3.5" rolling stock

Evening all

I have recently joined my local MES but am yet to own a loco. They have very kindly let me use their 3.5" Britannia. I'd like to contribute to their kindness by starting to build a scale train for it. I'm not sure whether that will be a passenger service or freight service. I'm sure this will be a good thing on running days to complement the 5" and 7.25" passenger hauling services.

So my question is, does anyone provide a 3.5" gauge wagon or coach chassis/ complete kit that a beginner modeller can construct at home? Much like the 16mm scale kits......When I say beginner I truly am a beginner. I don't have a workshop as yet but do have hand tools and can read a drawing. Any advice is much appreciated.

Cheers
Ben

Hi Ben,

If you were asking about 5"g, Doug Hewson used to sell complete kits for wagons but they werent cheap.

Not aware of any kits for 3.5"g.

Learning how to use a petrol strimmer and offering to help out at the club might be thought more worthwhile and beneficial to your club than making 3.5"g rolling stock by most members.

Hope you enjoyed running the 3.5"g Brit. Cant see why you shouldnt run it pulling 8 or so punters on public running days.

I will send you a PM on the 'other' forum.

Cheers,

Julian

Edited By julian atkins on 21/09/2016 23:55:12

Cheers Julian

Already getting stuck in with the groundskeeping and happy to do so. I thought some wagons might be a good place to learn some skills useful to the hobby from the engineering side without wrecking someone's loco. Do you know of any good books to buy that can help out with the engineering/ modelling side of our hobby?

Ben

Edited By Ben Tiratsoo on 22/09/2016 08:53:43

Hi Ben, welcome to the forum.

I can strongly recommend Simple Model Locomotive Building, introducing LBSC's 'Tich'. This is a splendid book about the building of a small 0-4-0 tank loco, by the writer 'LBSC'. I still re-read my copy now, it is written in a very accessible way and is aimed at people new to model engineering or miniature steam loco building. I believe it is still in print, but secondhand copies often crop up on ebay.

I still haven't built my 'Tich', but it has often occurred to me that 3/4" to the foot is a good scale if you want to build, for instance, a typical wooden five-plank wagon, as you could probably make it from raw materials by following the drawings of an actual wagon, using the correct fasteners etc. This would also have the advantage of being inexpensive, you could even build a batch and sell a few to finance the project.

Good luck with your new interest!

Regards,

John.

Hallo Ben,

I model wagons in Gauge '3' (2.5" )  - which is 1:22.6 scale (or 13.5mm/foot). I tend to look for prototype drawings these days and draw them "full size" in CAD and then scale everything down - as I prefer to build as near as possible in the original materials - e.g. wooden underframes etc. We are fortunate though to have quite a good selection of wagon parts (axle guards, brake parts and other castings) available through the trade. I'm not aware of the same thing in 3/4" but I don't follow the 'news' in that scale -- so they may well be available. However, at one time there was very little in G3 and most things needed to be scratched built anyway - it's just a bit more work.

Doug Hewson has been mentioned already and he published a very good series of wagon building articles in EIM for 5" gauge - and I don't think it would be too hard to scale them down. You might need to make your axle guards and brake parts but laser cutting is not that expensive these days and someone like Malcolm at MEL would be pleased to help you I'm sure. So I'd ask around at your MES for copies of the Hewson EIM articles and I think that would be a very good starting point for you.

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 22/09/2016 09:27:40

Hello Ben

I found this company listing 3.5" gauge kits for 9' wooden and 10' steel underframes as well as for wagon bodies.. http://peterwoodswagons.co.uk/ I've no idea what they are like but it cannot hurt to ask them.

Brian

Cheers gents. I have subsequently found Peter's website through a post I had on Facebook. Thanks for all the help and advice. I've email Peter and will let update the thread as and when I hear anything. I have a small amount of experience building wooden (MDF) laser cut kits in 16mm Narrow Gauge and really quite enjoyed it. I know in the larger scales using actual materials is possible so I'm keen to learn and try a wagon or two and thought if someone did a kit it would be an ideal introduction to someone like myself. I can follow instructions and read a drawing. Unfortunately I have no CAD skills at all!!!

Ben

Model Engineers Laser sell bodywork and chassis kits for 3 1/2" gauge wagons.

Neil

I can strongly recommend not building a Tich. Too small, too fiddly, difficult to keep the fire going on a continuous track. There are probably hundreds of Tioches sitting on peoples sideboards, but you rarely see one running.

Hi Ben

Your not quite on your own if you look at my album it shows my train not all built by my self. I have one of peter woods kits not finished yet , If you want scale 8 spoke wheels Mark Wood does them or Clarksons jones goods bogie available from Blackgates (half the price). As already mentioned use scale drawings from the model press, scale dougs or visit your local preserved railway with camera tape measure and permission. Peter will rescale parts he as for me so will 17d I have one of there lowmacs to build in 3 1/2.

Happy waggon building

Paul

Duncan:

(my opinions below)

I love my Tich. One of these days I might oil fire it following the article in ME a few years ago now.

It's great to fire, with Welsh steam coal, and can pull two on a level track. I actually love the challenge.

It DOES however, plug up and will not run all day. But, that gives one time to socialize, which is what I think clubs should be about.

I've put a picture from my album below - me pulling a larger-than-me gentleman, around the Winnipeg Canada track a while ago now.

As always, there are many opinions on things!

Paul, a fellow in Ontario, Canada has been building 3-1/2" gauge box cars (North American) and these have resin wheels on 1/4" axles, and resin/plywood sides. They are as light as a feather. Some of the sides of refrigerated cars (with all of the colourful adverts they had over here) he got from a magazine called Model Railroader, and had them enlarged and glues the resulting scan to the side of the cars.

On close look they are missing detail, but they are fast to build, light to move, and colourful.

I believe the truck side frames are laser cut, with delrin bearings installed.

I know that it won't match a Britannia, (*) but the light-build techniques may suffice, and 20 wagons (say) may look better than 2 beautiful wagons when being pulled, not being inspected.

Good luck - lots of interesting discussions and new items for me to follow on this thread.

note * - one could always say that the Britannia was over on tour, like the Royal Scot, the Flying Scotsman, if one had the courage!

John.

Good try John, but there is no way the Southampton Club would encourage anyone like Ben (or anyone else) to build a Tich, as Duncan also commented upon.

You must be the only person to be happy with the performance of a Tich.

I am quite sure Ben has the necessary skills to build a 5"g loco. I started my first when 16, with, unlike Ben, no engineering background whatsoever.

Cheers,

Julian

Good morning all,

For the amount of work and time involved in building a Tich one could build something slightly bigger and probably more practical, there are a number of very good 31/2" designs available. Over the years I've see many Tich's put up quite phenomenal performances, one built by Al Thorpe I witnessed ran ten, yes ten miles non stop around Beechhurst!

These small locomotives like Tich etc are like Jack Russells, you have to be master of them, recently I watched a chap happily sailing round the Southampton track behind a Canterbury Lamb not to mention yet another Tich, really, they're fun engines.

Regards,

Bob

I was looking for something else just now and came across this thread from back in September.

Just in case anyone is thinking of building larger scale wagons (as Ben was) and would like those Doug Hewson EIM articles & drawings that I mentioned, then the HMRS recently announced that it is going to publish a book by Doug called "Building 5" Scale Wagons" next April (2017)

I suspect it will be based on Doug's original EIM articles and they were certainly a very good/helpful guide for anyone scratch building large scale railway wagons (and not just in 5" ). As the EIM articles are probably not that easy to find these days, this book would seem to be a very convenient alternative and may well also have been updated and/or contain extra material.

The books contents & a 'pre-order' form can be found here:

http://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/New_books_files/HMRS%20leaflet%20without%20cropmarks%20etc.pdf

Regards,

IanT

Edited By IanT on 07/12/2016 22:33:27

Hi all,

Has anyone built one of Peter Woods' wagons?

Is there a quick way of putting together the running gear? I was thinking of Slater's wheels and PNP axleboxes, but I'm not sure about sizes yet (awaiting feedback from Slater's).

Just trying to put together a cheap and cheerful wagon for the new season. My lathe is currently out of operation, so options for machining are limited!

Thanks

Keith