Garden Railway Forum

You guys are such trouble makers.... you always get my mind churning over ideas to achieve the unachievable.
True to say I have been influenced by the thought of making SM32 models based on Rainhill Trials locomotives, but the same problem always raised its head, how to narrow gauge them.
According to my copy of 'The Rainhill Trials' by Christopher McGowan, I have discovered the final nail in the coffin of building 'Cycloped', entered by Thomas Shaw Brandreth, that illustrations of the time (and subsequently copied) show the vehicle with a single horse, when it actually had two, side-by-side, to power the treadmill, which made it much wider still. No hope of seeing a 2' gauge version I fear.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 3:36 pm You guys are such trouble makers.... you always get my mind churning over ideas to achieve the unachievable.
True to say I have been influenced by the thought of making SM32 models based on Rainhill Trials locomotives, but the same problem always raised its head, how to narrow gauge them.
According to my copy of 'The Rainhill Trials' by Christopher McGowan, I have discovered the final nail in the coffin of building 'Cycloped', entered by Thomas Shaw Brandreth, that illustrations of the time (and subsequently copied) show the vehicle with a single horse, when it actually had two, side-by-side, to power the treadmill, which made it much wider still. No hope of seeing a 2' gauge version I fear.

Unless it's powered by a Shetland pony????

Rik

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 3:36 pm According to my copy of 'The Rainhill Trials' by Christopher McGowan, I have discovered the final nail in the coffin of building 'Cycloped', entered by Thomas Shaw Brandreth, that illustrations of the time (and subsequently copied) show the vehicle with a single horse, when it actually had two, side-by-side, to power the treadmill, which made it much wider still. No hope of seeing a 2' gauge version I fear.

Don't throw in the towel yet, Peter! Articulated cycloped? Horses one in front of the other, with bevel gears, longitudinal drive shaft and universal joints? (You wouldn't even have to stop at two...)

SimonWood wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 4:05 pm Don't throw in the towel yet, Peter! Articulated cycloped? Horses one in front of the other, with bevel gears, longitudinal drive shaft and universal joints? (You wouldn't even have to stop at two...)

Sorry to disappoint Simon, but that's been done too.
This is 'Impulsoria', designed and built by Clemente Masserano 1850 and displayed at the 'Great Exhibition' 1851.
. Another addition for 'prototype for everything' !

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Sat Feb 01, 2025 2:59 pm So, on to this week's recipe...
Take one portion of Boot Lane's 'LEO'...
Leo.jpg
Two large portions of Jerry Irwin's boiler/firebox/smokebox kit ...
Boiler 1.jpg
And a Bachmann American 'G' scale tender... (sorry no image).
Shake well whilst waiting for inspiration to strike...
.
And here it is... this is 'Ballaarat', built by the James Hunt Foundry in Ballaarat (old spelling), Victoria, Western Australia, in 1871. It was built to 1067mm gauge (3'6") and used for logging. Fortunately still preserved in the City of Busselton.
.

the Ballaarat.jpg

My version will be based on, not copied from, this wonderful survivor

Where did the boiler come from, is it a custom 3D print or some obscure kit that's no longer available?

The boiler shown with the firebox and smokebox is a kit available from Jerry Irwin. (Jerry is a Forum member). It was removed and replaced by a plastic tube covered with timber slats, which I scratch built to suit the required effect of my new build plan.
The slats are thin ply (approx. 1mm) individually stuck with PVA on to a sheet of paper which was cut to fit around the tube. When the glue set the paper was stuck to the tube and temporarily held with elastic bands. Final edge trimming, sanding, staining and polishing completes the job.
I hope this answers your question.

Your builds are always imaginative and inspiring Peter. I'm very much looking forward to seeing your next project!

So much to catch up with here!

I'm particularly enjoying "Wild Goose", just wonderful...

Andrew.

Followers of this thread will have noticed a leaning towards road to rail vehicle conversions, so I'm always seeking inspiration from anything which becomes available. The supply appears to have dried up somewhat recently, so possibly someone else is also doing something similar? Beware, it might be contagious!
As an alternative I was tempted by something completely different.... I do like something different!
I bought one of these....
Apparently it's a Harley Davidson.... something I know nothing about. I thought it would make a nice lineside accessory, but it needed a rider. That's when the fun started! I couldn't find a printed figure with arms and legs spread wide enough to sit astride one, so I bought a seated figure as near as possible and set about removing his limbs. A little anaesthetic was used ( Single Malt!) and his stance altered substantially to suit the requirements.
Some brass rod and modelling putty soon solved the problem....
By this stage thoughts were turning to making more of this item as it began to look more promising than anticipated. What about a motorcycle on rails?
If so, it needed a small trailer to hold the batteries etc...

I'm imagining that would have been quite an operation to get that chap seated as you have done. I always enjoy that as a sideline, though I do have a few arms and legs hanging around the workbench from failures.
Well done, waiting to see where this is going.
Grant.

Mmmm..Got an idea of what this is going to look like. Leave it to the master to do something extraordinary.

FWLR wrote: ↑Fri Mar 14, 2025 5:20 am Mmmm..Got an idea of what this is going to look like. Leave it to the master to do something extraordinary.

Are we getting close Rod?

The finished item of essential railway mobile service equipment is....
A rail-mounted Ice Cream delivery vehicle....
This precedes the passenger trains, stopping at each station in turn, ensuring all of the travellers are well provided for on their journey.
All preservation lines should have one!

Ha ha. Brilliant Peter. You have an abundance of quirky non typical stock.

Sorry Peter I haven’t felt good for a couple of days so only just seen this. That’s not what I was thinking of, I thought it might have something to do with a mobile meat and vegetables or something like that. But this is just something else…. I’m blown away by it. Only you can see something others can’t…

Can’t wait to see your next incarnation…

Many thanks for your kind words Rod, I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well at the moment, perhaps this has cheered you up a little?
It's just for fun after all.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Mon Mar 17, 2025 10:23 am Many thanks for your kind words Rod, I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well at the moment, perhaps this has cheered you up a little?
It's just for fun after all.

Thanks Peter. It comes and goes unfortunately. I’m going to see another consultant in April I think to see if I could get a pacemaker…

It really has cheered me up Peter. I don’t get on the site much though these days, I hope the members don’t think I am ignoring them.

Excellent! Another clever imaginative masterpiece from the master modeller.

Rik

A little late in the day here, but I love the ice-cream bike, fantastic stuff. There's something about how the design just "works", and the quality of the finish that makes me feel that maybe, just maybe, it could actually have existed somewhere...

I'll have a 99, please.

Updates to this thread have stalled recently due to ongoing problems with transferring camera pictures to laptop. I used to be able to do it in two steps, the system now requires eight, of which which I could only manage seven before everything disappeared. Computers and I are incompatible!
However, I have had further training from a friend and feel I may have mastered the issue after all.... possibly?
In the meantime I have been taking pictures of recent projects and have some to show, at last.
Another road to rail conversion.... Using just the front end of a novelty radio and adding a box van body with extended roof over the driver...
The sides and end doors have diagonal planking scribed into the HIP sheet...
I strive to make each build different to the last.