Mystery U.K Clockwork Barge Crane

Bruce, I think that's a pirate in the little boat, with a samurai sword, gonna take over the barge.

I would hazard a guess of perhaps Alps Toys?  Maybe??

I have no idea Bruce but it is very cool!

Update For Interested Folks

I did an extensive search of images for clockwork cranes ( which I was surprised at the variety of them) and this one was made in Germany made by was called the Biller Railroad company, founded by a former employee of Bing and a short history is below. Then again at this site it says that after bankruptcy; "Some of them obviously got into hands of other toy factories.  There are several toys like a crane, a race car or the Bimbo, which were definitely not produced by Biller, but showing exact the same shape as Biller toys did. One possible name is JOUSTRA (Jouet de Strasbourg) of France. And a Biller 095 Dock Yard Crane was produced by a Russian factory in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) - showing a different lithograph." Hmmm..

http://www.billerbahn.de/Englisch/Einleitung-eng.htm

I have never heard of them before. One interesting site I came across is a fellow who is making a complete list of tinplate manufacturer's trademarks. When he's done ( if ever) should be a good resource.

bruce

Bruce,

Very interesting!  I enjoyed reading the Biller Bahn link.  Russian tinplate?  Have any pictures?

Bob 

Bob, 

No pictures of the Russian versions of Biller, but maybe someone else can fill that gap. I would like to see them myself. It looks like Biller had a complete system and if I remember correctly, it was not that long ago, they went out of business.

Here is another version of the Biller crane...

I scan the U.K version of Ebay and have never come across any examples to look at. The only ones  found were via that link.  There are some available through a Google search of images. Here is a link to a Dutch show where a demonstration layout of Biller was set up. Funny how one thing leads to another.

http://www.dutchhrca.nl/billerbahn.htm

The author of the piece says: "The marvel of the locomotive is the control button on top by which it can be switched on and off and the direction can be changed. It also has a neutral position, whereby the gears are disengaged, so that the loco can be pushed without using the driving mechanism. Both the clockwork and battery locos are fitted with this button." Hmm, a push button rather than a lever.

A complete set..looks like some great lithography.

Bruce

Postscript: Barge now docked on the river .

Bruce

Seeing the logo in the video, I would say made in Japan, maybe by the same manufacturer who made the Linemar for Marx.

Steve

excellent!  the under-utilized layout corner provides the perfect location.

really love the way you are painting this layout, it is so magically tinplate.  must be fun to do once you get going?

Steve

That could very well be as it seems the patterns for Biller went from Germany to Japan, France, so Japan for Marx is just as likely, especially since you have more knowledge on this.

Hojack,

This little 3X4 clockwork layout has been more fun than any layout I've ever done and thanks for the thumbs up. I tried to emulate that litho artwork from Craigstan and others..One night here in the studio I looked over at the Craigstan track and thought to myself, why not?

Bruce