Australian Robilt Toy Trains

Glenn has drawn these O-gauge trains using examples borrowed from several generous collectors.
The drawings are created in full size directly on the computer in Macromedia Freehand for Macintosh, so no 'original' hard copy drawings exist. Prints are made on an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 8-cartridge inkjet printer using glossy photo-quality paper for the best results. The generous collectors mentioned above consider the prints to be 'superb'.

Glenn started drawing the trains in 2003 when he rediscovered his old Australian Robilt 2-4-0 clockwork set while cleaning out his garage.
The original train, given to him for his 6th birthday in 1948, was in very poor shape in 2003, so to relive the old days the drawing was done. The result was so good he decided to draw every model he could lay his hands on.
As well as the Robilt range, Glenn has started on other Australian brands, such as Ferris, Maurlyn and Scorpion.
Also, due to popular demand, O-gauge Hornby is being added to his collection.

Number 1. The first Robilt clockwork O-gauge 2-4-0 loco and tender, circa 1946.
The sheet-brass train was produced in several colours.

Number 2. version Robilt clockwork O-gauge 2-4-0 loco and tender, circa 1948. This is Glenn's old train.
The sheet-brass train was produced in several colours.

Number 3. Robilt clockwork O-gauge 0-4-0 loco and tender, circa 1950.
The sheet-brass train was produced in several colours. The boiler was shortened, the firebox removed
and a speed governor fitted forward of the stop-start lever in the side of the boiler.

Number 4. Robilt clockwork O-gauge 0-4-0 loco and tender, circa 1952.
The sheet-steel train was produced in several colours. The cab height was lowered, the speed governor moved
to the inside of the cab along with a forward-reverse lever.

Number 5. Robilt clockwork O-gauge 0-4-0 loco and tender, circa 1952.
Later models were produced mostly in black. Variations occurred in the connecting rods.

Number 6. Robilt electric O-gauge 0-6-0 loco and tender, circa 1952.
The standard 0-4-0 body was fitted with an electric motor and 0-6-0 arrangement, borrowed from
the electric version of the Spirit of Progress.

Number 7. Clockwork version of the 4-6-2 Spirit of Progress, Matthew Flinders. Circa 1950.
Glenn has produced over 50 drawings in the Robilt range, including tankers, coaches, open trucks
and timber trucks. There are still several variations to be drawn before the range is complete.

Robilt history

The small inset photographs above were taken at the Robilt factory/office in Willis Street, Armadale, Victoria, Australia in 1947. Ten-year-old Bob Haddow was taken out of his classroom at St Joseph's Boys' School in Malvern for the photo session and remembers being thrilled to be able to see all the train models in the factory. He received a toy train for his modelling fee. Now retired, Bob lives in East Bentleigh and does consulting work to keep his hand in and keep up with what's happening in the rail industry. The photo appeared in the Melbourne Herald newspaper, December 1947; was used on the cover of the Robilt catalogue; and was in advertisements from 1947 until at least the mid-1950s.

Glenn Ball met Bob in November 2005 and photographed him with a borrowed Edward Henty loco. The insets are of the Robilt catalogue cover and an advertisement from Hobbies Illustrated, April 1954. The drawing of the loco is a new one by Glenn and shows the brake lever and governor on the side of the boiler. It's an earlier version of the Spirit of Progress series. The Matthew Flinders shown above this picture has the levers inside the cab, die-cast Bettendorf-type tender bogies and a Hornby-style coupling behind the tender.

Robilt Products was founded in Armadale in 1946 by engineer Ron Titchener and his accountancy mate Bill Watts. Ron was demobbed from the RAAF and decided toy-making would be a proposition due to the shortage of toys brought about by war-time restrictions. The company lasted until the early1960s when changing tastes in toys, the onslaught of imports and the arrival of television in 1956 finally made toy production uneconomic. (For the complete Robilt history see the book Spring, Spark & Steam, previewed on the Other Aussie Toy Trains page.)

Free Bob Haddow picture PDF
To celebrate 60 years since the beginning of Robilt, Glenn Ball Designs is offering a free hi-res pdf of the picture above. It will print out in glorious colour and detail at A4 size. To obtain your pdf, e-mail: glenn@glennballdesigns.com and head it Free Bob Haddow pic. A pdf will be sent in reply.

Robilt Rolling Stock (click here)

Other Aussie Toy Trains (click here)