RH&DR Armoured train

With all the war time specials to be found in model railway magazines, it seems only appropriate that I do something on the blog. The problem is that I don't really do tanks and guns and stuff, not being a big fan of armed conflicts. While lots of people love all that stuff, I can't help thinking, "There but for the grace of god go I" on the basis that if born 70 years earlier, I'd have been spending time in a muddy trench rather than building model railways.

However, I can't escape entirely. While the idea of modelling the front lines does nothing for me, you can't really escape being fascinated by some of the equipment developed. Hobart's funnies for example, fascinating. Or in this case an armoured train - one that could very well have been right in the front line as it ran on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway.

Manned by the Home Guard and armed with Lewis and Bren guns along with anti-tank rifles, the train fortunately didn't see action. This doesn't make it any less interesting. The idea of building a model has been one of many kicking around in my mind for years but things came together last year when I spotted a kit on the Sgt's Mess stand at the IPMS.

Initial thoughts centred around building a working model from the static kit. After an awful lot of digging through N gauge locos (the model is designed to sit on N gauge track, rather too wide for the 15 inch RH&DR but we'll ignore that) it proved impossible to find a 4-8-2 chassis with 6mm driving wheels.

Thus, the kit has sat around untouched for a few months. This seems a shame so I've decided to build it. If anyone comes up with a solution to the chassis problem, well a second kit won't break the bank, I'll have another go.