# 1:20.3 plans



## d_sinsley (Mar 29, 2011)

Where would someone get plans for 1:20.3 box cars, flats, and passenger cars circa 1880-1890s I would love to scratch build some out of wood perferable other materials ok too. 
I am new to the hobby so forgive me if its been asked a 100 times before. Sorce for details, truck,couplers ect.

I accept donations









Devon


----------



## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Devon,


You said you were looking for 1/20.3 plans for rolling stock. I am going to assume the rolling stock is D&RGW. An indispensible reference book to have is Robert E. Sloan's, "A Century+ Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars, 1871 to 1981". 362 pages of plans and reference to anything the D&RGW ever used. Can be found everywhere-even Amazon. About 50 bucks and worth every dime.








I don't DO donations-sorry.


----------



## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I'll echo Gary's recommendation of Sloan's book. Most narrow gauge railroads of the era you're modeling relied on a small handful of carbuilders; typically Billmeyer & Smalls, Jackson & Sharp, and a few others. Sloan's book has plans for a good sampling of cars from those builders' products and at the very least will give you a good starting point. 

Like you, I model a railraod relying heavily on late 19th century rolling stock. A few things to consider... 

First, early narrow gauge rolling stock was relatively small, especially when compared to the "modern" narrow gauge equipment offered by Accucraft and Bachmann's 1:20.3 lines. You'll find a fair number of the 1:22.5 or 1:24 models from Bachmann, Aristo/Delton, even LGB actually scale out fairly well in 1:20.3 for these early prototypes--particularly flat cars, wood hoppers, and ore cars. Even some of the box cars are pretty close. 









The two hopper cars in this train are 1:24 prototypes, that scale out very well in 1:20.3. 









This is a comparison between a c. 1870s Billmeyer and Smalls box car (on right) to a "modern" (c. 1900) box car on the left. I'm working right now on a B&S box car that's spot on in size for Bachmann's 1:22 box car, except for being a scale 4" too narrow. 

As for trucks and couplers, in the era of the Coeur d'Alene, you're looking at link and pin couplers. Ozark Miniatures sells them, and perhaps Hartford. For simplicity, though, you could easily go with knuckle couplers from Kadee or Accucraft. A bit anachronistic, but certainly easier to couple together. I use a mixture of Accucraft's 1:32 knuckle coupers and Kadee's #1-scale couplers. These scale out to a 3/4-sized coupler used by a number of narrow gauge railroads (particularly in the east). 

Trucks - archbar trucks will be what you'll find. Bachmann, LGB, and USA Trains archbar trucks have a 3' 8" wheelbase in 1:20.3, which is common for narrow gauge archbar trucks, especially older ones. Aristo's archbar truck scales to a 4' wheelbase, and is also commonly used by 1:20 modelers. Wheel diameters could be anywhere from 20" (especially on the oldest stuff), to 24" - 26". I use Bachmann's 31mm wheels, which scale out to 24". 

Details? Ozark, Trackside Details, and Hartford Products will quickly become your best friends. 

For passenger cars, Accucraft or Bronson-Tate's kits will be your best bet. 

Later, 

K


----------



## d_sinsley (Mar 29, 2011)

Hey guys seriously thank you those are informative posts. I am starting a G note book now thats bad. I have one of those in HO and it gets bigger all the time.


----------



## R Snyder (May 12, 2009)

I certainly agree with the Hartford, Bronson-Tate, Ozark Miniatures susggestions. Also, Phil Dippel at Phil's Narrow Gauge has some great kits, and also sells detail parts. I recently built these two cars from scratch using parts from all of the above.


----------



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

If you're somewhat less particular, Garden Railways used to run plans in every issue. Those plans are still available through *Sidestreet Bannerworks*. Detail parts are available through *Ozark Miniatures* while *Hartford Large Scale Products* is a source for trucks and some detail parts.


----------

