Question on D&RGW wood RPO/baggage on Shapeways.

[brokemoto]

I am trying to get one or two wood RPOs for my non-historic railroad.  I was considering bashing an MDC/Athearn Overland combine into a baggage/mail or an Overton combine into an RPO.  In my searches for alternatives, I found someone on Shapeways who is offering a set of three D&RGW wood baggage/mail cars.  The catch is that they are narrow gauge prototypes.

The question:  Could I get away with putting these things on standard gauge trucks and operating them on a standard gauge railroad?   Does anyone out there have any experience with this particular product that Shapeways is offering?  Has anyone else out there gotten away with putting narrow gauge equipment onto standard gauge trucks?

Thank you in advance.

[thomasjmdavis]

I won't claim expertise, but my understanding is that D&RGW narrow gauge passenger cars were 8'6" wide (+/-), while a standard gauge car is generally about 10'.  So, if accurately modeled, they will likely look narrow compared to the locomotive or other equipment.  But, as I say, I am not an expert on narrow gauge, so you might want to wait to see who else weighs in.

There was a Western Railcraft kit for an AT&SF 1904 vintage wood RPO (fishbelly frame) in the ancient days of N scale- a pair of brass sides with a variety of wood bits, wire and some less than perfect castings.  These do show up on eBay from time to time. I made an attempt to assemble one of these 30 or 40 years ago. Based on that experience, I would recommend keeping the brass sides and fishbelly parts, tossing out most of the rest, and using an MTL RPO as a core and cutting and pasting as necessary to make everything fit.

[Mike C]

  I'm an HOn3 modeler .  The narrow gauge cars will be too narrow and Standard gauge trucks will stick out past the sides of the car . But I can't say it was never done in real life . EBT put standard gauge cars on narrow gauge trucks 

[drgw0579]

I've actually worked on several D&RGW narrow gauge passenger cars.   Yes, they are narrower, however, if you look at the D&RGW RPOs like (65, 54 or 60), they are bigger cars than the coaches.   I don't know what the Shapeway models try to represent, but its possible that putting them beside a smaller standard gauge car wouldn't look too out of place.



It wouldn't be too far-fetched for your railroad to have a story that they bought narrow gauge cars and converted them to standard gauge.   The newer non-historic passenger cars used on the Cumbres and Toltec were actually built on standard gauge frames.   The first set of passenger cars the C&TS built (the flat tops) were built on 6500 series flat cars that were built as standard gauge cars then converted to narrow gauge.  So there's some plausibility here.

It's your railroad and you can do whatever you want!

Bill Kepner

[Cajonpassfan]

I don't know, every time I get to visit and ride narrow gauge trains (as often as possible) I'm struck by the reminder of just how diminutive these cars are; not just narrower, but riding lower, on smaller wheels and with lower ceiling  heights. In 3D, they have  a much smaller volume. That's what makes them so lovable (there, I said it).
One could try to come up with some rationalization for putting standard gauge trucks under them, but imho, they won't look right.
Why not just bash what you need from the standard gauge MDC/Athearn cars., you'd be much happier. I think. But then again, it is your railroad...have fun!
Otto K.

[Lemosteam]

I am trying to get one or two wood RPOs for my non-historic railroad.  I was considering bashing an MDC/Athearn Overland combine into a baggage/mail or an Overton combine into an RPO.  In my searches for alternatives, I found someone on Shapeways who is offering a set of three D&RGW wood baggage/mail cars.  The catch is that they are narrow gauge prototypes.

The question:  Could I get away with putting these things on standard gauge trucks and operating them on a standard gauge railroad?   Does anyone out there have any experience with this particular product that Shapeways is offering?  Has anyone else out there gotten away with putting narrow gauge equipment onto standard gauge trucks?

Thank you in advance.

Message the designer and ask if he can scale the cars in two dimensions (width= 10/8.5 and height=Overland height from sill to peak/ cad model sill to peak) 

You could have them lenghthen the car (MDC window width/ cad model window width) if the windows look to skinny proportionally.

I scale my designs for folks all the time, as it might only take a few minutes to scale and upload a new model. Ask the to send an image after scaling to see if the proportions look ok.

[nkalanaga]

I believe the Colorado & Southern had a narrow gauge business car that was occasionally put on standard gauge trucks.  That's the only case I can think of offhand.

But if your railroad started as narrow gauge, or had a narrow gauge subsidiary, it wouldn't be impossible for them to have done it.  Especially if the line's finances weren't the best, it would be a quick way to maintain passenger service after standard gauging, and, later, the cars could have survived in MOW service.

[brokemoto]

Thank you for the replies.  The dimensions listed scale out to about eight-point-four scale feet wide.  The MDC/Athearn  Overlands scale out to about ten feet six inches and the Overtons bout nine feet six inches.  Thus, this guy's would be too narrow. He sells them in a three car set as Numbers 60, 63 and 64 on the Rio Grande.