Latest Dinky pre-war acquisitioins....33R Mech. Horse and RR vans

It took a couple of months to complete this, but today the last pieces arrived. This is the 33R series of 4 Rail Road livery vans that Dinky issued from 1935 until 1941. This was never sold as a set unto itself in one box, but a set it is, and I decided since there were only 4 versions to acquire, it was feasible. The problem is finding any or all of these in really nice condition. These seem to be plagued by considerable fatigue in many examples, and it is especially common to see these with the front windshield pillars totally missing. These 4 examples I recently procured are all in at least good condition, and a couple are near excellent. A couple show some minimal fatigue, but it appears arrested and not a structural threat. With the exception of one (the GWR), the paint is in very good condition....nice and bright and very few scratches. Here they are: Terrythis first one is one of my favorites...the LNER livery in bright mid blue...I love the color. The problem with this one is that the tug and trailer are not matched..one has white tires and the other has black. s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] the next one is the LMS livery, in maroon and black. This one is excellent s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/media/Dinky ] s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] the next one is the Southern Railway livery, in green and black and is also very nice. s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] the last one is the GWR livery, in brown with cream. This one has some paint deterioration and someone also painted one set of the wheels a different color. s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...nky%20Toys%20Pre-War ] s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...anical%20Horse%20set ] and lastly, here is a photo of all 4 of them together.......... s929.photobucket.com/user/thardgrave/med...nky%20Toys%20Pre-War ]

Absolutely wonderful!! I too am trying to get this set, so far I have SR and LMS complete, a GWR cab, and no LNER at all. You are right that they suffer terribly from fatigue, I have a spare SR cab that is losing it's roof. SR seems to be the hardest to find in good condition. Some have been repainted in the far past by 0 Gauge railway modellers too, so even those that survive are often customised. You have done very well indeed getting these. Chris Warr.

What a beautiful set! You only needed a couple of months to complete this? I could imagine it taking years to find such nice examples! I don't collect pre-war Dinkies, but I certainly appreciate their charm. I did pick up a pre-war Dinky tram last weekend, although it wasn't in great condition. One set of wheels is missing (which luckily doesn't actually show that much!). The casting is sound and one side displays quite well, while the other one appears to be scorched, scars from a lucky escape at some time in the past? At a price of 6 I can't really complain about the faults, and I am very happy to have found it. I see it as a tiny piece of history.

Does anyone know which real tram this represents? It looks quite similar to the one-off 1932 London County Council No. 1, known as Bluebird, but I don't know much at all about non-London trams. Despite the Dinky only having 4 wheels, it is clearly based on a bogie car.

Chris-- Thanks...it was pretty special to be able to pick these up. After I was able to get the wonderful Mechanical Horse and 5 trailers last year, I suddenly thought that this little set would make a nice accompaniment, so I now have a nice collection of pre-war Mechanical Horse items. I knew that you had some of these and are working on finding the others....good luck and hopefully they will turn up for you! Terry

Fred--Thank you also.....it is always fun to show off any new Dinky acquisitions, and this one was special for me.That is a very nice tram you got. I have never seen those before, but they also exude pre-war 'charm' and sure looks like a special piece for you. Terry

Just received this latest acquisition a few weeks ago.It is the #4 Engineering Staff set, issued from 1939 through 1941. There was an earlier set, from 1932 through 1939, that used larger size figures. This one is still in good condition, with the figures showing only slight wear. The box is not in quite as good as condition, but still presentable and always interesting.Besides the set itself, I have also include several closeups of the figures, once again showing the great detail that Meccano bestowed on these pre-war figures. The painting detail is simply amazing...suspender straps, neck ties, noses and eyes painted in. I have even included some side by side pictures of these early figures along with the postwar equivalents.....just to show the difference in the paint detail. Terry