Control's Train Set

Once again, last week I found myself attending 'The World Championship Railroad Race' at Wembley Park, probably better known under the name Starlight Express.

Unlike last time though, where I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that I was actually there (It'd been a long 23 year wait!) This time there was more of a chance to spot all of the fun details in the set design that I'd missed previously. I'd also smartly remembered to pack the proper camera, which is far superior at taking images in the low level lighting than the phone!

At first glance the overall set looks rather plain, bare, and almost like it was recycled from the movie Tron, but look closer and there's some fun things going on. For those unfamiliar with the plot line the stage set is supposed to be a child's (Only ever referred to as Control) toy train set. There's a few semaphore signals (Interestingly in a 'continental' style) and as can be seen in the top image, many lamp signals along the tracks. 

The highlight for me though was these three toy train props, representing the characters Rusty, Electra and Greaseball. The Rusty prop in particular has a wonderful scene at the start of the show. I can't spoil what happens but all I will say is: It's a really simple piece of special effects work, but it's a great piece of magic. That was the moment during my initial watching when I suddenly felt like I was seven years old again, it's a lovely little sequence.

There's still a very strong urge to pick up an old Graham Farish Jinty and do a repaint, or even one of those old push along N gauge Jintys that they used to give away with Weetabix.

The state of play at the interval. Look a little closer and you'll notice the toy trains have reappeared...

All three models are unpowered, but they do have working lights! Someone more knowledgeable than I will be able to point out what type of diesel locomotive this is. Interestingly, a fun little leftover relic from the original version of the show still survives in the current script, with Greaseball being referred to as a Union Pacific!

Despite being unpowered, all three engines run laps round the stage throughout the interval, with the flat stage having what I can only describe as a 'donut' ring that can rotate 360degrees. The donut middle can also raise and lower during the show.

For a sense of scale here, each of these engines appears to be somewhere in the region of 2ft long. Naturally, it's hard to tell without getting incredibly close to them.

Just thinking about the interval set up again as I'm writing this. Could that be the most obscure theme for a 'pizza' layout?