The Model Railway Adventures Of Clivvers And George (1977)..

Notice the newspaper 'Rollerball' film article pinned to the wall... I'm at the back of the photo on the right lol!..



I got my first train set back in 1966/67, it was a Triang set with a black liveried Princess Elizabeth loco, plus 2 coaches, a small station and an oval of super 4 track, i still have the track.

Don't be fooled by the size of one of my (3rd) layout builds above (1977). It's the angle the photo was taken that makes the layout appear smaller. The layout is quite large when looked at side on, plus just behind my brother (George lol!) on the left, is a single line branching out into 2 lines that lead into another part of the layout, which includes a large double oval, sidings/shunting yard and a 3 platform covered terminus station. The single line at the front of the picture leads back into the oval in the photo.

I used to store most of my trains under the baseboards in their packaging until needed. My fave steam loco back then, was the LNER Flying Scotsman, I loved the beauty of that loco and the teak coaches it used to haul. I still have some of my trains from those days. I will update with some more photos at another time, plus a tale of my first scenic attempt on the layout i made in 1971 lol!.

My brother on the left of the photo used to use my bedroom to entertain his girlfriends in when I was out, what a cheek lol!

To be continued..

I just moved this post to here (Members only).

No worries Clive . That looked like you guys were having fun

Wonderful stuff!!, and this brings back so many beautiful memories of my brother and me playing with our model railway lay-out.
My brother had the Flying Scotsman, and it was the most beautiful machine ever!...and i was so jealous of him because of the little piece of sandpaper type stuff under the coal tender, to make it sound like an engine....a very smart move by Hornby.

We also had the Oliver Cromwell, (Stirling castle?), The Evening Star and a little black shunter engine.
I loved the splendour of the golden age of steam.....but the funny thing is, i prefered the old coal dust covered engine sheds and cranes and things to the more normal Hornby buildings (a Psychologist would have a field day on that one!)......so yes Clive, you have conjured up some wonderful memories, and i am quite envious of your lay-out Sir, even this one from way back when.

Neil.

fantastic pic!

What a fantastic picture well done Clive nice post

Jubilee year i remember it so well it was like the whole country was celebrating

Danthecoat wrote:

What a fantastic picture well done Clive nice post

Jubilee year i remember it so well it was like the whole country was celebrating

I still have my Queen Elizabeth II silver jubilee coin/medal Dan,....the ones we all got at school in the little hard plastic display case.
Who would have thought it that Her Majesty would still be on the throne all these years later!!...and long may she reign!! Hurrrrragh!!

Neil.

The Ulsterman wrote:

Wonderful stuff!!, and this brings back so many beautiful memories of my brother and me playing with our model railway lay-out.
My brother had the Flying Scotsman, and it was the most beautiful machine ever!...and i was so jealous of him because of the little piece of sandpaper type stuff under the coal tender, to make it sound like an engine....a very smart move by Hornby.

We also had the Oliver Cromwell, (Stirling castle?), The Evening Star and a little black shunter engine.
I loved the splendour of the golden age of steam.....but the funny thing is, i prefered the old coal dust covered engine sheds and cranes and things to the more normal Hornby buildings (a Psychologist would have a field day on that one!)......so yes Clive, you have conjured up some wonderful memories, and i am quite envious of your lay-out Sir, even this one from way back when.

Neil.

Neil,

That strip of sandpaper under the tender was a brilliant idea, i think it was called 'Chuff Chuff Sound'? I remember wanting the Oliver Cromwell, and especially the iconic Evening Star loco, which had it's motor in the coal tender. You mentioned a little black coloured shunter, it was probably a 0-6-0 Jinty, they were good haulers. Some locos used to come with various stick on name plates.

Another unique design that Triang invented, was a mini Smoke generator (Synchrosmoke), which was fitted inside some of their locos. There was also 'Magnadhesion' grip on the loco wheels. Hopefully I'll update this section with some scans of old catalogues, plus a few photos of some of my childhood/youth Triang Hornby models.


Dan,

What a great year 1977 was, all those street parties and everyone having fun. Loads of streets were blocked off to traffic so Jubilee parties could be held.

Thanks for your appreciation, chaps  

Here's a few scanned pages from my 1971 Triang-Hornby catalogue, this is only a small selection of pages. I've had this catalogue since it came out, I've got plenty more catalogues from back in the day

Can you find the mouse in the picture..

To be continued with a selection of pages from other catalogues at a later time..

Fantastic Clives!
It bring back such wonderful memories!

I remember when I was young we had a 6ft X 10ft wood platform with
several trains going at one time! Those were the days...

inntruderr61 wrote:

Fantastic Clives!
It bring back such wonderful memories!

I remember when I was young we had a 6ft X 10ft wood platform with
several trains going at one time! Those were the days...

Those certainly were the days, Jim, happier times!

I'm hoping to get a few trains running at Easter.. I'll be able to take some photos of some of my trains from my childhood & youth

Great thread, Clive!!! Sorry I missed it till now. I could spend hours looking at the photos from the catalog -- excellent steam engines and I'm a sucker for any military trains, even today.

If Don Levine had different ideas, I'd be playing with a train layout today. My son preferred trains to Joes, so I was able to satisfy my love of trains through him. We had the wooden Brio and Thomas train sets and then got into Lionel and MTH O-guage (1:48th scale) sets.

When I was young my dad helped me build an HO (1:96th scale?) layout. (I may have lost my Joes, but I still have my old HO trains a little the worse for wear.) My brothers are 8 and 10 years younger than me and that layout took a beating when they played.

Thanks for posting the pic of you and George. You can't hide the joy you were having with those trains!

I did manage some fun with my son's layout (still clean and new in this photo):





Thanks,
Brian

clivvers wrote:

inntruderr61 wrote:

Fantastic Clives!
It bring back such wonderful memories!

I remember when I was young we had a 6ft X 10ft wood platform with
several trains going at one time! Those were the days...

Those certainly were the days, Jim, happier times!

I'm hoping to get a few trains running at Easter.. I'll be able to take some photos of some of my trains from my childhood & youth

COOL CLIVES!

50ft woman...
Cool pics Bri!

Great comic!

Good comic strip!!! Attack Of The 50' Woman, the classic 1950's B movie and now in color

Those trains look very nice, especially the lighted carriages. I think HO scale in the U.S. is 1:87, and HO/OO scale in the UK is supposed to be 1:76, it's quite confusing

Thanks Clive, I can never quite remember. I do know that "O" guage is approximately 1:48th scale and "G" guage is 1:32nd scale. They say that HO is half O, but...not sure how that works...

The vehicles (cars and trucks) that they sell to go on O-guage layouts run anywhere from 1:43rd scale to 1:50th...still

gibri wrote:

Thanks Clive, I can never quite remember. I do know that "O" guage is approximately 1:48th scale and "G" guage is 1:32nd scale. They say that HO is half O, but...not sure how that works...

The vehicles (cars and trucks) that they sell to go on O-guage layouts run anywhere from 1:43rd scale to 1:50th...still

US O Scale is 1:48 but in UK O Gauge it is 1:43.5 or 7mm:1 foot so HO scale at 1:87 or 3.5mm:1 foot is Half O

To mix it up in Europe 1:45 is commonly used for O scale

In US G scale is generally speaking anything that runs on 45mm gauge track so 1:32, 1:29, 1:30.5 for standard gauge and 1:20.3, 1:22.5 etc. for narrow gauge.

In the UK standard gauge running on 45mm track is 1:32 or 1:30.5/10mm:1 foot scale.

Having read through that I realise how nerdy it all sounds

I have quite a lot of affection for the old Triang-Hornby stock and have a reasonable collection of mostly boxed items

Barney,

All the different scales are quite confusing sometimes, i hated maths lessons at Skool. I too still have some of my trains from back in the day, including an early Triang boxed village station, i also have some of my old catalogues (essential late night reading). My fave coaches were the Triang Pullmans (chocolate & Cream) i have about 5 left, but the boxes are a bit tatty. The blue liveried tank loco 'Nellie' was very popular back then, it's one on my all time faves, i still have mine boxed, did you have that loco? There was a series of them in other colours, including: Pollie and Connie.  I do have some of the recent Hornby stuff (digital ready) from the early 2000's, but i find it's not fully compatible with the old Triang Super 4 track

When i get time, i will scan a selection of pages from other vintage Triang/Hornby catalogues  

Hello Clive,
Most of my original stock was sold over the years with the exception of my Hymek which I still have in a very battered box.

I didn't have Connie or Nellie back in the day but I now have the Blue S&DJR 7178 and the Red 25550 version both boxed.
Another loco I didn't own in my youth was the Dock Shunter - I now have several variations of the black model and maybe two of the red version not sure if I ever managed to get the yellow one?

I have catalogues from 75, 76, 77 and '78 I think.
My favourite was probably the '77 as this is when Hornby started putting lots of scenery into the pictures and I liked the way that even the basic sets looked great running through scenery.
I always liked the 'Rural Rambler' set despite it's simplicity which is why I sought out a Blue 0-4-0 and a number of the blue 4-wheled coaches to run with it.

All of my equipment is packed away but I refurbished it as I bought it and all of the wagons and coaches have been fitted with modern wheels so that if I ever get around to building a layout for it I can use modern track.

I do have some of the more modern Bachmann and Hornby locos but most of my recent purchases have been US outline HO scale and I really enjoy running DCC sound locos

I think the blue Hymek diesel (R.396) made it's debut in the Tri-ang/Hornby catalogue in 1970?. There's a repainted BR blue to green (gloss) Tri-ang/Hornby Hymek in the first photo (me with my brothers 1977) on page 1 of this post. I clearly remember the day i went to buy that diesel second hand from a shop that used to be in Wimbledon (south London) the shop was called 'Platform Two' it was summer 1976, the shop wrapped it in a paper bag then a carrier bag. When i was on the train going home, i couldn't wait to have another good look at it, i remember a man sitting next to me was also looking at it, i was probably showing off and proud of my purchase LOL! That shop 'Platform Two' was my regular haunt on saturday mornings. The shop specialized in second hand Tri-ang/Hornby trains, i think the shop owner was the president of the Tri-ang collectors club, i loved that place, it was always stocked with Tri-ang gear. That shop even had a running layout under the glass shop counter, the shop also sold new Train sets and Scalextric


The eagerly awaited catalogues were always read as soon as i left the toy shop, to see what new treasures were in store for that year, did you do this, i bet you did? You are probably right about the scenery going top gear in 77, i'm missing some catalogues, including the 1977 one.

You have several Dock Shunters, nice one! The Dock Shunter was a tough and robust beast, i had an early Tri-ang yellow one, the working headlight was a nice touch, but the Shunter had to be run at speed to get a good light from it. My Shunter had knurled wheels to help with traction, i wouldn't mind one again, just for old times sake.

'The Rural Rambler' was a very popular set, it sold loads. I had some problems running early 1970's diesels on modern Hornby track points, the wheels would jam in the track halfway through the point, it's something to do with the older wheels 'back to back' measurements being narrower than the later wheels. I found that recent thinner (more to scale) wheels can fall down between the rails on older Tri-ang Super 4 track points, i think it's the very narrow tread of the wheel that causes problems, older wheels have a much wider tread. I think this is all to do with making us upgrade and buy all the new stuff, it's stratigic business planning by Hornby £££ but very annoying.

I bet upgrading all those wheels to run on the newer track system cost you a packet.

Sadly i don't have any Bachmann rolling stock, they do some fab stuff that Hornby haven't touched on. Collecting model railways is very expensive these days, it's become a past time that only the wealthy can afford. My local model railway shop (new and used) closed down years ago, that's why my train collecting is on hold at the moment, plus my intrest in Action Man is getting in the way  (2009-2015-?)

I've never touched on DCC, no more tangled wires! The digital sound on locos these days is a great innovation.

Feel free to post photos of your trains/collection, or catalogue scans whenever you want, i'm particularly intrested in seeing catalogue scans of the 1972, 73, 77 and 78 catalogues. I've got some more scans planned for here, plus some photos of a few of my trains.  


Model Railways for some is a hobby, for others it's a way of life! (Clivvers 2015)

barney_leadhead wrote:

gibri wrote:

Thanks Clive, I can never quite remember. I do know that "O" guage is approximately 1:48th scale and "G" guage is 1:32nd scale. They say that HO is half O, but...not sure how that works...

The vehicles (cars and trucks) that they sell to go on O-guage layouts run anywhere from 1:43rd scale to 1:50th...still

US O Scale is 1:48 but in UK O Gauge it is 1:43.5 or 7mm:1 foot so HO scale at 1:87 or 3.5mm:1 foot is Half O

To mix it up in Europe 1:45 is commonly used for O scale  

In US G scale is generally speaking anything that runs on 45mm gauge track so 1:32, 1:29, 1:30.5 for standard gauge and 1:20.3, 1:22.5 etc. for narrow gauge.

In the UK standard gauge running on 45mm track is 1:32 or 1:30.5/10mm:1 foot scale.

Having read through that I realise how nerdy it all sounds

I have quite a lot of affection for the old Triang-Hornby stock and have a reasonable collection of mostly boxed items

Like Clive said, if Action Man hadn't gotten in the way I'd be a model railroader for sure. As it is, I was able to live the dream with my son's layout. Having a father that was a thwarted train enthusiast didn't hurt his collection at all. I was able to enjoy it through him -- just as long as I never forgot who was really the Conductor...

Thanks for the explanation of the different gauges, Barney. Doesn't sound nerdy to me at all.

Brian

Repaired missing image

Great comic Bri!  I missed it somehow first time around, glad the thread got bumped

Clive that's a great photo, but i really want to know is, who is the little geezer front right? and why has identity been concealed from us?? was a one of he great train robbers?

Dal, he had a shiner on his left eye, he'd had a bit of biffo the day before at skool