CGR 2' gauge coaches

[jefran]

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Back in the late 1980s I made a set of Cape Government 2'-0" gauge coaches in 16mm scale for the garden line I was building - the attachment should show them if I have done this correctly. There were 5, mostly on the standard 24' underframe, but with one of the longer vehicles with a toilet in the middle; for the last 20 years they have sat in my cupboard, but after I retired I began work on reinstating the railway and the first trains ran in September last year, so the coaches finally saw daylight again. All the information I had in those days was in Moir's book, "24 Inches Apart", and I was intrigued by a diagram of a dining car that was of the same general design; I made a spare underframe, complete with bogies in the hope that one day I would find enough data to make one. The time has come and the vehicle is coming together. While looking through the box where I kept all the parts I found another bare underframe and set out to make another coach to fit on it, so I will soon have 2 new coaches. I have kept the diner as close to the techniques and standards as the stuff I made 30 years ago, so everything has been made from the same sort of scratch; the only things I bought on the originals were Brandbright RSA14 door handles and, with the 4 compartment first I am making, I am going to need 10. I have 9 in stock, so I only need 1; the Brandbright website has been in maintenance mode every time I have looked for the past few weeks, so I am wondering if any one knows where there is 1 that I could buy. My 1996 catalogue tells me that they are now made in brass; whatever mine are, they aren't brass, but I don't suppose that it matters, so long as they are the same shape.

[Lonsdaler]

That whole set looks amazing. Brandbright is 'between owners' at the moment. The company passed from the founders to a new owner about 5 years ago. Andy has been ill, I understand, and has sold the company again, but there is a planned downtime whilst the new owners get organised .
In the meantime, this company will apparently make whatever you want, and may actually have made Brandbright's fittings for them https://steelriverengineering.co.uk/model-railway
Swift Sixteen also do some brass detailing parts, maybe worth a look? https://www.swiftsixteen.co.uk/detailing?page=2
Either way, good hunting and welcome to the forum.

[Old Man Aaron]

That whole set looks amazing. Brandbright is 'between owners' at the moment. The company passed from the founders to a new owner about 5 years ago. Andy has been ill, I understand, and has sold the company again, but there is a planned downtime whilst the new owners get organised .
In the meantime, this company will apparently make whatever you want, and may actually have made Brandbright's fittings for them https://steelriverengineering.co.uk/model-railway
Swift Sixteen also do some brass detailing parts, maybe worth a look? https://www.swiftsixteen.co.uk/detailing?page=2
Either way, good hunting and welcome to the forum.

Wot he said!

[ge_rik]

Impressive!! I hope you manage to track down another one.

Rik

[jefran]

Thank you all - as there is a possibility of being able to get hold of some more of the original style I have decided to have a go at making some as a temporary measure. I have no idea how long the original coaches took, but I think that I started them during a spell of redundancy back in 1988, so I had more time on my hands than for most of the next 34 years. The 2 I am working on now seem to have been work-in-progress for a long while - the photo below was about 3 weeks ago when I brought them outside for the first time, after the body shells were about complete

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. The vehicle on the right was intended to be an exact match of the originals, and the body is made from 1/16" ply with the matchboarding represented by saw cuts about a third of the way through. On the very first two that meant using an Xacto razor saw and was a rather tedious job. I made a miniature portable circular saw, using Minicraft blades, where I could set the depth to about 20 thou and that made the job easier, though there is still the worry of making a bad cut. The other vehicle was to be an experiment in other techniques, particularly 3D printing, and as I wasn't sure that an all PLA side would be strong enough at 1/16" thick, and my printer isn't big enough to do a side at one go, I opted for 1mm overlays on 1/32 ply. The underframe was going to be one that I found tucked away in my box, but after I had got a long way into the project I found that it was badly twisted, so I have continued the experiment by using a piece of aluminium extrusion I found in the garage.

[Peter Butler]

Nice work, steady and accurate scribing on the coach sides, looking good!

[ge_rik]

Interesting combination of construction techniques. Will follow your progress with interest. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas

Rik

[jefran]

I have had a go at some temporary door handles, shown here alongside the original Brandbright ones

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I can probably do a little better if it becomes necessary, but this will do for now

[Old Man Aaron]

One can barely tell the difference there, your temporary handles are great. Though I certainly understand where you're coming from - we're all our own greatest critics.

[Andrew]

One can barely tell the difference there, your temporary handles are great.

I agree - I'd stick with those!

[jefran]

Thank you - I have long experience of satisfactory temporary solutions becoming permanent, but we will see.
I have taken the Hopefield diner outside to see how it looks in day light against the brake first that I made about 30 years ago, and from which the original was a conversion. I still had the tin of Humbrol enamel that the first 5 were painted with, but when I opened it the paint was solid and I had to buy some more. Experience with recent Humbrol paint has been that it lacks covering power but at least the shade looks very close, closer than I could mix

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[jefran]

Progress is always slower than expected but I have finally got the roof planks glued and pinned on; before I did so I took a picture of the interior and my first attempts at some people

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The general period is Edwardian, but I am not going to be too tightly restricted by that and if something is sufficiently attractive then I will have Edward living a good deal longer. The picture is a good deal bigger than the reality and I have noticed that the handbag on the pink skirt still shows some Milliput white and there is still some paint on the handrail, but I have now fixed these!

[LNR]

Yes, it's funny the things you notice when you take a photo of something you've made yourself.
Grant.

[Andrew]

The general period is Edwardian, but I am not going to be too tightly restricted by that and if something is sufficiently attractive then I will have Edward living a good deal longer.

No problem - My model of the Welsh Highland's "Gladstone Car" as it was in the 20s features the man himself, 30 years after his death...

Those are looking really good - and no-one's going to notice a tiny bit of unpainted Miliput inside a dark compartment. I save my ropiest figures for compartment carriages, using the best ones in open saloons...

[ge_rik]

Those figures look really good. Were they originally cheap Chinese figures off eBay or did you start from scratch?

Rik

[jefran]

Thank you Rik! They are among the first ones that I have done on my Ender 5 3D printer. I have some more work-in-progress but the capacity of just this set is 126 passengers, so for the moment they will have to be rather more spread out than this.

[jefran]

The dining car interior is quite different from the compartment stock

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I was going to make bent wood chairs from copper wire, but I made a set as 3D prints, at least for now. The passengers have to be specific to this coach, and as I have 15 of other people still to clean up, the ones I have done are as they came off the printer. I thought of making the chef Swedish and from the Muppets, but for now he is more conventional.