British Triang toy and model trains and railways

Tri-ang Toys has a long history of making toys that can be traced back to the Lines family who set up a toy making business in 1850. The business started with wooden toys including life-size horses to display saddlery goods.

In 1876, the business expanded and began making all kinds of playthings for the children of wealthy London upper and middle classes. The company continued to expand and made many acquisitions, absorbing other London toy makers. In 1924, Tri-ang Toys was established and adopted its world-famous trademark, the red triangle design representing the three Lines brothers.

The company offered sturdy, well-built toys, constructed with a combination of wood and metal. They produced a series of delightful Tri-ang road vehicles called the Dolls Motor Vans with wooden wheels and tinplate radiators. Tri-ang also made pressed steel lorries, including a van, petrol tanker, breakdown wagon, more... timber lorry, milk lorry, and Carter Paterson box van. The company doubled its workforce to around 1,000 by the early 1930s.

In 1931, Lines Brothers Ltd bought Hamleys, London's famous toy retailer.

During World War II, the Merton factory was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence, and the company produced machine guns, shell cases, and magazines for Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes. When toy production resumed after the war, Tri-ang continued to produce pressed steel lorries, and by the 1950s, they updated their range with new, more modern-looking forward-cab trucks.

By the mid 1960s Tri-ang owned over forty different business organisations, many of which (including Meccano and Hornby) had been taken over as part of the expansion of its worldwide operation.

Despite being Britain’s largest toy manufacturer, Tri-ang began to run into problems in 1971 following a sudden drop in demand for its products in the UK and Lines Bros and Tri-ang and its many other famous subsidiary companies eventually succumbed to the liquidators.