Newsletter - 2026-02-21

Saturday, 14th February 2026

This card was not only supplied by CardhawkUK, but it is currently for sale, so if you like the look of it, it could be yours! 

This card is primarily to represent Liverpool, which, in 1863, was the birthplace of Frank Hornby, the maker of the trains that the stamps celebrate, but also the maker of Meccano, the construction toy, and of Dinky, a brand of small diecast model cars, and other transportation vehicles.

But there was also a second clue, for these are PLAY-up cards, and the original idea of model trains were not for adults to accumulate, they were for children to play with, in the hope that they would turn into engineers, and train drivers.  

According to the wording on the back of this shield shaped card "The Celebrated Play Up Football Cards [are] Printed and Published by W. N. Sharpe, Chromo Litho, Bradford   the largest Football Card Printer in the World". Now we are not entirely sure that the final statement is true, as there were several printers of football cards, most notably John Baines of Manningham (also in Bradford), and James Briggs, of Leeds, and we also know that although Mr. Sharpe was in business before those companies, they both started producing sporting cards before him. In fact in his rather grand title "W.N. Sharpe, manufacturing commercial stationer, letterpress printer, lithographer (chromo and commercial) and account book maker" you will note that there is not a word of collectable sports cards. 

We know that he started out in 1874 at a small shop at number 6, Piccadilly, then he moved to number 39, Kirkgate, Bradford, and that he also had works in Thornton Road. After his move he offered a range of family and business stationery, as well as notebooks and other leather goods. The works would eventually expand to cover numbers 151 - 157, so were of a considerable size, and here he did all the printing and book making.  

In the mid 1930s, they expanded again and had a new headquarters and factory built in Bingley Road, mainly because they had become involved with the printing of greetings cards. This did not last too long though, as the Air Ministry took over the factory during the Second World War. After the war, cards again flew out of the factory - right until 1984, when they were bought out by Hallmark. But today the factory is converted, to housing, and the printing of cards, etc, will one day be a distant memory, despite the builders` attempts to immortalise them by calling it the Printworks development

Now you would expect this set to be listed in our original British Trade Index, especially as its actual name was the Index of "British Non-Tobacco Issues Up To 1945", but you would be wrong, as though W. N. Sharpe are listed, it is only with a set of postcards called the "Patent Fab Cards". That suggests two theories, either that they were not thought to be cartophilic, or they had not been discovered by card collectors yet, though they may have been known by football collectors. The first of these thoughts is ruled out quickly, though, as J. Baines, also of Bradford, is there; not just in the book, but described as "Cards sold in packets over period about 1880s to about 1919", which technically makes them commercial and not cartophilic, hence our cards would be no different. 

However our cards are not in our second volume, either, now titled "British Trade Index part two". In fact they wait right until our British Trade Index part three, published in 1986, to make an appearance, and then it is shockingly scant, for it reads : 

• Play Up Football Cards. Various shapes. Two known ... SHD-2

1. Grimsby Town
2. Milnbridge

What this entry does, though, is prove that these cards were indeed unknown until some time between 1969 and 1986. And all I know about Milnsbridge was that they were in the Huddersfield Area. 

Anyway once they were listed other cards were obviously unearthed, and in our British Trade Index part four there is a very healthy list indeed, which reads : 

• SHD-2 (Play Up Football Cards). Five groupings : 
   

1. Back headed "Puzzle No....." 6 known :
   
   (    6) ""Well Played Mossley", portrait "G.H. Taylor"
   (  13) "Kendal Hornets", portrait "J.H. Thompson
   (  44) "Well Played Radcliffe", portrait "Alf Buxton"
   (161) ""Play Up Cardiff", portrait "U. Barnes - Capt"
   (174) "Play Up Morecambe", portrait "Codd. - J.D. Crock"
   (192) "Play Up Cheetham Hill", portrait "R.A. Cowman - Capt"
    
2. Back headed "Registered Designs - Copyright - The Celebrated Play Up Football Cards" - 3 known :
   
   1. "Gloucester" - portrait "Albert Collins"
   2. "Going for a Try - Stockport"
   3 "Shield Winners - Bradford"
    
3. Back headed "Sharpe`s - Copyright "Play Up" Regd. 11872". 1 known :
   
   1. "Well Played - Grimsby Town", picture "A Throw Out"
    
4. Back headed "The Celebrated - Play Up Football Cards". 4 known : 
   
   1. "Bravo Halifax - Good Old Cup Winners", portrait "Ripley"
   2. "Play Up - Darwen", portrait "H.E. Briggs"
   3. "Play Up - Kendal", portrait unnamed
   4. "Play Up - Milnsbridge, no portrait
    
5. Back headed "The `Floral` Football Card". 1 known : 
   
   1. "Play Up Stockport County", portrait "J. Birchenall"

None of these fit our card, and that was the final volume of the original set of the British Trade Indexes. Worse than that, when the updated version was issued in the year 2006 there was a bit of a surprise, for under W. N. Sharpe, all that appears are the "Patent FAB Cards" - and, sadly, the subtitle beneath the issuer`s name reads "Printers. Issued 1905-1907. Also issued "Play-Up" football cards, as those issued by Baines. These are classified as Commercial, and are not covered in this volume."

Sunday, 15th February 2026

Our second clue, of "Dirt-Track Racing" ought to have given us TRACK, which is one of the most important parts of any train set, though when the earliest model trains were manufactured they ran by clockwork along the floor. These came to be known as floor trains, trackless trains, or even carpet trains. Most of them just ran in a straight line until they hit an obstacle but some included mechanisms to make them run in circles.Sadly, I have still drawn a blank on Jack Barrett, the subject of this card, which seems to be his only cartophilic appearance.

This card does also mention Triss Sharpe, who appears on card 20 of this set too, but it looks like his only card ever, though we do know a bit more about him. He first raced in the 1928 season, and was given the job of "skipper", or captain, of the Crystal Palace team in 1929, but he gave it over to Roger Frogley in 1930 in order to take part in the speedway league events. It appears that it was during one of these that he was injured in some way, bad enough to rule him out of the 1930 Star Riders final. He did return, though, and continued to ride with Crystal Palace right until he joined Coventry in 1933. That information led me to the fact he did not stay there long, and moved back down to south London to join New Cross in 1934, a track he never really took to, because it was rather hemmed in the area and kind of tight. 

He also had two sons, also keen on motorbikes, and in the 1950s they started making a name for themselves in a slightly different branch of the sport, for they were off-roaders. Their names were Triss Jr. and Bryan, but it looks like they called themselves Sharp without the "e" on the end, so I am wondering if our card was a typo and if I went back to Triss Sharp Sr., I would find more. But its now eight a.m. on Wednesday morning so I must get up and get out (as well as check the weather).

This is a very interesting set, comprising record breakers, personalities, and sports, yet it seems not to be known of by many collectors of those subjects. Perhaps the publication of this list will aid that, for in this format it will show up in search engines, and more people will realise that the set includes : 

1. Warrant Officer Dal Molin [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929] 
2. Flying Officer R.L.R. Atcherley [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929] 
3. Arne Borg [swimming - Shelton Club, New York City]
4. D.G.A. Lowe [running]
5. Lieut. Giovanni Monti  [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929] 
6. Flight Lieut. D'Arcy Greig  [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929] 
7. Flying Officer H.R.D. Waghorn [flying - winner of Schneider Trophy 1929] 
8. Squadron Leader Orlebar [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929] 
9. Malcolm Campbell [land speed record breaker]
10. Miss M.B. Carstairs [motor boat world speed record holder]
11. The R.A.F. Display, Hendon, July 23rd, 1929 [39th Squadron - flying]
12. The British Schneider Cup team, 1929 [Flying Officer Waghorn, Flying Officer Moon, Flight Lieut. D`Arcy Greig, Squadron Leader Orlebar, Flight Lieut. Stainforth and Flying Officer Atcherly - flying]
13. The Italian Schneider Cup team, 1929 [flying] 
14. 30,000 Miles in 30,000 minutes [Miss Violette and Miss Evelyn Cordery : automobile endurance racing]
15. Jack London [sprinting - Stamford Bridge]
16. Dirt Track racing [Jack Barrett - speedway - Crystal Palace]
17. Broadsiding [Nobby Keys - speedway]
18. Sidecar Cornering [Bradford track at Greenfield]
19. Neck and Neck [Roger Frogley and Ben Heiatt - speedway - Crystal Palace]
20. "Cinder Shifting" [Triss Sharp - speedway - Crystal Palace]
21. Forseti [racehorse - H. Beasley on top - winner of Cesarewich Stakes, 1925)
22. British Super Marine S6 [flying - winner of Schneider Trophy 1929] 
23. Gloster Napier 6 [flying - Schneider Trophy 1929]
24. The Golden Arrow [land speed record breaking car, driven by Major Sir Henry Segrave]
25. The Shamrock [Sir Thomas Lipton`s yacht, challenger for the America`s Cup]
26. Trigo [racehorse, winner of Derby, St. Leger, and Irish St. Leger in 1929)
27. Gertrude Ederle [swimming - English Channel]
28. Major Sir Henry Segrave [land speed record breaker / speed boat racer]
29. Kaye Don [land speed record breaker]
30. Lord Burghley [hurdling]

As for the cards, they are first recorded in our original Godfrey Phillips reference book, RB.13, as

• 128. SPEED CHAMPIONS. Small cards, size 67 x 37 m/m. Fronts printed by photogravure in sepia. Backs in brown with descriptive text. Issued 1930. 

This is much reduced in our original World Tobacco Issues Index, where the entry reads only : 

• SPEED CHAMPIONS. Sm. 67 x 36. Sepia gravures. Nd. (30) ... P50-82

And that remains identical in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, save a new card code :  

• SPEED CHAMPIONS. Sm. 67 x 36. Sepia gravures. Nd. (30) ... P521-370

Monday, 16th February 2026

Today we brought you another one of these lovely Revillon cut out cards, this one being of a station, to show that a model railway is not just a train, there are ancilliary buildings, and station staff, and passengers, plus other things, like weighing machines, and chocolate dispensers, which were all manufactured in metal or lead at one time. On which note I have to say I always got much more excited by getting hold of a box of peripherals like weighing machines and passengers than I ever was when I got a box of trains....  

At the moment this becomes the home page for these intriguing cut-out cards - but do be aware that Revillon also used the title "Chemin de Fer" for a sectional series, slightly later, which was drawn by Jean Bernard-Aldebert, similar to the card of the travelling fair we featured as our Card of the Day for the 8th of May, 2025

On our card it says the title of the set, and "Collection de 10 Sujets"  but this is not entirely correct as though there are ten cards, there are often more than one cut out figure on each card, and they are individually numbered, on the tab at the bottom, as on the list of twenty-five figures which follows, and this corresponds to the plan on the back of all the cards - though it is, of course, entirely up to the owner where they place their models. Then there is a large number on the front of our card, in our case "Serie No. 4", which is the series number, and this appears on all the cards in this series, which are : 

1. a station (on its own on the card)
2. a signal box and two men sitting on a seat (with 10 - a card of two cut outs) 
3. a locomotive with coal cart (with 16 and 17 - a card of three cut outs)
4. a goods carriage (with 25 - a card of two cut-outs)
5. a blue topped passenger carriage with doors only at each end (with 18 and 19 - a card of three cut outs) 
6. a passenger carriage with six doors one open (with 13 and 14 - a card of three cut outs)
7. a passenger carriage with six doors two open (with 15 - a card of two cut outs)
8. a grey topped passenger carriage with doors only at each end (with 22, 23, and 24 - a card of four cut outs)
9. the station master`s cottage (on its own on the card)
10. a latticed railing with three people in front and one behind it (with 2 - a card of two cut outs) 
11. a stationary horse drawn cart with leader and a bicycle (with 12, 20 and 21 - a card of four cut-outs)
12. the back of a motor car and a tandem motorbike (4 - with 11, 20, and 21 - a card of four cut-outs)
13. a moving horse-drawn cart (with 6 and 14 - a card of three cut outs)
14. two people dressed in rural costume (with 6 and 13 - a card of three cut outs)
15. a signal arm with a red circular signal (with 7 - a card of two cut-outs)
16. an overhead apparatus to fill the steam boiler with water (with 3, 16 and 17 - a card of three cut outs)
17.  two men and a porter with a flat bed trolley (with 3, and 16 - a card of three cut outs)
18. two priests (with 5 and 19 - a card of three cut outs) 
19. two soldiers in blue with kepi caps (with 5 and 18 - a card of three cut outs) 
20. a porter with luggage and four passengers (with 11, 12, and 21 - a card of four cut-outs)
21. a man, a family with a child, a man with a suitcase on his head (with 11, 12, and 20 - a card of four cut-outs) 
22. a man bending over suitcases and a standing man (with 8, 23, and 24 - a card of four cut outs)
23. a woman with a man carrying a case on his shoulder (with 8, 22, and 24 - a card of four cut outs)
24. two men talking (with 8, 22, and 23 - a card of four cut outs)
25. an overhead signal gantry (with 4 - a card of two cut-outs)

Also note that the first set in this series is different to the rest as it has no large series number, and it is presumed it was a trial run to see how popular it was. Obviously it was, because they followed it up with Serie No. 2.  So at the moment we know of the following sets, which one day, hopefully, will all be represented on this website.

1. La Ferme [the farm - not identified as series one anywhere on the card.]
2. Le Champ d`Aviation [the airfield]
3. L`Ecole [the school],
4. Le Chemin de Fer [the railway]
5. La Course d`Autos [the motor race]
6. La Chasse [the hunt]
7. Premiere Traversee du Sahara [first crossing of the Sahara]
8. Depart d`un Paquebot [leaving by boat]
9. Un Match de Rugby [a rugby match]
10.  L`Exposition Coloniale [the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, held in Paris]
11. Les Regates [the regatta]
12. L`Escadre [the Navy]

Tuesday, 17th February 2026

Here we have an extraordinarily grand model train, large enough for a child to ride, though it is possible it only existed in the mind of the artist, simply because this card carries a date of 1889, when Guerin-Boutron  won a gold medal at the Universal Exposition in Paris - and it is recorded that the first toy trains were only retailed by Marklin, of Germany, in the early 1890s.

However it is known that toy trains had been scratch-built from wood or metal from the moment that real trains were invented, and that rich families could have conceivably had a carpenter made such a train as exists on our card. And this child is undoubtedly from a rich family, rich enough to ride to hounds and maybe even own a pack of their own, for he is attired in a miniature version of proper hunting "pinks", and blowing a tiny huntsman`s horn, an outfit that would have been costly, and very much a one off, made to measure. 

We also know that from the 1840s, miniature railways for adults were built on large private estates, by and for the wealthy. 

As for our card, we presume it is one of a set but have no idea of what that set comprises. Maybe you have a similar card though, which could complement ours and give us some idea ? If so, do let us know. There is no set title, though on the path at the bottom of the picture it does say "Le Rapide", which is French for "the fast [one]". And, curiously the words "Le Rapide" have come to mean the fast train, in transportation terminology.

There is another train-related link to "Le Rapide" too, as much later, starting in the mid 1920s, for it was the name of a French toy train manufacturing company founded by a Swiss man called Louis Roussy. And it turns out he has a cartophilic link too, for a member of his family actually owned our old friends Nestle, Peter, Cailler and Kohler.

Louis Roussy began with clockwork trains and then bought a factory in the early 1930s and diversified into lead soldiers, small cars, aeroplanes, and ships, even a construction system which used long strips and shapes, bolted together by the user into whichever model they fancy (just like Frank Hornby`s "Meccano").

There was, also, another thrilling link to our card, for his original logo was a diagonal shape in which a small boy was depicted riding on top of a model train, with the words "Le Rapide" below, in white, within a red bar. The name was to prove prophetic, for in 1934 they advertised that they were selling "le train marchant le plus vite dans le monde des jouets" (or the fastest moving train in the toy world). But this was electric , and it also gained most of its speed because although it was still die-cast, it was of much lighter construction, being pretty much a one piece body shell, the wheels and the internal workings, which, being electric, were substantially smaller than those needed for clockwork, key-wound models. 

They were definitely innovators, and they took out several patents, on things that became industry standard, including continually simplifying the coupling method that linked the engine to the carriages, and, most importantly, discovering a means to reverse the mechanism so the toy would go backwards, eventually independently of touch, simply, as on a real train, by activating a lever by the side of the track - and, later still, by means of remote control, which they called "tele-inversion".  

They thrived until the beginning of the Second World War, and then production halted - materials for making toys was needed for the war effort, and finding the money to buy necessities, like food, was more important than buying toys. British bombers also destroyed their factory at Trappes, along with many of the moulds, and lots of stock.

After the war, they had an offer from a Monsieur Chauvel, who agreed to keep the name, and maybe that was the clincher. But he sold it on in 1961, to a company called JEP which is sometimes recorded as having been founded in 1899 by Messrs. Roussel and Dufrien as "Le Jouets de Paris" (or The Toys of Paris), rather a forward thinking company who outsourced the production of its merchandise to home workers and small companies. In fact this is incorrect, because in 1909 that company filed for bankruptcy. The confusion is easy to understand though, as the JEP which bought our company was also founded in 1899, and ran on similar lines, outsourcing to local metal workers, under the company name of S.I.F., which stood for "La Société Industrielle de Ferblanterie" (and that last word means the making of tin-plate). They slowly changed their name through the decades, and also halted production, during the First World War, when their factory and their workers skill with casting had seen it become one of the centres for production of steel helmets. In 1928 they had hit on using the now long retired "JEP", and, under that name, after a Second World War, they had also successfully moved over to producing plastic models for a completely new generation of children. Sadly, though, this did not last, and only two years after buying out Le Rapide they stopped making 'O' gauge models and equipment, with the `HO` gauge ceasing two years after that, deciding to move into making small parts for full sized cars and lorries. 

Wednesday, 18th February 2026

This is a typical railway layout, on a table top, the main benefit of which, at least to the model train-driver, is that it is always ready for action. However, you will often find them start out on the dining table and then be persuaded, in no mean terms, by the non model-train-drivers in the family, that it would be a much better idea to set it up in a spare bedroom, or the loft. 

The idea of a train set was to encourage the skills of engineering the track into position and coupling the carriages together each time they were removed from the box. At first this was easy as the early tracks were all circular and the trains just went round and round. However in 1859 the Emperor Napoleon III built a railway in the grounds of Chateau de Sainte-Cloude, in Paris, for his three year old son. That used the same clockwork trains as other railways of the time but the track had an extra part which enabled one track to cross another, in a figure of eight, and that started the idea of making differently shaped railway layouts. It also meant that the user had to work out how to make the curves and straights but still fit them together at the end so that it was a continuous journey back to the start and round again, and that`s not as easy as it sounds. 

Most model-train drivers start off with just the trains and the track, then they add. This is usually the result of going to a train fair or shop and seeing scenery (trees, hedges, mock grass), workings (signal arms, junctions, level crossings, bridges) or structures (a station, factories trackside, houses in the country, flats in the town).

Though you can run a very miniature layout in a box using the smallest scale of train, most model train-drivers soon outgrow it. Also that leaves little scope other than a continuous loop, which is really a backwards step, right backwards to when model train sets were first invented. Thinking "outside the box" brings in the main concepts of having more than one station, at which some trains stop and some pass by, branch lines, junctions, sidings, shunting yards and works. 

If you find this all starting to what your appetite, then nip along to Hornby`s website, a page of which actually tells you everything you need to make a proper railway layout. 

Returning to cards, the ones in this set are all very Art-Nouveau styled borders, but in differing colours, and the cards do have a tendency to browning. We have noticed that on  most of them the set name is in a banner above the issuer`s name, but on some the set title are in diagonal boxes across the picture. We are not sure why but have noted this in the listing using (DB) However, they are still fascinating, and would be eagerly snapped up by a toy collector if they should come into contact with them. 

So far we know of - a lot, so I will have to hold it here and come back later. The cards themselves are not numbered,  but once I got over twenty I thought crikey, how many of these things are there. I now have sixty one, so it seems it may follow the normal practise of eighty four, but I now seem to be hitting all the same ones online and in catalogues and from European collector friends, so if you can add any, please do.  

1. L`Auto a Pedale et le Tricycle (pedal car and tricycle)
2. L`Album d1Images (picture book)) - (DB)
3. La Baignoire Enfants (doll`s bath) - (DB)
4. Les Ballons Rouges (red balloons) 
5. Le Bateau a vapeur (steam yacht) - (DB)
6. Le Bateau a Voiles [sailing yacht)
7. Le Bebe Perfectionne (walking doll)
8. La Bergerie (toy farmyard)
9. La Boite a Musique (music box)
10. La Boite de Couleurs {painting set)
11. Le Canon de Bois (wooden cannon) - (DB)
12. La Canon da Campagne (war cannon)
13. La Charrette Anglaise (the English dog cart) 
14. La Chasse (toy huntsmen and hounds)
15. Le Chemin de Fer (toy train) - (DB)
16. Le Cheval (pull along horse)
17. Cheval a Bascule et Cheval Mecanique (rocking horse and horse on wheels) - (DB)
18. Le Cheval Jupon (horse costume with fake legs to side)
19. Les Cheveaux de Courses (racehorse game) - (DB)
20. La Chevre et la Mouton (goat and sheep) - (DB)
21. Le Cirque (toy circus)
22. Le Clairon et le cor de chasse (cornet and hunting horn) - (DB)
23. La Construction et la Boite a Ouvrage (building bricks)
24. La Crecelle (baby walker) - (DB)
25. L`Epicerie (toy shop) - (DB)
26. L`Escadre (ship models in a bowl)
27. L`Etabli de Menuisier (carpenter`s workshop)
28. La Ferme (toy farmyard)
29. Le Fiacre et le Tramway Electrique (electric cab and tram) - (DB)
30. La Folie, le Hochet (? and a baby`s rattle)  - (DB)
31. Le Fontaine et le Puits
32. Le Fourneau (child`s cooking stove)
33. Le Fort (toy fort and soldiers)
34. Le Fusil et le Sabre d`Officier (guns and swords) - (DB) 
35. Les Jouets Parisiens (model figures) - (DB)
36. La Lanterne Magique (magic lantern) - (DB)
37. La Layette (doll`s clothes) - (DB)
38. Le Menage (doll`s bedroom furniture)
39. Le Metier a Tapisserie (tapestry on frame)
40. La Panoplie (dressing up) - (DB)
41. La Peche a la Ligne (indoor fishing, hook the [fake] fish) - (DB)
42. Le Petit Piano (toy piano)
43. La Polichinelle (puppet)
44. Les Pompiers (toy Fire Brigade)
45. Le Postillion (reins for one child to wear and one to drive) - (DB)
46. Le Poupard (dolls) - (DB)
47. La Poupee de Son (rag doll) - (DB)
48. La Poupee Louis XV (a doll of the time of Louis XV)
49. La Poupee Moyen Age (a doll of the Middle Ages)
50. La Poupee Egyptienne (Ancient Egyptian doll) - (DB)
51. Le Service de Table (tea set)
52. Le Singe Grimpeur, Le Hanneton, le Canard, Le Toutou Sauteur (climbing monkey, cockchafer, duck, jumping dog) - (DB)
53. Le Theatre (toy theatre) - (DB)
54. Le Tir au Javelot (archery target) - (DB)
55. Le Tir Eureka (shooting target) - (DB)
56. Les Tombereaux (pull carts) - (DB)
57. La Toupie a Musique et le Cab (musical spinning top, hansom cab)
58. Le Toutou (dog on wheels)
59. Le Tricycle a Petrole et Auto (ancient and modern model cars)
60. Le Zootrope (zoetrope)
61. La Voiture de la Poupee (doll`s pram) - (DB)

Now we also know there are other issuers of this set, because in the hunt we found :

• Au Paradis FLEURI
• Chocolat de L`UNION
• Chocolat LOUIT 

Thursday, 19th February 2026

This card shows several things - that model trains were detailed and exact enough to serve as testing models for actual trains - that they were definitely not just children`s toys - and that their original, albeit "by product", purpose, to train engineers and railway staff, actually worked.

However, in the course of this week`s investigations, we learned that in the National Railway Museum, York, there is a model of a railway layout which was designed to train signalmen before they started actually working on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. it was constructed in 1912, and the trains, (so presumably the track, signals and other equipment) were supplied by Bassett-Lowke.

Bassett-Lowke was founded in Northampton, in the 1890s, by Wenman Joseph Bassett-Lowke, selling trains, ship models, and construction sets by mail order. Unlike Hornby, it bought in most of its models, though it did design and produce a few. It offered trains in every size, from the most usual `O` Gauge, up to large live steam models, the first of which was used on the Blackpool Miniature Railway, that is now in private hands, but a much smaller size railway layout that they designed and built can still be seen at the Bekonscot Model Village. 

The main thing about Bassett-Lowke was the excellence of their catalogues, yet sadly this was what led to their decline, for people would send off for a catalogue and go out hunting bargains in local shops and markets for less. In 1964 the company stopped selling by mail order and also sold their shops, to Beatties. That was the end, and Bassett-Lowke stopped trading in 1965. It was bought by a succession of private and company train enthusiasts, but in 1996 the name was bought by Corgi, who used it for a series of `O` Gauge trains, but did not really market it with gusto. Then in 2008, the unthinkable happened, and Corgi were taken over, by Hornby....

This set is first listed in our original Ogden`s reference book, RB.15, as 

• 121. 50.  MODERN RAILWAYS. fronts printed by letterpress in colour. Backs in grey, with descriptive text. Home issue, 1936. Similar series issued by Hignett. 

The Ogden`s version next appears in our original World Tobacco Issues Index as :

• MODERN RAILWAYS. Sm. Nd. (50) See Ha.571-11 ... O2/159

And the listing in the same book, concerning the Hignett version, is identical save the card code. 

The handbook reference, at that time, led to the one published by the London Cigarette Card Company , to accompany their catalogue for 1955, and the entries in that catalogue are quite telling, as they read : 

• HIGNETT  : 
                     Modern Railways (October 1936) - odds 1/-, sets 50/-
   
• OGDEN     : 
                     Modern Railways (1936)               - odds 6d,. sets 30/-

Sadly, months of issue were not recorded for the Ogden`s sets, but we presume, as the parent, that they preceded the Hignett ones. As for the difference in price, it is that more sets of Ogden`s cigarettes were sold, and over a wider area of the country, than the Hignett packets, so the Ogden`s sets were not just completed quicker by the consumer, but more duplicates were available for dealers to buy, or swap.

As for the handbook, that simply lists the eighteen series which were issued by both Hignett and Ogdens, which I am pretty certain are recorded elsewhere, but can`t seem to find. 

By the time of our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, gone is any reference to that handbook, the entry simply reads :

• MODERN RAILWAYS. Sm. Nd. (50)  ... O100-540

Friday, 20th February 2026

Here we have a feast for railway model collectors everywhere, a whole set which shows trains and sundry items from Bassett Lowke and Bing. Now we dealt with Bassett-Lowke yesterday, so today we will have a look at Bing. 

Gebruder Bing, or the brothers Bing, was founded in Nuremberg in 1863 as a company to make metal kitchen ware and utensils, but they diversified to make toys, and by 1905 could rightly claim to be the largest toy sellers in the world. Their range included boats, cars, trams, optical toys, tinplate models, stationery engines, and trains. 

Bing's first trains hit the market in the 1880's, and they were one of the first companies in the world to produce track, and also, slightly later, to offer railway buildings

In 1902 they introduced the first ever electric powered train.

In fact several of Bassett-Lowke`s trains were actually made by Bing - though Bing repainted them, on arrival, so they were in British liveries - and they also made trains for the toy store Gamages. Eventually Bassett-Lowke would save time by supplying Bing with the paintwork specs and also plans and drawings of the latest locomotives so they could be copied. 

Somehow, things went very bad in the 1920s, and in 1927 the President and his son jumped ship. And in 1932 the company went under. Its assets were all sold off to other manufacturers, even the name was sold.  However, when the president left, he bought another company making tinplate toys, and did a lot of work on improving the smaller sized  `00` gauge trains. He also trademarked a new name, "Trix" which then joined up once more with Bassett-Lowke, who distributed the trains in the UK, and would go on to produce them under license. He managed to leave Germany just in time, and move to England, where he died in 1940. 

In our original Godfrey Phillip Reference Book, RB.13, this set is lavishly described as : 

• 101.  25.  MODEL RAILWAYS. Small cards , size 67 x 35 m/m. Not numbered consecutively, but cards bear reference to numbers relating to B.D.V. gift scheme. Fronts printed by letterpress in colout. Backs in green, with recurring paragraph explaining how B.D.V. Coupons can be exchanged for items illustrated on the cards. Issued 1927. 

     Subjects (First line of BACKS) ;-

1. No.84. Circular Water Tower
2. No.60/624. Country Station
3. No.10/513/0. Crane Truck
4. No.1012. Double Road Tunnel Mouth (Bassett-Lowke) 194 Coupons
5. No.1003. Engine Shed (Bassett-Lowke) 840 Coupons
6. No.60/615. Gantry Signal
7. No.1006. Goods Depot (Bassett-Lowke) 630 Coupons. No. 10/637. Crane (Bing) 170 Coupons
8. No.62/230/0. Guard`s Van (Bing) 60 Coupons. No. 10/537/0. Barrel Waggon (Bing) 74 Coupons
9. G.W.R. “Vulcan” Locomotive
10. No.10/674. Level Crossing - Movable Gates (Bing) 170 Coupons. No. 10/616/1. Telegraph Pole (Bing) 50 Coupons. 
11. No.61. L.M.S. Bogey Brake 3rd. (Bassett-Lowke) 420 Coupons
12. No.1346 LM.S. Open 10 Ton …
13. No.95. L.M.S. Post Office
14. L.M.S. Scale-model Locomotive
15. No.134/33. Loco Coal Wagon
16. No.10/664/0. Mechanical Turn-Table (Bing) 280 Coupons
17. No.2. Model Hoarding
18. No.62/520/0. Motor Spirit...
19. No.9466/0. Parallel Points (Bing) 120 Coupons. 
20. No.10/529/0. Petrol Wagon (Bing) 87 Coupons. No.10/546/0. Timber Waggon (Bing) 114 Coupons.
21. No.951. Pick-Up Apparatus
22. No.10/.611/0/ Railway Bridge
23. No.1002. Signal Box
24. No.1020. Station Overbridge
25. No.60/61. Wayside Station.(Bing) - 210 Coupons. No.10/641. Lamp Standard with Ladder (Bing). 80 Coupons.

Actually I am a bit disappointed by this, I would have liked to have known what they cost in points, so I might add them in myself, in brackets, but not tonight... or not all of them tonight, anyway ! I did add one or two, and hit on the plan of making the original wording to appear in standard text, whilst the additions are in bold text. Doing this also allowed me to add in the makers of the models, and the fact that there are sometimes two models on one card. 

And once more it must be noted that the cards are not actually numbered, which leads to some of them causing confusion, most notably "No.2. Model Hoarding", which is not card 2, but model 2. And there are other double digit numbers too. 

As you may imagine, that amount of information was never going to make it into the original World Tobacco Issues Index, and you are right, for all it says is : 

• MODEL RAILWAYS. Sm. 67 x 35. Unnd. (25). See RB.13/101 ... P50-69

That is more or less repeated in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index, save a new card code and also a new reference book. relating to our updated Phillips reference book. That text therefore reads :

• MODEL RAILWAYS. Sm. 67 x 35. Unnd. (25). See RB.113/101 ... P521-342