Walthers Carfloat

[Andrew Emery]

Has anyone else converted a Walthers Carfloat from HO to 009? I am half way through my first, and am finding it challenging.

Firstly, the plastic 'pointwork' on the deck must be scraped-off. A tedious task. Then, I decided to lay 009 'timbers' between the HO chairs to take the plastic rails, using 1mm square Plastistruct strips. Time consuming and expensive.

Having completed that, I completely changed my mind and decided, rightly or wrongly, that a narrow gauge loco's weight would be acceptable on deck, and therefore wanted metal tracks. Not having found a 9mm track gauge, I needed to use existing commercial track, so trimmed some Peco at the sides, and removed the webs between the sleepers. More tedious work, and I would have liked to align the truncated baulks of the sleepers to the remains of the HO chairs, but couldn't because of all the expensive work I had done inserting the now unessesary plastic 1mm section batterns! I did however drill and insert six Peco pre-wired fishplates near to the dock end, extending them through six holes the 'bow' for future use. I made sure to anchor them inside the hull with epoxy first, to avoid the embarrasment of pulling one through and losing it inside the hull.

So there we have it so far. Tracks still to be laid, and the docking apron to be aligned. Here the HO track inserts were filled with 1.5mm square section Plastistruct. Anyone else got this far? I have theee more still to build.

[jimowers]

Your ship appears to have developed a list if the photos are any indication!

[Stefan Krebs]

Dear Andrew,

These car floats are a peculiarity of the New York/ Manhattan commercial supply chain, which was/ is standard gauge throughout. Interesting subject, google 'Harlem transfer terminal', and watch a fascinating railway world unfold, especially if you want to see a real life inglenook railway.

You do not describe the context in which you want to place the car floats, but I'd call it an odd choice to start from. The operation of these car floats was only economical because of the commercial situation in Manhattan.

The only narrow gauge common carrier with ferry service I know off, was on the Island of Ruegen, and the ferry boats are available as model from Artitec.
For industrial narrow gauge bulk carriers it was more economical to tranship.

The Artitec ferry has plastic rails cast in one with the hull, which would need milling out, if you want to run engines onto it. However, engines were carried only on their way to major overhauls, in regular service only rolling stock was ferried; which was the same for these car floats.

I appreciate that you can ignore commercial context on a model railway, but I am mystified what you plan to use the car floats for. ??? ::)

Good luck anyway
Waldschrat