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.

To try and make the sides look like a timber clad box van I've routed grooves in the plywood and fixed dummy doors on the sides. To give more comfort to the passengers I've added a cushion leatherette seat. I generally use this carriage also for driving the loco as the ride quality is good.

Whilst it is very free running, the carriage is not very successful for carrying adults as the cast wheels (for some reason) have a very narrow profile. This means that quite often on bends or points the wheels just fall between the rails.

In the end I've bitten the bullet and am making some new bogies up using Nachi roller bearings (sourced from Arc Euro Trade) and steel wheels with the correct profile sourced from the Engineers Emporium. Both these companies have been very helpful after I explained what I was trying to do.

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.