Chuffing Annie

Hi,
I've just bought of eBay a Trackmasters Thomas with a "Chuffing Annie", bought purely out of curiosity as I couldn't find anything like it when I Googled it.

Basically it looks like a normal Annie carriage, however when pulled along the track it makes a very odd/poor chuffing noise...

Upon inspection it is a very archaic mechanism inside. The rear wheels have rubber tyres on, as the engines do for grip with the same cog on the axel too, this axel then feeds a small bar with a full cog (feeding from the axel) on one side and on the other side a part toothed cog.
This part toothed cog as it turns rubs on a long spring which is attached to either side of the carriage, giving the impression of a chugging sound.

I wasn't sure if this was a genuine product but I can't see any thing to suggest it isn't.

Has anyone seen any of these type of carriages before?

Joe

hi joe,

ive got several of these annies, about 3 or 4. its the only one which doesnt automatically end up in the parts box. lol. i dont know exactly when or how these were sold, whether it was used as a gimmick on packaging etc. curious to know. i think you will find, when she arrives and you can have a good look, that she is a tomy release, as mine are.

the mechanism is the same as that used in the magnetic tomy range on the "chug along express". this was, at a guess, an early 90s release, and i think the annies would have been released around the same time.

I have a few of these as well and have noticed that some are louder and better sounding than others..

muddy, i think that will depend on how stretched the spring is. not sure if they can be replaced easily with a newer one or not.

Aaah so its not only mine that sounds naff!
I'll try to re-tension the spring somehow and see if that helps :-)
As sunhuntin says, be interesting to find out how these were sold.