A minimum gauge railway. So we are talking 7/8ths inch to the foot and 32mm gauge to represent an 18” gauge line.
The purpose of this railway is to transport materials and finished items around a smaller sized foundry. Items like signs, gear wheels, and window frames.
The trains would be short, one or two wagons, Wagons would carry materials such as casting sand, patterns, perhaps coal and iron ore for the furnace as well.
A particular project I’m interesting in for scratch building is one of the foundry waste wagons/tippers like those built by Sir Arthur Heywood for his Duffield Banks works. One is preserved in the narrow gauge museum at Tywyn on the Talyllyn Railway. There are drawings by Mike Decker in Volume 1 of James Waterfield’s excellent study of the work of Sir Arthur. There was even a similar sort of wagon at on display at Llanberis.
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| Waste tipper wagon of some description at the National Slate Museum. |
One absolute must for the rolling stock on the layout is that the wagons must run on curly spoke wheels, I find them very relaxing to watch as a wagon passes.
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| Even at rest, I find curly spoke wheels calming |
With the concept solidifying, it’s time to start to take a look at what I’m getting myself into.
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| What have I got myself into? |
Just what have I got myself into? This is an extremely sobering image. What you see here is my LocoRemote kit of “Pet”, driver Alf, and a couple of wagons that I made back when I first dabbled in 7/8ths. They’re all big. Alf himself is about 6” (150mm) tall. My standard T.L.U. (Train length unit) that I plan my layouts around will be 18” inches (450mm). I like trains to be able to travel several times their own length on a layout, three times is the minimum, four is better. At three TLU’s the baseboard should be four feet (1220mm) long. I’m getting my first inkling of the size involved. My visions of what I can fit in a micro layout space need to be re-evaluated as I start proper planning.
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