COBI DR BR 52 Steam Locomotive & Railway Semaphore Set 6287

COBI's DR BR 52 with Railway Semaphore is a 1:35 model built from 2,747 blocks, 69 cm long with its tender, and it builds two different locomotives: the German DR BR 52 or the Polish Ty2, with separate bricks, markings, lamps and nameplates for each. Gears drive the coupled wheels, the engine room roof lifts off to show the controls and printed gauges, and the tender holds a modelled coal load and couples to further wagons. Two figures are included — a driver and a stoker — along with a brick display base, five track sections totalling about 65 cm, and a signal semaphore. No stickers.

What the semaphore is actually doing

A semaphore is not a traffic light for trains. It is the visible end of a safety system called block working, and the principle behind it is the reason railways became survivable.

The line is divided into sections, and the rule is absolute: only one train may occupy a section at a time. A signal at the entrance to each section shows whether the section ahead is clear, and a signalman may not clear it until he has confirmation that the previous train has left.

Everything else follows from that. The arm is weighted so that it falls to danger if the wire breaks — a failure stops trains rather than letting them through. The signalman's levers are mechanically interlocked so that he physically cannot pull a signal for a route that conflicts with one already set. The system assumes people will make mistakes and is built so the mistakes are not fatal.

Railways invented this after decades of accidents. Almost every safety-critical industry since has copied the thinking.

In the COBI range

Sets 6281 and 6282 are the same locomotive without the semaphore and display base, and 6283 the shorter 2-in-1. The goods wagons are 6284 and 6285.

Specifications

Pieces: 2,747 · Figures: 2 · Scale: 1:35 · Builds German or Polish version · Semaphore, display base and five track sections
Model dimensions: 69 × 9.5 × 14 cm (27.2 × 3.7 × 5.5 in)