Operating from various premises around Euston station from 1963 to 1998, Collectors Corner, was a simply wonderful emporium for those who love train stuff.
Set up to dispose of all sorts of railway ephemera from the entire network, I remember several visits to the slightly run down and disorganised premises, and loved every one.
The catalogue, a budget-busting and tenuous addition to the Beatties collection, shows just what was available, and at prices that make me want to build a time machine.
Wall clocks starting at £50 for a wooden cased spring-driven clock, to £300 for a large platform clock. Class 08 nameplates, £12, Class 47 £18. Timetable posters for 75p. Signal arms £10. BR knives, forks and spoons 75p each.
Visitors would pore over piles of leaflets and advertising materials - I came away with a lot of APT material, including a tie, for pocket money prices in the late 1980s. On my paltry wages, while the much-desired clocks were outside my budget, but there was plenty of small railwayana available.
I also bought a couple of the 1970s white plastic station signs, which had to travel back on the tube with me. At 7ft long, that wasn't easy, but well worth it. In 1983, these were only a fiver,
Sadly, privatisation saw the business transfer to Hudson St in York, where it was far more civilised, and lasted a year or so. There will never be anything like this again.
Please tell me I'm not the only person who remembers this place!
2 comments:
Nope, you definitely weren't the only one!
I remember a few visits, but the only thing I remember buying was an outsize platform ticket for Llanfairpwllgwyngylletc. which seems to have disappeared.
I have got a few bits of railwayana, but those came my way mostly from work colleagues following the comprehensive replacement of BR/NSE signage by Southern TOC enamelled steel signs...I reckon there might be a market for these when they're eventually done away with!
Cheers, Simon.
I bought an unused Deltic con-rod
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