley) who actually demonstrate this once common-place activity.

Regards,
John Webb

PS: dbclass50 re your post (#7) - I don't think it's so much the 'Health and Safety' culture but the 'Compensation Culture' and insurers that have more influence on manufacturers these days!
John

QUOTE And done more with plain old fun in mind.
I think you've hit the nail on the head.

As for the mail coach, I plan to get it working on my layout somehow. I think I'll have to start with some new wheels first....

David

I remember having a printed tinplate operating mailcoach....Hornby Dublo??

I also had a rake of Trix mk one coaches......oh so much better looking than the Hornby Dublo equivalents... even though half of them actually had 'bent' bodyshells...and WE complain about quality control?

they were also longer than UK manufacturers coaches....

exploding boxcar?

Don't forget the R128 Operating Helicopter Car and R348 Operating Giraffe Car ("as car approaches overhead obstacle a magnetic device operates causing the giraffe to duck his head. Unlikely and extremely amusing!", says the 1960s Triang Hornby "Book of Trains").

The tinplate mail coach was Hornby-Dublo. Introduced in 1957 in the three-rail version and around 1963 in 2 rail version. (Information from Michael Foster's 'Hornby Dublo 1938-1964')

The exploding boxcar was Triang - R249, first made in 1963. If hit on the side by a missile - from the R216 rocket car for example - it would 'explode' - a cap could be fitted inside which would be fired off for even greater effect. Much of the information on these old Triang models can be found in Pat Hammond's volumes on the History of Rovex.

Regards,
John Webb

QUOTE The exploding boxcar was Triang - R249, first made in 1963. If hit on the side by a missile
A friend of mine had one of them - great fun. We would set the locking latch as close as we dared to the unlocked position and drive the train until a jolt unleashed the hammer mechanism.

David

QUOTE (dwb @ 18 Aug 2007, 21:09) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think you've hit the nail on the head.

As for the mail coach, I plan to get it working on my layout somehow. I think I'll have to start with some new wheels first....

David
I always meant to get one of the mail coaches. I saw one operating last week at a freinds house. They are fun.

There's apparently no truth in the rumour that Bachmann were considering an action model of ex-LNER A2 "Blue Peter", with realistic slipping motion and detachable valve gear.

on my lad's layout we have the operating end tipper which tips into the gravel conveyor loaderwhich is great fun, we also have 2 exchange sidings so you can propel, the wagon up and empty it, then pick up another and do the same only trouble is fill the hopper with 2 wagon loads and its some times jams!

QUOTE (John Webb @ 18 Aug 2007, 11:33) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I don't think it's so much the 'Health and Safety' culture but the 'Compensation Culture' and insurers that have more influence on manufacturers these days!
John

Now I think about it I would tend to agree with you.

I had one of the exploding cars & remember somehow stuffing it full of bangers & rigging it up to explode - it worked & I never found all the bits !