Garden Railway Forum

At present I'm unpacking my large scale models and dusting them off in readiness for starting back with large scale railway building again. At first when I started off I wasn't sure what scale I would work to and my models varied between 1/12 and 7/8 in to the foot. These days I've settled on 7/8, but I still have the test side tipper wagon I made for 1/12 scale. I'm going to rebuild the underframe soon to make it more suitable for 7/8 scale, but first I thought I'd share the original build pictures with you.

Gauge is 45mm.

All wood is cut to size with a razor saw from pine offcuts.

And......








Detail of typical bush tramway wooden slab clamp brake. The brake handle is temporary until I make something better.


Completed side tip wagon.

Hi Anne,

Great work and I love the dog

I like the size of 7/8ths, however, I am too far down the 16mm route now to change.

Bigger is better ha ha!

tom_tom_go:74164 wrote:Hi Anne,

Great work and I love the dog

I like the size of 7/8ths, however, I am too far down the 16mm route now to change.

Bigger is better ha ha!

Thanks Tom Tom

That little dog was a toy I had when I was a kiddie. I hadn't seen it for years, but when Mum sold up the family home some years ago that wee dog came to light in a corner of a cupboard while I was helping Mum to get everything packed up to move house. Now it has been found it trails around after my little helper Bill and watches him while he works.

(Gulp) That's absolutely STUNNING!

Dogs love hard work - they can watch it for hours...! I was finishing up weed-whacking this afternoon when 'Millie' was brewing up and I turned round to see three Westies lined up in size order from left to right carefully scrutinizing my efforts. They have also spent hours observing my attempts to advance the Skebawn and Castleknox Tramway towards its eventual terminus.

They have, however, learned to treat trains both moving and 'blowing up' on steep banks with respect. The former can't half nip at your heels when you walk along the track, and the latter are prone to suddenly setting off spraying hot water.

Peter in AZ
(Westie Wrangler)

Similar design to the GVT ones!

Does anyone have the drawings for the GVT side-tippers?????

My side tipper was constructed after studying old photos of tipper wagons at work on bush tramways. Most of them were built in the tramway's workshop from whatever was to hand with no more plan than a quick sketch if that.

I was given this German drawing after I'd completed my tipper and it might useful to anybody who wants to build a side tip wagon of their own.