What do you do when you uncover 170+ whole bricks in your yard? Well, they make excellent landscaping stone, for one thing. They also inspire a name and theme for a whimsical railway. Here are some photos of our "Conover Street Brick Mine Railway" and its Brick Hauler.
We used small, cheap kits to make brick flats and the tool car. The "bricks" are balsa blocks painted and weathered, then glued to cars. Stainless steel clock chain was used to "secure" the loads. The tool car is a flat onto which we built a balsa body, It takes from the old O gauge "crane tenders" for its design of cab and tool bunker. More home-made cars are in the works, and will be added here as they are completed.
The ore car and tank were made "as is" and painted. All we did was add ladders cut from square chicken wire. The ore car load is made by filling the open area with a balsa, then gluing gravel to the top. This keeps the car light. Unfortunately, these small, plastic-wheeled cars have a lot of drag compared to better cars.
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