Where we've moved to is only a few hundred yards from the route of the former Whitby to Scarborough railway line. The line, 21 miles long, was built late on in the railway age - it was opened in 1885 - and was never really successful financially and was closed in 1965 under the Beeching Report. It was single line with passing places and ran through magnificent moorland country and near the sea. The nearness of the old railway route (it is now a trailway) plus the size of our garden inspired me to buy some Playmobil trains on eBay, originally the 4018 but then also the RC steam set, amongst other items. The idea then came of setting a layout loosely based on the Whitby to Scarborough line called the Seaport (Whitby) & Beachtown (Scarborough) Coastal Railway Co. Ltd. So yesterday I had to clear the train out of the spare room and as it was a sunny afternoon I decided to try it out in the garden round the pond, the first (trial) run of the new company. The track runs round three sides of the pond so the layout is terminus to terminus and runs along the coping stones of the retaining wall. Here are some photos, starting with the track layout.
First, looking towards the Seaport terminus:
Here the coping wall is very narrow and only a single track is possible and chive plants sometimes get in the way.
At the end of this section as the track bears right, it slightly overhangs the pond itself:
Next, the Pond End section, which has room for a passing loop:
Finally in this post, a view towards the Beachtown terminus showing the sharp kink in the track to allow a run-around for the the loco away from pond in case of accidents:
I'll post some photos later of the train travelling round and, hopefully, links to some videos.
