Tanker Wagon Kit - Pt.1

My Grandfather had his own dairy in Manchester and this gave me the inspiration to create tankers for the milk industry and the community serviced by Homestyal Light Railway.

Photo: Swift Sixteen

Swift Sixteen have an excellent choice of detailed wagon kits in their range, all at affordable prices.

Reading the online instructions and accompanying photographs I began by marking out the underside of the chassis for the positioning of the axle holders and coupling blocks.

The axle holders and coupling blocks were fixed into position using the previously drawn lines. If you do not wish to use the coupling blocks in this position, you can rotate them 180 degrees to accommodate couplings of your choice.

The wheels and axles were prepared by firstly removing one wheel from each axle and sliding a bearing tube, lightly oiled, over each axle. Each removed wheel was refitted and gauged to 40mm 'back to back' for my 45mm gauge. Any excess axle was removed flush to the wheel boss with a hacksaw.

The axle bushes were sanded and glued into each axle holder with epoxy resin.

Each 'W-iron' was cleaned and super glued to the chassis adjacent to each axle end.

Part 2
Part 3