[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

My friend Ron visits England every other year, and he’ll often bring me an interesting something from his trip. About four years ago, he handed me a box. Full of Micromodels. Old Micromodels. Really old Micromodels.

I was happy to get them, as I only had a couple of examples at the time. He was a bit apologetic for their condition, but I told him I was happy that they had survived at all. He found them in a boot sale, somewhere, and knew nothing about them. So, what follows is conjecture on my part.

I believe they were built by a boy between 10 and 12 years old. And while he made some errors in cutting and alignment, I certainly can’t fault his enthusiasm. There are about thirty models in this collection, and there may have been more. He used balsa as stiffeners for the floors and footplates of the cars and locomotives. But he didn’t reinforce the trucks, and many of the wheels have collapsed over the years. Judging by the fading seen on some of the models, he kept them on a windowsill for quite some time. Eventually his early railroading days were over, and the models were boxed up and sent to the attic.

I don’t know when they were built, but I think it was postwar. Also, I haven’t tracked down exactly which models they are. I recognize the steam shovel and the work train is interesting, but the rest?

Thanks Tapcho for inspiring me to finally photograph and share these old paper model survivors. And now, it’s back in the box for someone else to discover.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog