Super Power

The release of the Graham Farish 08 chassis has made me think about uses for it, and then seeing how John de Frayssinet has used them in his mallet River Brue and to remotor his Backwoods Miniatures Manning Wardle really got me thinking.

I came up with a design for a tank loco to be based on a Roco 0-6-0 tender loco chassis.  This ran really well initially, but developed a slight case of the wobbles as the chassis block wore slightly.  There is a solution to this, to add some bushes to eliminate play on the rear axle.  However the advent of the Graham Farish 08 diesel chassis should provide another solution to outside framed chassis...

Source: Kernow Model Centre

The plan I came up with was very much inspired by the compound locos that ran on the Ballycastle Railway in Ireland.  The wheel arrangement would be changed from 2-4-2T to 2-6-2T, and the whole loco would have a longer and slightly lower appearance.  I'd like at least two of these, and will make a start on them after the rush of getting Dunbracken ready for exhibition is over.  Frames will be plasticard i think, and valve gear is likely to be either Backwoods Miniatures or Roco transplanted onto the chassis.  The chassis seems easier than other Farish models to fit DCC decoders to and one feature that i'm pleased i've managed to incorporate into the design is a bunker which will be large enough to house a Soundtraxx speaker, and form a small box to amplify the sound as much as possible.

I'll upload a copy of the plan once i've managed to revise it to fit on the 08 chassis.

If this one goes well then I expect i'll construct a couple more on the same design, and possibly venture into the area of larger stock if all goes well.