About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

J is for Jouef

The French equivalent of Tri-ang, a limited range from the Jouef stable were carried in the UK by Playcraft. Two sets of figures were included in the deal, this set of Rail Staff and Track-gang Workers and a set of passengers (691)

This is a complete set straight off the sprue, the colour is correct and very lairy!! Later the colours were toned down slightly but the quality of painting remained slap-dash

Interestingly both Tri-ang and Playcraft ended up as part of the Dunby/Combex/Marx group, but the two ranges were never rationalised, Tri-ang survive to this day in some form as Hornby Railways, the Playcraft range was dropped years (decades) ago and the parent supplier Jouef finally went feet-up a few years ago.

S.N.C.F. stands for 'Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français' the French National Railway (when we were kids we were taught it meant 'Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer'?), and that is how they were sold to British boys building a British Rail layout!!!

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