Tri-ang Society News
Tri-ang Society
Sales pages
and the Tri-ang community in general.
____________________________________________________________________________
Richard Lines dies
We have to report the sad passing of Richard Lines, aged 90, who was the sole survivor of the Lines family who had been involved with toy making.
Richard was an honorary member of the Tri-ang Society and regularly commented in the Tri-ang Telegraph from his own personal experiences.
His membership number was R.25, the Transcontinental Vista Dome coach, something he found quite amusing.
He was charged with the Tri-ang Railways systems and as such he took Rovex from a small producer into the mainstream company still continuing today, but now known as Hornby.
He lived in the Canterbury area, not far from the Margate factory and he was a churchgoer.
He will be sadly missed.
The photos below were taken in July 1999.
Richard Lines is on the right and Pat Hammond is on the left.
 |
 |
It is a very comprehensive one with some detailed historical notes and shows some very ambitious and tasty new productions, including the Advanced Passenger Train (APT)
Bravo Hornby.
and a proper representation of the LMS Coronation Scot coaches to make a very authentic train with the locos already available.
____________________________________________________________________________
The Tri-ang Society has produced a selection of reproduction boxes
which is comprehensive enough for you to protect virtually all your models.
Box order form here
____________________________________________________________________________
A Spot On website had been connected with the Tri-ang Society. It is hosted in Holland and maintained by Wiebe Buising. You can link to it from the Tri-ang Society main page or directly from.
CLICK HERE
____________________________________________________________________________
It had been rumoured that the R.50 / R.53 princess, as first manufactured by Rovex Plastics Ltd and the beginning of the Tri-ang Railways system had been made in blue. Member Bob Impett brought two blue Princesses to the Tri-ang Society event at Huntingdon on 20th and 21st April. We were all gobsmacked to see these two locomotives, clearly made with blue plastic, (E.M.2 coloured). They were fully factory finished with painted smokebox and running plates. One bore the name 'Princess' and a fictious number and the other was called 'Princess Victoria' with running number 46205. The tenders however, appear to have been painted and were heat printed with the BR decal.
We all took photographs,
Bob became a minor celebrity and Pat Hammond now has to write volume 1b!
Well, actually, these were later productions which properly belong in volume 3, though psychologically, they are from the first period of Rovex Tri-ang.
____________________________________________________________________________
Tri-ang TT Castle rumoured in Hong Kong
It has been rumoured that a TT gauge train set is currently on sale in Hong Kong that has a locomotive, closely resembling the Tri-ang Castle. The TT tools have been a mystery for some time. It has been widely believed that they were sent to the former U.S.S.R as part of a swap which included the Tri-ang 'Big Big Train' tools. However, no TT models were apparantly made, unlike the 'Big Big Train' which was manufactured under the 'Novo' name. Complete 'Novo' 'Big Big' sets were sent to Britain as payment for the tooling. Richard Lines, former boss at Tri-ang Railways, has recently mentioned that he believes the TT tools could still be in the former Tri-ang Railways factory at Margate. But in the past 30 years, much could have changed. Now, there is this rumour of the new 'Windsor Castle'.Watch this space for more news.
____________________________________________________________________________
Roller Princess discovered
A roller Princess, belonging to the family of a former Rovex development engineer has come to our notice. The current owner has recently joined the Tri-ang Society and tells us that he has had this locomotive since the 1950's. He had not realised the scarcity of this model nor the fact that there are no other known survivors of this, the first version of the Princess Elizabeth locomotive, first made in 1950 for Marks and Spencer. We intend to visit this member and attempt to verify that this is an actual 'Roller Princess'.That it has rollers is not in doubt, but it could have been a development model.
Watch this space for more news.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sales Page
There is now a sales page where members can offer their models and toys for sale on the internetThis can be viewed by clicking on the locomotive below.
__________________________________
At the Tri-ang Society, we endeavour to enjoy our Tri-ang toys and not become too serious about them. For the majority at least, we collect, restore, and enjoy what we like, with little thought for financial values.
We believe that really should be the essence of toy collecting!!