Model Railway Forum

On one of the real farms they had a small rail truck powered by a flash steam boiler. It was made by a firm called Lifu. The device gave me the idea to make something that could carry a small load.
So the next rail truck I built really is a bit of a critter. It is an ex- American army jeep. It is an Italeri kit and cost about six Pounds. I didn’t realise until I got it home and looked in the box that it came complete with a trailer as well. Excellent value I thought.
It sits on an On30 Bachmann Street Car chassis, which is rather high, but the Bachmann chassis was brand new and only £20, another cancellation in a shop that sadly no longer exists. It runs very well so I am prepared to put up with the extra height.








The photos show it in the early days before more details had been added.


Peter M

The jeep trailer ended up in the junk pile next to the tractor workshop. The photos show the scene early on before more junk was added. Farmers I have noted seem reluctant to throw anything away.





Peter M

The ground cover was still being added a bit at a time when these pictures were taken.
The horse drawn device hidden under the tarpaulin is actually part of a German army field kitchen. The tarpaulin is kitchen towel soaked in PVA, then painted with acrylics when dry. This is then washed over in a thin coat of watery dark grey, this runs into the creases and gives it more definition. When this is dry a light flick over with a little cream on a dry brush. Like this the implement could be anything. Wonderful thing the imagination.

The jerry cans and large oil drum are from a Tamiya military kit as are the sacks. The sight gauge and valve on the tank next to the greenhouse are from the spares box. The fine light coloured ground cover is a material we used to use at work for dealing with oil spills.

I find 1/32 -1/35 is a nice size to work in for someone like me who is not in the first flush of youth. These days my eyesight is not what it was and my hands don’t seem so dexterous as they once were because I have PMR. The main thing is it is fun.
 






We get a glimpse into the engine shed with its work bench and a tool box plus some parts being worked on. A vice and more tools have been added since this was picture was taken. The floor of the engine house is scribed Milliput painted a dirty black as are the sides of the rails in the shed. A set of fire irons lean against the front of the shed next to an oil drum of rubbish complete with brush and shovel. A group of oil drums containing lubricating oil sit on a balsa wood stand.

Next to the engine house is a low relief barn made of balsa painted with watered down Indian ink. It has a rusty corrugated iron roof and a brick base from yet another Tamiya war damaged building!

Peter M
 

The next shunting locomotive is not to be taken too seriously really. I built it from a selection of unused body parts and a switcher chassis from my spares box.
It’s a device I really don’t think there is a prototype for as it’s all in my imagination. The fiction is that it has a Gardner four cylinder diesel engine at one end (the side with the vertical exhaust and radiator). This drives a generator at the other end by a long shaft that passes through the middle of the loco behind the driver’s seat. It can be used as a portable generator out in the fields as well as being a conventional diesel electric to power the traction motors in both bogies.
It has a KD coupler at the front and a link and pin at the rear.
The photos were taken on my test track.






In this last picture the device is seen in the yard next to the man sitting down with a puppy under his shirt. Photo by Mick Thornton

Peter M

Due to the small size of the layout four wheel shunters are a bit more flexible and more like the shunters used in reality. So I added another to the growing fleet of locos and rail trucks.
Because the original bauxite coloured Simplex type ran well using the Model Power Chassis I bought another. Roaring inflation had increased its price by some 50%, but I thought it still reasonable in today’s inflationary times.
This time I managed to find a drawing of an armoured Simplex and used the basic dimensions to build mine with the exception of the curved sides. Again the Two Sister’s engineers shied away from curving metal and squared up the sides of the second hand ex WD chassis they had acquired. Because it was wider I was able to put more weights into each side of its plasticard footplate. The cab, engine cover, radiator are all plasticard with some Cambrian 16mm scale rivets and nuts strategically placed. Odds and ends from the spares box serve to represent parts of the engine and transmission seen below the bonnet cover. The wire grill is made from the reinforcing from some industrial tape soaked in ACC to make it rigid. The vertical motor means there is no room for a driver so I made a canvas door from masking tape suitably coloured.
This time I sprayed the body with grey primer then painted it a light green colour purely to make a change. It is very lightly weathered because I assumed its regular driver looks after it. 
The extra weight means it tracks and runs a bit better than the original one, which is good considering its humble origin.



 





Peter M

Everything is just right. Not too much and not too little.

Many thanks WTD, I appreciate your kind comments.

Regards Peter M

I have found another photograph of the 40hp Simplex type at rest on a Sunday morning outside the green house. This gives some idea of its small size.
Please note some of the photos that have been taken over a period of years were taken by my fellow operator Andy Knott.

Peter M

Working on the theory you can’t have too many locos the next shunter I made was powered by
another Athearn switcher chassis that I had been given.
Again it is a purely freelance design and was built out of plasticard on the base Athearn switcher basic footplate that had had the body removed.
I removed one of the flywheels and a drive shaft to give more room at the back end for the cab and this allowed a seated driver figure to be fitted in.
Someone suggested that it looked rather Germanic, I don't know the mechanics in the farm workshop just used whatever they could lay their hands on.
The body is the usual bodge with a couple of doors to allow access into the engine compartment. The radiator was from an Athearn Hustler body and it is open to allow air in to keep the five pole motor cool. It’s got the usual handrails and bits of rope and chain hanging from them. It had link and pin couplers at both ends originaly but now has a KD at the rear.
The body is slightly weighted, the Athearn chassis on its own is quite heavy so it tracks well and is a nice slow runner.
It is painted in my faded industrial green colour with a little wear and tear weathering.
The original driver was a Chinese figure who looked too big and was changed later for a smaller more European figure.









Peter M

A few pictures showing a couple of Diesel tractors that have just been purchased. The blue one is a Fordson Power Major that used a modified Ford truck engine. This is the more powerful tractor and is used for ploughing and general cultivation.
The red one a Fergie 35 which was powered by a three cylinder Perkins engine and is used for light work around the yard.
Both are Universal Hobbies models and come ready made, if not that well stuck together.









Peter M