2 feet in 1:64 scale roughly works out to be 9.5mm, which will allow for easy substitution of 9mm N gauge track and mechanisms in construction. But that also means a 6 foot high loco is barely 3cm tall! After searching through some 009 modelling forums and pages I discovered that the smallest commercially available power bogies are found under the N scale KATO Portram and Centram models. The KATO trams have two power bogies in each model and can be delivered to your door direct from Japan for ≈AU$90 (exchange rate permitting that's $45/motor!). Each bogie weighs less than 5 grams and has a wheelbase of around 12mm with the bolster sitting about 4mm above railhead (Dad's considering using one or two to re-power his N scale ballast tamper). P.s. Don't buy the cheaper Tomytec tram as it has a much larger mechanism.
KATO Unitram advert.
KATO Portram power bogies.
Two locos are planned to be built on the power bogies; the Planet Type 'Y' numbered '1' and the curved roof homemade loco with yellow chevrons. These will be pretty much entirely scratchbuilt from styrene and brass. Alloy Forms do a variety of great white metal detail parts. Their 1:87 '3 Engine Kit' will hopefully have some useful parts to represent the Holden and Ford motors and help to add some much needed weight.
Alloy Forms 1:87 (HO scale) 3 Engine Kit: Ford flathead V-8, Chevy small block V-8, Dodge flathead 6 cylinder.
Holden 186 Red Motor.
Shovels
Lesney Matchbox produced model 22-RB Ruston Bucyrus shovel slightly smaller than 1:64 scale between 1959 and 1965. At least two of these will be kitbashed to represent shovels used at Maylands. The toys seem to be pretty ubiquitous on the internet, going for anywhere between $5 and $150. The rubber tracks tend to disintegrate, but replacement tracks are available for less than 10 bucks.
Lesney Matchbox M-4 Major Pack 22-RB shovel.
Engineering Model Developments also do a great 1:50 scale 22-RB Ruston Bucyrus working model. Unfortunately it's probably a tad too big for my needs.
EMD 1:50 22-RB shovel.
Hoppers
Owing to the homemade nature of the brickworks hoppers, most commercially available side-tipper hoppers appear to be too obtusely angled and generally the wrong shape to be useful for Maylands Brickworks analogues. This will most likely mean that each hopper will be individually scratchbuilt with a styrene hopper and soldered brass frames.
Owing to the homemade nature of the brickworks hoppers, most commercially available side-tipper hoppers appear to be too obtusely angled and generally the wrong shape to be useful for Maylands Brickworks analogues. This will most likely mean that each hopper will be individually scratchbuilt with a styrene hopper and soldered brass frames.
Bachmann On30 'V' dump hopper illustrating the common commercially produced hopper shape.
Modules
The layout will be DC controlled for practicality. Due to the small motor sizes the whole layout will be able to be run off a single 9V battery. The trackwork will be handlaid or heavily kitbashed propriety track. In 1:64 scale, Maylands' trackwork is at least 9000mm in length! So a bit of compression is in order. The layout is planned to comprise of three modules roughly 1600-1800mm in length and two or three removable fiddle tracks to allow trains to disappear off scene and be manually loaded and unloaded. Baseboards will be a lightweight wooden frame construction with aluminium legs and foam board landscaping (the tramway sits at least 12 feet below ground level). A very quick mockup of the baseboards is shown below. Next step is to draw the plan out in full scale on butchers paper!
Rough baseboard mockup.
Lesney Matchbox 22-RB shovel and KATO Portram power bogie.
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