Garden Railway Forum

Hello all. I've been working to create enough wagons through scratch building and bashing for my future garden railway here in the US. Very early on I realized it was going to be hard to get a lot of 16mm scale kits here, so I thought why not just kit bash something that looked close to something that could have been on a fictional Welsh 3ft gauge line. All of the wagons I have built so far are 45mm gauge, as more is available for them and friends can bring their American based stock to run.

I started with some coal wagon's based on a post from ge_rik's blog https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/search ... date=false(this will become a common theme). They are based on Hartland chassis, and are constructed from basswood and styrene. Also pictured was one of my slate wagon test beds, but more on that in a moment. This is either the second or third coal wagon I built.

And in service
https://scontent-fml2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=62706CE6

Having completed this, I decided that my railway needed to move slate from the quarries to the harbor, so some slate wagons were in order. These models have no particular basis, but borrow heavily from Ffestiniog railway designs. The axle boxes were first made in styrene, then molded and produced in resin. These have a shallow hole drilled into the back with a bit of brass tube for a bearing. The car body is all styrene, mostly L bracket and strip stock. Tichy 0.70 rivets were used on this one.
https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=62700098

My test car had different rivets, which were in my parts bin and will not be used again....


Assembled and placed behind a Stainz, they looked decent to my eye.


Some simple LGB repaints were to follow, but the itch to fully scratch build was still there....



Another blog post from rik lead me to cut down a LGB wagon, which turned out quite well. I still actually haven't done a roof or painted this car yet, so stay tuned on that.


Ultimately, I decided to gut one of my LGB flat wagons and make a cattle car. I freely admit this was due to reading a blog post way too late at night.... https://riksrailway.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... agons.html. I followed the guide Rik posted pretty closely, converting most of the units to imperial as needed (Can't get styrene in mm easily). This quickly lead to two cattle wagon sides.



Today's project was to build ends for the car. My dimensions were different enough where I had to eyeball the overall shape. I then made myself a paper jig, filed a relief in the vertical posts, and glued my ends together..... and forgot to take any photos of the process. Oh well, that's what I get for working on this at the hobby shop I work at. Anyway, this is how it looked shortly before my shift ended.
https://scontent-fml2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=6270C688

Fast forward, the planking is now on. Next up will be rivet detail and making the doors. I'm half tempted to make the hinges brass, and make them work. Will all depend how much sanity I have left.


This whole process has been a heck of a lot of fun. I am already thinking the next cattle wagon will be of full Welshpool and Llanfair basis. Lots more angle iron work, but could be a fun challenge. The railway itself will be happening this summer hopefully, as long as this April snow holds of (Fun times in northern climates). I'll keep posting here as more progress occurs on my various rolling stock.

Lastly, I hope all the images work. Not sure my host will work fully.

They look great! I'm glad my scribblings have been useful to you. You seem to have covered a lot of ground in a very short time!

Rik

Welcome to the Forum MrRail, your first post almost exactly a year after you joined us!
That Rik has much to answer for, but his influence is undeniable, and you can't go wrong following his advice. You have just the best day-job going, working in a hobby shop with access to all the materials needed and time to use them.... I'm so envious.
Your wagons look great and very well constructed... more please!

Great looking wagons, and reall;y neatly finished. I particularly lilke the cattle van...

Nice slate wagons too. Isn't it amazing how they gain rigidity when you glue all the bits together, particularly once you put the top rails on? Well, I think it's amazing anyway - I mentioned this to my wife who replied, "err, I think that's just Physics..."

Thanks for the pictures, I look forward to seeing more!

All the best,

Andrew.

Thanks for the comments guys! I've been having a lot of fun building this stuff. Something different from what I generally model.

You have just the best day-job going, working in a hobby shop with access to all the materials needed and time to use them.... I'm so envious.

There's a flip side to that..... The employee discount helps a lot, and we have a lot of cool stuff too..... but you really need self control to work there. Things tend to follow you home.

It may just be me, but I can't see any of the images you appear to have included in your post (just the word "image"). The links work to show images from elsewhere.

Back at it, more progress on the Welshpool and Llanfair cattle wagon.

Today's project has been rivets..... lots and lots of rivets. So far about 260 or so.....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/519 ... 39b3_b.jpg

Of course, one thing lead to another and I started on the doors for the car. I'm just crazy enough I decided to make them work. And well so far I'm happy with the result. Still need to build up a locking mechanism, but I think that's Friday's project while I'm at work.


Overall I'm really happy with the feel this car is getting. That being said, the next car will likely be wider, and closer to a prototype. Looking forward to paint, but still a ways off on that.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/519 ... 6770_b.jpg

(Went to hosting stuff on Flickr, hopefully the photos are less buggered up this time.)

These all look really good, especially the cattle truck, looking forward to seeing the finished article!

Coming along very nicely! Well done for tackling the opening doors.....

Rik

Excellent tidy job there, those rivets certainly look the part and applied meticulously.

I too like doors and gates that open, makes for realistic pics loading and unloading. Nice work on the cattle van.
Grant.

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Wed Apr 06, 2022 10:35 am Excellent tidy job there, those rivets certainly look the part and applied meticulously.

I thought that too - incredibly neat rivet application! It's going to be a very fine looking wagon...

LNR wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 2:09 am I too like doors and gates that open, makes for realistic pics loading and unloading.

Talking of which, it's been ages since we saw any of your lovely pictures Grant - have you taken any lately you can share?

Apologies for the slight thread hi-jack there, I'm very impressed with anyone who makes opening doors, such precision work isn't a strength I possess!

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:08 pm It may just be me, but I can't see any of the images you appear to have included in your post (just the word "image"). The links work to show images from elsewhere.

I don't know who did what, if anything at all, but your images are now clearly visible
I do like your cattle waggon - I made the Lineside Hut kit of that https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 39&t=12541
with the working door option, which they replicated with split pins and brass rod. It may give you some inspiration to come up with a solution to hinges and locks? Good work so far, anyway

Thanks for all the encouragement! I admit I've also been sizing up an actual Welshpool & Llanfair / Vale of Rheidol car (I think it's 38089?). The more I look the more I'm tempted to start the second one of these cars completely from scratch and model to prototype. That being said a hunt for drawings has not been that successful yet, so recommendations there would be appreciated.

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 7:40 pm

Lonsdaler wrote: ↑Tue Apr 05, 2022 8:08 pm It may just be me, but I can't see any of the images you appear to have included in your post (just the word "image"). The links work to show images from elsewhere.

I don't know who did what, if anything at all, but your images are now clearly visible
I do like your cattle waggon - I made the Lineside Hut kit of that https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 39&t=12541
with the working door option, which they replicated with split pins and brass rod. It may give you some inspiration to come up with a solution to hinges and locks? Good work so far, anyway

I actually have some similar ideas to what you've done on that car. I'm going to pick up some brass tomorrow, and hog that out to match the prototype car's locks. I'm then planning to pin it and hold the pins with some 40 link per inch chain work happens to have for ships. Shouldn't actually be too complex to do, so may be able to do that Friday or Sunday. I find that the prototype is nice, as they'll normally build things as simple as possible.

As for the upper doors, will likely make a start on those soon. I think I'm going to do rod stock as opposed to the planks the prototype has on this car. Next car will be done to prototype.

PM sent

Rik

I can't be left alone.... Went through my brass drawer and found some bits I missed.... well a bit of work later and the first latch exists. Still need rod stock though.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 9:05 pm PM sent

Rik

Those are exactly what I needed, thanks a ton!

MrRail wrote: ↑Thu Apr 07, 2022 8:44 pm I actually have some similar ideas to what you've done on that car. I'm going to pick up some brass tomorrow, and hog that out to match the prototype car's locks. I'm then planning to pin it and hold the pins with some 40 link per inch chain work happens to have for ships. Shouldn't actually be too complex to do, so may be able to do that Friday or Sunday. I find that the prototype is nice, as they'll normally build things as simple as possible.

As for the upper doors, will likely make a start on those soon. I think I'm going to do rod stock as opposed to the planks the prototype has on this car. Next car will be done to prototype.

You may have some images already, but these are of one of the originals, photographed in Welshpool in 2016.
My daughter is reading an information board, not staring at the wall!

Door one is on as of today. Started by fitting things up, need to do more rivets.


Mounted the brackets up, they'll get a pair of rivets into the styrene. Mechanical fit as well as a glue fit, should help.


Overall, happy with most of the installation. The door latches are a bit small and fall through. So I either need to enlarge the holes, get somewhat larger rod, or some sort of retainer.... details to follow and door two to go.


Also, thanks for the reference photos. Vale of Rheidol also posted a decent amount to their facebook page on the rebuild as well. I think I'll be formulating a full plan soon.

That is a work of art, not just a model! Can't wait to see the finished pictures.