My next project is a small, freelance 0-4-0 tank engine made by Chris Ward Railways. Chris designed a kit to fit the Fleischmann Piccolo 7000 N Gauge chassis. The kit includes a body, a ‘chassis footplate’, cab roof, a box to add lead weight and a few other pieces. Chris has also designed cylinder covers that slip over the cylinders of the chassis. He sells these separately. I thought they looked good so I brought them too.

The N Gauge loco came from ebay, it’s very continental – let’s see what I can make from it!

First, I dismantled the loco to get to the chassis. To enable the ‘chassis footplate’ to fit I cut off the buffers. To slide on the cylinder covers I had to remove the metal pin that held the N gauge couplings. (The front one is removed in the photo and the rear one is still in place, although later I removed this too). I didn’t have a nut to fit the original screw that held the Fleischmann body in place, but I did have a 2mm diameter bolt and a matching nut. I enlarged the hole in the chassis so that it will accept the 2mm diameter bolt. Cutting and drilling the chassis isn’t a difficult as it sounds, you just need a steady hand.

The weight of the motor makes the chassis very ‘rear heavy’ so I took the opportunity to add a small lead packing piece to the front of the chassis over the original cylinders.

Finally, I fitted what Chris calls the ‘chassis footplate’. Chris designed a T shaped weight box that fits on top of the chassis footplate, over the original screw hole, and can be attached using the original Fleischmann body screw. I liked the design of the weight box but the plastic is quite light. I wanted to add as much weight as possible inside the body so I chose to omit the weight box and pack the body with lead. I made a small fixing bracket from lead sheet and glued a nut to it. This allows me to fit the chassis footplate to the chassis using a 12mm long, 2mm diameter bolt.

That’s as far as I’ve got. Watch this space for the next developments….