W is for William Britains & W. Horton

Who may well be another William, but could also be something else entirely, Wally, or Walt, Warren or Wesley . . . yeah, it's probably William! Confusing, because there's nothing in Garratt, while Grace's has two, the novelty maker (probably our man!) in Middlesex (W.) and the gunsmiths in Birmingham, who ARE William and are still going, while another William played Cricket for Middlesex, around the same time as the toy producer set-up, but while the toy maker moved to Middlesborough, he died in Sussex?

 

Anywhoos, a quick box-ticker as we close-up on the railway figure posts, and with more comparison images to come in the round-up, and some other stuff in the past, linked-to in the Tags, this is a couple of images from Jon Attwood (many thanks again) and three from me, one of which we've seen before, just to get them all up here.

Various packagings for both the Britains Lilliput and Trix TTR (Trix Twin Railway) ranges, both of which used the same figures, although the Lilliput range was enhanced with vehicles in a larger HO-gauge (Half-O-gauge) compatible size, which couldn't be passed-off so easily as TT-gauge (Table Top/1:120), while little people are just little people!

 

I slipped this in to a post years ago with a casual note, and didn't admit to my sin, but as I get older, I seem more amenable to expunging my guilty secrets in public, if only to spread the guilt around and lighten the load on my own conscience, as we've all done similar things.

 

Before I do, just a note that the figures were attached to the platform by being drilled between the feet or elsewhere on the base and held in place with brass cabinet-makers screws of the smallest size.

 

The truth is, I no longer have it, although I did save the figures, but, because I thought it was homemade - it was a car-boot purchase by a third party given to me, because of my then specialization in small scale, although 'specialization' itself is a bit cheeky, given I didn't know what this was, but model railways were very-much a side shoot then, anyway - it got burnt! There, I said it, I used it to light a fire, many years ago, well, it wouldn't fit in any of my storage containers, and looked a bit naff!

 

I now realise it's classic Horton, and classic Art Deco, in the style of Woking station, which I've always liked, despite the tons of haphazardly-added modern shite hiding the true nature of the original, but the - seemingly unused these days - signal-box between the two sets of up and down lines is still relatively untouched.

 

Although Woking's signal-box is bare brick for the most part, but it has the rounded corners and the flat roof, I have the Hornby station in aluminium, and it's the same style, and 'rendered' in cream/orange/green if memory serves, so this was probably depicting one of many, or a generic London suburban halt, from the inter-war building boom?

None of Salisbury's stations look anything like this, being all Victorian multicoloured brick wonders, but I dare say you got a sheet of station names and the posters? One of the reasons it looked home-made was the poor application of the paper elements!

I know, but I'm afraid to try straitening him! The difference between the Hotel Porter on the left and the railway station-staff Porter on the right, a similar trick was played with another figure, while a third railwayman got a cream jacket to become an ice-cream seller, rather than a platform refreshment vendor!

T is for Two K's!

There should be another round-up of American makes here, but I'm starting to lose where we are in this odyssey, so I'm going to start getting the final post together, as a 'page', at the top of this page, so it can stay out of the way, in edit for a few weeks! Purely, in order to get the order back, in my own head and make sense of it all.

 

However, here's a couple of K's, just to get them up here! And they can then share the link, with Kibri appearing below them on the final listing page!

 

Kato taken straight from a Walther's catalogue, I was wondering if we weren't missing a bunch of Japanese makers, but with Minikin now covered, and most of the miniature artists we have looked-at elsewhere seemingly using Preiser or Noch for their wonderful creations, I'm suspecting the Japanese market was either quite small, or dominated by Western Imports, prior to the proliferation of Chinese knock-offs we all now have, but Kato was a domestic producer, with a small line of figures who exported the other way!

 

While these - image gratefully received from Jon Attwood - aren't strictly model-railway figures at all, being instead Kemlow's die-cast vehicle accessories, but, obviously, coming from the same stable as BJ Ward's Wardie Mastermodels, and at around 25/30mm useable on a home layout in the 1950/60's! Morestone/Benbros also produced a number of HO or OO-compatible die-cast figures with their wagons and carts.

B is for Back to America!

We are getting there, but there's still about eight posts-worth of stuff before the final tying-up post, which I may do as a 'Page' at the top of this page? And it's all scans today, and all from over the pond.

This is a kit from Ayers of California, but the text refers to Weston as being behind the interior fixtures and fitting, so they must have supplied the little train guard, or 'Conductor', as he's in an American car!

 

Just box-ticking with these two survivors, the upper one has a manuscript note on the reverse in James Chase's hand, stating "Merten 818-819", so presumably the card carried the tourist set, while the other has five closed staples and may have held something fine, like sign-posts and not figures at all? It's coded on the back A34:250, in a rubber-stamp, but my archive has little else on Aristo-Craft. We've previously seen Preiser circus wagons from Aristo-Craft, and did somebody mention Comet/Authenticast in an earlier comment? So clearly a jobber, repackaging all sorts.

 

As far as I know the only figures they ever did, small shot injection-moulded, and carried in Walther's/Terminal Hobby Shop, for the longest time, but like so much of this stuff, sliding out of sight in the last decade or so.

 

These Lytler & Lytler are funny-ironic, as I had this catalogue/image, long before I got the 'unknown' figures, which were subsequently ID'd by Mike Cozart, and I revisited the same image with some crops here, it looks like I may have the whole range, including the drug-store cigar-Indian!

Another one from Walther's, these are Master Creations (MC), and I could have done a few scans, but this is probably the best of a line which also didn't change. Cast brass . . . you'd have to get the smithing tools out to work these!

D is for Dublo

Which was a play on Double-O, itself confusing as it's actually half-O, and that's O and OO, not 0 or 00, strictly being the gauge between the rails on the modelled track. And a title we may have had before?!

Very-much box-ticking Jon's samples of the Hornby lead figures, and they are lead, quite heavy and quite soft, we've seen them before here, and there are comparison shots from Jon coming in the final round-up.

 

These are the pre-war versions, if I recall correctly, available from only 1939, being lost to wartime privations, but as some of the only figures commercially available (Hamblings had carried some), and small enough to be produced in some numbers before rationing came-in, they were bought in quantity, and have survived in sufficient numbers to be findable.

 

The post-war figures were simplified both in paint style and moulding, with the points-guy/shunter getting an integrally-moulded pole, instead of the pre-war wire one, and all painting was simplified. The Locomotive driver became an 'engineer' in bluer overalls, compared to his pre-war navy suit, and their buttons all disappeared!

 

Older above and newer below, the post-war ladies were definitely more colourful, but somebody needs to have a word with Bertie Worcester on his sartorial choices in golfing attire, the Luftwaffe would have spotted that orange jump-suit from 10,000 feet!

 

Many thanks again to Jon, for sending these, I can't remember what I posted, way back when, but I know my pre-war sample is almost non-existent, although it has been added to, I think I have the grey lady with her red-fur (velvet?) trim, and the shunter now, with a loose wire!

B is for Bachmann, Busch and Other Blister Cards

Box ticking some more of the smaller railway figure issuers, it doesn't look like they actually made them, and because they are both blistered I've added a couple of other blister shots including one from Jon Attwood, as we are near the end of these posts for now.

These are the sets I hid in the Sandown Park plunder post the other day, a seller had a mass of N-gauge stuff, obviously an estate-clearing lot, and among them were several sets of figures, of which I grabbed four samples, one each of the two Bachmann's, the Busch and a Hachette (below).

 

A couple of points to note are that Bachmann admit to getting them in Hong Kong, while Busch, not known for figures, being primarily a tree/scenic maker, obviously got hold of some too, but give the impression - by subtle omission - that they are German products! The other point is that while graphics are similar, there is a year or two between the two Bachmann sets, with the green 'Accessories' line one being probably the newer, the blue 'Trains & Buildings' one probably older.

 

The usual scans (of the HO range) from various Walther's catalogues. In recent years Bachmann Europe and/or Bachmann UK have used various figures in HO/OO - also in sets of six - bought-in from Preiser, or even commissioned from them, but by "Recent Years" I realise I am talking about twenty-odd years, and there have been various changes in ownership of different arms of the brand in that time which are not for here, now, but can be looked at another day.

 

The same seller had these HO figures in tow, from Hachette the French-based part-work issuer, and (from the talk of 'Craft knife and scissors' in the instructions) possibly part of a larger building kit, and I think it was from the 'Little Benton Village' part-work? I suspect they are whitemetal, but short of getting them out and scratching one, I can't call it for sure!

 

While Jon sent these shots as part of the wider contributions, a bit too big for HO/OO-gauge related models, we have looked at them before, and this is the one with the bin-man which confused me a few years ago, as a similar chap came with a bit lorry!

T is for Two - Foreign Minor Makes - HO Railways Figures

Many thanks again to Jon Attwood, as these are all his images, I brightened them up a bit in Picasa, and can add a few points of note, but mostly, just eye candy as we box-tick a couple of the lesser makes, but, if you were a Spanish or Danish railway modeller in the 1960/70's, they wouldn't have been that 'minor' to you, as you feasted your eyes on the display at your local hobby shop, so these things are always relative!

Now Aneste Datank, and offering a basic range of Preiser in their own-brand, as a catalogue box-ticker, originally Dat Ank or Datank (?) are a Spanish railway model maker, who, for a while, under the semi-cold war conditions of being in Franco's Spain, were free to produce knock-off's to their hearts' content!

 

And they seem to have settled upon Walter Merten as the target of their plagiarism, although, the lower set may be old Preiser sculpts? Nevertheless, for metal copies of finely-detailed plastic figures, they aren't bad, quite colourful, and were clearly quite plentiful, as, since Jon sent me these images, I have seen quite a few on evilBay.

 

One is reminded of the efforts of Bermania, from Argentina, but these are a superior finish.

 

While up in the colder, wetter north of the continent, Reisler was producing these in an early Cellulose or glass-like polystyrene. We have actually seen these here before, or something similar, different sculpts, but at the time they were 'unknown' or 'maybe Märklin', now maybe Reisler or maybe Lego! They really only have the heavy bases in common.

While these have no bases, and the farm we also looked at previously here at Small Scale World, have very thin bases? So an odd range of sets, which may be bigger than listed on the Tohan site, until someone ID's those others, we won't know!

S is for Selley Manufacturing Company 'Finishing Touches'

Another one I don't know enough about to more than present the archive imagery, which will form the basis of the eventual A-Z blog entry, but for now, and because I mentioned it in association with Weston's as 'coming soon' in a comment the other week, they can follow the Weston figures in this sequence!

1940's, I think?

1950's, this could be the 5-cent list mentioned above, but is more likely to be the 25-cent catalogue listed next, inflation, even then!

 

1960's . . . it says!

 

A list I copied from somewhere?

Walther's 1998 catalogue.

One suspects that by the time the Selley had been dropped, and Finishing Touches was the only branding being used, it was in the hands of a new owner? It's another one which seems to have disappeared in the last decade or so, although a few dealerships seem to have a few bits left in stock?

 

We have seen a bit of Selley here, my 'Road Gang' which was at the time 'unknown' despite all this sitting in the archive, sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees, and it was Jon Attwood who made the connection, the other day! Indeed, the kneeling guy with the hammer is also to be seen in one of the Comet catalogue versions of Jon's carded set, which would be a fourth piracy in that set, or some iterations of it?

W is for Weston Figures, then Campbell Scale Models, Now Gone?

I don't know enough about these to do more than post the scans as a guide, and to tick that box in this series of posts, they seem to have been around as Weston since the 1940's, and we looked at a few sleeper-car/restaurant-car figures back at the beginning of the Blog;

https://smallscaleworld.blogspot.com/2009/02/w-is-also-for-weston.html

Unknown, but 1970's - from the price?

Mid 1950's flyer.

1960's US model railway magazine.

The 1975 Walther's catalogue has them as a division of Campbell Scale Models who also did building kits and a range of scenics, so they had obviously bought the old company, or its IP/mould-bank, to give them an instant figure range!

 

From a British model railway magazine about 20/25 years ago.

 

 

Walther's again, 2000's.

 

They seem to have finally folded in the early summer of last year, whether anyone will pick-up the tools seems to be for the birds, or the Gods to decide?

C is for Comet: Comet-Authenticast and Comet-Gaeltacht

A play in two acts, opening in New York and closing in Eire! That's Eire with a 'F'!! I won't bore you with the history today, that's one for the A-Z entry one day, but there is a book which deals well with most of it, and we're really box-ticking here, although with a lovely set from Jon Attwood to start us off!

Their HO scale figure set, as produced and carded in the Republic of Ireland, there are a few lifts from other makers not least Hornby's pre-war sets, while some others have the unmistakeable signature of Holgar Eriksson's sculpting style about them, one wonders though, if he had been happy to know (if he knew) or would have been happy to know they were side-by-side with piracies?

 

A gatefold flyer, with the O-gauge on the front, a mix of both scales in the middle, and a plug for the Authenticast soldiers and sports sets on the back. Jon's set can be seen middle-right on the opened centre pages.

 

Reminds me I have some of the shrubs, and they work for either size, at about 2cm high, they are actually very crude and look like home-painted Skytrex! For all the hype about centrifugal casting, the 'authenticast' process, the railway stuff was mostly pretty basic in the paint finish?

The box Jon's card came in, it's the standard artwork for the time fitted to a smaller, squarer area, to the more normal long-thin toy soldier boxes, but a lot of the railway range had similar dimensions, as one can see in the flyer above.

 

The obvious lifts include two figures from Hornby, flanking a Horton-Trix-Britains Lilliput passenger in the middle, and, given the era and subject-matter, it was more likely laziness than any idea of fakery, which led to these three?

Copies of copies of old Xerox or 'Electrofax' sheets, from the James Chase collection, again the O-gauge leading with HO on the second page, now with vehicles, but all really aimed at the parent company's US market.

 

Probably Eriksson's, but could be the work of Frank Rogers, who was clearly influenced by the master. Those O-gauge which are Eriksson's are often marked HE, as the male in the recent show-plunder post was, but in the HO, it's not so clear, and we have the piracies to contend with, which I don't think he would have countenanced?

 

I have posted some before, both O and HO I think, but under which Tag I can't remember, it was quite early in the blog's history I think? Many thanks to Jon, again, for the rare card and box. We are slowly coming to the end of these, but there's still a few to come!