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Our childhood toys

John L said:
I had so many hours of fun with my Escalado game, sixty odd years ago (which I think was originally my Dad's). It had a metal box base and the track itself was metal, and it moved with the winder. There were 4 lead horses, I often wonder what happened to it.

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yep thats it john..clamp it to the table and away we go..pretty sure ours had 6 horses and they were lead...we had hours of fun...happy days

lyn
 
The advert for it hooked you in. Like The Battle Of The Little Big Horn hooked me in. I never worked out how to play it & the plastic pieces were really cheap.
I preferred my cowboys & Indians on horse back, which ended up just the horses. I had the Native American Indian chief,( hope I am not offending, ) with his removable headress and another figure with a removable stock pot. My parents would buy me a figure every so often. Not like now.
 
I Am Nico said:
The advert for it hooked you in. Like The Battle Of The Little Big Horn hooked me in. I never worked out how to play it & the plastic pieces were really cheap.
I preferred my cowboys & Indians on horse back, which ended up just the horses. I had the Native American Indian chief,( hope I am not offending, ) with his removable headress and another figure with a removable stock pot. My parents would buy me a figure every so often. Not like now.
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Amazing how satisfied and pleased we were to get a single figure once in awhile. I collected Coldstream Guards on horseback (made out of lead and leaded paint) I wasn’t told they could make me sick so I didn’t.
 
Again I was hooked by an advert for a toy locomotive, with a cow catcher on the front

It was quite big, tin, green, red removable cow catcher, I liked removable things. My gran got it me from Woolworths. I think she enjoyed buying it. She said she asked the manager to demonstrate it imagine finding a manager now! let alone a demo! A crowd followed her in the shop "and he called madam!" she said. I was grateful as she never had any money.
It was one that made a chuffing noise with a hooter? Like Pardon me boy, is that the Chatanooga Choo Choo wooo! wooo! That noise. But it had 2 wheels on a disc on the base so it never went in a straight line and it never caught any cows & the cat thought it was after him.
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I Am Nico said:
Again I was hooked by an advert for a toy locomotive, with a cow catcher on the front

It was quite big, tin, green, red removable cow catcher, I liked removable things. My gran got it me from Woolworths. I think she enjoyed buying it. She said she asked the manager to demonstrate it imagine finding a manager now! let alone a demo! A crowd followed her in the shop "and he called madam!" she said. I was grateful as she never had any money.
It was one that made a chuffing noise with a hooter? Like Pardon me boy, is that the Chatanooga Choo Choo wooo! wooo! That noise. But it had 2 wheels on a disc on the base so it never went in a straight line and it never caught any cows & the cat thought it was after him.
..
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This is a Chatanooga Choo Choo! It is a part of the Chatanooga Mountain Valley Railroad. A couple of years ago for Christmas, our son and his wife gave us dinner (white linen tablecloths) on a two-hour train ride pulled by a sister locomotive. This was taken in the CMVR yard near the station.
 
Richard Dye said:
View attachment 191279
This is a Chatanooga Choo Choo! It is a part of the Chatanooga Mountain Valley Railroad. A couple of years ago for Christmas, our son and his wife gave us dinner (white linen tablecloths) on a two-hour train ride pulled by a sister locomotive. This was taken in the CMVR yard near the station.
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Morturn said:
I did a bit of that too. Managed to make it go up, then it turned and hit the ground and smashed to pieces. Hours of work gone in less than a second.
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Did you have a Mobil petrol kite, we took mine to Burton Dassett I think dad & grabdad enjoyed it more than me. But I was happy seeing them happy together as Nan never liked dad, he couldn't do anything right in her eyes .
 
Dad treated us to candy floss on holiday and then made a small kite from the sticks and newspaper! It did fly a little. I used to run up the beach with my brother's kite and he would shout when it was time to let go and launch it. Mine was plastic and pretty useless but my cousin had a box-kite which was very good.
 
rosie said:
Dad treated us to candy floss on holiday and then made a small kite from the sticks and newspaper! It did fly a little. I used to run up the beach with my brother's kite and he would shout when it was time to let go and launch it. Mine was plastic and pretty useless but my cousin had a box-kite which was very good.
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Too sweet now! Amazed how it appeared from nowhere. I remember the box kites always seemed to be brown? You had to be a good runner!
 
I Am Nico said:
The advert for it hooked you in. Like The Battle Of The Little Big Horn hooked me in. I never worked out how to play it & the plastic pieces were really cheap.
I preferred my cowboys & Indians on horse back, which ended up just the horses. I had the Native American Indian chief,( hope I am not offending, ) with his removable headress and another figure with a removable stock pot. My parents would buy me a figure every so often. Not like now.
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Do you remember Brittain figures if my spelling is correct. If i remember even the cowboy figures you could remove the guns and other parts and the made Knights on horseback all with parts you could swap over. Very well made 1960s i think.
 
Time Traveller 66 said:
Do you remember Brittain figures if my spelling is correct. If i remember even the cowboy figures you could remove the guns and other parts and the made Knights on horseback all with parts you could swap over. Very well made 1960s i think.
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I remember the Britains figures very well. Only had a few myself as a child [late 40/early50s] - quite pricey. But my two sons had quite a collection between them in the 1980s - they still have them. They also had quite a collection of farm animals, farm equipment etc. and yes they were very well made. Now owned by an American company and I think they only make farming items now.

Incidentally, some of the early boxed military sets in good condition are worth quite a lot!
 
Time Traveller 66 said:
Do you remember Brittain figures if my spelling is correct. If i remember even the cowboy figures you could remove the guns and other parts and the made Knights on horseback all with parts you could swap over. Very well made 1960s i think.
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I had a Britain's farm and lots of animals for birthday/Christmas presents off people and exotic animals. And the cowboys I had their lariat's and lasooes came off and the guns and hats and the Native Americans headdresses, also had a wooden fort my parents got on tick with crusaders some on horseback with removable lances. I don't know who makes them but in France you can still get them, the scale looks the same.Our friend's grandson had a cheesemaking set like they would on a French farm in miniature. Another friend over there collects anything and everything. She has a set of Native American Indians and various others like ancient Britons going in to battle, they are metal and realistically painted but they are flat. She has a bow fronted English grocers shop too. The list is endless.
 
superdad3 said:
I remember the Britains figures very well. Only had a few myself as a child [late 40/early50s] - quite pricey. But my two sons had quite a collection between them in the 1980s - they still have them. They also had quite a collection of farm animals, farm equipment etc. and yes they were very well made. Now owned by an American company and I think they only make farming items now.

Incidentally, some of the early boxed military sets in good condition are worth quite a lot!
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We rarely kept our boxes did we!
 
There was a song out then, Cowboys and Indians Cowboys and Indians, We played in the playground hollering with our hands warbling over our mouths wowowowowowowowo! and the invisible guns, pyow! pyow! Too! too!f then the Tommy guns. a a a a a a a a a ! till the evil dinner ladies waded in.
 
I Am Nico said:
I had a Britain's farm and lots of animals for birthday/Christmas presents off people and exotic animals. And the cowboys I had their lariat's and lasooes came off and the guns and hats and the Native Americans headdresses, also had a wooden fort my parents got on tick with crusaders some on horseback with removable lances. I don't know who makes them but in France you can still get them, the scale looks the same.Our friend's grandson had a cheesemaking set like they would on a French farm in miniature. Another friend over there collects anything and everything. She has a set of Native American Indians and various others like ancient Britons going in to battle, they are metal and realistically painted but they are flat. She has a bow fronted English grocers shop too. The list is endless.
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Like you said they made loads of different figures from different ages and were well made wish i still had them.
 
My Nan kept everything in it's original box like her iron, neck clippers, fairy lights. I remember when toy boxes without dangerous unopenable wire grips . The toys were kept in place by formed carboard. Our grandchikdren keep their boxes if they are like rooms of a house.
 
I will try & look the make out we have a sheep donkey & cow in the nativity manger that didnt come with it, I bought those 30 odd years ago & again for our grandson about 10 years ago but I don't see them now.
 
But I have playing cards in their original boxes & 2 board games in wooden boxes buy I posted them before , they were my great great aunt's who ran a childrens' home. I had a sort of satchel from it but smaller but it went mouldy which she kept coloured pencils in & a wire stick with tiny wooden blocks which twirled, it was to do the football pools with.
 
Time Traveller 66 said:
Do you remember Brittain figures if my spelling is correct. If i remember even the cowboy figures you could remove the guns and other parts and the made Knights on horseback all with parts you could swap over. Very well made 1960s i think.
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Yes britains swoppets by herald Knights and civil war the ones with pistols in holsters were timpo
i still have a field piece and rebel crew and a rebel infantry man wearing a butter nut tunic good detail for 1966
 
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