Found this idea on the net but was written up in Kalmbach's "Model Railroad Planning 2018". The issue featured Doug Tagsold's Colorado & Southern. The premise is using HO gauge equipment to represent 1/72 scale narrow gauge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzTH795P5w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNzTH795P5w)
http://smallmr.com/wordpress/doug-tagsolds-colorado-southern-narrowgauge-modelrailroad-modelrail-train/ (http://smallmr.com/wordpress/doug-tagsolds-colorado-southern-narrowgauge-modelrailroad-modelrail-train/)
Liking out-of-the-box thinking this is my take on the idea:
http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/ (http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/brooks_3.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/c-19.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/bachmann_box.jpg)
Thank you if you Visit
Harold
Got my copy of "Model Railroad Planning 2018" and Doug Tagsold's Colorado & Southern is a really great layout. Scale1/72 gives inexpensive almost ready-to-run narrow gauge.
The Roundhouse/MDC/Athearn equipment looks really great.
Went into the seventh level of my ungodly abyss of a train room and extracted some Roundhouse cars:
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/roundhouse_1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/roundhouse_4.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/roundhouse_2.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/roundhouse_3.jpg)
What more can I ask narrow gauge 4-4-0's and C-class 2-8-0's? Cheap, available narrow gauge in a large enough small scale to permit viable layout building.
Thanks Doug for bringing this brilliant idea to light. Can smell layout building.
We have a scale to download:
http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/172scale.pdf (http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/172scale.pdf)
Thanks if you visit the website.
http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/ (http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/)
Harold
Doug Tagsold's Colorado & Southern layout is really outstanding.
Looks great!
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/utube_cns1.jpg)
Harold
This idea really does work.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/utube_cns2.jpg)
If you have imagination and not rigid in thinking.
Harold
In the pictures - the figures and structure are 1/72 and the locos are HO. Right?
Quote from: Terry Toenges on October 06, 2018, 11:08:53 AM
In the pictures - the figures and structure are 1/72 and the locos are HO. Right?
The rolling stock and locomotives are Roundhouse with new details.
The structures are HO some are modified with new doors and the figures are 1/72.
Doug Tagsold's layout is very large.
(http://mrr.trains.com/-/media/Images/How%20To/Track%20Plans/2018/Model%20Railroad%20Planning%202018/72ColoradoSouthern1.jpg?mw=600)
to quote from the article in "Model Railroad Planning 2018"
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/reason2.jpg)
Harold
Our work-in-progress beta Mantua early boxcar conversion, $11 toy train box car to 24 foot 1880's narrow gauge boxcar buildable in an evening.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/mantua_box2.jpg)
Finally, affordable and easy 1880's narrow gauge. Wooden cars and iron men!
Harold
We need moguls for early narrow gauge.
The Roundhouse Mogul has two versions the more common high wheeler and a scarcer low driver version which has a 1/72 43" drivers. They mechanically match early narrow gauge moguls .
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/mogul_plan2.jpg)
The boiler is easily lowered and smaller drivers applied. The cab is the right size.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/mogul_plan.jpg)
Harold
Cleaning up my train room I ran across this Bachmann HO ten-wheeler.
Looked Tweetsie, having a plan already in my bin I printed out a 1/72 scale drawing.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/tweetsie1.jpg)
Yep, with a little bit of work we can be in the blue ridges with room to have real mountains.
Harold
Bigger 1/72 cabs are required to remove the HO look. That is a cab I built for making the Roundhouse HOn3 locomotive Sn2. Learning a 3d CAD modeling program and have the cab printed out probably would take less time.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/bigger_cabs1.jpg)
Harold
The question is "Why not S Scale?". Then we lose our C-16, our 1880s 4-4-0, our one evening 1870s box and no evening 1880's box. The HO equipment doesn't translate to S Scale. Can live with the gauge to have that equipment.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/s_scale1.jpg)
Been there done that in S Scale narrow gauge. S is really limited in equipment. The available HO equipment to rebuild to S is shaky. The Tyco ten-wheeler hasn't held up well over time. S scale is very expensive. Just using the equipment on HO track as Sn3.5 doesn't change anything.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/sn3_1.jpg)
Just sayin'
Harold
Back to the fun!
The Tichy HO ore car would make a great coal "jimmy". Can be had for $5 a piece on the street.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/tichy1.jpg)
Always wanted to find a use for these great little cars.
Harold
I like the whole philosophy behind the 1:72 design.
It's leaning toward the British 00 scale 1:76.
Ton
"Objects aren't "N, HO...S, O, etc. SCALE". An object is what it measures."
Wanting a engine crew for my 4-4-0 I found some Bachmann Branchline OO Scale figures from the UK.
Things are sometimes better than what the box says. The second guy from the right is our new OO scale Bachmann Branchline figure. The guys on his right and left are Preiser 1/72. The guy on the far left is a Langley Victorian OO.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/bachmann_branchline1.jpg)
Sometimes you need little wins in life
Harold
Designed a direct replacement 1/72 cab for the Bachmann HO 4-4-0 and had a 3d print made.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/rep_cab2.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/rep_cab1.jpg)
3d printing is great.
Harold
There are drivers and axles available from places like Scalelink in the UK to reshoe our iron horses.
These are 12mm which will give us Scale172 36" drivers. Scalelink has 3mm self quartering axles for the newer Roundhouse/Athearn locomotives along with 1/8" for the older original models. Self quartering makes locomotive building easy.
The internet is great.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/scalelink_drivers1.jpg)
Correct drivers and a bigger cabs are needed to remove the HO look. This is a cab I built from styrene to convert the Roundhouse HOn3 2-8-0 to Sn2. Learning a 3d CAD modeling program and have the cab printed out probably would take less time.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/c-16_1.jpg)
Harold
What about standard gauge?
Sn3 cars scale out well as 34' standard gauge cars. On3 or On30 trucks can be widened to Scale172 gauge of .784. OO scale 12mm diameter wheels are close enough. The Bachmann On30 Mogul could be massaged to represent a standard gauge loco.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/std_gaugebox1.jpg)
Harold
We can build a credible C-19 from the Roundhouse 2-8-0 with minimal bashing. The stock cab can be adjusted to make a taller one. The opening can be fitted with a new filler piece and all that is required is an 1/8 high skirt around the bottom. A new side panel would be added for decoration. Our crude mockup with a cab from another project.
S-scale C-16 domes are the right size to make our Scale172 C-19. Those domes are Tomalco but domes are available from Slim Gauge 3D at Shapeways. The motor mount just has to be adjusted and the cylinders have to be modified to lower the boiler.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/stock_cab1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/stock_cab2.jpg)
Harold
The Roundhouse/Athearn HO 2-8-0 scales really well against post-1900 narrow gauge 2-8-0s like this Southern Pacific narrow gauge 2-8-0. The stock cab can be adjusted to make a late 2-8-0.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/sp_loco1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/sp_loco2.jpg)
Our cab doesn't go below the walkway because the walkways are at the base of the boiler where the examples are higher on the boiler.
Harold
Found this idea on John Ott's old time train site.
http://www.ottgalleries.com/roundhouse%20bash.html (http://www.ottgalleries.com/roundhouse%20bash.html)
The Tyco/Mantua Ten-Wheeler boiler can be fit to the Roundhouse old time mechanism.
(http://www.ottgalleries.com/images/MRR_169_7_L.jpg)
Doug Tagsold used the MDC/Athearn/Roundhouse HO 2-8-0 for his Scale172 locos. The loco mechanism matches the first generation narrow gauge consolidations. 14mm Scale Link drivers give us the correct 40" driver size. A boiler from the Tyco/Mantua Ten-Wheeler gives us a boiler.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/280_1.jpg)
Locomotives were proportional the same setup can be used for a HO early era consolidation.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/280_std.jpg)
Have the mechanism running smoothly.
Here is the loco in large scale:
http://forums.mylargescale.com/15-model-making/14042-east-broad-top-3-rockhill.html (http://forums.mylargescale.com/15-model-making/14042-east-broad-top-3-rockhill.html)
Harold
Was asked why not HO?
We now have our Scale172 trains running. Simple mods to HO equipment gives us narrow gauge in a larger scale in the 1870s. This was my reason for doing this. All the other scales can't give me easy 1870s narrow gauge.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/train_1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/train_4.jpg)
Adding 28" HO wheels gives us Scale172 20" wheels and completes the look of early narrow gauge.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/train_2.jpg)
The far right wheel on the ore car is a HO scale 33" and demonstrates the difference. A really D-oh! moment, wondered why I had an extra wheel set.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/train_3.jpg)
The ore car give us an early coal car. The smaller wheels look good.
Harold
What about track?
We are using HO Kato Unitrack to represent our early era narrow gauge track. The funky alternate universe HO spacing looks great for our track.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack2.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack3.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack4.jpg)
In our HOn30 adventure we found that the track can be painted at the bench and blended in with "fur grass" or Sculptamold/latex paint mixture.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/fur_grass_ballast3.jpg)
Old time trains always look better in black and white.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack5.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/172unitrack6.jpg)
Harold
While searching for a suitable proto railroad was perusing books from my late brother's collection. Found "Milwaukee Road Narrow Gauge" and found these pieces of narrow gauge and near 1/72 scale drawings. The box matches the size of our Mantua with the same truck configuration and they had an 1880 caboose that is the same size as the Roundhouse caboose.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/mil_road_box1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/mil_road_caboose1.jpg)
An early Granger road fits the available locomotives and rolling stock. Lots of them out there in the heyday of narrow gauge.
Harold
Haven't done this in a while.
Found these vintage 1/72 cars and trucks.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/reviresco_car1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/reviresco_truck1.jpg)
Go to:
http://tin-soldier.com/cars.html (http://tin-soldier.com/cars.html)
Made me think about late era narrow gauge. If you extend the cab below the footboard with a 1/8x1/4 piece of styrene and add a new cab side like our mock up, easy late era narrow gauge.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/roundhouse_5.jpg)
Doug Tagsold used the MDC cars with the HO trucks with 33" HO wheels. Substituting 24"(HO 28") wheels and shorter wheelbase Tahoe trucks makes the cars more "narrow gaugey"
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/24in_wheels.jpg)
Harold
Dart Castings supplies a line of OO scale wagons and figures which are well done. OO scale stuff scales out well in 1/72.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/L45_1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/dart_flatwagon1.jpg)
Dart says delivery takes 21 days, yup.
Harold
Finally got the "narrow gauge" look on the MDC/Roundhouse cars and loco.
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/small_wheels1.jpg)
(http://www.chainsawjunction.com/172n4/image/small_wheels2.jpg)
Easy narrow gauge
Harold