Thomas the Train Shipwreck Rails Troubleshooting Guide

My son got this really cool Thomas the Train TrackMaster Shipwreck Rails Set. The blue, battery powered Thomas the Tank engine train climbs a lightly supported track over three feet in the air before falling into a catch-wagon that spirals down a forty-five degree drop where it releases Thomas to continue safely on his way. Really, a genius little toy. It was really fun to watch and worked great at first, that is until he accidentally knocked it over a few times. Then the catch-wagon mechanism stopped working. Being the good dad and engineer that I am, I decided to crack open the toy to see what it looked inside. If I could figure out how the Shipwreck Rails set worked, I could try to fix it myself.

After removing the plastic mast from the base and unscrewing the thirteen screws, the mast popped open into two pieces. Unfortunately, the components inside all shifted so I wasn’t able to see exactly how it was put together before. I would have to figure it out myself with a little trial and error.




The main problem with why the Shipwreck Rails Set wasn’t working propoerly is as I thought - the rope that connects the catch-wagon to the spring had jumped the pulley at the top of the mast. All I had to do was put the string back through the pulley and then figure out exactly how the string looped over the top and bottom pulleys. Easier said than done.

I can’t find any instructions or manuals on the internet of how to fix the mast and strings so I created my own video to help other dads out. Check it out below:



I hope this guide has taught you potentially how to fix your Trackmaster shipwreck rails set. Buy your own set here. I can’t wait to see what future Thomas Trackmaster sets they come out with next.