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dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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--33 Mechanical Horse and Five Assorted Trailers

I had also posted this some time ago, but decided to update with some new photos. This is the #33 Mechanical Horse and Five Assorted Trailers, and was made only from 1935-1937. After that Meccano decided to drop the cargo trailer, so it was still numbered 33, but was now the Mechanical Horse and Four Assorted Trailers. I bought this many years ago from Keith Harvey, and he said that this was the nicest version he had of this classic little set, so it is the prize of my Dinky collection.
What is really wonderful is that there is absolutely no sign of fatigue in any of the pieces and even the original white tires are in great shape and not even cracked. Later versions had the petrol tank trailer with the Esso name on it. The box is also in excellent condition, so apparently this little set was packed away for many years and never played with, so no wear at all.
Terry

 

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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Lovely pictures of lovely models, Terry.
Colourful and bright.
Great so see so much improvement in your photography within a short time!
Best regards, Jan

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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What a beauty !

There were three different packing pieces and two different lids for the set.

1) The packing piece is of purple card printed with :
MECCANO
DINKY TOYS
No. 33
The box lid is as Terry's.

2) The set is as Terry's, the packing piece reads :
MECCANO DINKY TOYS No. 33
200 varieties
MECHANICAL HORSE

3) The packing piece now reads :
MECHANICAL HORSE
DINKY TOYS No. 33
250 VARIETIES
Manufactured in England by
MECCANO LTD., LIVERPOOL

The lid label has Manufactured in England by MECCANO LTD., LIVERPOOL in a white oval.

hoort's picture
hoort
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Terry,
Lovely set, must be one of the best surviving! And very nice pictures as well! My set, which is not near as nice, I think contains the Esso tank trailer. If it does, I will post it.

Kind regards,
Rob

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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Rob--
Thanks, and would love to see your set as well when you get time to post it. I did some searching this afternoon in the old Meccano Magazines, to see when this set first appeared, and it shows up first time in the June, 1935 issue, where Meccano is claiming over "150 varieties". The August issue is the first one where they now claim "200 varieties". In the May, 1937 issue, the Mechanical Horse with Four Trailers makes its first appearance, so the original version with five trailers was made for less than two years..........at least according to the Meccano Magazine. Jacques....thank you also for your always knowledgeable comments!
Below are some older closeup photos I took of the individual trailers.....

Terry

 

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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Terry, your as new 1930s models demonstrate clearly that despite unusual careful treatment, without playing with, or even touching the models the silver plate of the hubs tends to just disappear in the course of time. Kind regards, Jan

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Terry,
What a lovely set, and box! It is so unusual these days to see Pre War models virtually as they were when new, as Jan says they are of such an age now that even those untouched for several decades are dull and in some cases fatigued.
Reminds us just how lovely these really were back in the '30's.
Chris Warr.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

There is a set with four assorted trailers. Somewhat difficult to show as the front cannot be opened.

In 1937 both sets were available as my Dutch pricelist shows. Guilders 1,75 for the set with 5 trailers, Guilders 1,40 with four trailers. Small box, green, yellow insert 250 varities, no label on lid.

John.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Details at side of the box with four assorted trailers.

John.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Details of the lid with five assorted trailers. My box is the same as shown above.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

For those who want to know when a specific model or set was introduced, I made a list from the pre war Meccano Magazines with all the details from Dinky Toys advertising pages.
Go to sitemap and you find a list with all information on this site.
Go to Meccano Magazines
Go to 1932-1945 Dinky toys advertising
You can download now the complete list.
John.

hoort's picture
hoort
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi Terry,

Here is my set as promised. With Esso marking on the tanker trailer. And with a covered trailer in stead of the flat trailer in yours.

Kind regards,
Rob

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Terry, Rob,
The box van in the set is standard Meccano. The Hornby trains van I have never seen in this set 33. Esso tanker is most common however I have also seen plans tankers, could be made up?
As far as I know these never was a covered trailer for the serie 33. Not in any pre war pricelist or catalogue. It must be the tilt from lorry 25.
Here is my original set 33.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hornby trains advertising on van 33. This livery is not very common and harder to find.
John.

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi John,very nice example! Are all hubs of the same colour? If not, do tractor and trailer of this example belong to each other in your opinion? Regards, Jan

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi all,

Why the 25 Tin tilt was never used on the 33 is beyond me, it looks great, and it's unlike Meccano to miss a free new model variation!

Used backwards a nice rear cover is available too...

50 years old and still playing with my Dinky Toys ;)

Chris Warr

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands
starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Jan,
Damn. I knew I must have posted those pictures here before :laugh:
CW

hoort's picture
hoort
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hi all,

My set is most likely made up, as the wheel color on the horse and the box van is not similar and a covered trailer was never produced. Apart from the tilt all trailers and the horse are pre war and the box is original, so I am happy with it!

Kind regards,
Rob

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Hallo Jan,
De van Hornby en de Horse horen niet bij elkaar.
The Hornby box van and the Mechanical Horse do not match on the wheel colors. I bought the Van as a single item and made a picture with one of my spare Horses.
To find a picture of the Meccano van and Hornby trains in pre war Meccano documents is not easy.
Pictured in pre war catalogues and Meccano booklets is always the LMS van.
33R is Railways Mechanical Horse and trailer van, LMS, LNER, GWR, SR at 1/6.
33Ra is Mechanical horse at 8d, I presume with advertising as above.
33Rd is trailer van at 10d, with advertising.
33D is the trailer without advertising at 8d, so the trailer without advertising was 2d cheaper. The trailer without advertising is also pictured in most catalogues and leaflets.

I have just found one small picture of the Meccano trailer in a Meccano Instructions book for set 4-6 from 1937. On page 41 is the description of a bridge in Sidney and on the bridge are some Dinky toys, Fire engine, Lorry and a Mechanical horse with advertising Meccano.
From the Hornby trains advertising I did not find a picture until now. Same with LNER, GWR and SR. So if somebody finds one in a Instruction book or Hornby book of trains, please let me know.
This is my Meccano trailer van. John

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Picture of all the Trailer vans with advertising.

John.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Picture from the Meccano instructions with Horse and box van Meccano.
John.

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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DTCA MemberUSA

John--
I do not see an image or picture???

Terry

janwerner's picture
janwerner
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

(John, bij nader inzien heb ik het plaatje maar voor je geupload, inclusief een uitsnede!)

This is the picture John intended to post. Apparently it needed to be converted into a different format:

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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Jan
Thanks for re-posting that so that we could enjoy seeing it. As John said, Dinky did not show these very much in any printed matter, so that was neat to see on a layout.
Terry

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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DTCA MemberFrance

John,

Nice pictures but which is the tourer next to the van ? It looks like the French 22a or c Roadster Sports but this model is left hand drive when the picture shows a right hand drive car.

john45
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DTCA MemberNetherlands

Jan,
Thanks very much for your help, it is a nice picture.

Jacques, it is a Liverpool 22g if I compare with my models. However the artist did not a very good job on the model. Windscreen is straight and not split, rearcover for the wheel is not present and the position of the steering wheel seems to be wrong.
I keep searching these rare pictures.
John.

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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Here is one of my Mechanical Horse and railroad livery enclosed trailer with a couple of pre-war railroad workers to add some interest. I love these pre-war figures, with their amazing details, that got lost after the war....
Terry

 

starni999
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DTCA MemberUK

Hi Terry,
Ah, they are beautiful, you're right, they weren't the same after the War, some of the real charm of these was lost, that's why I love Pre War so much.
To modern eyes the Men look a bit too large, but in reality the Mech Horse was actually quite small, to work in very tight spaces I suppose.
Chris Warr.

dinkyfan's picture
dinkyfan
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Chris
I think the real Mechanical Horse was pretty small, so those Dinky figures might be pretty close......close enough anyway! With so many different scales used by Meccano, it is sometimes either difficult or amusing to mix them.....
Terry

dinkycollect's picture
dinkycollect
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The mechanical horse was 1/48 or 1/4" like a lot of other Dinky Toys and Supertoys. If the proptotype of the 35 mm high figures was 1,68 m then the scale of those figures is also 1/48.

The Dinky Toys mechanical horse is not a very realistic model as the three wheels are much to big they should be about half that size and the trailers should be four wheelers.

Photographed at the National Railway Museum York on June 28, 2007.

The railway companies had a fleet of horse drawn trailers and the mechanical horse was designed to pull these. Hence the name mechanical horse. Only three Karrier horses are known to survive.

When the next model of mechanical horse was designed by Scammell, all the wooden carts were obsolete and the tiny wheels were not necessary any more. The new types were all fitted with the Scammell patented automatic coupling like the Dinky Toys Hindle Smart Electric truck ref. 421 the wheel size of wich is correct.

Unfortunately in the National Railway Museum in York the horse and the trailer are exhibited at a distance, they should be brought back together to explain the origin of the word "Mechanical Horse" and to show why the wheels of the horse are so small.

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