Beatties does Fleischmann

In their day, Beatties didn't just sell British model trains, they were a supplier of the foreign stuff too. In those days, modelling anything beyond these shores was seen as weird; it still is in a small way today. Still, you could go to your local branch and pick up catalogues to get your fill of German goodness, which is why I've acquired a few for the collection - 1976 to 79. Looking through, there is very little familiar to my eyes, but then I'm no expert on continental trains. Some of the models look surprisingly crude. I'd always grown up believing that Euro trains were expensive, but of superb quality. Maybe, compared to the UK version they were. One surprise was finding out Fleischmann made their own slot car system, with some rather tasty-looking German racing cars available in miniature. Well, tasty, if you like racing Porches anyway. Another find was my little red shunter, which appears in all of these catalogues, showing just how old the model could be!