The Runaway Train went down the track and she blew..

A bit of an unexpected bargain today from the local branch of the Robert Dyas hardware chain, in the form of two battery operated train sets for £8 each. The set consists of a locomotive and tender, two tank wagons and an oval of track, together with a couple of trees and some signals. 

The gauge is 1'' or 25mm, so not far off S gauge or 1:64th scale and actually pretty close to 1/56th, which makes it ideal for 28mm figures. The four straight lengths add up to 36'' worth of track, which is why I bought two sets, giving me a standard table length of straight railway line.

The locomotive and tender are probably too modern for the Old West but ideal for the Back of Beyond or similar. The tank wagons are also far too modern but can be dismantled to provide the basis of scratchbuilt flat wagons or box cars. There's even a set of spare bogies in the box, so I could put together a train of five wagons if I wanted to.

I've also tried out the other rolling stock that I have in the spares box, most of which is from the Teamster toy sets. These have no flanges on the wheels but actually sit very squarely on top of the tracks and look compatible. This means that I could mix and match the Teamster coaches with the Robert Dyas track and locomotives, making it easy to get a train up an running.

A bit of a find methinks! If you want your own, you'll probably have to get down to your local shop pretty quick before they get removed from the shelves. They were in the sale section with loads of Xmas stuff, so I don't think they'll be around very much longer.