Ron Wallman
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French Playmobil trainI was looking for a smaller design for my kids when they very small. The idea was to make a very tough locomotive and riding car that would resist a few derailments. The children were asked and I started on ideas. At one point my oldest remarked that it was a pity it was not a giant Playmobil locomotive. I leapt on the idea and altered what I had built to vaguely resemble the diesel. The riding car had to be a carriage. The kid sat on the roof and foot bars can be pulled out from the buffer beam. The kids did not want buffers on the locomotive! Tough build means the pilot beam is 10 mm plate steel. The kids never managed to bend it.
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James
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I like! Is the loco actually powered as well?
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Ron Wallman
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French Playmobil trainYes, the locomotive is powered and has an ex car radiator electric fan motor. This machine can achieve 6 kph and again how long for we do not know. I guess about four hours nonstop flat out possibly more. It has a family car battery in the cab, 4QD control and is the other locomotive that we use making two ready for the road.
The idea is to have a train that will go faster than the kids could comfortably walk, so they stay on yet slow enough for a kid to out run an oncoming train in a restricted space such as a cutting. The total crash energy is about the same as a kid hitting a wall when riding a push bike. It is not safe but an acceptable risk.
Things went wrong when I withdrew Rusty and took it off the rails to eliminate two locomotive accidents but left eight tippers and the trolley in the siding. My kids were going round with the red loco and carriage. I thought it was safe for a beer and a kip in the deck chair. I became aware that the tippers had disappeared and found two kids riding the trolley, eight tippers and the last kid riding on the carriage roof at the back! That little red locomotive had ten on and three kids and was still running round with no problems. I have attached a photograph showing the rear and control panel of the locomotive.
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5inchgaugetrains
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Little trains power can often surprise you! Very nice loco as well-it looks like a Swiss or French mountain loco!
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