I've been working on a little four-wheeled passenger coach for my little six-wheeled British O Gauge steam loco

[Brian Austin]

I modified a LIONEL "Thomas The Tank Engine and Friends" Clarabel coach to be a little more realistic.  The chassis Lionel chose for this model actually came from their old "Bobber" caboose.  The wheelbase is a bit short for this car, so I cut it in half and moved the ends out.  The body was too wide, so I cut the body in half at the ends and removed some material.  New end panel overlays were made from styrene, along with a new underframe.  I reshaped the lower sides of the body to better reflect the graceful curve of the prototype. The toy was just too square.  Buffers were made from ordinary plastic pushpins, slightly modified.  British O Scale is 7mm to the foot, or 1:43.  Wheels therefore were relatively large, and so I had to pull them off a "parts-car" F unit diesel loco made by Roco in Austria for Atlas in the 1970s.  (These were known for their axle drive gears cracking and splitting.)  The interior will need partition walls for the four compartments, along with longitudinal bench seats.  So far I don't have much reference for detailing the interior.

I was working on an automotive model project when this project just called to me and fell together.  I'm just glad to be building something.  It comes and goes for me.

[stavanzer]

Nice, Clean conversion.

[1930fordpickup]

This is cool. One hobby helps the other move forward. 

[Jim B]

Very nice.