THE COMBAT MAN TRAIN DOWN SHERWOOD FOREST

 We're just back from a weekend away in the pleasant River Trent countryside around Newark in Nottinghamshire down the road from Sherwood Forest.

Newark has a large castle ruin, a big river with very fine slow cruises [we enjoyed it a lot] and many good shops, including, yes .... charity shops!

Despite the number of charities, I was only tempted to buy a bundle of seven old Conan the Barbarian comics for seven quid.

The car boot sale down the road at Sherwood Forest [Robin Hood jokes welcomed!] was better and I came away with a few die-casts for Junior and me, two Sontarans and a neat boxed Combat Man Military Train set, which was my fave purchase.

I know the Combat Man brand from my interest in knockoff Action Man figures. Its a Mego/Lion Rock line from the late 70's/early 80's and was essentially a 7-inch articulated male figure, like the earlier Little Big Man, with loads of carded WWII uniforms. There were also small plastic soldier sets and my Military Train Set [with Chug Chug Sound!] is one of these, although it wasn't released with small plastic soldiers. There is no Mego or Lion Rock branding on it all.

The UK Combat Man brand mark is like a soldier's dog-tag and often says 'and his adventures in World War II'. Lion Rock also issued it as 'Johnny Action' in the US. It was re-branded in many other countries and the Mego Museum lists them all here https://www.megomuseum.com/lionrock/index.html

It's sister set is a vehicle set, which does contain small plastic soldiers and a missile launcher not unlike the Merehall one many of us have in our own collections.

Trafalgar Toys, as seen on this box from an online auction, were likely the importers.

My Combat Man train set is all complete but doesn't work. I'll need to scrape off the old battery acid from the battery unit contacts in the big loco and give it a rejuvenating dose of WD40.

The previous owner, no doubt a pesky youngster [I ask you! ha ha], had stuck a load of stickers on the rooves of the two main carriages, so I'm currently soaking them in my special perfect-fit carriage soaking bath.

As soon as this train set is ready for combat operations I'll alert Moonbase readers stat!

Oh, and like the Conan comics, it was 7 pounds.

Any good?