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The 40 is 40016, I am ashamed to say I will have to have a look at the 46.. i am pretty sure its 46019.Simon.exd - great story, which locos were the panels from?
Ian1944 - that sounds excellent. What other destinations are on the blind? Are there any from further afield?
Sorry for restarting this thread, but does anyone know of anything remotely like this today? There probably isn't anything, is there?
Sorry,
-Peter
Very true. The joy of it was that even as a spotty teenager with a couple of quid in your pocket you could still leave with something interesting tucked into your bag.There's plenty of places that sell railwayana privately, but Collector's Corner was effectively a BR surplus shop, and as such, no, there's nothing like it.
I don't know how current companies dispose of surplus items, but there's actually far less stuff about now, as many of the working documents BR produced are now only circulated electronically, and many working practices have changed to the point that there's much less stuff around that would generate interest.
Thanks. I know GWR sell stuff (occasionally surplus stuff, posters, window labels) so I'll just keep my eye on that stuff.There's plenty of places that sell railwayana privately, but Collector's Corner was effectively a BR surplus shop, and as such, no, there's nothing like it.
I don't know how current companies dispose of surplus items, but there's actually far less stuff about now, as many of the working documents BR produced are now only circulated electronically, and many working practices have changed to the point that there's much less stuff around that would generate interest.
The joy of it was that even as a spotty teenager with a couple of quid in your pocket you could still leave with something interesting tucked into your bag.
I only wish that I’d been able to go in there with a bit of adult wages in my pocket and purchase something more substantial than old droplight destination papers or depot stickers etc...
There was some amazing stuff in there.
E-bay has plenty of railwayana. Far too easy to get carried away!Sorry for restarting this thread, but does anyone know of anything remotely like this today? There probably isn't anything, is there?
Sorry,
-Peter
Yes it does - I have bought quite a bit from eBay. The thing is, as you have said, it is far too easy to start buying things you don't want/need!E-bay has plenty of railwayana. Far too easy to get carried away!
Interesting - sounds very cool! I wish that TOCs today sold things like BR did at Collector's Corner. How cool would it be to have a part of a GWR HST, even if it is only a sticker?I still have an INTERCITY (swallow) burgundy leather card holder I bought in Collector’s Corner in the mid-90s. I remember buying a ‘Press and pull down to open’ window sticker which I attached to my bedroom window too...
Very cool! I like that. If only TOCs could do that today...In the mid-1980s (1986, I think) I saw workmen removing the British Railways Eastern Region blue fascia sign from my local station, Hitchin, dating from the 1950s I believe. It was replaced by a smaller white plastic sign.
The workmen said it would go to Collectors Corner, so I wrote to ask them to let me know when it had arrived, as I was interested in buying it. About 2 months later they wrote saying it had arrived, and they’d sell it to me for £40 - not a bad price for a 14’ long sign (albeit in 3 sections).
Got a few strange looks walking down Euston Road with it on a trolley (I’d found a Kings Cross trolley at Euston, so was helping to return it), and then put it in the guards van of a 312 back to Hitchin. Quite a few surprised people to see it back at the station, albeit briefly before transported home.
Well done @alholmes, that’s the winning post of this thread so far I reckon.In the mid-1980s (1986, I think) I saw workmen removing the British Railways Eastern Region blue fascia sign from my local station, Hitchin, dating from the 1950s I believe. It was replaced by a smaller white plastic sign.
The workmen said it would go to Collectors Corner, so I wrote to ask them to let me know when it had arrived, as I was interested in buying it. About 2 months later they wrote saying it had arrived, and they’d sell it to me for £40 - not a bad price for a 14’ long sign (albeit in 3 sections).
Got a few strange looks walking down Euston Road with it on a trolley (I’d found a Kings Cross trolley at Euston, so was helping to return it), and then put it in the guards van of a 312 back to Hitchin. Quite a few surprised people to see it back at the station, albeit briefly before transported home.
Wasn't there a branch of Collectors Corner in a shop in Rougier Street, York at one time? I am sure I bought a pair of old ticket clippers there. I think it opened after the main Euston office had closed, and the prices were considerably higher than in Euston. My main memory of the Euston Collectors Corner is of a huge, draughty old warehouse-type building, containing mountains of old working timetables and similar tatt, with a few interesting nuggets here and there. But I suppose one man's nugget is another's tatt, and vice-versaThe pub next to York Station (on the right as you look from the road) used to be a York branch of Collectors Corner - before it became the "Railriders" HQ.
Wasn't there a branch of Collectors Corner in a shop in Rougier Street, York at one time? I am sure I bought a pair of old ticket clippers there. I think it opened after the main Euston office had closed, and the prices were considerably higher than in Euston.
The shop began life in a converted stable block near Euston in 1969. It sold anything and everything to do with the railways, from gear cogs to hat pins. Tucked down a cul de sac, it was invisible to most of London, but train buffs knew exactly where to find it.
Then, like so many offshoots of British Rail, the shop's future was thrown into doubt by rail privatisation. It looked certain to close before National Railway Supplies (NRS) stepped in.
NRS, which has its York works on Leeman Road, makes everything a modern railway needs, from level crossing barriers to computerised signals. Formed as a result of a management buy-out, it now has a £70 million turnover.
It might seem odd that such a high-tech firm should buy a shop devoted to a previous railway era. But the directors clearly saw a future for the marketing of the past. Geoff Hawkins, NRS York works site director, said that one of the company's major backers, Unipart, has a Formula 1 memorabilia business. And he can only see the interest in bygone transport growing.
Once Collectors Corner was saved, the new owners had to find it a new location as the Euston lease was up. "They started looking around London but finding somewhere suitable and available proved impossible," said shop manager Robert Warburton. "The only option was to move elsewhere.
"I had already come to the conclusion that if we moved anywhere it would be York, because of its connections with the National Railway Museum and the fact it's still a big railway centre with GNER, Northern Spirit and the Railtrack North East headquarters."
Purchased some of those and of course the individual numerals would not all have come from E 3303. '3' and '0' being numerous for very obvious reasons! Used some of ours for house numbers.Always a great place to browse but even a few quid for a totem was beyond my 1970's pocket money. One thing I do remember was a box of electric loco alloy numbers. That box said "E's, 3's and zero's only" so I didn't bother. They were 10p each and I now regret not buying a few as I just saw E3303 sold for a staggering sum at auction not that I am in way suggesting that it didn't actually come from the loco suggested...……..Oh for hindsight and how much could I now be making if I had bought a few of them and then made up various locos...E3003, E3030 etc etc !!