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.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

OOO is for N-Guage!

The Trebel-O-Lectric trains from Lone Star, or at least the unpowered version, which was just called Lone Star Locos, and a bit of a box-ticker as there's plenty more online, and I don't really collect it . . . much!

No, seriously, I had our childhood collection in a biscuit-tin for many years, but sold it in a moment of madness, when skint, and doing car-boot sales with a bunch of mates (you wanna' learn human nature, run a car boot stall for a few months, Jesus, we're scum!), back in the 1990's, anyway I got a good price from some chap who knew what he was looking at, at the Wavell School sale in North Camp, I think I asked 20-quid, and we settled on £16 or £17?

But a friend gave me his chuck-out set a while ago, also push-along, and very similar to my old set, but better paint! I had more track, more flat-trucks, the micro-vehicles for them and some Shell Oil tankers, along with a streamlined Mallard Loco, with I think was early Lesney (?), it wouldn't run, just sort of bumped-along the sleepers, but it looked stunning parked-up in the sidings!

In fact, I think there was a smaller Matchbox 1-75 loco, which Mum managed to get Lone Star wheels in? We also had the footbridge ('we' shared everything at that age), of which there is one in this lot, but it's missing a pillar, so I didn't shoot it, and we had a little die-cast level crossing.

 
I will look out for some of the missing bits!

 
Sidings

 
Vinyl cottage from the Gulliver County range
 
 
US style
 
 
UK style, but very-much a European-looking locomotive with those red wheels!
 
 
My favourite as a kid!
 
 
Junction box
 
The electrified version had dedicated left and right crossovers, but in the push and go range it was a single universal job! The lights had 'jewelled' red and green 'lights', replacements for which could be purchased from the gemology shop in Chobham, Martians allowing!
 


As a British Rail liveried locomotive it's considered a Deltic, but really it's a North American design, a market Lone Star were keen to tap, Deltic's were reversible with a cab at both ends.

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