IP Engineering open cattle wagon

ge_rik

ge_rik

British narrow gauge (esp. Southwold and W&LLR)
Country flag
I've had an IP Engineering Open Cattle Wagon kit sitting in my pending box for several years and, after painting the figures, I painted some sheep which I had bought at the Llanfair Show. Of course, the sheep will need some sort of transportation!
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Whilst I was at it, I decided to give my Llanfair bargain purchase (a Tralee & Dingle cattle truck for £20) a dose of PLR livery
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All I need now is some decent weather to give them a proper airing.

They both need to be weathered and, of course, have the sheep added.

Rik
 
ge_rik said:
Blog post showing its construction
riksrailway.blogspot.com

How I constructed an IP Engineering Open topped cattle truck

Narrow gauge large scale model garden railway. Battery powered, radio controlled locomotives, some Bluetooth. Set in Cheshire UK in 1930s
riksrailway.blogspot.com riksrailway.blogspot.com

Rik
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Rik, can you tell us more about the shaped wire couplings on these wagons? I saw on your blog that you usually use LGB hook and loop couplers. Are you changing over or will these inter-connect? Thank, Ken
 
trammayo said:
Nice work!

I lnow I need to get out more as I hadn't realised there was an Activator for Super Glue :banghead: - does it work on all the different brands?
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It seems to. I've used it on three or four different brands. Presumably it reacts chemically with all cyanoacrylate glues in some way. I've also heard that blowing gently on super glue speeds up the setting process because of the humidity in our breath.

Rik
 
FatherMcD said:
Rik, can you tell us more about the shaped wire couplings on these wagons? I saw on your blog that you usually use LGB hook and loop couplers. Are you changing over or will these inter-connect? Thank, Ken
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Hi Ken
I like LGB style hook and loops because of their simplicity and reliability - largely because I enjoy shunting on my railway. However, I dislike them because they are ugly and unrealistic. In an ideal world, I would replace all my couplings with reliable versions of choppers, but a) they are difficult to make b) decent ones are expensive to buy (£10 each) c) they are not 100% reliable anyway d) they are fiddly to couple up and uncouple

So, I decided the easiest and most cost effective solution was to make my own version of hook and loops using brass wire for the loops and phosphor bronze wire for the hooks. I decided thin wire would be less obtrusive than the chunky plastic used by LGB and others. After some experimentation, I came up with two variants - one a direct replacement on LGB stock and the other a direct replacement on HLW stock. Any other stock uses slight variations on those designs.

Because the loops are thin, they cannot be used for propelling stock and so all my stock has to have centre buffers. Most LGB stock have them by default, but I have widened them slightly to avoid buffer lock. Other stock (such as ex HLW) use Binnie medium Carmarthen couplings which are very cheap.

The advantage in basing the design on LGB style hook and loops is that they are compatible and so I could replace the couplings on my 80+ items of stock piecemeal over time. The other advantages are they are very cheap to make and, using simple jigs, I can make a pair of couplings in less than half an hour (even less when parts are prefabricated). The disadvantage is that they are more susceptible to damage - the hooks can get bent out of alignment. However, it takes seconds to bend them back into shape and I find instances of refusal to couple up no greater than with standard LGB couplings. They are also remarkably strong even though they look flimsy. I've used them on trains of 25 wagons with no problems - my max length of train on the PLR is 14 vehicles (same as the Southwold) and so they are well within design parameters.

I've not yet blogged their construction as I have an article about them awaiting publication in Garden Rail. If you PM me I'll send you a bit more info on the dimensions which I have found, after a fair bit of experimentation, to be quite critical.

Rik
 
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trammayo said:
Nice work!

I lnow I need to get out more as I hadn't realised there was an Activator for Super Glue :banghead: - does it work on all the different brands?
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Don't spray the activator on to super glue that is near rattle can painted surfaces, e.g., setting door handles into coach sides, the activator melts the paint! ...........don't ask me how I know!!!
Dave
 
Sheep:
An off-white, with a hint of yellow, and sheep-nuts! - 'Acrylic Lanolin' comes to mind.. :think:
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
ge_rik said:
I've now weathered the wagons and loaded the sheep.
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Rik
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OK, now, forget the rainbow colouring, let's go into full nerd mode :nerd::nerd::nerd:

You really need a lot more sheep Rik, 'cos you have to pack 'em tight in the 1:1 world to stop them falling over - a fallen animal is trampled by the others :nod::nod:
 
Rhinochugger said:
OK, now, forget the rainbow colouring, let's go into full nerd mode :nerd::nerd::nerd:

You really need a lot more sheep Rik, 'cos you have to pack 'em tight in the 1:1 world to stop them falling over - a fallen animal is trampled by the others :nod::nod:
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Have to wait until I get more pocket money....... :oops:

Rik
 
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