Right I'm going to start this post by pointing out that in the research for all these model-railway figure posts, both those seen and those still to come, I found a forum online, on which one Jon Attwood, was exhibiting some mild chagrin that one of his fellow forum-colleagues had won an auction for a West & Short set, and further indicating that if any of the forum members saw any going, he was still very interested in obtaining one.
So, the fact that he is, a year or two later, sending not just images, but a whole, near mint set, to the Blog for me to share, is an act of extraordinary kindness, and generosity, well beyond the call of duty, as if any of us have any duty to our fellow collectors! So I am staggered to receive these, eternally grateful to Jon, and really happy to share them all, with the rest of you.
Way-back-when, seemingly before they were issuing their little booklet catalogue/modelling-guides (of which I have a few), Graham Farish carried (commissioned?) these figure sets from the West & Short Limited mention above.
And I use the question mark advisedly, as back at their start Graham Farish, were one of several companies (Basset Lowke, Hamblings (Bilteeze), H&M [Hammant & Morgan], K's [Keyser], W&H (Romford Gears), Prichard et al) supplying the model railway hobby by mail-order (as well as from any premises), all of whom tended to have a core product, whether locomotives (GF), rolling stock kits (K's), transformers (H&M), card buildings, or line-side stuff (Pritchard - Peco).
And with no other figures in their lists Graham Farish may have requested these, or just stocked them as they stocked other products, and it's not a question likely to be answered now?
I instantly recognised the figures, as I have some in the 'unknown metal railway figures' zone! Quite distinctive, with thin steel-plate bases, and blue paints which appear slightly metallic to the eye. This shot is from Jon, and shows his lose figures, to date.
Having sent the above images, Jon then sent this to the blog! It's a near mint set, with near mint contents, I don't know how to fully express my gratitude beyond the inadequate "Thanks Jon"!
One bag contains poses more likely to be associated with a locomotive's crew, the other clearly platform staff and porters . . . what happened to porterage? Wheels on suitcases' came long after porters disappeared, and some trunks had wheels, back in the Edwardian period, so the wheels aren't to blame!
The fat guy asleep on a station bench is a lovely, nay 'charming' sculpt, and very few makers have attempted non-standard human forms, Preiser have, notably with their Family Krause series, old-man Krause being a tad portly, and easily identifiable in each set, but there's not much else out there?
And speaking of Preiser, after many years (several decades?) without figures in any iteration of their catalogues, in the recent round of mergers and amalgamations (well it was recent, 20-odd years ago!), and just as Bachmann (Europe) were taking them over, Graham Farish introduced these to their range, bought in from Preiser.
The two well-painted sets (018 & 020) might have been commissioned for Farish, but were/are in Presier lists too, along with lovely sets of Japanese, US and other nationality's railway staff/police/uniformed figures. Note - two fat ladies and a portly Deutsche Bahn stationmaster! I suppose, these days, they'll be called 'Rail Transport Senior Line-Managers'!
Note also that, as with the Primex/Vollmer sets we glanced at briefly the other day, the two generic sets (019 & 022) are given a basic paint finish, while for some reason sets 021 and 029 are given an intermediate or 'standard' paint-job? I suspect the seated figures will have the basic job?
Again, many, many thanks to Jon for everything he's contributed to this post, and the Blog.
3 comments:
Great to see these getting a writeup, I'm not quite as generous as you make out though, my main sample remains intact!
After years of searching 4 ostensibly identical sets appeared on the bay as a job lot, on arrival it turned out that the railway personnel (ass) set really was an assortment, the sets of 6 yielded 13 different poses between them, I've kept the best empty box, sold one box refilled with loose duplicates (for the price of the original lot of 4), sent one to you and I still have a 3rd (refilled) box in the swaps stash.
The sculpting doesn't quite match with anything else in my collection, but there are a few similarities with Skybirds and Crescent 30mm figs I think, the old gent nodded off has something of the relaxed pose and roundedness of the Skybirds leaning pilot, and the porter with a bag on his shoulder looks a lot like one from the Crescent miniature navy to my eyes, not saying theres any connection though.
Some of the sculpts have a texture similar to the Comet/Authenticast range, which were mostly Eriksson originals, but again a similarity rather than a perfect match.
What really sets these apart from their contemporaries is the painting, a wider pallette than most, and distinctive rosy cheeks.
The current Farish figures are all Preiser products, as are those in their parent company, Bachmann's Branchline range. Some are special commissions, others rescalings of the main range, but all clearly marked as manufactured by Preiser on the packaging. I'll be sending pics of some of the 00 range and its catalogues eventually.
I mistyped, that should read 11 poses between the boxes, not 13
J
It was still an act of extreme generosity Jon and I'm very grateful!
I'm not so sure about Eriksson's involvement with the railway figures, he wouldn't have touched Hornby piracy, and there were other sculptors at Authenticast, one of whom is credited with civilian figures . . . I can't remember the guy's name, but I've got it somewhere?
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