S U P E R T R A I N

 I'm only just learning about NBC's 1979 Supertrain series for the first time.

I thought it was a model kit but it was an American TV show.

Supertrain was like Love Boat but on tracks.

The late Seventies show's set reminds me of Derek Meddings and his team years earlier.

If its a model for TV it looks darn real to me. The team made two models for outside filming and a huge indoor one. They cost NBC $10 Million!

Sleek, sharp and low. It recalls Hot Wheels' Hot Tracks trains! Despite its fabulous looks, the show was panned.

But what a fantastic model those model makers made! It was the costliest TV show in America at the time.

Yep, that really looks like a Thunderbirds set now!

Unlike Thunderbirds, Supertrain is ranked as one of the worst TV shows of all time and has been consigned to that big folder marked Flop.

Wiki say more about it. I imagine there's a book out there too. I wonder where the models ended up?

Have you seen Supertrain?

Novo Big Big Jungle Train

As a young train driver aged 6 I adored my Triang Big Big Train. It's without doubt my fave toy train of all time and possibly my only toy train as my career was very short! Alas my toy set eventually went to the big big train yard in the sky.

So, I was intrigued to see what I thought was a Big Big Train at a boot sale this summer. It was in a large photo box and branded NOVO, not a make I know or when it was released. You?

Here's some NOVO train footage on YouTube on someone's driveway which is rather neat!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=okbxoee3GjM&feature=share

There's also a few snaps online of NOVO including this boxed Jungle Set on Ebay, which is like the one I saw at a sale.

So are NOVO and Triang Big Big Trains related readers? Did you, do you have any of these wonderful plastic toys? Pictures and videos welcomed!

BIG BIG TRAIN: THE WEBSITE

Oh Wow!

I loved my Big Big Train as a kid. Did you?

Check out this fan's ace website!

https://www.thebigbigtrain.com/documents/

ALIENS ON A TRAIN

I'm not a toy train guy but I can totally see the appeal.

I did have a Big Big Train when I was a kid though and adored the thing!

Space-related trains like Battle Space! do interest me and here's a really neat home made clip I saw on YT about aliens and trains. 

They look a bit like Battle Space! trains. Does anyone recognise them?

There's some cool rockets and radars in there too.

Film made by tmbooks. Have you made anything like this?

BIG BIG TRAIN MYSTERY

At Doncaster Toy Fair recently I saw three versions of the Big Big Train toy: Tri-ang, Nova and the Timpo Prairie Rocket.

As a kid in the Sixties I'm pretty sure I had the Tri-ang Big Big Train.

Does anyone know the story behind these 3 versions? Was Tri-ang the original?

IT'S THAT BIG BIG TRAIN AGAIN!

Here's some cool home movie You Tube footage, courtesy of electron1100, of one of my fave toys as as a kid in the Sixties and probably my only dabble into the steamy world of trains! Maybe it was a birthday prezzy, I can't remember!

Yes, it's that clunky set for plastic toy fans, a fairweather loco, The Big Big Train by SpaceX creators Triang. We've featured it many times on this blog and Scoop has a set and I think Bill may have one now! Its a Big Big hit at Moonbase Central!

It has Gerry Anderson form too, having cameo'd in Last train to Bufflers Halt, an episode of the Secret Service. Alas I can't find a clip of the toy being used. Can you readers?

THE BIG BIG TRAIN

While we were  at the Dinky Fair the other week, Woodsy pointed out  to me this large plastic Diesel model, and  insisted it was like one that was used in Gerry Anderson's Secret Service. 

Well, of course, he was absolutely spot on. The episode was' Last Train To Bufflers Halt' and the model used was the Blue Flyer Locomotive from The Big Big Passenger Train set by Triang.

Needless to say I bought it, along with some track and a couple of carriages. Not being a train buff I thought I'd better gen up on my new found treasure.

These are some pictures from Bill, who, not surprisingly was also fully aware of the Big Big Train toy.

Anyway, for anyone else like me who was unaware of this toy here's a brief history. 

The Big Big Train is an O gauge system produced by Tri-ang  in 1966. These continued to be made until 1972. The larger, but less detailed scale and robust plastic design meant it was ideal for younger children and anyone wanting to fix and run their model railway outdoors.

When production ceased, the tools were bought by Novo toys, who restarted manufacture in the USSR from 1975 to 1980.

My example is that type.

This battery powered toy also boasted a unique switch system which, when using a device attached to the track could flip the engine into reverse. 

Anyway, once I got mine working, I figured the best way to showcase my Big Big Train was to film it in action.

Hope you like it.