The cars were hauled in strings, which were assembled near the Virginia City roundhouse before their trip to the mills in the Carson River valley. All this was standard gauge.
As I mentioned, the V&T later re-gauged 6 cars to 36" and sold them. They would haul soda ash near Keeler, CA.
I’m making the design model per photos and drawings of the standard gauge car (there are no known drawings of it after re-gauging) in F scale.
Brass parts are meant to be brass, but some fasteners may get switched to Ozark (samples are on the way). Wheels represent 26", and a Bachmann set is very close. Black is intended to be 3d printed. Wood is wood. Bin doors will not be operable.
The 36" gauge version has been interesting, because if the wheels were simply brought in on the axles, they’d hit the bin. My solution at the moment has been to push the pedestals outward by (scale) 3" each, but this may not be correct. A historian who specializes in the V&T said that since the coupler pocket may also need to be lowered to around 24", they may have used smaller wheels, and killed two birds with one stone. This is under discussion, but for now I’m using the same wheels and moving the pedestals out.
The narrow gauge Bachmann axles need extending, since the journals and side sills need to remain outboard. I’m planning on sprung journal boxes and McMaster springs; but that will take experimenting. I’ll probably have to use a 3d printing service to have the journal parts printed in something like black nylon.
I’ve contacted Iron Creek Shops, and hope they can provide 26" wheel on a standard gauge axle, we’ll see. I may use their coupler pocket or Ozark’s, or print them in nylon, another TBD.
