15 replies to this topic

[don.siegel]

The earliest proven commercial slot/rail racing system was undoubtedly invented by Patrick Kennedy in England in the early 30s, with famous Bentley boy Sir Henry Birkin as an inventor. This popped up on a topic in SlotForum,

http://www.slotforum...&st=15&start=15

 

So I decided to compile the literature on the subject, as published in the two main British motor racing magazines of the mid-20th century, The Autocar and The Motor. With great thanks to Roger W. Greenslade, who did some of the earliest research into this subject, and cited all the known sources in his 1986 book, A History of Electric Model Roads and Racetracks. 

 

There were three main systems that actually got up and running as far as we know, starting with the above-mentioned Kennedy system, first cited in the March 13, 1931 issue of The Autocar: 

 

 

The next mention was in the February 19, 1932 issue of The Autocar, where it's called "quite the most fascinating toy that has ever been made." That's Mr. Kennedy, by the way Kensington-Moir's brother-in-law. 

 

 

The big news comes in May of 1932, with the involvement of Henry Birkin, and the same photo in The Autocar (May 20, 1932) and The Motor (May 17)

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't hear a lot more about the Kennedy game after this, at least no written traces that have been found. The next system to actually be constructed was mentioned in the December 13, 1938 issue of The Motor. A real slot setup, and what seems to be a pretty developed commercial system by Clarks Sports, with a power boost system and high voltage. But it came out less than a year before the outbreak of the war.... and you had to wear a tux to play... 

 

 

The next system that actually seems to have been built is by a Mr. Riches, and Bernard seems to have found a few of these cars too! First mention is in the January 31, 1947 issue of The Autocar, where it's still an animated toytown...

 

 

By the October 17, 1947 issue, this seems to have been developed as a real racing system (like the Clarks, this is a slot type system, not rail), but again it looks more complicated than needed and, shades of early Scalextric, they're introducing oil on the track to make it more dicey!

 

 

By this time, we were beginning to see early experimental systems in the Briitsh model mags, Model Cars and Model Maker especially, and those will be covered next. 

 

Don 

[Tex]

We are participants in a long history... be proud!

[don.siegel]

Next installment. One curious thing is that there seems to have been a lot of experimentation in England, but not in the United States! At least not with any published traces. Come on you Americans, find us some pioneers! 

 

Here's where the hobbyists start getting involved (of course they probably were before, but we don't have much record of it). To bridge the gap, the March 6, 1947 issue of The Model Engineer covered the same system invented by the Riches, but in greater detail. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we move over to Model Cars in its first iteration, one of a couple British publications that mainly covered the RTP and rail gas cars of the time. It started with a couple articles by G.H. Deason, well known writer and hobbyist of the time, who had just published a book on gas car racing... First article is from December 48 issue and the second from April 49

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we move to January 1950 and Charles Woodland makes his appearance. Mr. Woodland is often credited as one of the first to come up with a practical slot system, and one of his cars seems to have survived, originally in the RW Greenslade collection, now I think in Bernard's museum. Again, a variety of different schemes are proposed, as was often the case in this period. 

 

 

 

 

 

A few more reflections in the July 1950 issue, then we leave Model Cars...

 

 

[don.siegel]

A few more schemes, by Ivor Lewis, Deason again and B.E.G Clark, leading up to the big breakthrough in December 1954...

 

First, from June 1951 issue of Model Maker, which seems to have taken over from Model Cars... Ivor Lewis

 

 

 

In December 1951, Clark gets into the picture, plus a Czech concept that looks a lot like the Jr. Midget Speedway, already produced in the States... 

 

 

 

 

More details on Ivor's system in the October 1951 issue, rather similar to the early rail systems, although pickups not quite there yet. 

 

 

And then another scheme by G.H. Deason in the December 52 issue - and this one, battery powered, seems to have inspired a later American scheme from the Mechanix Illustrated story in December 54, but that's another story! It's funny that he would go back to onboard power after all the independent systems, but nothing was too sure at the time. Nothing too much seems to have been published until later 1954. 

 

 

 

 

[don.siegel]

Well, this topic doesn't seem to have inspired you guys very much, but I wanted to finish it anyway! And I'm still looking for more evidence of other American experimenters in the pre- and post-war years! 

 

To close out this subject, we come to the pivotal moment, when all the stars are aligned for a practical tabletop electric racing system. 

 

And, naturellement, ze French were first! 

 

I happened to find this article in a French DIY magazine from February 1953, really setting out the principle of rail racing, but nothing seems to have come of it (and the worst thing is, when I first started collecting, I found this jeep, or a copy, at a flea market, but I didn't know what it was, and it seemed a bit expensive at the time!). As with all three of the articles I'm showing here, the emphasis wasn't on remote-control racing as we know it, but the premises were there... In this one, the car's the thing and there's just a little oval track to show it off! 

 

 

 

 

Now we come to a pretty amazing coincidence: two articles, in US and UK magazines, in the same month, December 1954, both proposing real electric rail racing systems, but in each one it was just an afterthought! The system in the British mag Model Maker mostly talks about a table-top system using rubber-band powered cars, and then mentions the possibility of electric, while the main thrust in the article in the US magazine, Science and Mechanics, is for battery-powered cars, with independent control mentioned in passing as another possibility. I thought that was quite a coincidence that they should appear at the same time, but as my friend Charles of Seattle pointed out, the American system adapted one of the ideas in an earlier British article, about using ramps to control the cars' power, and even out the inner and outer lanes... 

 

Anyway, here's the Miniature Speedway, from Science and Mechanics, December 1954: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now the article on the Tebbutt Electric Rail Racer, from the December 1954 issue of Model Maker. 

 

 

 

 

For what it's worth, the latter article has always been credited in classic slot literature for inspiring the Southport club to build the first large rail track the following year, therefore kicking off the whole movement and craze. (the story goes they were looking for an attraction for their upcoming model engineering exhibition, but the popular gas cars were too noisy and cumbersome, so they wanted something simpler, and seized on the electric rail racing idea from this article, thereby proving electric tabletop racing was feasible - and other clubs and individuals took up the cudgel). 

 

This story was spread by the editors of Model Maker, who got very involved, and was repeated by early US slot racers and others, like José Rodriguez Jr. Now, I've heard a few knowledgeable friends say that this isn't the real story, but I have yet to hear a plausible alternative version. 

 

There was obviously a fair amount of experimentation, theorizing and actual building going on since the early years of the 20th century, but this was really the thread that led to slot racing as we know it. 

 

Gentlemen, and ladies, I rest my case. 

 

Don 

[Dennis David]

Don thank you so much for your work in preparing this. Can I use some of this material on my website?

[Mike Patterson]

Don,

 

Please don't think your work is unappreciated. I just don't have any information to add to the story.

[Tom Thumb Hobbies]

I also think it's extremely interesting. Thank you very much for all the work you put into your posts. I would also like to include some of the info you have posted on my website.

[don.siegel]

Yes, of course guys, feel free to use this info on your websites. And thanks for the kind words. 

 

Just noticed there was a typo in my first post: Tim Birkin was an investor in the Kennedy system, not an inventor... Greg, if you see this could you change it? 

 

Don 

[Matt Sheldon]

Really cool stuff Don. The live rail would make marshaling pretty interesting.

[don.siegel]

In other rather amazing news, I was cleaning up papers that have been cluttering up my desk for the last couple years, and came across this rather astounding bit - mysterious too, because I don't remember who sent it to me! 

 

Notice that it is already talking about a 50-hour demonstration of a SMEC electric model car on a track in 1947! 

 

 

 

 

So, not really so amazing, just another variation on the round-the-pole racing popular in gas cars at the time. But still an electric model running on a track. and also that SMEC, with their pioneering wood-bodies cars, were already offering a motorizing kit in 1947... 

 

Don 

[TSR]

Don, thanks! 
Terrific job. As far as the Americans, they were also busy, but were no more successful to confer their often complex elucubrations to actual production. Hence it will be up to the Brits (I guess greater dreamers?) to come up with the "Final Solution" in 1957, with a public suddenly willing to cough up the dough to buy the new toys for their kids or..., themselves.
Let's not forget that the first patents for electric model car racing are American even if not commercially successful, and that it appears that the hobbyists on our side of the pond appear to have been more interested, before WW2, in toys that fly than toys that roll...
 

 

[don.siegel]

Glad you like it Philippe. 

 

I think everybody was more interested in toys/models that fly at the time - that was the main thrust of most hobbyists. 

 

But I also had another theory to explain why the Brits were much more active and successful in post-WWII experiments: the RTP hobby was much more established in the US, with many more manufacturers, and perhaps people and companies weren't ready to move to something that would threaten this entrenched business. 

 

Just a theory...

 

Don 

[Dennis David]

Could it also be the various clubs and societies in the UK that served as incubators helped move this along?

[don.siegel]

Could well be Dennis - they were often model engineering societies instead of model car clubs, as in the US. 

 

Don 

[Dennis David]

And these were real machinest who could and would make something if it was not available.