Re GRS conversion kits: I bought a box of bits at the MGRS a few years ago. The two 'long' halves of the LGB chassis were present, plus a GRS cattle van kit, a bag of white metal castings, axle boxes and brake rigging, which were not labelled, but I think are GRS L&B parts. The 'short' sections of chassis were not present but the gondola body was. The cattle van was built and fitted to the lwb chassis. The gondola chassis was built using the pre-cut plasticard and plastruct parts, which were also in the box, and the white-metal parts. I don't know if the chassis parts were supplied originally by GRS or manufactured by the previous owner. Anyway I recently decided to modify a gondola and used some axle guards that I had in stock which I think were GRS products, probably W&L, built a chassis and brake gear using plastic and brass strip for the handle. The brake shoes and hangers came from the removed LGB chassis. I cut off the 4 outer ones so that the removed chassis is still usable.
The two chassis for comparison.
The finished chassis and the wagon ready for the paint shop.