Probably the best collection I've ever seen....

In case you missed CBS Sunday Morning today, this is probably the best collection I've ever seen. Can anyone spot me about $20 million to pick this up?



My God, this is really something.

marc

Trains at Hamleys

So I am hanging out in London today and my cab flips by Hamleys. Hamleys is easily one of best toy stores anywhere in the world. It's well into the class of FAO Schwarz and a few others (I've mentioned them periodically on the blog).

Suffice to say, they have 7 floors of amazing toy goodness. And to cap it off, they have a really nice British Toy Train area. I didn't take too many pics, I felt kind of wierd as I was taking pictures in a toy store. I just had to capture a few for the blog.


Above - they had quite a few wonderful Hornby OO sets. Very reasonably priced as well. I was tempted... But I didn't. Tons of Scaletrix race cars as well.

Lots of wonderful trains in the display cabinet. They had a tremendous number of buildings and options to choose from as well.

This is where it got interesting. Some seriously nice Basset Lowke in the displays. I've always seen Basset Lowke pop up and I never got why people like it so much. I'd never seen it in person. Got it now!

More seriously nice Basset Lowke above.

A really cool remote control car display. The cars where whizzing around in front of the display controlled by hoards of kids. I liked this store because they really do run almost everything in the store. They have wonderful displays plus incredibly helpful staff demonstrating product and giving advice. Checking out took all of 1 minute (not kidding). Probably the best toy buying experience of my life. The store isn't inexpensive or cheap to be sure, however the access to the selection and quality is worth it. This is an old line toy store that everyone should try and visit if you are in the UK. These kinds of places carry a special magic that just doesn't exist anymore. I guarantee whether you are 8 months old or 80 years old, you'll like this place (plus they do have a running train layout with slot cars).

Marc

Odds and Ends...

I'll be doing a few new posts next week. But here is something to keep everyone busy:

I was in Dublin, Ireland yesterday and I went to a "Model Railway Museum". I got kind of a kick out of it because in Europe, as in the gold old USA, some folks don't relate to our collections as playthings. The proprietors of this musuem actually look at these as miniature functional railroads. I was prevented from taking actual pictures of the operation layout (a massive HO one). But I did take some shots of the exhibit outside of the layout.

I did get a kick out of the guy running the main layout. He'd never heard of Lionel Standard Gauge. He asked me if it was kind of like S gauge. I told him it was except it was roughly three to four times larger and required a middle third rail. He shook his head and I could tell he couldn't care less.

PS The museum is a two minute walk from Malahide Castle in Howth, Ireland. Malahide is very, very nice and worth the 20 minute tour. The train museum cost me and my son 8 Euro's each to go into (about $10 each). $10 was a little high but I guess they need the cash.... I like all trains so even seeing this non-standard gauge European gear was interesting. By the way, I did see some Mallard's and the like for sale in some Euro toy stores. About 400 Euro for the sets (HO Hornby). It was good to see trains in toy stores.

Here's some pics -

Return From York

Tinplate has largely been about color for me. I've been a great fan of English outline 0 gauge locomotives and I have a few nice examples that I operate with with passenger car consists, but up until now I've not had any compatible "goods wagons," (freights.) Here are are some beautiful and interesting Hornby wagons that I found at York. They are all pre-war 0 gauge tinplate, mostly dating from the 1930s. I was happy to pick these up because there is not all that much Hornby available stateside. It would probably take me many months to acquire this many fine cars.


The big buzz around the halls and hotels was about the Knapp 2" gauge engine and tender that was priced at $250.00 and sat unnoticed on a table in the Silver hall behind a Lionel #29 day coach for several hours, before being spotted by someone who realized its four-figure value. Why didn't I see it?


The bandit meets continue to decline in terms of attendance and their importance. I heard that some big outfits are planning on cutting back their presence at the unofficial meets in the future. With hotel prices high, it makes sense to cut your stay short if the business is not there. The weather was crappy early in the week, but by Wednesday it had improved enough so that people could set up at the outside venues.


I enjoyed the Toy Train Paper & Memorabilia Group meeting on Wednesday evening, so ably hosted by Joe Mania, the TTML breakfast on Friday, and the SGMA Altoona event planning meeting, also on Friday. Inside the halls there was plenty to see as always, and plenty of people to chat with. Mike Wolf was busy with quite a crowd at his MTH Trains display. Lionel was there as usual, as were just about all of the usual vendors. One notable exception was the absence of Pride Lines. I understand that John Davanzo is not feeling well. Get well soon, John!


Jim

Tinplate Classics!

Frank Hornby was the originator of Meccano, Hornby trains, and so much more. My special attraction is to the really beautiful tinplate 0 gauge trains that Hornby manufactured during the prewar era. I have very little Hornby prewar tinplate in my collection, but my eyes have been opened to just how great these trains are. The fabulous book entitled "The Hornby Gauge 0 System" by Chris and Julie Graebe, is a spectacular over 400 page tome with some of the most colorful photos of beautiful tinplate toy trains that you will ever see.

Hornby opened a factory in New Jersey and made trains there in the 1920s for the US market. That venture ended in the late 20s with the sale of the factory to A.C. Gilbert. A much more lucrative venture was French Hornby. The factory in France operated quite independently from Hornby HQ in Liverpool, making French outline trains. The French continued to concentrate on 0 gauge even after the UK factory went into high gear producing the new "Dublo" (H0) scale trains in the late 1930s. The French continued with 0 gauge after WWII. Here's a great postwar 0 gauge tinplate set that I couldn't resist. It's French Hornby, ca. 1954. What a beautiful tinplate toy train...and look at the boxed presentation! It's a work of art.

Jim