WOW! That sounds fabulous!!!!!!!! Will you take pics when it's all finished? I would love to see that whole set!

Wow!! I would love to see this too!!

That sounds adorable. I'm sure you could make some cute sprites out of colored cotton balls.

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Please be very careful with this project because the original railway system in Rainbow Land is a place to happen waiting for a serious accident to occur. I would not at all be surprised if more than a few Color Kids and hundreds (if not thousands) of sprites have plunged to their deaths on that contraption.

If you look at any of the illustrations or cartoons, you'll notice the wagons on the RBLRR (Rain Bow Land Rail Road) do not have flanged wheels so nothing is keeping them on the tracks. There was also no other visible guidence or steering system for the rolling stock. And brakes for the wagons did not seem to exist. The way the wagons are stopped once they arrived at the Color Castle seems to be a severe violation of the laws of physics given the steep descent they made just before arriving and the heavy weight of the loaded wagons.

The wagons were also missing numbers and reporting marks. That made it impossible to keep track of inspections, servicing and maintenance. This is another serious safety problem that begs to be corrected.

There's also the issue of how the empty wagons were returned to the Color Caves to be refilled. I've never seen a locomotive, rack system, a cable, a chain, a rope or anything else to get them back up the rickety roller coaster style trestle after they were emptied. Even the process of unloading the wagons seems dubious as there are no side or bottom discharge chutes on the wagons or a tilt mechanism to turn an entire wagon far enough over so that the contents would empty out directly into the basement of the Color Castle given a little help from the force of gravity. It certainly seems that the present system of dumping the crystals into a small chute in the castle's wall by hand is both time and labor intensive.

What's really scary about the RBLRR is that the sprites (you remembered correctly) and Color Kids were allowed to ride the loaded wagons down to the Color Castle. In view of the sharp curves and abrupt changes in altitude, the lack of restraint devices designed to keep the occupants in the wagons appears to be a serious regulatory oversight on the part of the Rainbow Land safety authorities.

In closing, I'd suggest that you try not to exactly model the RBLRR system as it is but that your models should have all required safety equipment and occupant protection devices to bring the RBLRR in line with railway industry best practices in the areas mentioned.


Ok, the above isn't too be taken 100% seriously even if it does point out a number of glaring deficiencies with the as-built version of the RBLRR. I really like your idea and would love to see pictures of the finished project when the time comes.

And yes, I've been crazy about trains since is was a little boy. When was that? It was back when steam locomotives were still a common sight even though they were already on the way to dinosaur heaven. In actual fact, most of what I mentioned above are legitimate railway safety concerns.
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The Pennsylvaina Railroad. The "Standard Railroad of the World" as they (pretty much rightfully) called themselves. Read up on the old Pennsy as she was called and learn a little of her history. She is survived by Conrail in today's railway scene in the USA.
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!!!!!!!!! It sounds as though as if you have done A LOT of research about the rainbowland railway system, that's extraordinary. And yet I agree with all the points you made, hahaha .... that'd be an interesting plot for a TV episode, have the safety officer visit and raise his concerns about safety standards in rainbowland!!!!!!

My great grandpa used to be an industrial steel worker for german and european steam locomotives, so he helped craft some of the last models that were ever built in history. I used to be a big fan of trains as a kid, nowadays tho I'm mostly annoyed by them due to how unreliable they are over here and in germany.

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Back on subject .... I couldn't give much advice for modelling the mining facilities but I'll be looking forward to seeing your photos once you completed it .. Good Luck!!

"SunSpire"

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Thanks for the reply, SunSpire. If the safety officer came to visit the RBLRR the way is at the moment, Rainbow and her board of directors would be in prison for a long time to come. Worse yet, with Rainbow locked up Murky would get control of RBL and all of the colors in the universe would cease to exist. There would be universal gloom for centuries just because no one bothered to take care of the RBLRR.

What company did your great-grandfather work for? Hanomag or Henschel? Borsig or Krupp? A different one?

Open my photo albums in the Collecting forum by clicking on the first link on the second page of COLLECTION BAEC. Click on any photo to enlarge it and open the viewer. You should see "My Photos" somewhere near the upper left corner. Click that and you can see all the albums. One of them is a trip with an ex-CFR (Romanian Railways) P8 steam loco that's been restored to operating condition.

Now to continue on...

Jason...

After considerable thought I offer you the following suggestions:

The train runs from the Color Caves (mines) to the Color Castle. The Color Crystals are extracted from the mines and loaded into wagons which go down to the castle for processing. I would guess you already have some G gauge equipment if you're running outdoors.

Locomotives: A pair of LGB diesels, one on each end of the train. Try this one, but I don't think you can buy it new any longer. Needless to say, you'll need to do a repaint for the RBLRR... Scroll down to the picture of the black locomotive. These diesels look lik a mixture of both Alco and GM that was never seen in the real world. I'd prefer a pair of Alco Alligators (RSD 12, RSD 15 or RSD 17) because I like the look of them. The trouble is they don't exist in that size so here is the next best thing.

http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/F ... fault.aspx The second version, more accurate is at ebay auction number 270635455425

Wagons: You'll need 4 small hoppers, preferably the 2 bay variety. LGB 43769 is a good place to start. Here's the ebay auction number... 390240786673

Coaches: You'll need one of two coaches (or a coach and a combine) to transport the sprites to work and back. Remember they live next to the Color Castle so I'm sure they'll be very happy to ride up to the mines for a change.

The train would be arranged as Loco-2 Hoppers-Coach (Coach and Combine <a combine is a car that has space for people and a separate space for baggage, or tools for the sprites to use in the mines> or two Coaches)-2 Hoppers-Loco. I really don't know how much space you have available. If there isn't all that much, just use 2 hoppers and 1 coach or combine or just the two hoppers. Why 2 locos? Partly because you'll need the extra power from time to time and partly because there's no place to turn the train around in the mines. The locos will be orientated so their back ends are facing each other with the wagons in the middle and the cabs are facing outward at each end.

A Toy Play Color Castle may work quite well or you could build one from scratch. A tunnel portal or two could serve as the entrance to the mines.

It would really be cool if the hoppers could be emptied at the castle so the train could return empty to the mines.
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SunSpire wrote: !!!!!!!!! It sounds as though as if you have done A LOT of research about the rainbowland railway system, that's extraordinary. And yet I agree with all the points you made, hahaha .... that'd be an interesting plot for a TV episode, have the safety officer visit and raise his concerns about safety standards in rainbowland!!!!!!

My great grandpa used to be an industrial steel worker for german and european steam locomotives, so he helped craft some of the last models that were ever built in history. I used to be a big fan of trains as a kid, nowadays tho I'm mostly annoyed by them due to how unreliable they are over here and in germany.

------------------------

Back on subject .... I couldn't give much advice for modelling the mining facilities but I'll be looking forward to seeing your photos once you completed it .. Good Luck!!

"SunSpire"

I can remember seeing steam locos working at Saarbrücken back in the mid-70's. I was really amazed as the last steamer on a Class 1 (Large) railway was retired in 1961.