London-bound Hymek D7004 entering Newport on a very wet January day in 1962
Photograph by Michael Macleur and used with thanks
Comment
With club activities suspended for the duration [I could have been writing this in the early-‘40s], there is little news to provide for, as yet, no-one knows when normal social activities can resume. However, I’ll keep providing a monthly newsletter to maintain a semblance of contact with all members and friends of the club: it’s more likely to contain articles of interest than news of developments, but we’ll see how things go….
If any members have interesting photographs or are prepared to write short articles for inclusion in the newsletter, just drop me an e-mail with an outline and I’ll see what can be done. It would very helpful if there is anything out there fit for inclusion.
Members’ news
First of all, I hope that the majority of you are distancing socially and are well! Inevitably – and sadly – some of our membership have not been in good health though. However, all that I know of are recovering.
David Williams and Chris Zajac have recently returned home after spells in hospital, David for a knee operation, from which he is recovering well. Chris, I’m told, is on the mend, too. Phil Skinner has been ill recently as a result of a chest infection and Mike Brooks is making a recovery from Covid-19, the only club member that I’m aware of yet who has contracted this serious condition. You’ll all join me in wishing them all a speedy recovery to good health, particularly so for Mike.
If any of you hear of other members who are unwell, please let me know in order that we can keep in touch with them.
Swansea Model Railway Club in the 1930s
In the June 2019 newsletter, I wrote about an advert for the Swansea and District Model Railway Society that I had found in the March 1962 ‘Model Railway Constructor’. Some members [sort-of!] remembered it, and in July 2019 I was able to provide a little information about the society itself. Last week, Nick Kerslake provided me with a link to the following article which appeared in the July 1931 ‘Meccano Magazine’. I’m fairly confident that no members will remember this club however! I was able to find a copy of the publication on eBay and reproduce the photograph here for interest:
The Sketty Meccano Club, part of the old Swansea Model Railway Club, was one of many hundreds across the UK, the [then] Empire and beyond. The magazine regularly reported on the activities of these societies and, as the above shows, Sketty clearly had an inventive and very active membership. The article went on to say:
That last paragraph still rings true: the success of our layout building ventures helps strengthen solidarity in the club [if that doesn’t sound too much like a maxim from behind the Iron Curtain, it’s definitely straight from The Little Red Handbook of Chairman Blows!]
The magazine, incidentally, was a source of sheer nostalgia when I read it: articles about Dinky Toys, Hornby Dublo, Webley air pistols, tales of daring from across the Empire, model steam yachts and the latest bi-planes, not to mention Meccano itself. A bargain for 6d. I can remember this magazine from the late ‘50s, nearly thirty years on, and it still hadn’t changed that much!
What to do?
Well, after a couple of weeks of ‘lock down’, social isolation doesn’t seem quite the blessing that it once sounded. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you that when we open again for business, the 2020 modelling competition will be an early item on the agenda. For those who didn’t complete their builds in time, this enforced delay gives you no excuse not to carry on. For those who didn’t build anything at all, you’ve now got a good eight-to-ten weeks at least to pull something out of the bag.
And don’t spend all of your spare cash on eBay! Don’t forget, there will be a large stock-sale, with many interesting items, arranged during the early weeks of reopening.
Ready-to-Run in the ‘50s
Whilst the post-War years were ones of austerity, shortages and rationing, a surprising number of manufacturers made model railway equipment in a variety of gauges. Everyone will know that in ‘OO’, Hornby Dublo was very much the market leader with its large range of cast Mazac and tinplate stock. Trix was its more-expensive and smaller competitor, Triang came a little later, making universal use of plastics, and Wrenn accompanied them once Hornby was safely locked into the Lines Brothers’ fold, providing diecast ex-Hornby Dublo locos at a price. But there were others too, although some didn’t last that long…..
Exley made high quality coaching stock, now very much sought after by collectors [and expensive], Kirdon, Hamblings and Stuart Reidpath [Essar] made a variety of models too, as did Trackmaster and Pyramid. But for the purposes of this short article, Gaiety was one of the lesser-known of the short-lived manufacturers.
This box, an uncommon survivor, is for a Gaiety GWR Pannier tank.
Gaiety Models were marketed by Castle Arts Products and entered the modelling world in January 1950. Their three- and two-rail models were manufactured by JV Murcott and Sons in Birmighmam and all bear the initials ‘JVM’ on the inside of the casting.
The first model that Gaiety released was a very generic die-cast ex-LNER N2 tank, a model released by so many other manufacturers as well during these years, including Hornby Dublo, Kirdon, Trackmaster [clockwork OO] and Pyramid and, later, Wrenn. The tank was issued with an LMS running number and ‘British Railways’ cast onto the side tanks. It does seem likely that the Gaiety N2 was a direct copy of a Hornby Dublo N2, as it carries the same number [46917] as the fictitious LMS black version of the N2 that H-D issued.
Fitted with their own 5-pole motor, the N2 retailed for £2/19/10d. The bodies could also be bought separately. On this Gaiety N2, the chassis has clearly been fitted the wrong way around. Examples with a 2-4-0 chassis are also known to exist and eleven different variations of the N2 body are known to have been produced!
Incidentally, both Hornby Dublo and Wrenn were extravagant in their choice of liveries for their N2 tanks, issuing them in all of the Big Four liveries and not too worried about prototypical accuracy: it clearly made marketing sense. The photograph below shows a Wrenn N2 in LMS Black. GWR-and SR-liveried N2s are particularly collectible [and expensive]. Gaiety N2 tanks arise on eBay from time-to-time but are quite pricey.
Above, a near-mint Wrenn die-cast N2: essentially a re-release of the original Hornby Dublo model, but no less worthy for that.
Finally, for the N2, this is a late Gaiety body-variation on the remains of its push-along 2-4-0 chassis. It will not go around curves! At the time, push-along models were quite common: Gaiety almost certainly made a static Pannier and Morestone / Budgie [amongst others] made a Jinty and Dinky Toys made [pre- and post-War] a smaller push-along A4 with coaches.
For what it’s worth, the general consensus amongst collectors is that the Trackmaster [clockwork] N2 was the most accurate available at the time, followed by Hornby Dublo. The Gaiety model steams rather distantly.
The second electric engine released by Gaiety was a GWR 57XX tank. Whilst it was better received than the N2, it, too, had a number of strange defects, including oddly shaped square windows [they should have been round], an over-scale steam dome and a very strange safety valve bonnet. More expensive than the N2 at £3/1/10d, it is also far more common today. At the time of its release, it was the only r-t-r GWR Pannier on the market [and remained so until Graham Farish produced one in 1960/1 and Rovex (Triang Hornby) produced its own £3.99 plastic model in 1972].
Available fitted with either Gaiety’s own 5-pole motored chassis or your own contraption, the body would not take the Hornby Dublo 0-6-0 chassis without some adaptation, which seemed a bit of an own goal. Had it done so, it might well have increased sales. The Pannier also has the distinction of being the source of the character of ‘Duck’ in the Revd. Awdry’s ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ series. If for that reason alone, it deserves a place in history!
The Gaiety model above has been fitted with a safety-valve bonnet of a type that I have not seen before. Different in shape and larger than the cast ones normally seen, it is made of brass. It is far more attractive if still over-scale, but I do not know whether this was a commercial accessory or a home-made ‘improvement’.
An original Gaiety chassis with a five-pole motor. This is from the GWR Pannier Tank and it still runs well if noisily for a c.70 year old unit.
The photo opposite shows that the gears on this model are becoming a little worn through use however [the crown wheel is made of a harder material than the brass cog], although that problem can be easily rectified by reversing the cog on its shafts. This is a common Gaiety chassis problem.
To separate the body from the chassis, simply unscrew the four buffers.
Three Gaiety Panniers in three different shades of green: none has been restored and the paintwork is original. The left hand model has Gaiety’s own chassis fitted, the middle has a pre-1961 Triang chassis together with Triang’s heavy solid-spoked wheels and the right, the same early Triang chassis but with scale Romford wheels.
Finally, this extraordinary model appeared on eBay at the time of writing. The model is clearly Gaiety-related although the rigid chassis is a push-along unit. Whether this was produced by Gaiety as a complete entity, or a retailer bought Gaiety bodies and sold them with his own wheel-sets is not known.
The N2 and the GWR tank are the only engines which Gaiety were definitely known to produce. No other models have been seen although Gaiety did produce an all-plastic GWR-type brake van. As a marque, Gaiety simply drifted off into the mists after JV Murcott withdrew from the model train market.
Gaiety Panniers appear quite regularly on eBay and prices vary considerably from the reasonable to the excessive. They are often poorly described also, their vendors not recognising their origins and believing them to be white-metal kits.
And of JV Murcott and Sons? What of them? Well, surprisingly, they still exist as die-casters.Whilst at the time of Gaiety they supplied large numbers of chromed castings to the Rover Car Company and others, more recently they have supplied parts for the [new] Triumph Motorcycle Company and other concerns. But with the demise of Gaiety, they were out of trains for good.
Footnote
I had wondered for some time why Gaiety was discontinued as a brand. As the parent company has continued to exist, it clearly wasn’t bankruptcy. The economic conditions at the time were fraught however: industry was on a war footing with Great Britain involved in the Korean War and post-War [WW2] austerity still held sway, with production for export having the higher priority than home consumption. These seemed the most likely reasons.
At the time of writing however, I saw an article from the Birmingham Gazette [23rd. August 1951] which confirms both of the above suppositions: Castle Arts Products [JV Murcott] closed down its model railway business because it could not source sufficient supplies of non-ferrous metals to continue with it.
I am extremely grateful for assistance given to the preparation of the above brief article by the author of the Binns Road site and various members of RMWeb [including Sarahagain, Il Grifone and Lantavian].
Finally, SRMG’s 2020 show….
We have been asked by members, traders and exhibitors for some clarity over the club’s intentions for the September show. I’m afraid that no clear answer can be given yet as too much remains unknown. The likelihood of the show taking place is under continuing review and it has not, at this time, been cancelled. We have to be aware of the uncertainties which remain however, not least the fact that the venue is currently closed, and a decision will be taken before the issue of the May newsletter [mid-May].
Best wishes all and take care.