Barber/Hairdresser in pre-war coaches

[William Medland]

Barber/Hairdesser Salon in pre-war coaches

hairdresser.PNG (332.03 KiB) Viewed 2079 times

"Bulldog Drummond at Bay" (1937)

Scene is from an express train travelling from London to Scotland (LMS or LNER).
As a collector of old films I am always on the lookout for scenes that include
railway topics, but I never knew that a hairdresser could have a salon in a coach.

Has anyone any further information?

Cheers, Bill

[Bufferstop]

Hi Bill - nice to hear from you again. Yes both LMS and LNER; had hairdressing salons on their top flight services. They also tried , at different times, cinema rooms, secretarial services, dictate - type - post, public radio telegraph and radio telephone. It's difficult to judge to what extent any of these were more than a trial for publicity purpose and might had history run differently have become a regular fixture.

[Bigmet]

These ideas had come from the USA, where before internal flights became established travel between major cities was in days. New York - Chicago took a day once 60mph average was possible, NY - LA three or four days, dependent on route. Plenty of entertainment and distractions required.

[William Medland]

Thanks for your answers Guys. I expect that this image would have been lost, had not for the Bulldog Drummond film having been made.

[Bufferstop]

Just noticed your location Bill. Is it a jolly place

[William Medland]

Thanks Bufferstop

For those that are wondering, I am an expat (former RAF) living in Germany.
I have worked the last 25 years with the German State Railways (Deutsche Bahn).

I collect early Triang, with my main interest in the 1950s.

Cheers, Bill.

[Bigmet]

Bill,

With that interest. do you have any insight into what puzzles me about the Triang range's wagons? The four wheelers crude and hopeless pastiches, but among the bogie vehicles some real models.

The bogie brick wagon a pretty accurate moulding for the GNR/LNER vehicle and the diamond frame bogies not a million miles adrift of prototype; just excuse the mounting rivets and the usual overheight, then standard in the range.
Likewise the Trestrol, a subject drawn from a group of specially constructed wagons built jointly between the LNER and LMS in the late 1930s; and again saving the bogie pivot rivets and overheight, actually pretty accurate, and a nifty piece of tooling for the undercut of the centre beam.
Similar comments apply to the bogie bolster C and the 'Murgatroyd/ICI' chlorine tanker.

Very odd that first they even tooled these real rarities, and secondly to a much higher standard than the four wheel wagons; when they had ample bogie wagon tools from the Lionel tie-in as used for the 'Transcontinental' items and exploding/helicoptering/side tipping novelties.

[William Medland]

Hi Bigmet,

Yes, some of the early four wheel open wagons and closed vans were very crude and and seemed top heavy.
This is because Triangs first goods wagons were from TRACKMASTER (1949-1951) tooling.

With the different running numbers and colour changes, I have built up a collection of about thirty
open wagon variants from the 1950s.

side view.JPG (178.49 KiB) Viewed 1999 times

Just in this example, both have different colours, different running numbers, flat or rounded buffers,
open or closed axle boxes, both have type Mk2b couplings there are several further variants.

triang types.JPG (155.12 KiB) Viewed 1999 times

Two different print types for "Triang", this and other variants help date an item almost to a month of production.

white.PNG (263.65 KiB) Viewed 1999 times

A lovely white variant with "GW" (after the first few months all open wagons had "NE" only).

This is the wrong part of the forum for this topic, but if there is an interest,
I would be willing to post some variants from my Triang collection.

[Bufferstop]

Hi Bill, certainly like to see some of the older Triang stuff, I'd say pre Tensionlock couplers might be a good guide as to "early stuff". Margate really should have corrected the buffer height either when they reworked the tooling, and certainly by the time they refined the wheel width and flanges during the Triang/Hornby period.

John W

[Lysander]

Bigmet - you are absolutely right about the brick wagon. It can be improved by simply fitting Ratio diamond frame bogies and absolutely transformed. I have a future project in mind for two or three of them: unusual prototypes rarely seen these days on layouts. I've notices prices creeping up on these too, recently.

Tony

[Lysander]

As this seems to have strayed rather happily into Triang wagons, how about this for a nice conversion - a Triang Trestrol bought at a recent sale for a fiver. It came nicely painted with metal wheels and a cast load. It awaits lettering. It'll become an NE item although the prototype was in fact built for BR.



It shows what can be done with some of Triang's output.

Tony

[William Medland]

Hi Tony, that Trestrol looks very smart.

[luckymucklebackit]

These ideas had come from the USA, where before internal flights became established travel between major cities was in days. New York - Chicago took a day once 60mph average was possible, NY - LA three or four days, dependent on route. Plenty of entertainment and distractions required.

Would anyone want a shave with a cutthroat razor while the train sways and rattles across the points, think I would pass on that one!

Jim

[glencairn]

Would anyone want a shave with a cutthroat razor while the train sways and rattles across the points, think I would pass on that one!

Jim

"What, Sir? Just because we are approaching Newcastle you say No!"

Anyone remember the track work approaching Newcastle Central Station?

Glencairn