How to make a Railcar?

For some time I've wanted to have a little railcar on my railway. the problem is that they were not around in 1910! so with modellers licence we are going to have a railcar from the development era (kindly donated by Mr Benet, Demiels benefactor) I'm going to try to make a Tartary automotrice Type A like this one;



Of course its got to be made from recycled materials, so i found this old container (had it for years don't know where it came from) which is the right shape for the back part of the railcar;



After marking out and cutting the windows with a dremel it now looks like this;



Time to do the chassis which will be a solid piece of wood with the seats etc mounted on it;



We are a little farther down the line but camera batteries are flat so watch this space

Mikey

Your creativity always amazes me Mike, I'd never of thought of using a plastic container that way!

Can't wait to see it develop!

I was thinking about an Autorail, but at 200 euro's plus for an unpainted resin shell from Apocopa it's out of the question! Any ideas for a basis for a De Dion ???

Part 2

Now the seats ( pieces of lolly stick glued onto blocks and stained) have been attached and an LGB set of wheels screwed on at the rear;





the next bit will be a bit fiddley. i want to stop/start this loco so am going to have it track powered. The bonnet section will contain a geared motor and front wheels; IP engineering isolated wheels carrying electric pickups. With a bit of luck i'll do that tomorrow.

Brian When i considered a bigger railcar I was going to use one of those rectangular flowerpot holders (window box type. they're just the right shape)

mikey

Tramway Demiel gallops in to the 1920s! Mikey, that's splendid - after all, M Tatary recycled his railbuses out of used bits as well (WW1 GMC ambulances!) - very prototypical! Love to see how you get on with the gearing. Clever clogs here used a Bachmann railtruck chassis and promptly stripped a cog on a much more sophisticated piece of machinery!

Phil

Some of the figures I make turn out like zombies (I'm not in clive's class!). I don't throw them away though 'cos they're ideal as passengers!. Heres the freaks in the railcar!!;



more to follow

Mikey

That's a great idea for construction Mikey.

I have an old clear-plastic Ferrero Rocher box that has a round 'roof'.

Could you send me the drawing by e mail please. I might have a bash at something similar maybe in the guise of a draisine.

after several attempts at creating an engine cover and front end I have cheated and stuck on the cut off front end of an old model car I had!. The main problem was enabling the front wheels to swivel as i think the wheelbase would be too long for the R1's otherwise;





Still a bit to do like filling in the gaps and some detailing. Not an exact scale model but loosely based on the original design!

Mikey

That's coming on a treat ! Was the car a model T ?

No it was one of those non-descript cars that leClerc sell every Christmas amongst their Chrissy decs. I've never liked it on the railway 'cos its 1/18 scale. BTW dont forget to let me know when you can visit Petit Mairat and i'll phone the geezer.

Mikey

Neat little railbus Mikey. Ingenious use of recycled materials, too! I'm interested to see how you're going to get the motor in there...

ah trust you to mention that! To get the motor in there I would have had to build it open framed, but as i realised that straight away, I plan on building a trailer (with no windows) that will be powered so will push the railcar in front of it. I tried it this afternoon with a loco pushing it and it seems to work OK!

Mikey

Ah I get it, neat idea. I've seen locos where the tender is the drive unit, pushing the loco and pulling the train.

M Tartary also built four wheel passenger trailers - about the size of the railcar minus the bonnet. I've got a pic in a book at home and I'll scan it and post it when I get back to UK.

Or how about a two wheel baggage trailer?





Phil

Its OK thanks Phil, i've got lots of pics of the trailers (although they only seemed to be used with the Mk 2), mostly from the MTVS series. As I want to use trackpower i'll build a 4 wheel trailer with power pickups on both axles. Fingers crossed!! Cheers

Mikey

after numbering and detailing shes ready to roll ( well once the trailer is finished!);



Mikey

It definitely looks the part Mikey your ingenuity is always amazing

Great Stuff Mikey !

As ever, a tribute to scratchbuilding on a budget!

As promised - for Mikey - pic and drawing of Tartary type As with trailers - taken from Le Compagnie les Tramways des Deux Sevres by Pierre Marsault.

The poor quality pic shows a four wheel passenger trailer - apparently the only one built, by TDS at Parthenay, for another Tartary line, the Tramways de l'Indre.



The drawing shows a two wheel trailer - originally for passenger use (!) also in the style of the type A.



Hope this is useful!

Phil

Well as we are on the subject of trailers , I have found the VB141 pics , this is the trailer that went with the VT98 railbus.

I have this week received the latest book in the series 'Autorails de France' volume 5 from la Vie du Rail.

It's not cheap at 60€ but just as the other volumes it contains virtually all the comprehensive information concerning French railcars.

This volume covers De Dion Bouton as one of the manufacturers with a wealth of detail and priceless pictures.

There is also an invaluable section about Tartary and the earliest i/c railcars produced in France.

Mikey,

This is a beautiful little railcar you have scratchbuild! Very inventive to use that old plastic box.
I'm very curious if you ever got the trailer done and how that turned out...

Paul