I have always collected the rolling stock for the Claptowte Railway according to a strict plan, much of the stock having been created by joining together a variety of LGB Toy Train 4-wheel wagons. With many of my conversions, I started out with a broad idea of what I wanted to achieve, and did the design work as I went along actually building the model. As a result, when all of my modelling projects were completed, I had a Toy Train flat stake wagon left over, surplus to requirement. I had pondered what to do with this wagon, the favourite idea being to convert it into a shunter’s wagon. One morning, a couple of weeks before Christmas, I woke up, and as I was laying in bed, the idea came to me to build a Christmas Special Wagon, to run around the base of the Christmas Tree. I worked out what I already had, and what I would need to acquire in order to build such a project.
I already had the wagon and a pair of etched brass lamp irons. I obviously needed a Santa figure and something else that was Christmassy. I ordered a Schleich Santa and one of their beautifully modelled reindeer, as the basis of the display. I found a set of four dolls house miniature lamp posts, wired to a 2 x AAA battery pack. These lamp posts had moulded Christmas wreaths on them, so were perfect. When they arrived, I found that the battery box was unnecessarily large for the job in hand, but I had a smaller 2 x AAA battery pack, for another project, that I could use instead, and replace at a later date. I also purchased two ‘Happy Christmas’ cake decorations and a bag of white glitter. I had some dummy miniature fairy lights salvaged from one of my grandson’s birthday cakes, and some gold balls salvaged from an old Christmas wreath.
I decided to mount the battery pack on the underside of the wagon underframe.
To facilitate this I had to cut away part of the brake rodding and brake piston, and fabricate a bracket to hold the battery pack in place. I drilled a hole in the underside of the deck to pass the wires through.
The etched brass lamp irons were fitted to the wagon buffer beams. I replaced the plastic spoked wheels with solid plastic version, which I painted to match my other rolling stock.
I built up the body of the wagon with layers of 3.0mm foamboard, glued together, cut, filed and sanded to shape to represent a snowy base. When finished, the ‘body’ was given a couple of coats of matt white emulsion paint. The Happy Christmas cake decorations were glued onto each side. White PVA glue was painted on here and there and, while still wet, this was sprinkled with the white glitter, to add a bit of sparkle. Holes were drilled in each corner of the body top for the wires to pass through from the base of the lamp posts. As purchased, the paint on the wreaths on the lamp posts was a bit dark and dull, so I repainted these in brighter colours, before gluing them on.
A couple of pieces of scrap brass strip were glued to the top surface of the flat wagon and the wires from the battery pack and the lamp posts were soldered to these to make the necessary electrical connections. The ‘snow’ body was then fitted over the top of the donor wagon, covering the wires. I glued on the gold balls to add a bit of festive bling and strung the dummy fairy lights between two of the lamp posts. The last job was to fix Santa and the reindeer in place, using clear silicone glue, so they would be easy to remove, if required.
The finished Christmas Special Wagon, ready to go on tour on the Claptowte Railway over the festive season.
The Christmas wagon is seen here coupled to Claptowte Railway diesel locomotive No 15 ‘Gwynne’, ready to be propelled by it. This seemed the most appropriate loco to use, as its flashing amber roof beacons add to the festive excitement.
Having built this special wagon, I am now at a loss to know how to categorise it. Although it is built on a goods wagon, it is obviously not a goods wagon. Given that it would most often be coupled to passenger coaches, to be run as a seasonal tourist attraction, I suppose it would be most appropriate to list it with the passenger stock.
David
I already had the wagon and a pair of etched brass lamp irons. I obviously needed a Santa figure and something else that was Christmassy. I ordered a Schleich Santa and one of their beautifully modelled reindeer, as the basis of the display. I found a set of four dolls house miniature lamp posts, wired to a 2 x AAA battery pack. These lamp posts had moulded Christmas wreaths on them, so were perfect. When they arrived, I found that the battery box was unnecessarily large for the job in hand, but I had a smaller 2 x AAA battery pack, for another project, that I could use instead, and replace at a later date. I also purchased two ‘Happy Christmas’ cake decorations and a bag of white glitter. I had some dummy miniature fairy lights salvaged from one of my grandson’s birthday cakes, and some gold balls salvaged from an old Christmas wreath.
I decided to mount the battery pack on the underside of the wagon underframe.
To facilitate this I had to cut away part of the brake rodding and brake piston, and fabricate a bracket to hold the battery pack in place. I drilled a hole in the underside of the deck to pass the wires through.
The etched brass lamp irons were fitted to the wagon buffer beams. I replaced the plastic spoked wheels with solid plastic version, which I painted to match my other rolling stock.
I built up the body of the wagon with layers of 3.0mm foamboard, glued together, cut, filed and sanded to shape to represent a snowy base. When finished, the ‘body’ was given a couple of coats of matt white emulsion paint. The Happy Christmas cake decorations were glued onto each side. White PVA glue was painted on here and there and, while still wet, this was sprinkled with the white glitter, to add a bit of sparkle. Holes were drilled in each corner of the body top for the wires to pass through from the base of the lamp posts. As purchased, the paint on the wreaths on the lamp posts was a bit dark and dull, so I repainted these in brighter colours, before gluing them on.
A couple of pieces of scrap brass strip were glued to the top surface of the flat wagon and the wires from the battery pack and the lamp posts were soldered to these to make the necessary electrical connections. The ‘snow’ body was then fitted over the top of the donor wagon, covering the wires. I glued on the gold balls to add a bit of festive bling and strung the dummy fairy lights between two of the lamp posts. The last job was to fix Santa and the reindeer in place, using clear silicone glue, so they would be easy to remove, if required.
The finished Christmas Special Wagon, ready to go on tour on the Claptowte Railway over the festive season.
The Christmas wagon is seen here coupled to Claptowte Railway diesel locomotive No 15 ‘Gwynne’, ready to be propelled by it. This seemed the most appropriate loco to use, as its flashing amber roof beacons add to the festive excitement.
Having built this special wagon, I am now at a loss to know how to categorise it. Although it is built on a goods wagon, it is obviously not a goods wagon. Given that it would most often be coupled to passenger coaches, to be run as a seasonal tourist attraction, I suppose it would be most appropriate to list it with the passenger stock.
David
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