Faller Hit Train

PART ONE

By Andy Hyelman

In his excellent book, "Collecting Toy Trains", Pierce Carlson laments that the brightly coloured, imaginatively designed toy train had been usurped by technically accurate models during the 1960s. Somehow he missed one of the most fantastic ranges ever produced. Most TCS members will be familiar with the German firm of Faller whose extensive range of building kits in HO, N and Z are deservedly successful. However, I suspect that their range of 0 gauge trains is a lot less well known than that of Pola. My father had a 1974 Faller catalogue which I read many times: but it wasn't just the kits that interested me but the bizarre trains called "Hit Train" at the back of the catalogue. It isn't hard to suspect that the designers of this range of trains had been consuming something a little more interesting than black forest beer and coffee when they created this range. Perusal of the 1970 catalogue when the range was launched explains why the trains were somewhat different: the aim was a train set for both girls and boys. To this end the designers created a fantasy outline using many different colours of plastic and several components. The particularly attractive electric loco exists in red, yellow, and blue, or green, orange, yellow and purple, or yellow, blue and orange! The steam loco with one of the most unusual chimneys ever, is either purple with a yellow boiler, or orange with an blue boiler! The rolling stock was, naturally, equally colourful: and colour combination variants exist of all the items, allowing the assembly of interesting trains. The bogie wagon with garden fencing as the surrounds and curvaceous bogies is quite something! The ball tipper wagons work to either side and have a lid which may be closed to stop the balls falling out! The coaches repay careful examination of their delightful cardboard printed passengers, kept warn by a stove in each wagon. Herr Emett? I've attended several exhibitions running this and whilst I've always enjoyed the response, I'm slightly disappointed that no-one has ever said that I can't run that loco with these wagons! Being Faller, quality was topmost so the mechanism was extremely well designed, the track system properly planned, the control modules were simple, effective and reliable. The accessories were a ball loading unit and a loco shed constructed from three round sections! Unfortunately, the models were expensive: my 1974 catalogue showed the standard loco as costing A4.62. By 1974, the more realistic models were taking over and these will be described in part 2.