Scottish estate coach...

In Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Issue 109, fellow Narrow Planet designer Mark Greenwood had written an article on the little known grouse moor estate railways of two Scottish houses...

At the time they caught my attention, and I enjoyed the articles. In particular I liked the coaches at Dalmunzie. Time moved on and with a new interest in estate railways, and progress being made on my 006.5 micro layout I have been pondering how the Earl was to transport guests around - the answer was to take some inspiration from the Motor Rail prototypes built specifically for Dalmunzie. I ordered the Stenlake publishing book and waited patiently (less than 2 days!) for it to arrive...

I spoke to Mark and he confirmed he'd tried to get some details from Alan Keef who has the stock now but as yet hadn't got enough information for a drawing so instead I decided to go freelance for my own 006.5 example and have built it to match the proportions of the prototype, but to be within keeping with my other, larger, 006.5 stock (namely the Hunslet and Sand Hutton style brake van).

I used a 'spare' Busch skip chassis and cut it into four sections carefully, so that I could space the wheels further in from the ends than I had done with the brake van. It is the same length as the brake van (40mm from memory) and a touch wider as the prototype looked quite wide. This would mean I could get two seated across on bench seats I reckoned. The base and ends were cut 18mm wide in 30thou plasticard. The ends are 10mm high. To these I added 9mm tall 1x1mm plastic section and then a strip of plastic microstrip to the inside of the ends to make up the width of the pillars. I think this looks good enough to represent the framing of the prototype. The roof (which in these photos isn't finished, but it is now) is formed from more 30thou plasticard. The end profile was sketched and carefully cut out with a knife before being smoothed to shape. The first was used to create a second and they were sanded to match each other approximately, before a 34mm length of 30thou plasticard, scored 14mm wide, scored down the centre and folded to create a peak, was glued between the ends. Further 2mm strips were added to the sides. The gaps were filled with a section of plastic microstrip and superglued together for strength. Once this was thoroughly dry I smoothed out the joints and added the subtle yet quite sharp edged curves to the edges.

The model is now ready for detailing! I need to think about how to represent the seating, which like on a tram, had a folding back so it could be flipped to match the direction of travel. I need to add brakes and a central brake stand. The floor had raised planking for grip on muddy boots, and there are a few little strengthening fillers I will look to include from 10thou plasticard. This little project is the fore-runner to a potential 009 kit, if people are interested. I intend to scale it to about 20-22mm wide so it will be still small - but offer a more modern 'crew' or man-rider car for a 1920s period model. More soon...