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Not a great deal of progress on the layout this month, as I have been busy opening boxes of stored trains, having running sessions and rediscovering old, long abandoned projects.
The first project is a passenger coach (car), which was bought via eBay a couple of years ago, and arrived damaged. An amicable settlement was reached with the seller, and the coach ignored for a while, although the bogies (trucks) were removed for another project. The coach is wooden and, when received, both sides had parted from the chassis. Unfortunately, the side with the small windows had broken at window level, leaving the top and bottom of that side, with a pile of small pieces of wood.
First job was to dismantle most of the rest of the coach, which was fairly straightforward, using a thin knife blade to part the old glued joints. All parts were then sanded smooth, and the broken side reassembled.
Next, reassembly. Another straightforward job, but time consuming, as each joint was glued and clamped for 24 hours before the next joint was attempted. The floor was found to be bowed, so fillets of wood were glued between the two coach sides, one fillet at each end, and one in the middle. These fillets serve to locate the chassis, which is attached to the body with three small brass wood screws. The central screw helps to keep the chassis flat. The rain strips on the roof required regluing, as did one of the buffer bars.
So far, so good. Next, bogies (trucks). The originals were used elsewhere a year or two ago, and nothing appropriate seemed to be available via eBay, so a plea was made to friends worldwide. Thank you, Ben in NZ, who promptly supplied not one but two pairs of absolutely delightful bogies complete with fairly elaborate fixings, and wheels/axles. Posted NZ 19th September, and arrived Scotland on the 24th. Pretty impressive.
The bogies required a small fillet of wood, mounted beneath the coach floor, after which fixing was simple. The wheels required a light cleaning and oiling, then time for a trial run, the coach already having couplings, albeit 'Bing' style.
The coach did have a couple of blocks of wood representing battery boxes, but they were so far off centre that they fouled the bogie at one end, so were removed. They are awaiting refixing centrally, and I really should fit truss rods to the underframe.
The following three images show the coach on the layout.
 Wooden coach |
 Wooden coach |
 Bing Mercury |
This coach has been an interesting project, and I would like to know a little more, such as who made the model, and when? The sides seem to have been pre cut, so I am assuming it was a kit, rather than scratchbuilt. Similarly, is it a generic celestory coach, or modelled on a specific prototype?
The next big question is whether or not to paint it. Leave the wooden sides, in mock LNER form, or perhaps paint Southern Railway green? LMS red? The roof certainly needs painting, as do the ends, solebars and chassis. The interior would be improved by a coat of a light coloured paint, and possibly even seating and a passenger or three.
 Flyer 1218 |
 K-Line and Marx 333 |
