Looks great, and I think well worth the effort. I bet they look fantastic running together.
Back stories can be fun…and it’s great to have one. Someone asked me what my “back story” was to explain my “modern” steam-loco running along side my SD-40-2 and a 4-4-0 American. I told them there was this guy who liked trains and decided to start a garden railroad to get outside more. 
Bob Cope said:
Jon,I thought of modifying the truck, but then realized that if I do that I will not necessarily have total interchangeability among all my equipment. That was how I came up with this brain hemorrhage. Keep all my trucks the same, and I use them on almost anything that rolls on 45mm track. And all it takes is a standard screw and a flat washer to keep it all together. I also tend to make one screw fairly tight so the truck has very little side to side play - rotation only. The other truck I leave a bit freer allowing the car to act somewhat like a 3 legged stool. Not perfect, but it keeps the rock of the car to a minimum and allows for a bit poorer maintained track.
Bob C.
@Dave T,
Glad to be of service :). As I said in the beginning, this was a hack and bash of some acquired stuff. I think Mik calls them a ‘junk box build’. It was fun, and a great learning experience. To ‘inspire’ someone who builds water tanks of the caliber you do is a compliment, and thank you.
@Dave M,
Thanks for that story, it is plausible and better than anything I would have come up with. I like it.
I was going to run them last club meeting, but the monsoons hit. We had ankle deep water about the layout. The drainage we installed worked, but just could not keep up with the onslaught of rain. I may be there next weekend, and if I get to will run them with my Connie. I will definitely post pics when I get them.
Every once in a great while a bolt of lightning strikes and an epiphany will strike. NOT! Actually that was an adaptation of something else I had seen somewhere and the concept stuck. Take good ideas from where ever they come from.
Bob C.
Bob
Those turned out super.
Rodney
Rodney,
Thanks for the compliment, it is appreciated. Watch for the next build. I will be scratching a flat car based on the D&RGW 6000 series published in Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, September/October 1987 issue. The load will be a series of 6 large barrels mounted horizontally containing Friar Fred’s Holy Water. This will be a bit of a challenge because I am going to try to get the height of the car something close to scale, which means I may have to get real creative with the larger Bachmann couplers. Next thread…
Bob C.
And the final installment, a couple of pics on the club railroad.
Sneaking around the rock
The work train
