You may remember that I recently posted some photos of small backwoods style freight cars I had made.
A friend asked if I could make some even smaller cars for a small display layout he was considering. He was thinking of something that would negotiate well under O27 curves, but use standard 3 rail wheels and couplers.
I started with a postwar freight truck and a postwar metal truck coupler bracket.
Combine them and you get one of these. Note that you must use postwar style wheels and axles where the wheels can turn freely on the axle. Rigid modern freight wheels and axles won't turn when the coupler bracket is mounted on the axle.
I figured you can't get any shorter than that!
Then, to build something on top of it that could have been constructed by shop carpenters out in a back lot.
I used Northeast stripwood to scratch build a few flat cars and a work car:
Then I decided to use some Lionel parts from the junk box to make life easier:
A flat car with cut down work caboose tool boxes and a couple of coal carriers using cut down work caboose end bins:
Then, the rest of the work caboose became this:
Then, moving from the unusual to the ridiculous, I found an old broken 3464 boxcar body that was chopped down to become:
And a Scout style gondola that became this was added to the train.
And why not finish the train with an even crazier excuse for a caboose:
Anyway, it was fun not being constrained by reality, and my friend is very happy. Now he is trying to figure out just how tight a curve he can create with GarGraves flex track. 
Jim
NOTE: Check my post near the end - Video added.
