I just finished my standard gauge "Work Car".
The "prototype" for this project, and my inspiration, was this:
The photo is of a handmade MOW vehicle that was posted on the Standard Gauge Blog, here, where Marc raved about it.
Turns out that the original car is in the collection of Arno, our resident modern era standard gauge expert.
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It seemed like a project that would not be too complicated. I started with a Lionel 212 gondola. I wanted to use a Flyer sand car because it is longer, but Flyer spot welded those together, which makes them much more difficult to take apart and work with. The cab and roof I bent from 22 gauge steel and cut out the windows with a Dremel disc. The 22 gauge is much heavier than anything used in original tinplate, but it's nice because it is strong and holds its shape once bent. I used larger 10 series trucks, and my favorite G Scale DC motor unit. These motors are very low-slung, so the pickup rollers had to go in the other truck; the wires come up and go through a bridge rectifier tucked into the cab. An LGB pantograph tops it off and keeps in the spirit of the model I was emulating.
A lot of fun, and I am very pleased with the way this one turned out:
It certainly would look good as part of a work train. (I have alot of empty shelf space now)
