My decision to undertake this bold venture all those weeks ago - alright, those 2 weeks ago - was in some ways arrived at by one of those freaky combinations of entirely unconnected incidents that gradually but inexorably draw one into the 'great idea'...
ENTIRELY UNCONNECTED INCIDENT NUMBER 1: A couple of years ago I bought some of those garden lights - the solar-powered type - and scattered them all around in some vaguely strategic locations. They all came with additional short lengths of plastic tube thereby to adjust the height of the lamp according to one's preference. I was left with a significant number of these going begging, and not much of a clue about what to do with them. Answer: dump them in the 'odds-n-sods-might-come-in-useful-one-day' box to mature a bit and see what develops. Well, I am happy to report that they matured nicely - into pipe loads for a couple of my '2-plank open' wagons.
ENTIRELY UNCONNECTED INCIDENT NUMBER 2: Whilst having my usual panic attack over being unable to find an item of equipment in a cupboard recently - which of course I remembered seeing somewhere not 2 weeks previously when I didn't actually need it - I was dismayed to drop a box containing a 'Mainline' OO-scale Mk1 coach (maroon). I then found another 5 sitting in on the same shelf - silently mocking me for being found but not actually wanted whilst the thing I desperately wanted.... you get the idea. Eventually I pulled myself together and resolved the issue logically, as only a man can... I muttered loudly, sulked and generally stomped around turning the place upside down until the MD intervened. And found it. In truth I cannot remember now what it was I was looking for. But fortunately that is not relevant.
So how did these 2 events connect? During an idle inspection of one of the plastic pipes, it occurred to me by some inexplicable leap of imagination that the length of the pipe was almost the length of a Mainline OO-scale Mk1 coach (maroon). Now if only I could remember where I had found them.... cue the muttering, sulking, stomping etc. Result!
So the idea for a 15-inch gauge exchange siding was born. I dismantled the coach to see what I could do by way of making my own wagon. It turned out I was able to construct a basic box shape out of ice-lolly sticks on a thick card base. If you are of the American persuasion, then the term 'popsicle sticks' might mean more to you.
No matter, here's a picture sequence of what I've been trying. First, the bare coach chassis with its new wagon body:
ENTIRELY UNCONNECTED INCIDENT NUMBER 1: A couple of years ago I bought some of those garden lights - the solar-powered type - and scattered them all around in some vaguely strategic locations. They all came with additional short lengths of plastic tube thereby to adjust the height of the lamp according to one's preference. I was left with a significant number of these going begging, and not much of a clue about what to do with them. Answer: dump them in the 'odds-n-sods-might-come-in-useful-one-day' box to mature a bit and see what develops. Well, I am happy to report that they matured nicely - into pipe loads for a couple of my '2-plank open' wagons.
ENTIRELY UNCONNECTED INCIDENT NUMBER 2: Whilst having my usual panic attack over being unable to find an item of equipment in a cupboard recently - which of course I remembered seeing somewhere not 2 weeks previously when I didn't actually need it - I was dismayed to drop a box containing a 'Mainline' OO-scale Mk1 coach (maroon). I then found another 5 sitting in on the same shelf - silently mocking me for being found but not actually wanted whilst the thing I desperately wanted.... you get the idea. Eventually I pulled myself together and resolved the issue logically, as only a man can... I muttered loudly, sulked and generally stomped around turning the place upside down until the MD intervened. And found it. In truth I cannot remember now what it was I was looking for. But fortunately that is not relevant.
So how did these 2 events connect? During an idle inspection of one of the plastic pipes, it occurred to me by some inexplicable leap of imagination that the length of the pipe was almost the length of a Mainline OO-scale Mk1 coach (maroon). Now if only I could remember where I had found them.... cue the muttering, sulking, stomping etc. Result!
So the idea for a 15-inch gauge exchange siding was born. I dismantled the coach to see what I could do by way of making my own wagon. It turned out I was able to construct a basic box shape out of ice-lolly sticks on a thick card base. If you are of the American persuasion, then the term 'popsicle sticks' might mean more to you.
No matter, here's a picture sequence of what I've been trying. First, the bare coach chassis with its new wagon body:
...next, the body in situ with its pipe cargo:
...and finally outshopped in its 'photographic grey' livery (that's car body undercoat to you):
The intention is to make several of these wagons from the remaining coaches. I shall be naming them after the children of E.W. Badman:
Lilly, Ralph, Ellis, Elsie, Phyllis, Claude and Avis.
