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The Cleminson Coach

One day when I had over done it on the caffeine I decided to have a go at building a six wheeler. When I got to thinking about it, of the Irish lines built in the 1870s and 80s those which were more railway than tramway - the West Clare, The Swilly, the Donegal, etc., all started out with Cleminsons. Basically the Cleminson underframe was the solution to making a long six wheeler go round a short curve.

Underneath

Here is what makes the thing bend. The longitudinal beams enable the outer trucks to be steered by the middle truck, this steers the thing around a corner. The rubber bands are purely temporary until I get the link in just the right place. When that has been determined a more solid link will be screwed into position.

Right way up!

Here you can see the Cleminson mechanism tracking correctly around a 10' radius curve.

Entering the (Incomplete) Station

The tail end of the train with the brake van based on IMR (ex-MNR) E1