Rolling Stock

4 Wheel wagon

One of the main uses of the railway is too move heavy items around the garden and so a sprung 4 wheel wagon was one of the first items of rolling stock to be manufactured.

The chassis is welded up from angle iron recovered from a local scrap yard, which is also used for the horn guides. Plain brass bearings carry the axles and the mild steel wheels. Exterior plywood wood was the screwed to this chassis to form a firm base.

The sides are made of exterior plywood reinforced by angle iron corners.

This was made as a complete removable section so that the truck could be used as a flat wagon if required for moving planters etc.

Passenger Carriage No 1 "Jenny"

A good friend sold me a very old bogie braked carriage designed for a raised track. I've modified this and built a framework clad with plywood to make a sit astride coach.

The home built bogies I had made for the Jenny coach were very prone to derailments and the ride was poor. Despite my efforts it was obvious that bogie design for railways with tight curves was for the experts. Fortunately I notice that Ride 0n Railways had created an affordable bogie kit – specifically designed for tight curves and I bought one of these.

The product is well finished and easy to assemble and the performance is outstanding. Derailments are a thing of the past and the ride is excellent. Definitely to be recommended!!!

4 wheel Driving Truck

I made a freelance driving truck based on an idea for a combination of fixed unsprung axle (to simplify braking) and an articulated second axle with springing.

A simple wooden seat and base completes the truck. This has been reasonably successful but does give a hard ride so I think a few modifications are still required!

Passenger Carriage No 2 "Alison"

For children a new sit-in bogie coach has been constructed which is more stable as the centre of gravity is lower.

This was built around a rusty, second hand bogie chassis I acquired from “Station Road Steam”.

Once the seized bearings were freed up (with liberal quantities of penetrating oil) it was thoroughly cleaned and re-painted.

The finished coach was named after my Sister-in-law Alison to match coach No1 named after my sister Jenny.

Tipper Truck

I had always wanted to make a realistic tipper truck for the railway to carry stone chippings as the line has a quarry type feel.

The chassis is unsprung, but has a very short wheelbase, and is made with scrap aluminium angle bar. The hopper is made from aluminium sheet recovered from a local scrap yard and riveted together.

A simple pivot release mechanism ensures that its load can by tipped to the left or right hand side. It does occasionally run on my local club line and raises plenty of interest.