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Author Topic: Designing and maybe making a portable model railway.  (Read 1815 times)

Hero

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Re: Designing and maybe making a portable model railway.
« on: September 06, 2019, 08:30:02 am »
...as I didn't design the trailer from scratch I though waterproofing the tailgate would be a problem and the ingress of water to both camping and layout trailer would be a disaster.

Hi, Tony,

My railroad trailer solution is a bit different from yours, but similar in that I had to consider waterproofing and use of space.

This spring I acquired  a 7.25" gauge electric train set (as some say, "Go big or go home."). No home-built layout at all needed here, as some 60 miles away there is  some 2000 feet of ground level track to play on. However, the train came in a homemade, flimsy 5x8 foot open hauler made from an old snowmobile trailer. I needed a shoehorn to fit the two steeplecab locos (4 feet long each), driving car (3 feet long), and three gondolas (each 6 feet long) into the little box, and even then I could only tow it on sunny days (electric models and water don't mix).

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My solution? Buy an enclosed trailer! Mine is 6x10 feet, easy to load, waterproof, and suitable for a ramp, and is a vast improvement over the original.

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Perhaps you might consider a small fully-enclosed trailer.

Here's the train in operation, after worry-free transport:

Bob