Over the last week I’ve been carrying this piece of paper about and doodling designs for a container wagon whenever I’ve had a moment to spare. Unfortunately this made the paper a bit dog-eared, but that’s life. At least it gave me something to stave off the withdrawal, as well as hopefully giving me a clear direction when I finally get around to building anything. One of the problems with the railcar was that I was essentially working it out as I went along (ie: I didn’t know what I was doing) which is one reason it took ages.
The idea is that the wagon will have the complex appearance of a modern container wagon, which would obviously be built as lightweight as possible, so the to save as much weight as possible. I expect any engineers watching will find problems, so please let me know if there’s something glaringly off, preferably before I spend hours cutting the things out… The bogies are a bit undefined: they’re making me a bit nervous to tell the truth as I can’t hide them as I would in 7mm scale: hopefully I’ll hit on a way to make them detailed enough to pass muster without being over the top.
If it works I’ll probably add at least two more, and maybe in the long distant future I could try a twin set with a shared centre bogie… but I think a layout will need to be built before I try anything that ambitious.
At this blistering pace I’ll probably have a prototype by September…
I thought you might like to see this layout – one simple S.G. siding and the narrow gauge has just the simplest passing loop: http://polishrail.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/competition-3-mystery-picture-4/ . Come to think of it you might enjoy the rest of the competition as well!