Garden Railway Forum

My 5" gauge TIGER (sister loco of the famous LION) is a reliable runner now.
However, my standard driving trucks look wrong behind it.
They are just too big and wide for this small loco.
I have a Doug hewson kit-built covered wagon, a 3d printed WD tank and a 3d printed Lowfit wagon.
Sitting on a four-wheeled covered wagon with a wheelbase of just 25cm is a real challenge.
I found a picture on the web where someone had put three wagon bodies on a bogie chassis.
This gave me the idea to build a driving truck like this, just with two wagon bodies.
The covered wagon body will be at the rear end, serving as a seat. The front bogie will have a five-plank body with footrests.
This should give the proper looks of two four-wheelers and the riding quality of a bogie wagon.

There are however some trade-offs. In order to allow the bogies to move freely there will be a gap between the body and the (bogie/wagon) frame.
The steel bar stock connecting the two "wagons" below the buffer beam will be visible.
I think I can live with that.
With the "not to scale" driver it will hopefully look better than a huge driving truck I use now.
Bodies are finished (minus detailling), some parts for one bogie have not been delivered yet, this is what keeps me from putting the parts together for a few photos.

Pics to follow.

Successful test run today.

Of course, Murphy paid a visit.
During the first test with just the frame and the bogies, everything went well.
Today, with the fake buffers between the two bodies the wagon would not go round the curves.
I fitted the fake buffers with hex head screws.
The screw heads got in the way of the bogie frames, preventing the bogies to swing any further.
Shortened the screw heads, now it works.
And the most important thing: it blends in with the train.
Still lots of detailing to do.

Ingenious solution. Those wagons look great. From a distance the fact the two leading wagons are one isn't obvious. Is the open wagon (and maybe the van) made mostly from chipboard or some other composite?

Will you put some padding on the roof of the van or put up with a numb bum for the sake of realism?


Rik

Big hideous riding cars behind small locos have always bothered me.
I love your solution. The steel frame visible between the wagons really blends in with a coat of black.

@Rik

The five plank and the grey covered wagon are made from particleboard.
This had to be thick enough to carry the not-to-scale driver (me). This is also why I have opted for non-functional sliding doors.
The roof is 3mm steel sheet.
The brown covered wagon is a Doug Hewson kit (mostly resin), tanker and Lowfit are 3d printed.
I am now making the parts for a dummy Morton brake. This should also help distract the view from the "bogies".
Handrails, hinges and other bits also still to be made.

A driving truck is always a compromise. so this may not me the best solution, but it is one that works for me.

@Aaron

To me it is always a sad view to see a well-built loco pulling a "crate on wheels" as a driving truck and (in many cases) nothing else.
This is why I went for the 3d printed wagons. The wheels have GL5 profile. The axles are steel and run in ball bearings.
The roof is ok to sit on, even for longer runs. As the roof can be lifted off I keep a small cushion in it for other drivers.

Will take a photo of the whole train soon.

Is it a trick of the camera?
To my eye, the tanker looks a little small?

Of course, it could be all the others I have seen, tend to be narrow-gauge, so will probably appear larger..

Phil.P

Hi Phil,

The chassis os a scaled down RCH chassis and the tank is also to scale.
As it is very slim it might look small.

Love to see a video of the train being driven. It's difficult to judge the scale in relation to its full size human cargo.
Whereas I'm not a great fan of live steam in 16mm scale, I do like the idea of a live steam miniature loco capable of pulling real people. Don't ask me to explain why there's a difference - just one of my (many) quirks.....

Rik

@Rik

I understand your point.
In 5" gauge you are a "real" driver: putting on coal, working pumps/injectors, checking the track ahead of you, enjoying the sound of the engine working.
You are closer to things than jogging beside an ancient spirit-fired O-gauge loco or standing there with an RC set controlling a modern gas-fired gauge 1 steamer.
(of course, this can also be fun)
Small locos such as the TIGER or my Bavarian PtL 2/2 are a challenge to drive as the grate area is small and the boiler does not forgive any error.
Tiger



Bavarian PtL 2/2 with not to scale driver (me):

Just catching up here - what a great solution! Looks fantastic...

As promised, some pics of the train.

We have come from this:


to this:


With mounted footrests:


I will add one more lowfit and one more tanker. That should be a believable load for this loco.

They all go together very well, nice work.

Had a successful run yesterday. TIGER and driving truck did some miles, running the whole day.
Now I can start detailling.

Had a good running session today.

I built another Lowfit and tank wagon




TIGER easily copes with the load, even on wet tracks (we had a bit of rain inbetween).
Now the train is long enough for me.
I´ll leave it this way.

A good load, that. Makes a nice change from the usual ride-on passenger carriages.
The car is a great deail, too. 3D printed?

That looks lovely! Will you add a guard's van?

The car was picked up at a charity shop and is actually tinplate.

I am still doing research if in those times there was a brake van or it was solely relied on engine and tender brakes.
Lion and Tiger were built in 1837 so I am not sure if brake vans were already in use then or even a red lantern on the rear wagon.

Lion was used until 1857, Tigers traces have vanished. I could not find much more than the fact that she was built to the same spec as Lion.

If anyone can shed a light on the red lamp or brake van topic, go ahead.

From what I've read, "break" vans started use in the 1840s (to control the train in case of a "break" or failed coupling chain). I'm certainly no expert though... I've never actually seen a brake van in real life!

Scrat wrote: ↑Wed Oct 04, 2023 5:12 pm If anyone can shed a light on the red lamp or brake van topic, go ahead.

I am absolutely not an expert, but according to Festipedia, the Festiniog's earliest Brake/Breake vans were built in 1865 https://www.festipedia.org.uk/wiki/FR_Brake_Vans
and according to the Talyllyn website, the earliest known there was built in 1866.

Dunno if that helps at all?

This is the same I found.

So my way would be not to have a brake van but have a red lamp on the last wagon.
This is plausible and also gives a bit of safety when running in the darkness (we often do that in autumn/winter).
As the last wagon is a Lowfit it will be easy to hide a battery.