Claptowte Railway – Passenger Coach No 5

[David1226]

This is the fifth passenger vehicle constructed for the Claptowte Railway and is co-incidentally numbered No 5 in the roster. It is not actually a passenger carrying vehicle but is a parcels/newspaper van to run with passenger stock. It is based on two LGB Toytrain balcony vans bolted back to back and mounted on LGB US Passenger stock bogies.

The photographs below show the two donor vehicles before and modification.











David

 

[David1226]

The next set of photos show the conversion of the underframes into one bogies mounted frame

A pair of un-modified LGB Toytrain frames



Close up of unmodified frame



The first stage is to saw off the dummy W irons and axel boxes



Next cut out the unwanted bits either side of the centreline, keep and clean up the tank for re-use later.





Now cut out the centre buffer, from the non-balcony end, and clean off any raised mouldings so that the two frames can be glued/bolted together at this end. I keep the salvaged buffers and vacuum pipes to use when modifying my LGB US outline coaches.





David

 

[David1226]

The next stage is to construct the mounting points for the bogies. This was done using plasticard sheet of appropriate thickness to form a mounting plate and bearing surfaces. The pivot is a short length of plastic tube.





The bogies are fixed using a washer and self taping screw. I am using LGB US Passenger Trucks for the bogies. They are fitted with Al Kramer nickel plated solid turned brass wheels, which are the standard wheel across all Claptowte Railway stock.



The salvaged tank can then be cemented into the centre of the newly formed bogie frame.



David

 

[David1226]

The two 4-wheel vehicle bodies are glued and bolted together to form one unit. The end railings have mesh added using expanded aluminium mesh as used with filler on damaged areas of motor vehicles. The continental type brake stands were removed. A GRS brass lamp iron is mounted atop of a plastic strip stanchion. The two roof sections are trimmed to the appropriate length and glued together to form one unit. The roof is fitted out with GRS lamp tops and ventilation cowls. Plasticard strips are glued on at appropriate places to take various decals. The long side steps on the van have been replaced with short ones from the spares box, to avoid fouling the rotation of the bogie. The moulded pipework on the body ends was carved off, sanded smooth and the planking re-scribed. At the joined ends of the vans moulded detail has been carved off and planking scribed on. The guards ducket has been fabricated from plasticard sheet and made wide enough to cover the remaining moulded detail and windows.

















David

 

[David1226]

The finished van, painted, glazed and signwritten.


This coach will be paired with 1st/3rd No 10 to form the early morning Newspaper/Parcels working from Ellceware to Gernise End. At Gernise End a pair of Milk Vans will be coupled to the coaches to form the early morning milk train, stopping at various points along the line, to Ellceware, to pick up milk in churns.





















David

 

[Gizzy]

Another superb job David....

 

[Fezwig]

Brilliant job David, you have a gift with rolling stock, I am in awe

 

[Paul M]

Marvalous as usual

 

[mike]

Fantastic what you achieve davied

 

[Zerogee]

For some reason I missed the thread on this one at the time - lovely job as always, David....

Jon,

 

[ge_rik]

For some reason I missed the thread on this one at the time - lovely job as always, David....

Jon,

Me too. Another masterpiece, David. You've turned bashing into an art-form.

Rik

 

[Capt. Jack]

Wow amazing job looks fantastic.

 

[David1226]

David

 

[David1226]

The management of the Claptowte Railway have initiated a training scheme whereby certain key personnel, with the emphasis on train guards, have received the necessary training to be certificated first aiders. The outcome is that all guards on Claptowte Railway are now fully trained. To that end all guard's vehicles on the line, that is all goods brake vans, all passenger brake coaches and the Engineering Department converted brake coach, have all been equipped with first aid boxes.

Claptowte Railway Passenger Coach No5, the full brake parcels van, gets 'signed up' to the scheme, 13.10.2022





David