Huge Meccano bridge

[Nick]

I spent many many hours building with my Gilbert "Erector" set ... I also had some parts from a much older Erector that my father got somewhere.  But no Meccano that I recall.

Alan, Meccano is sold in the US under the 'Erector' trademark, so what you recall was  Meccano!

...only since 1990 and I'm just guessing here, but I suspect that Alan was playing with Erector sets maybe a year or two before that

[Alan Douglas]

I believe my set was bought in 1948, when Gilbert was still a thriving business.

[Old Sparky]

Related to this, does anyone remember 'Trix' This was a metal construction kit similar to Meccano, but all the pieces were plated a bright silvery colour, and each strip had three rows of holes, hence the name 'Trix'. I had quite a bit of Trix in the early 1950s. It came in various packs. No idea what happened to mine, or what became of the firm who made it, for that matter

[Terry]

Oh yes! I remember Trix very well!

In the 50s my mum was bringing me and my brother up on a Widowed Mother's Pension and money was very tight.

So, no bikes, no model railways, no Meccano which, although you could buy parts separately, was expensive to get started ...

One day I spotted the Trix system in a local toy shop. The beauty of it was that it was based on individual Units of useful parts that cost five shillings each. So no high initial outlay. One Unit was enough to get started in a modest way and there was a free choice about which Unit(s) to buy next ...

We started off with the basic units and worked our way up until we got to Unit 'E' ...

Unit 'E' contained a solenoid, a soft iron core, brass contacts, a gong and a fibre insulating piece amongst other bits. So, add a Winner 9V Grid Bias Battery (1/9d) with integral sockets on every cell, a couple of wander plugs and a few bits of wire and I had a wonderful time!

A buzzer, a shocking machine, a bell - not to mention switches - all made from the one kit!

This was the beginning of my interest in things electrical which veered, in the course of time, along the path of what today is called electronics.

A good overview of the UK system can be found here: http://www.trix-metaal.nl/Manuals/Ingeni...index.html

No plates, no colours and a very small number of gears, etc., so no way could it match up to Meccano for versatility but what it enabled you to do, it did very well ...

Trix also sold Trix Twin Railways. These were three-rail, like Hornby at the time, but with a difference: The wheels were insulated from the axles so that power could be obtained from the centre rail and either the left or right running rail. This enable two trains, each with its own controller, to run independently on the same track. Unfortunately, unlike their counterparts, they made no attempt at resembling the real thing, the basic loco being a somewhat chunky body on an 0-4-0 chassis - a bit like a copy of the simple clockwork trains that we all - including me! - grew up with!

I knew a couple of friends who had them but who had no interest in the 'twin' concept whereas most of my contemporaries wanted something that looked like the real thing!

[Old Sparky]

Terry, You have refreshed my memory as to Trix. I had several of their 5/- units, biought one at a time, given to me as Christmas/Birthday Presents. I'd forgotten that Basset - Lowke was behind it, though. That being the case, I wonder why their model locomotives (never had the Trix ones) weren't more realistic. Getting back to the constructional kits, I recall building that Motor described in the Manual

[Alan Douglas]

Wow, a six-foot-tall pendulum clock from Trix parts? (page 109 of the manual)