Clive Newman

A little background. CN Collectables began a long time ago, well in the late 70’s and was known as Sleepers Model Railways. After selling trains at many Toy Fairs around the UK we opened a shop and after 5 years moved to larger premises around the corner in Gravelly Lane, Birmingham B23. This was sold as a going concern in 1993 hence e the need for a new name which unimaginatively was CN Collectables named after its owner Clive Newman, (see mugshot). We started trading on EBay in late 2000 and opened a shop on Groovy Cart in 2009.
This website in 2016 will enable us to list a wider variety of things with no time limit and be in total control.
The Triang Thing. My first train set was a second hand Triang one with a Princess loco and a shunter called Fred which went around and around. The Cuneo catalogues and many Christmas and birthday presents allowed a larger layout. Having a full time job also allowed some funds for expansion and for collecting some of the retired items. One day I was offered some Triang Minic Ships and I was hooked. Two summer holidays near Southampton had meant I had seen Queen Mary, Saxonia and the United States in harbour. In 2002/03 I became aware of a new Triang Minic range being produced in limited quantities and released every few months. These were then produced in generic form and I persuaded the better half to allow me to buy wholesale. I later met Charles Shave, an Australian living in Hong Kong who had reborn the name. Along with a few other people I became a shareholder. Thus Series 3 produced ships and accessories from time to time. Over 100 different items have been made, the most recent in February 2014 which were Type 45 destroyers. Since then time has frozen and nothing has been made. So from subscriber to importer is my journey with Triang Minic Ships. A friend of mine is currently writing a book on the complete history since 1958.