Two Sister's Farm

[broadoak]

The Fordson Major 27n powered rail truck is the latest device to have come out of the farm workshop. It looks just the sort of vehicle to find on a farm railway, sadly it was not.
It is very loosely based on a device made by Muir Hill that provided the inspiration for to build something similar for my Two Sister‘s Farm.
I was given a very damaged 1/32 scale white metal Fordson 27N and having a photo of the Muir Hill device decided it would be an excellent starting point.
The model is powered by a WB35 Tenshodo bogie. This is held by one screw to a plasticard false chassis which in turn is held by two screws to the plasticard chassis that supports the white metal tractor body. The driver figure is a German tank crewman supposedly playing cards from Master Box.
The finished model is much higher from the rail top than the Muir Hill example due to the space taken up by the Tenshodo bogie. Therefore it is assumed an accident damaged tractor had a chassis built for it in the farm workshop. It is used for light shunting in the yard due to its relatively low power and its three speed gearbox with its extra two ratios giving 6 forward and 2 reverse gears. Tenshodo bogies are fine for powering things like this tractor but they do need plenty of weight and take some time to run in properly.











Peter M

[broadoak]

At the same time the tractor based device was being built I was working on another rail truck. This has a Zvezda GAZ-AAA Russian 1/35 scale kit of a Ford based lorry as a basis. The real trucks were built under license in Russia during the second World War. Because the prototype is a small vehicle I used the three axle truck to give a little more length, the two axle version being very short, more like a tipper.
I must admit I am a little disappointed with the way this has turned out. It has one saving grace however, it runs superbly and I’m happy to make allowances for decent running.
The kit was inexpensive and turned out to be rather poor with regard to the fit and quality of many parts. The clear plastic windows being especially troublesome. But with a lot of fiddling and cutting I eventually managed to get it to fit a Con-Cor switcher chassis.
It is a kerosene tanker for refuelling the tractors out in the fields. The tank is actually an HO scale Walthers Oil Terminal item I have modified to suit its new role. I added flat shelves to the body sides to hold the refuelling pipes and a couple of wooden boxes for tools. The hand rails are made from paper clips and the rubber refuelling pipes are resin cored solder.
The exhaust pipe and silencer I have move and now is fitted to the front of the vehicle to minimise the fire risk.







Peter M

[Bandit Mick]

I love the vehicles you have built to run on rails. Were you an engineer or are you just very creative (or just very very clever)?

[broadoak]

Thanks for your comment Mick.
I was a technical illustrator many years ago and started work at Scammel lorries in the works. I have never been an engineer but have always liked cars and trucks, oh and tractors of course.
I just wanted to build narrow gauge layout with motive power that was different, I like to think the rail trucks are un likely but believable. The whole thing shouldn't be taken too seriously, modelling is supposed to be fun after all.

Kind regards Peter M

[Walkingthedog]

Rail trucks certainly exist. In all shapes and sizes.

[broadoak]

Thanks WTD. Yes they are at work in Romania and in Russia or at least were until recently.

Kind regards Peter M

[Walkingthedog]

Think they were/are pretty common in the USA.

[broadoak]

Yes you are right WTD, I forgot the famous Galloping Goose railcars built in the 1930's by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad. In fact I think some still exist today.

Regards Peter M

[broadoak]

A few pictures of the small Porter steam loco no 1, the farm only use her during the summer at harvest time. At this time the loco still looked rather American.
Several remarks have been made over the years regarding to two figures on the footplate. I will
leave any thoughts to your imagination. Suffice to say they are both modified soldiers.







Peter M

[Mountain Goat]

I am enjoying this thread.

(But I am biassed due to scale and gauge).

The central motored chassis. Am I right in thinking you have been able to use a single bogie from one with a motor? (I did take apart a chassis like this (Don't think I ever got the loco to work from new so I may as well look to see if it was a source of parts) but I believe that the weight of the motor on a single bogie would not be ideal without some heavy weight on the other side. Also sticks out a bit. Mounting the motor at a different angle to drive through the gears also seems difficult so I didn't experiment).
Never bought any Bachmann item myself. Their prices put me off, but they look good. Just the large gap between vehicles put me off, though I would be converting the coupling method anyway to suite my stock. (Still have most of my stock to do, but at the moment they are in storage so I need to be patient).
Love the tiny details on your layout. Lots to see!