Large Scale Central

Battery operated train set, TT scale, batteries in tinplate stat

General Discussion
#1

Hi Guys:

Way back in the 1960’s , my Father bought me a battery operated train set featuring a Pacific locomotive and a few freight cars. The train set was mfg. in West Germany and the track width was between N Scale and HO Scale. So I guess this train set was TT scale? The D cell batteries were loaded into the tinplate train station which featured a fan which blew, when activated with a push button, into the station’s whistle to simulate the locomotive’s whistle. The Pacific loco had a smoke unit. The track was an oval and the power track socket had two round holes for the two round pin power plug from the train station to plug into. The throttle was on the side of the train station.

Does anyone know of who these Germany mfgs were? Can such a similar battery operated train set be purchased today?

Although I had intended to keep this train set, it “vanished” as old toys tend to do.

Thank you,

Norman

#2

A collectors’ item by any standards, these are very rarely seen these days - in fact, I’ve never seen one, and I’lived in Berlin for a number of years. It was probably an early set made by Rokal, that went to the wall back in 1968.

Sadly, things have moved on, and the kid-like simplicity of these earlier toys has given way to very fine scale models. European TT scale is big business, BTW, and there are a number of manufacturers specilaising in everything needed for this scale. Talking about which, it was an americna invention [betcha didn’t know that, eh?], and was based on the linear scale of 1/10th inch to the foot. Europeans, most of whom lived in teeny apartments, adapted it to 3mm to the foot, and TT - ‘table-top’ was born, running on 12mm gauge track. It still has a comparatively large following here in UK, and during the 50’s and 60’s was quite popular, with ready-to-run stock from Tri-Ang and kits from Rosebud/Kitmaster. However, the arrival on the scene of N scale just about killed it dead for a while - TT is still around, but nothing like it was in those heady days.

Pity you don’t still have your little trainset…

tac, ig & The Flying Hamburger Boys

#3

A collectors’ item by any standards, these are very rarely seen these days - in fact, I’ve never seen one, and I lived in Germany for almost nine years. It was probably an early set made by Rokal, a company that went to the wall back in 1968.

Sadly, things have moved on, and the kid-like simplicity of these earlier toys has given way to very fine scale models. European TT scale is big business, BTW, and there are a number of manufacturers specialising in everything needed for this scale. Talking about which, it was an American invention [betcha didn’t know that, eh?], and was based on the linear scale of 1/10th inch to the foot. Europeans, most of whom lived in teeny apartments, adapted it to 3mm to the foot, and TT - ‘table-top’ was born, running on 12mm gauge track. It still has a comparatively large following here in UK, and during the 50’s and 60’s was quite popular, with ready-to-run stock from Tri-Ang and kits from Rosebud/Kitmaster. However, the arrival on the scene of N scale just about killed it dead for a while - TT is still around, but nothing like it was in those heady days.

Pity you don’t still have your little trainset…

tac, ig & The Flying Hamburger Boys

#4

Hi Tac:

Yes, the locomotive was really nice. Lighted headlamp and puffing smoke! However, the freight cars were very crude. Strange combination. I still remember the nice smell of the smoke fluid burning, the lithographs on the train station which acted as the battery holder, throttle and fan blown whistle.

The Pacific locomotive was not at the level of an N fine scale model, but it definitely was well above the crude toy level.

In the 1960’s Germany was still rebuilding its war damaged economy of 1945 and so the currency exchange rate was very favourable for both Canada and the United States such that quality goods manufactured in Germany were very affordable here in North America. A Canadian Airforce serviceman visiting my Father, while on leave from Berlin, commented that you would not believe the model trains that are available in Germany. The days of isolation before the internet!

I was thinking for indoor large scale of mounting only one sound system in a train station would suffice but the problem is synchronisation of the chuff sound. So I guess this is not practical.

That train set is a fond childhood memory. My Father once commented that set was the nicest of the many battery operated train sets that he had bought for me. It actually was the last one left on the store shelf when he came across it.

Norman

#5

Could this be similar to what you had?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-TT-SCALE-BERLINER-TRAIN-SET-NEW-IN-BOX-/260879677910?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3cbda3f9d6

There is a few things for TT scale on eBay from time to time.

#6

Norman - I lived through those 1950s and '60s in UK, and had many of the wonderful toys made by Schuco, Gama, Distler and the others made in what was then called ‘The US Zone of Western Germany’

In front of me as I write this is my clockwork Gama tank - two sparking machine guns, rubber tracks and a doo-dad at the back that lets you steer it! My dad used to go back home to Ireland at least once a year to see his wife and family that he had left there and German toys were even cheaper in the Republic of Ireland than there were here in England. One of my all-time favourites was a near-scale model of a fire truck wit ha three secion extending ladder and a real, working trailer pump that you filled up and cranked the little handle! I saw one on e&&& a while back for almost a thousand bucks!

tac, ig & The Fleischmann Trainset Boys

#7

Hi Steve and Tac:

Steve, no that is not the train set, but thank you for looking.

I did find this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230600784406?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

I had that boat! The wood deck smelt really nice. A varnish smell. No, I am not buying one but that was a really nice toy. The deck hardware was really high quality. My boat was in better condition but that was in 1965!

So not all of these 1960’s toys were junk. I remember, as a child, my disapproval with the mfg that the artist conception painting on the box exterior was always far nicer than the actual toy locomotive. I guess that era brought on the later advertising standards. No more misleading the consumer with phoney pictures of what is really inside the box!

I just searched around on the internet. Fun to see the high prices of these lithographed tin toys. These toys have value NOW, while the baby boomers are still alive. In twenty or thirty years there will no longer be a consumer base for these toys as the consumers who want to revive their childhood memories will no longer be around.

The “Lost in Space” Robot is really cool. My next door neighbour had a neat tin robot with a clear plastic chest cover to show all of the red plastic gears spinning around in the robot’s chest.

Too bad that Bachmann, for instance, does not include a squeeze bulb to provide a puffing smoke feature. If an inexpensive battery toy locomotive from the 1960’s could have this feature, why not the large scale Bachmann locomotives?

Norman

#8

'Ullo tac

I had a wooden trainset with some small wooden buildings that were painted bright colors, this came from the GDR. I probably chewed on it a lot, no lasting effects…