This is what I call a modelling challenge!

[Trev]

Volk's Brighton to Rottingdean Seashore Electric railway
A 'sea voyage on wheels' on the Daddy Long Legs, Brighton, England.

more...

http://www.urban75.org/railway/brigh...a-railway.html

John G and I have been wondering about the future of garden railways given the increase in the risk of flooding these days. Anyone think that the Brighton and Rottingdean would make a good modelling alternative?

[swisstrains]

When you consider that electric traction was still in its infancy it's amazing that they were able to design a machine that could operate in such an hostile environment.
In model form will you be going for battery-operated remote control or the more realistic live overhead wires?

[Trev]

Originally Posted by swisstrains

When you consider that electric traction was still in its infancy it's amazing that they were able to design a machine that could operate in such an hostile environment.

Seriously, when you consider it, it's an amazing thing. It must have been great to have been alive at such a time, when innovations such as this and the atmospheric railway in South Devon were being tried. Did they not have accountants in the late Victorian era? I'm just amazed that it lasted as long as it did!

Originally Posted by swisstrains

In model form will you be going for battery-operated remote control or the more realistic live overhead wires?

I wonder if anyone has ever attempted it? I've never seen a mention of it in 'Railway Modeller', and I've been reading that since the early '70's. Battery R/C would be the easiest, but I'm not sure how the drive would be transmitted down the spingly legs...come to think of it, I'm not sure how the drive would be transmitted in model form anyway! Very long rubber bands maybe?

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by Trev

............. but I'm not sure how the drive would be transmitted down the spingly legs...come to think of it, I'm not sure how the drive would be transmitted in model form anyway! Very long rubber bands maybe?

I think you could use a long thin drive shaft with a worm gear on the end to drive the bogies. Another possibility would be to have the motors at the bottom of the legs in a sealed compartment driving the wheels magnetically