Model Road & Rail
Brand
There are some characters in the model car world that are almost universally known, and Les and Peter Duplock are two of this breed.
The two boys were brought up in North London. Their dad, who was originally a Ford mechanic with Hollingsworths in Hastings, joined the RAF at the outbreak of WWII as an aero mechanic where he met his wife Irene. A move to London saw him enrolled as a bus driver and their mother a ‘clippie’ or conductor working out of the Holloway bus garage. Interestingly, Terry Parsons, also a driver there, later became more widely known as Matt Munro the singer! Les recalls how every week, after collecting his modest wage, his father would return home with 2 Dinky Toys clasped in his hands. He would offer both hands to both boys, and they would choose. Les’ memory tells him that he got the Vauxhall Cresta in green and grey, whilst Peter got the maroon and cream version!
Subject ID: 81181
MoreThere are some characters in the model car world that are almost universally known, and Les and Peter Duplock are two of this breed.
The two boys were brought up in North London. Their dad, who was originally a Ford mechanic with Hollingsworths in Hastings, joined the RAF at the outbreak of WWII as an aero mechanic where he met his wife Irene. A move to London saw him enrolled as a bus driver and their mother a ‘clippie’ or conductor working out of the Holloway bus garage. Interestingly, Terry Parsons, also a driver there, later became more widely known as Matt Munro the singer! Les recalls how every week, after collecting his modest wage, his father would return home with 2 Dinky Toys clasped in his hands. He would offer both hands to both boys, and they would choose. Les’ memory tells him that he got the Vauxhall Cresta in green and grey, whilst Peter got the maroon and cream version!
Both boys accumulated a large collection of Dinky Toys, but Les recalls that whilst he would use a blowtorch to strip and then paint them, Peter kept his pristine in their boxes. His parents had obtained a hardware shop in Islington, north London, and the boys began selling their model cars in the shop. By 1968, the family moved to premises with a newsagents shop in Penge, south east London, and their interest in cars was re-kindled.
However, the fire really began when Peter bought a 36 series Dinky taxi at a traction engine rally, and Les placed a small advert in the shop seeking his favourite locomotive, the Battle of Britain class. The response brought a collection in, which was duly purchased, some parts kept, others sold, and thus a larger advert was placed. More collections came and were sold, and the business was born.
By the time Les and Peter took the plunge and moved to a run down model shop in Worcester Park, Surrey, which they found in Dalton’s Weekly, Peter was working for Legal & General Insurance, and was helping Les with marketing behind the scenes. They brought with them a vast collection of stock, and so Model Road & Rail was born in 1981.
Les’s favourite vehicle of all time has always been the Austin FX3 London taxi, and when he got to know Brian West, of the London Vintage Taxi Association, they realised that there was no accurate model of the FX3. Having decided to fill the gap with his own range, he researched a few potential white metal manufacturers, and settled on Scale Model Technical Services. He sought and obtained approval from Carbodies, the makers of the 1:1 scale version. On reflection, it is ironic that the real cab at the time cost £1000, and the brass master for the model cost £1100! Les and Peter decided to call the range Model Road Replicas, to link it with the shop, and liked the Dinky Supertoy box art, so used that pattern, but with green stripes to also link with the shop colours.
The taxi was well received, and to continue the range, Les and Peter decided to use Brian West’s F-type Vauxhall Victor as the next subject, as there was not a good model of this car either. Mk II Ford Consul, Ford E83W van, and 300E van, together with the Routemasters, all followed. MRR had assistance from Tim Bubb, a regular trader at Maidstone toy fair, who worked at the South Eastern Gas Board, for the livery of the E83W van, and Paul Harrison at Ford for original drawings of the vans and the Consul.
Each model was made in the lower hundreds, and some still appear on eBay today. Les reflects that the white metal market has declined since the quality of diecasting from China has risen, but also notes with satisfaction that when Ertl published their catalogue featuring their new Austin FX3 taxi, the illustration was based on the MRR model!
More generally, Les feels that whilst white metal model subjects were chosen from gaps in their diecast line up, the manufacturers follow the lead of cars already made by white metal ranges.
Subject ID: 81181
Subject ID: 81181
