When you recieve a refund from HMRC, once you've checked that it IS really your money and they won't want it back, the sensible thing is to go out and buy a new toy train isn't it?
In this case, the shops were shut but I'd had something on an eBay watch for a few weeks. Suddenly, I could stop being sensible and buy it. A week later, all the way from Germany, my "Toy Train" 90200 locomotive arrived.
Doesn't it look fantastic?
I know the good folks at Lehmann Gross Bahn call this a toy train, but I prefer to use the term "Harlequin" in trubute to the multi-coloured cars produced by Volkswagen a few years ago. The locomotive is also multi-coloured so I think the name fits.
As befits a toy with play value, this is a simple machine. Battery powered (3 C cells in the loco) it's controled by an infra-red remote (2 AAA cells) which provides speed up, slow down, emergency stop, directions, and whicslt, chuff, bell and guards whistle noises.
You are probably thinking I'm slightly nuts. That's true, but there is method in my madness.
Our garden railway needs serious renovation, it's looking very tatty at the moment. This will have to wait until the spring but we'll need a test loco. What better than one that doesn't even need electricity in the rails? We can ballast and tidy the track and test it on the spot.
The model is very light but fairly robust. If it runs over the track then I'm sure a muich heavier standard model will.
And on those occasions when a child is brought round and out of the blue there is a demand to run the railway, there is a quick and brighly coloured loco ready for the job.
5 comments:
I suspect it might not only be you who refers to this model (or the set it came from) using the term "Harlequin".
I believe the LGB site actually uses the word "Harlequin" - which means pretty much the same thing.
I love that loco and if the price is right, then I could see that being a popular addition to garden railways. Type C batteries aren't ideal, but I guess that they can easily be swapped out for an R/C rechargable battery pack, there looks to be enough room.
Nick - Good point. The you've need a 4.5V pack but the motor might deal with 6V and those packs are cheap. In fact you'd get a jelly cell in there and then be able to run for hours on a single charge.
Plenty of space for radio too if you found the infra-red limiting.
Hello Phil.
I just picked up the equivalent set branded by FAO Schwartz. The set is LGB (now manufactured by Marklin).
Other than a battery modification, do you have any other plans to modified the engine or cars?
Bill Colwell (Cheshire, CT.)
Bill - I only have the loco so no plans in this direction. Mind you, I did see a full set on sale recently, so never say never!
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