Seaport & Beachtown Coastal Railway Co. Ltd.

[Giorginetto]

Pond looks fantastic Sir Gordon and i look forward to more pictures of the train and the rail set up etc . I am really so excited abou ttrains right now , last night i was tootooing in my sleep probably thinking i was a steam engine 

[playmofire]

Pond looks fantastic Sir Gordon and i look forward to more pictures of the train and the rail set up etc . I am really so excited abou ttrains right now , last night i was tootooing in my sleep probably thinking i was a steam engine 

Thank you, Giorginetto.  Playmobil trains certainly grab you once you've held one!  They are Steck in disguise!

[playmofire]

Well, last evening Peter and Christine came round for coffee and for me and Peter to run the trains.  A bit of a chaotic start as Peter had forgotten to bring the hand control, plus both steam locos use the same chip.  I had spare chips and a spare hand controller but no spare batteries for the controller, so Peter had to go back for a battery (he only lives about six doors away).  Meanwhile, Diane and Christine were in the warm inside.

During the afternoon I'd got the passing loop at Pond End complete apart from two of the small extender pieces which Peter brought round.  These were put in place under arc lights:



and then the job finished off:



I'll post pictures of the actual loop later.

We got both locos running but by now it was too late for photos and, in any case, it is far too difficult controlling a loco and keeping a watch on what a second loco is doing to take photos as well.  The passing loop worked OK but is too short for anything other than a loco and two trucks or carriages.

There was some excitement which illustrates the difficulties of running two trains at once when I was distracted by Peter's train with the result that mine went through the buffers at the Seaport terminus.  (I haven't used any track connectors so far, but clearly they are needed at the buffers at least.)

There was further drama at the Beachown terminus when Peter stopped a coach straddling the points and when he set off the coach tried to go straight on and right at the same time!  He quickly reversed the direction of travel which derailed the coach and it disappeared over the side and into the pond!  It was fished out safely (roof and carriage body had separated but both were retrieved before they sank out of sight) none the worse apart from being wet and trailing a bit of weed.  Diane took it into her care, drying and washing and leaving it to dry near a radiator.  A quick oil on the axles and it will be 100%.

Overall, an enjoyable and successful evening.

[Tiermann]

Sounds like lots of fun Gordon. You will have to rope in a camera crew for next time.

[PrimusPilus]

Ah, the drama and adventure of managing a railroad...

Out of curiosity, how deep is the pond? And couldn't you get some boats in there too ?

[playmofire]

Ah, the drama and adventure of managing a railroad...

Out of curiosity, how deep is the pond? And couldn't you get some boats in there too ?

Yes it would take boats - it's about 16' by 9', However, as there are frogs in the pond boats are out.

I'll check the depth.

[PrimusPilus]

Oh come on, the frogs could be the great beasts of the abyss, fantastic characters for shipping dramas .

[tonguello]

Oh come on, the frogs could be the great beasts of the abyss, fantastic characters for shipping dramas .

no no no ....hidious things! I would feel that pond with dirt 

[playmofire]

Here's some photos of the Pond End passing loop.  As I said earlier, because of the length of the wall the loop will only take the loco and two carriages or two trucks, and even then it is a tight squeeze and exact positioning/timing is crucial when trains are passing.  The only way around the problem is to mount the track on a wide board which would allow a straight to be inserted immediately after the point and then be follow this with a curve another straight or straights before a curve and a straight connecting to the exit point.  However, here's the passing loop as it is:



There is another problem with the passing loop which is the result of Playmobil only offering one length of straight track, unlike specialist firms such as LGB and Piko.  There is room on the passing loop for two and about a half lengths of track.  This means that there is a gap to fill of about 15cm and a straight length is about 30cm and the only way to fill the gap is with the roughly 20mm long extender pieces.  Something like a dozen of these are needed and the effect doesn't look well, even after splitting them into smaller groups.  Here's an illustration:



Anyone any ideas or experimented with creating shorter lengths of Playmobil track?  (I know Walter has but as his layout is permanently fixed to a baseboard he can just trim track to whatever length he needs and screw it in place.)

Finally in this post, some more rolling stock photos.  First, one showing we do goods as well as passenger traffic and then a couple showing the loco with a couple of LGB summer coaches for the tourists wanting to experience the dramatic moorland and sea views.

[skypurr]

Thank you, Elaine. 
He (and he says it's not his fault that the old lady who fed him and all his siblings called him Fluff and he would have chosen a different name if he could and if you call him a she again he'll come round and duff your cats up, even though he is 17 next month and has only three fangs left!)

Oops...  Please apologise to Fluff for me, tell him I really think it's a very butch name 
I inherited a female cat called Tommie so I can sympathise 

Back to trains, I loved the photo of the klickies setting up the track 
The passenger coaches are great, they remind me of the old electric tram 'toast rack' coaches in the Isle of Man.

Elaine