Those of you that kindly responded to my Lionel questions will know that my youngest son and I are new baptised in the world of O27 trains. Well this little detour into classic toy trains reminded me that I have a couple of things that have been sitting in boxes for ever in the back of my storage closet, so I pulled them out.
First up is a tinplate Distler clockwork train
I rather like the fact that this is stamped “Made in US Zone Germany”, which to my way of thinking places it fairly close to the end of WW2. Not sure how long they used that terminology, but it would seem to have been official until 1947 but still in use because of tooling into the early 50’s. It is in great shape and still runs.
The second is a bit newer, 60’s I reckon and from my home country of Great Britain.
This is a battery operated tin plate train that also still runs and is complete with a figure of 8 track. I purchased this as a teenager, sometime in the 70’s from a junk shop in southern England. I have not been able to find out much about the Brimtoy company, so would be interested if anyone can shed some light on when they were in business.
So I think that I can conclude that I have been a closet tinplate fan for years!
Simon,
Really glad to hear you and your son are having such a good time! (Says a lot for your openness.) The pictures above are really great. I’m impressed with the condition they are in. Sure looks like a great family treasure.
I can surely see you are really on “ALL” the right tracks !
[#welcome]
Thanks for the welcome, although I have been just down the hall in another section of the forum for years!
One thing I have never understood is how one group of modellers can look down on another, just because they have different focus and interest. IMO it should be perfectly possible to be a total rivet counting HO nut, but appreciate other aspects of the hobby that may not be of personal interest. There is nothing I like more than to spend my hobby time spending hours working on a structure. In fact, because this is one of my primary interests, I am going to attend the Craftsman Structure Show this fall in New England. But that should not somehow prohibit me from really appreciating a stunning 3 rail layout with all its animation, bells an whistles. So if I am considered “open” for thinking this way, then I am sure glad as I can have fun where ever I go!!
Hello Simon,
Enjoyed visiting your Picturetrail site. Thanks for sharing and for coming over to the CTT forum.
Like the way you model from photos of actual bldgs. Did you scratch build your wife’s grandparents house or adapt a kit? [Ahh the struggle for permanence in an impermanent existence?]
By the way I hadn’t heard of Picturetrail before; haven’t yet checked out their web site but I will. I’d be interested in any comments you would care to share about the site. I’ve been using Photobucket (free version) but I find it difficult to figure out the scope of what I can do with it, and I don’t understand how or if I can control access to my posted photos.
runtime
Thanks Runtime,
The grandparents house was a scratch build, but it could just as easily been from a kit as it is so very representative of the typical company house that there are several kits that would have worked. Back in the 50’s the house had been “upgraded” at one point with fake brick asphalt siding rolled material, so the final iteration of the model (not shown on the site) has my attempt at re-creating what has to have been the worst thing to hit architecture in the history of home construction!
One of the reasons I got into building these structures is that I have become quite captivated by the social history of immigration to the US. A turn of the century coal mine was not the most pleasant place to work, yet men, like my wife’s grandfather, came half way around the world to work in such places. Did they really know what they were getting into? Was it so bad back in the old country to drive them to this?
As for PictureTrail, well it is not free, but I rather like the interface for uploading photos. Some of the albums I put up are for family only, or perhaps kids school or sports team, so I am able to password protect the albums that I want. I have not really tried any other photo host sites, so can’t really make a comparison, but it meets my needs and I have no complaints.
Simon,
I couldn’t agree with you more! I had realized from your post count you had been around for awhile, but just wanted to ensure you felt welcome in this corner as well.
I find all levels of this hobby to be interesting. And that is one of the significant benefits, there are so many facits. Some aspects are of greater interest to me than others, but I still admire those that have different desires, and always marvel at what they done. Nothing really revelating with that statement. People just are people, and not try to “force” their views but enjoy that of others.
Need to get back to trains.