Project Railbus (5) .....adding the seating, trial assembly and ...

OTHER STUFF

Before starting on the seating, I added some ventilators to the roof (re-used from the coach I bought).

Then some running weights, using some lead strip from an old  wagon I scrapped

SEATING

The seating area made from plasticard is raised up to cover the top of the chassis and to get the seats at the right height for the windows.....

TRIAL ASSEMBLY

All bits were 'dry' assembled, including the glazing ... looking good... 😀

seats at right height for passengers to look out the window..

a view down from the front window.....(the driver is a little short, need a taller chap...)

ACCESS DOOR

Door handle and grab rail...

plus some steps to get in.....

THREE ASSEMBLIES

The railbus has three assemblies; top section, seating block and base with 0-4-0 chassis 

TRIAL RUNNING...

Out on the garage layout...

Sunny Sunday (16) - goods train...

Another pleasant Sunday afternoon, warm with sunny intervals - perfect weather for running trains...

The grass is slowly turning back green after some rain... plenty for the dinosaurs to munch on in the central grass island...my Jurassic Lark - Isla Parodia...

The train ....

Project Railbus (4) .... adding the sides...

In order to do the sides and the interior I bought a cheap Newqida coach body (with seats and glazing) for £20.

A try out of the seats ...

I had lots of fun taking the coach apart, removing the sides and then cutting them to the right size to fit into the railbus...

Each side has a door for access at one end, to show this I scribed the side to indicate the position of the door edge.

The glazing was cut to size and a trial fit was done ....

The coach sides in place, with the windows at the same level as the front ones; two small strips of plasticard were added to fill in the gaps...

the sides have been fitted to the upper assembly, which can be removed for access to the interior...

next job is to make the interior.....

Sunny Sunday (15) - mixed train again...

Today ran with a RC battery loco (recent rain - too lazy to clean the track 😀 ), plus a couple of coaches and some goods wagons/vans.

Got some still photos, then it came over all cloudy the little train in motion ....

Project Railbus (3) ....

A little bit of progress this week...

The roof had a missing section, so its been filled in... 

The top of the roof has had some cosmetic lengths of thin plasticard added on the sides to improve the look...

The revised scheme for the floor is to have the two cabs using the floor and control panels from the Sylvanian families tram;  the centre area will be built up to cover the top of the chassis with seats on top.

Side skirts added ....

not much I can do till I decide how to do the sides and seating. I may get a suitable cheap coach and chop it up as needed.

Project Railbus (2) Second Bash ....and test run

chassis fitted to the base...

level check - spot on !

 made up the main structure of the roof... inside

outside...

I also cut out a hole in the floor so I can fit it in....

quick assembly....

and out to the garage layout for a quick test run.....

Project Railbus (1) Getting Started....

Not a sunny Sunday today,  so I decided to make a start on my Railbus project....

The 0-4-0 chassis removed from the Diesel loco (the loco body has gone into the spares box).

The Sylvanian families tram, is held together with screws. So taken apart into three sections - upper side panels, roof and base with lower panels

I chopped the sides to just have the cab ends, also removed the lower side panels from the base...

So now I have three main parts to work on. The base (which will have the chassis attached), the floor with control consoles & seats,  the roof with cab ends.  

I marked out on the underside of the base, the hole through which the chassis is going to fit through...

I drilled holes along the 'cut line' and then cut through any connected bits. The edges of the hole were then filed smooth.  The chassis has had some parts narrowed by about 10mm so it will fit nicely inside.

The proposed plan of attack is:

• fix the chassis to the base and do a test run.
• make the roof section up
• fit the flooring round the chassis, add some seats
• build the sides

along with lots of bodges and twiddly bits 😀