Children's Jigsaws

From around 1939, Victory produced wooden steam railway jigsaw puzzles of 45-80 pieces, with children of all ages in mind. They were part of the Topical series and labelled TP0, TP1 and TP2. In addition, the Simple Picture Puzzle (SP) series comprised jigsaws of 8-12 pieces aimed at 2-4 year-olds; at least one of them featured a steam train. For 4-7 year-olds the Adventure series (c1956) of 45-70 extra large pieces also included a poster-style steam railway jigsaw. All five of the TT (Tiny Trains) series, TT1-TT5, of 45 pieces, depicted express trains. For this post (13th November 2010) I am using two pictures of children's jigsaw puzzles (but still collected by adults such as yours truly) made by Victory, and a third showing a Philmar equivalent.

Picture one shows a Victory 64-piece puzzle from the TP1 series featuring the 'Scarborough Flyer' express train. It is a fine reproduction of a T. E. North painting. One of A. H. Peppercorn's 'A1' class locomotives No.60140 Balmoral, is pictured heading the express, flanked by Gresley 'A4' class locomotives. One of them is No.60007 Sir Nigel Gresley but I can't identify the other one. The express is exiting Kings Cross for its journey to the famous holiday destination on theYorkshire Coast.


The second picture shows another Victory jigsaw, featuring British Railways 'Standard' class '7' locomotive, No.70000 Britannia, from the TP0 series. This jigsaw, of 45 pieces, is reproduced from another T. E. North painting. The 55 members of the 'Britannia' class of 4-6-2 locomotives hit BR metals (track) between 1951 and 1954, under the supervision of Robert Riddles. The last of the class was retired in 1968. Two are preserved -No.70000 Britannia and No.70013 Oliver Cromwell.

The third and final picture in this post features a Philmar jigsaw of just 35 pieces, titled 'Bon Acord'. This named train ran from Glasgow to Aberdeen. In the picture, (artist not known) the express is headed by a Stanier 'Princess Coronation' class '8P' 'Pacific' No. 46243 City of Lancaster, in BR blue livery. The class numbered 38 on completion but all had been retired by 1964. Three are preserved - No.6229 Duchess of Hamilton, No.6233 Duchess of Sutherland and No.6235 City of Birmingham. The puzzle is from the Famous Trains series of four, all depicting steam trains.