I’ve been digging through bits in the attic over the Christmas holidays. It reminded me of many things, for example that attics are rather cold in December, and that no matter where you are, the roof beams move mysteriously to a position directly above your head. I also discovered several items I’d forgotten, like four sticks of Milliput, some motor bogies that may just work to build a DD51 (one day…) and a chassis for a small shunting locomotive.
This was the basis for my original attempts at model making a depressingly long time ago. Unfortunately I overestimated the correct size of the model for 1:43 scale, but a photo of the locomotive served as an avatar on various model railway forums while I repeatedly told myself I really should make a replacement and promptly got distracted by other projects/shiny things.
Finding the chassis finally made me get myself into gear and think about what sort of Shunter I want as a replacement. As this is supposed to be a modern railway, I’m currently thinking it should be an obviously modern locomotive, so I’ve based the design on the Vossloh G6. This is a popular choice for small railway companies in Germany, so it’s reasonable to suppose that The KÖB could have ordered a narrow gauge adaptation.
The idea of “adapted” locos is one I intend to keep using, because it’s the perfect excuse for mistakes or just leaving bits off that I don’t want to bother making.
There are limits to how far I can take that of course and I know I won’t be able to avoid those complex railings. It looks like I’ll finally have to learn the dark art of soldering…
Railway Misadventures 