Woodend Quay

I was given one of Playmobil’s Coasters and converted it to Shaw’s Eldorita but never found anywhere to display it. Two. lengths of decking later and it has found itself as part of the railway.

 

Gauge unknown

I was given a coach with a gauge which I could not identify… it measured 1″ across the wheel set which at 1/2″ to the foot did not scale into the doors and windows so my only hope of using it was to remove the bogies and fit a pair of Triang Big Big Train coach bogies which proved very simple. It runs very well but is still out of proportion with the locomotive.  

25mm Wheel set against 32mm Track

Playmobil Fairground Wheel

I was given a Playmobil Fairground Wheel which is a lovely toy and just the right size for the Railway. At night it lights up with an array of superbly realistic lights.

midsummer 2019

I had a supply of artificial grass left over from covering the decking and it hides a lot of blemishes on a garden railway,  A new inner circle is being constructed to double the running lines.

New Stations

The new system is built on arbordeck decking which is treated and should last longer

There is now total separation between 32mm “0 Gauge’ or 2ft Narrowgauge and 45mm LGB or 1m. Gauge. The dual gauge previous system was never successful

SONY DSC

SONY DSC

2017 Summertime

The previous railway was constructed on “Waterproof” Caberboard…but it was not and it disintegrated so the project is to rebuild in a more permanent medium.

2013 New Playmobil Locomotive

Playmobil’s new 2013 Radio Controlled Loco

In the 1980’s Playmobil had a complete catalogue of G scale railway items of both European and “Wild West” profiles running on LGB Track making them very suitable for Garden Railways.   This range was withdrawn and the company started to produce a battery powered Radio Controlled range of passenger and freight sets which would run on any G scale track but also on their own low cost plastic track.. This was a bit of a downfall for garden rail enthusiasts as the track expanded and buckled in Summer and contracted and sprang apart in cold winter temperatures.   Year on year Playmobil reduced the range of railway items until a couple of years ago trains disappeared completely from the catalogue.

 

New for 2013 a train is back, A City Action set contains a modern centre cab  diesel locomotive, one container wagon, an oval of track and a radio hand controller.  The box says ages from 4-10 but I think they mean 40-100.  Priced around £150 I consider this to be good value for money!

 

Garden Rail enthusiasts could quite easily just make use of the locomotive and wagon and with creative painting or weathering could be a just as valuable an asset  as a locomotive costing ten times the price.  The locomotive is powered by six AA batteries which fit inside the engine compartment in a battery cassette which I believe is crying out for rechargeables.  The remote handset requires a 9volt  PP3 battery.  Both the handset and the locomotive have on/off switches which should prevent battery drain when not in use.

 

The locomotive is a four wheeler with drive to both axles and one set of wheels either side have Playmobil’s perbunane anti slip rings for better traction.  The locomotive has directional lighting, an american  style chime horn and motor sounds. Fitted with standard Playmobil / LGB  couplings it readily connects to either manufacturers rolling stock.  In use on a garden railway the locomotive is very powerful and responds well to the most minimum of throttle settings.

 

The remote control has a power on/off button,a channel search button to align the remote with the locomotive which only needs setting up once and switches for horn, lights and motor sounds. The whole package is robustly constructed and very unlikely to be damaged easily making it suitable for Garden Rail enthusiasts of all ages.  Traditionally Playmobil have had a wonderful spares department making the smallest repair item available as a replacement.