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1:64 Scale & Smaller
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Topic starter
04/02/2026 1:21 pm
Randy Rusk has started a series of member profiles about their collections.
I got thinking about mine and realized something that is likely unique. I was born near Manchester, England in 1940 during WWII, a time when toy production had ended for the war duration. My first toys were produced pre-war but were still available in shops in limited numbers. From about 3 (due to the war, I started school on my 3rd birthday), I started receiving them, mainly Dinky Toys trains and planes. Here are some of the trains that I got. Scale was very small. All were produced between 1934 and 1939.
I did get a few cars and vans which were also pre-war. I will try for images later.
#16 Express Passenger Set.
#16 Silver Jubilee Set.
#17 Passenger Train.
#18 Goods Train.
#19 Mixed Goods Train.
#20 Passenger Train.
#21 Hornby Train Set.
To be clear, the only set that I now have is the first listed #16 Express Passenger set. The others are images of what I had then, taken about 2000, from a friend’s collection.
At the age of 8, I left home for Rishworth school in Yorkshire, a highly academic and expensive British boarding school, leaving my parents and two younger brothers at home. My trains were left at home and used by my brothers, lost to time.
While I got three holidays a year, I did not see my family more than once per term in between. A wonderful education but quite different to what we get in North America. No toys other than at home on holidays. This was likely why I am a collector today.
04/02/2026 1:26 pm
WAY cool stuff. Our family had Lionel trains for Christmas for years. When my daughter was growing up I set up a car race track set but at her desire, traded it off for an HO scale train set. She and I both loved that set and the miniature houses, etc., that went along with it.
04/02/2026 2:11 pm
I knew Dinky Toys made planes, but never knew about the trains. We learn something every day.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
04/02/2026 4:59 pm
These all look wonderful ! It is great when they remain in existence for us to see and photograph.
Christopher Moroni and David Green reacted
04/02/2026 5:12 pm
These are really cool. Matchbox made a couple of train engines in the early years as well.
Christopher Moroni and David Green reacted
04/02/2026 6:46 pm
"Here are some of the trains that I got."
Well, these are certainly something I knew nothing about - pretty cool!
Q: So, these are pictures of toys identical to those you received - OR - these are YOUR actually toys that you somehow managed to preserve?
David Green reacted
Topic starter
04/02/2026 6:54 pm
Hi Chris,
Unfortunately, I have a few remnants but these were images of boxed sets that I obtained about 25 years ago from a friend's collection. I do have the full set 16.
Ed Davis and Christopher Moroni reacted
05/02/2026 2:36 am
Yessir that's them. I have them in my collection as well.
David Green and Christopher Moroni reacted
05/02/2026 9:38 am
@perrone1 My dad had a Lionel layout in the basement of our house when I was growing up. The layout extended the full length and width of the basement and included every imaginal option that Lionel offered. When dad passed away, mom sold off the trains as she had sold the house and bought one that didn't have a basement. Years later I got interested in N gauge but when we moved to this house there was no room for the layout. I donated some trains, track, roadbed, buildings, etc. to a museum. The balance of my N gauge locomotives and rail cars are packed away. David your collection of trains is amazing and all appear to be in mint condition with boxes. What collectors items you have.
05/02/2026 9:49 am
The balance of my N gauge locomotives and rail cars are packed away. David your collection of trains is amazing and all appear to be in mint condition with boxes. What collectors items you have.
- I too have tons of "N" packed away. I really need to decide what to do with all of it. 🙄 🙄
- To be clear, those train pics are NOT David's collection. Those are merely pics of what his toys looked like; he doesn't own those now.
David Green reacted
05/02/2026 2:20 pm
@bob-jackman Are any of your N scale train locomotives and freight cars made of brass? If yes and you want to sell them, I can recommend a dealer who sells brass train items on consignment. I have used them for selling some of my brass S scale train items.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
David Green and Christopher Moroni reacted
05/02/2026 2:22 pm
@chris Are any of your N scale train items made of brass? If yes, see my response to Bob Jackman.
Ed Davis
Inverness, Illinois, USA
David Green and Christopher Moroni reacted
05/02/2026 2:56 pm
@ed-davis ...no (but thank you anyway Ed! ), my 2,500+ piece collection was started when I was a poor college student. I came close to buying ("investing in" ) brass a few times, but then I thought, "For the price of one brass, I could get 3 or 4 plastics."
I do have, though, a handful of N-scale steam engines that I made myself, for example a shay and an articulated 4-8-8-4 B&O just to name a few. I really should drag that stuff out and take a look.
Here's just a few of the N-scale vehicles that I've done - painted, detailed, customized to match specific photographs, etc.. I've posted these before, please excuse the repetition. 🙄
05/02/2026 3:11 pm
@ed-davis A couple are but it has been a few years since I saw them so I can't tell you what they are. I believe one of them is an Amtrack.