I think we’re getting closer! Many moons ago, Doug Matheson talked to me about building a 1:20 passenger car. No, actually, he talked about a FLEET of cars. We started doing some design work with Don Winter but he ran into some health isssues. Actually, Doug did most of the technical design. I did the hard stuff, like counting the total number of each type of window we needed. Don is also good friends with Phil Dippel, one of the sponsors here, so he handed the work over to Phil. Now, Phil has a day job and is also a producer of fine kits, but he took this challenge on. Our common inspiration was something a bit more modern. Steel underframe and closed vestibule, but still a wood body. Something very much like the ET&WNC Azalea.

We decided that we would build 50 foot cars in 1:20 narrow gauge. Now, most people do not realize how large these cars are. Here’s a picture of a Bachmann Jackson & Sharp coach on top of the parlor car frame.

We also found that Aristocraft makes some great passenger trucks that were just about right for our use. We replaced the wheels with 26" scale wheels from Sierra Valley.

Meanwhile, Phil’s been hard at work developing the prototype kit. Here’s some of his latest pictures. You can see some of the detail in the underframe for the roof:

I hope to be putting my own pictures here soon.