Railbus under construction

I like these:



(pic from WJK Davies' The Light Railway Railcar in Western Europe, which is a mine of information - and has protoptype dimension to help).

I am not up to building chassis, so I used a Bachmann railtruck (again - the same as the one I put under my De Dion.) I like the look of the De Dion JA, but De Dion bonneted railbuses did not seem to have a front four wheel truck (not actually a bogey, just a device to help roadholding and the ride.) De Dions with a front four-wheel truck were tne KA series and onwards, and all the pics of those I've seen had a full front body. So the prototype is the Saurer.

Having had trouble with the first railtruck chassis, I went looking for help and found this:

http://www.girr.org/girr/tips/tips8/bachmann_railtruck_tips.html

which has everything you need to trouble shoot. The Railtruck comes with a fairly massive circuit board (bigger than most decoders) which seems to do nothing but control the LED lights. It also comes with a superficially helpful wiring diagram for how to add a decoder in to the circuit board, which I followed very carefully and which didn't work. I wasn't going to have LED lights anyway, so out came the circuit board and in came a decoder (Massoth XL) directly wired.

The chassis then looks like this:



The body was helped (ok, inspired) by finding this on eBay:



I made the cab font out of plastic card and the sides from the kit:



The first fit of the cab front on the chassis looked too high in comparison with the bonnet (the original, but shifted forwards a bit):



so I cut it down a bit, and took the tumble-homes off the sides to match, so the body looked like this:



and on first fit, it looked quite good - I also hacksawed off two metal bumps from the chassis on either side of the bonnet and the front of the chassis so that it ends just above the front wheels - see the prototype. Given that the two originals pictured above had different body styles, I'm happy that mine is believable. Railcars got bodied by local bus body-builders, so anything goes. Most JAs I've seen pics of had very square bodies.



So the roof is now 12.5 cm above the rail, which is good as the original was 2.8m above the rail, so I'm on course for 1:22.5.

There is a bit still to do - lights, interior, painting, maybe false outside frames for the trucks - and I have no idea what the backs of these looked like, so I'll have to make that up. Probably a rear door opening on to the track.

Keeps me busy when I'm 500 miles from my railway!

I like that Phil. A lot. Keep 'em coming.

mikey

These are the sort of projects that warm the heart and inspire.

Just when I thought it was too cold even inside to do anything.

Looks pretty good so far.

Nice! Looking forward to your progress on this project!

Looks good Phil, I too am looking forward to seeing how this progresses.

Quote :

and I have no idea what the backs of these looked like, so I'll have to make that up. Probably a rear door opening on to the track.

I found these pictures of a Saurer with closed backside, used in Belgium (see: Trekkings.be /Tramlijn L558 Marbehan - Florenville - Sainte-Cécile)







On the Passion Metrique forum there is a treath about Gecomodel (click here: "Coup d'oeil dans le "retro" (2): GECOMODEL")

Because it's French I can't understand most off it, but there are several pictures of the Saurer railbus by Gecomodel (in H0 and G scale) but all those pictures show an open balcony, while your reference picture showed a closed backside. Perhaps the backsides were modified later?




Meanwhile, I'm VERY curious about the status of your project!!!

Paul

Just posted the above message and I stumbled on much more pictures and even a drawing of the Belgium used Saurer railbus.

This time a French language site: Autorails sur base de chassis Saurer de la SNCV.
This could mean these busses were build on a Saurer chassis, but were not the "original" Saurer autorail? On the other hand, they come close to the one on your picture...





More pictures on the site.

Also find on Passion Metrique this drawing of the Gecomodel building instruction (PDF) and this very nice picture: Saurer railbus unloading

Paulus:

Thanks for your interest in my project and for your pics and suggestions - some progress has been made.. but I am not yet finished. My sole source of written reference is The Light Railway Railcar in Western Europe, by WJK Davies - probably my favourite book! Davies says that these were all genuine Saurers - Saurer of Lyon took a lorry (Type3AD) and put on rail wheels to create Type 3AD VF. The first ones had four wheels, but the ride and tracking in curves was so bad that they replaced the front wheel with four small wheels - not a true bogie, improving ride but not the ability to take curves. Davies has drawings of open back versions "as supplied to various French light railways" so the Gecomodel version is correct, and pictures of the VfD versions (above) (and the Belgian SNCV versions) with closed bodies. If I could have got hold of a Gecomodel G scale version, I would have killed for it, but these went out of production - sadly - many years ago. Hence the use of the Bachmann Railtruck chassis and the coach kit as bodywork.

So, as said - first remove all electrics and wire in chip:



The blue and brown wires are for the interior and rear lights which are on the body. All the lights are wired into the "front light" terminals of the chip - this is a unidirectional vehicle!

False floor to conceal chip and install seats - the cheap Chinese garden benches which are constantly on ebay:



The driver is the original railtruck driver painted with matt acrylic as "bleu de travail".

So this is how it looks now:



And at the rear, one body section from the coach kit plus an extra window section is the right width, and not too far off the "closed back" SNCV version in your pic, and Davies has a pic of an original four wheeler with very square body.



The roof is not yet fixed in place: the lights need more work (lenses!). Lights are from Regner - a Carl tip - bulbs are from a supply of 12v grain of wheat bulbs I bought years ago. The horn is from a model boat supplier. It needs another coat of paint - acrylic glosss (which I buy from Intermarche and which I was rather pleased to see is almost exactly the same shade as the original Railtrack bonnet). I have some door and grab handles (eBay again) which I will fit.

Well, it could have been...

That's coming on well Phil.

Look forward to seeing it on the railway next summer!

Seasons greetings

Some nice progress Phil. It's becoming a very charming railbus.
Are you considering a baggage rack on top? Clever use of those cheap seats!!!
I find it a very interesting build so keep us up to date about the handles and detailing, paintwork and all other progress!!

I've just noticed that the last entry from me was in December, but it's finished at last - handles (eBay), glazed, roof fixed, horn (model boat supplier). The front three-quarter view is the better colour guide - the side view is done with flash. Available for weddings, summer visits, etc!





I think a roof rack might be a bit fragile unless it was brass - and I'm not really up to that; the prototypes seemed to manage without. Lettering - a summer job for quite a bit of my rolling stock...

A delightful model that could have a summer visit here.....
Who did you get the handles from on e bay? Were they a supplier or private?

Summer - oh yes. On our way south. Or may be even Easter as we flee to a republic for three weeks to avoid a certain UK event. The handles were - like the carriage sides - a serendipitous spot of a private sale. But I think that they are around - could be Brandbright? I'll have a look after dinner.....

Carl: the handles are Brandbright - have a look at their coach kits on www.brandbright.co.uk. There's no mention of them being available separately from the kits, but I suppose it's worth asking.

I have some of these handles in my bits box from a previous Brandbright kit. If you tell me how many you want I will post them to you.

I am assuming these handles are the ones with a complete loop, as I cannot be 100% from the photos.


David

philkelly wrote:

Summer - oh yes. On our way south. Or may be even Easter as we flee to a republic for three weeks to avoid a certain UK event. The handles were - like the carriage sides - a serendipitous spot of a private sale. But I think that they are around - could be Brandbright? I'll have a look after dinner.....

Summer's already here Phil - Seen our first Swallows, heard Cuckoos, echelons of storks have been flying North for a month.

We're just waiting for the ultimate summer visitor - "the Kelly" and its' new railcar! and it will be complete.

Nice model and DCC, I like it!

Nice work Phil! A beautiful railbus!
It must be fun to see it bugging around on your Chemins de Fer de la Vienne!