Further to your London After Midnight having related toys, there was the diecast Crescent Tower Bridge, see photo.
Back in the 1950's the model came with two little diecast paddle steamers, mine has to make do with a 1950's lead destroyer.
Has anyone else got any Crescent toys?
Terranova47
USA
I like that! I have a Crescent models cruiser, and possibly also a submarine in lead. It is still possible to travel in a paddle steamer up the Thames and go under Tower Bridge- the preserved Waverley paddle steamer still (I think) does occasional trips there.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that both Crescent Toys and Eebee Toys made models of the Tower Bridge. I have no idea how you tell them apart. The small levers in the ramp sections raise and lower the central bridge span. A most unusual subject for a die-cast model.
ReplyDeleteIt was the same model.
DeleteA fond childhood memory is being taken down the Thames from Tower Pier, under Tower Bridge down to Southend and back on PS Royal Eagle. A few years ago we made a trip to the UK timed to take Waverley on the same trip. After £50 for a taxi from the hotel we arrived to find a hand written note on the locked pier gate saying Waverley was dead in the water. We watched her being towed away under Tower Bridge by a Port of London tug.
ReplyDeleteHard luck Terran with the Waverley being retired. That was a dear taxi ride too! Is that Southend on Sea or is there another one in London itself?
DeleteSouthend on Sea it was. Though it's still on the Thames Estuary. t has what was the longest pier in the world at over a mile in length because the water was so shallow. The pier was built for visiting paddle steamers.
DeleteThe good news is that the Waverley has been refurbished, and trips are planned for 2023. If you can make it, Terranova, it's a great, if long day out.
ReplyDeleteJust as long as Dick Turpin doesn't show up to collect the ticket money Andy like in Terran's bridge diorama! ha ha
DeleteI'm all for supporting Waverley but timing a UK trip around riding her will not be happening.
DeleteIs Captain Harlock based on Dick Turpin?
ReplyDeleteCaptain Harlock was a pirate, whereas Dick Turpin was a Highwayman specialising in robbing passengers of Mail Coaches. One of his claimed haunts in north London was about a quarter mile from where I grew up. It was always pretty difficult to take his legend seriously after the mock TV series on Monty Python with John Cleese as highwayman 'Dennis Moore'
ReplyDeleteHaha, don't remember Dennis Moore! I loved Monty Python.
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