1890 Bagnall Trolley built for Culcutta Exhibition in India
I love the two foot narrow gauge railroads that run in the tropics. In particular India and Southern Africa. One of the items that caught my eye is the Trolley built Bagnall for the exhibition in Culcutta. This was a time when the Darjeeling Himalayan Railroad was expanding and adventure was at its peak. Clothing was impressive with red military coats and pith helmets, not to mention the extreme extravagance of the Maharajahs of the time. My plan is to build 5 trolleys. The first two will be first class with only to elite of society riding in them - the third will be second class with normal family folk as passengers. The fourth car will be the jazz band followed by the baggage / third class trolley for servants and stuff.
I have completed one proto-type that has been shipped off already :'( and am now building the rest as noted above. Here is the side view of the trolley
Here is the front and side view in viacad.
The first step I took was to build the trolley in 3D to make sure everything would assemble as planned. I set all my axles in bearings as I find it makes a big difference in day to day running.
Here are a few images of the frame assembly - the wood is bass and aircraft plywood <- very stable and consistent on the laser. I used the laser cutter to cut all the shapes and pieces.
Great progress so far, were the first cad drawings made from actual plans or from photos? Were the materials on the prototype chassis wood or metal? Looking forward to more progress.
The cad files were done from a plan printed in "The Engineer" around 1890 - there was only a side view published, so I researched and found other coach/trolleys that Bagnall had built in the same time period to get an accurate idea on width etc... The coach was built out of wood. Frustratingly nearly all engineers forget to record simple things like paint scheme, finish details etc... I am building the Billerica and Bedford stock in 7/8ths and have sourced many engineering articles on its two foot marvel yet none had the wisdom or insight to mention color.
Here is the coach assembly with the ends in place. The posts were cast in tin / pewter as well as the coupler pockets and axle boxes. I really like the low center of gravity of the design. Bagnall designed the trolley so you would not need a station for passengers to embark and dis-embark.
The center posts I chose to do in 3d first then made a mold and cast in pewter. This makes the car quite heavy (just under 2kg) which is not a bad thing since it is fully bearinged. The first pic shows my rough sketch before going into cad the second shows the finished casting as it came out of the mold. Sadly the mold failed after about 50 good castings. The small holes in the center I knew would be a weak point in the mold.
I forgot to mention scale of the project. Ooops :-[ :-[ ( I forget there are other scales beyond 7/8ths ::) ) The trolley is in 7/8"=1'-0" or a scale of 1:13.7 very close to dollhouse size. Here is a cad file with some basic dimensions to give an idea of size.
Here is the trolley with sides in place and parts of the seating in place. The bottom shot shows the bearings and axle boxes held in place.
Here is the trolley almost complete - the top image shows the trolley with two figures that I keep handy for scaling comparison as a project develops - standing figures are 5.25" tall. The second image shows the trolley behind a 7/8ths scale live steamer. The track is G gauge to give an idea of size. This particular trolley has been shipped as it was built as part of a SWAP project on another forum. We run it every year and the idea is to build an item of rolling stock or building for the name assigned to you (which remains anonymous until delivered). A fun way to get people building. I will post more progress as I build my own versions which will be filled with era fitting figures and variations on the theme.
cheers Ferd
Wow, that is a great little coach! Very nice work!
Ferd, I can't believe how quickly you build! From nothing to a finished model in two days!
Oh, you didn't construct the model that quickly? Never mind then.
ssuR
Hi Russ
actually sadly its often a long drawn our process even with a laser cutter in the workshop and CNC milling etc... the only thing my workshop is missing is a Gene in a bottle. Wish you could buy those.
The fun part that I am looking forward to is the jazz band and the passengers. I have two maharajas planned with some upper class expats and generals in red top coats and white pith helmets. I love anything early British India seems it was all so over the top in decadence.
cheers Ferd
Great build Ferd, love all he details and thanks for the insight on the building process.
Neat model and prototype. Hiding the wheels under the seats-interesting idea!
I'm starting to think I could use this design for my Gn15 layout. I need a tourist train for my steam punk estate railway.
Keep the photos coming - looking forward to the Raj and his mates.
If you can build your 7/8ths layout in only 36x72 inches then I would be most impressed as I am struggling to get my layout to look exciting in 1200x400 per module.
Wow, almost the entire deal in one day! Lots better than waiting for the next progress report.
Very nice use of the mixed technologies. An interesting and attractive model is the result. Very well done. I like the patterns in the wood and metal parts. I would have expected 50 metal parts like that out of one mold would be considered a good return. Perhaps we could beg a how-to regarding metal casting in rubber molds?
Plus, I am now inspired to procure a pith helmet for running my outdoor 7/8ths railway. My spouse probably won't mind, and several ales later I won't care anyway! ::)
John
Interesting build and coach Ferd... has something of a Rowland Emett feel to it. I like the low-slung, ground-effects look... course that means a wide, clean and obstruction free right-of-way. Fortunately there were lots of peasants available for just such a task... ;)
Believe you have the right idea John... I thought pith helmets got their name because you had to be pithed to wear one...
Paul -->returning to comfy chair in the corner-->
Interesting concept and a nice model of an overlooked prototype, but a jazz band on a trolley, in India, twenty years before jazz developed? ???
Quotebut a jazz band on a trolley, in India, twenty years before jazz developed?
the tunes I have are actually big band - I have a ipod with a mini speaker "X-mini" that has incredible sound output and built in subwoofer all in a pkg 5cm cubed. Will hide the sound unit in the third class baggage car. I have had all the scale instruments for a couple years now planning to build this string way back.
Tried to find out what music was played in that time period and found it very vague.
cheers Ferd
Neat coach. Thanks for the SBS, I like seeing how you were able to use the laser cutter to create the scallop and cut-out detailing...something that would have been very tedious handwork.
Marc