Armored trains? Railway Guns?

[ssculptor]

I'm new here and I was wondering if anyone was into armored trains and railway guns.
A number of the real armored trains were "home made" since they were designed and produced at the railroad company shops as the need arose.
Which certainly gives us free reign to make up our own with whatever we like as armament.
There seems to be more interest in this topic these days. Osprey just published a new book on Armored Trains by Steve Zaloga. Paper card models of the trains have been on the market in Europe for a number of years in 1:25 scale. In 1:35 scale a number of plastic models have appeared of the big RR mounted guns and some of the small armored self-propelled cuties.
I'm in "G" gauge these days, track gauge being 1.75 inches, and in the USA we run everything from 1:32 scale (Marklin No. 1 trains) through 1:29 scale (trains by Aristocraft and USA Trains), 1:24  and 1:22.5 (LGB and Bachmann) and even 1:20.3 scale, all on the same track. A few of us run modified 1:35 plastic kits on the same track. Yes, it does make the "fine scale modelers" run screaming from the room, but that is just a plus as far as I am concerned.
It doesn't really matter what scale one runs in model railroads, as material is available in all gauges. You can buy ready-made military trains in N and HO gauges. In O and OO gauge these are easily produced.
In the real world a number of the armored trains were armed using standard tank turrets mounted onto the armored trains. Some trains were just flat cars and gondolas armored with sandbag walls and armed with ordinary artillery and machine guns. No overhead protection but not much was needed in the WW1 era since air-burst artillery really did not come into play until WW2 was well along.
One nice thing about armored trains and railway guns is that a modeler can actually run them, rather than watching them gather dust on a shelf. Also, we now have a place to display the tank models as we can put them on flat cars and run them in trains.
Anyone?

[RLBH]

Well, never actually built a model (train or otherwise) but the railways are certainly rife with scope for whiffing; I've got a profile somewhere of a diesel loco I dreamt up for a fictional UK long-distance train. Always wanted to build a two-foot gauge railway down my road, too, but fortunately I've got more sense than money...

I rather like the German 280mm railway guns, how about a British version using a 16" gun (because they did 13.5") for coast defence? Certainly possible. Or, maybe a kind of post-oil world, so that coal-burning steam kettles are back in use, with armed, armoured trains forming a kind of self-protecting convoy across the USA? That one's actually quite a good idea, although I say so myself...

[Aircav]

I've had an idea to build a Train carrying V-2 rockets for a while, just never got a round to it, one day though 

[dragon]

The obvious play would be a rail car with a rail gun...

[jcf]

The obvious play would be a rail car with a rail gun...

...and you could use the locomotive as the power source, finally solving the big problem with using a rail gun. 

Jon

[TomZ]

I built the Mach2 kit of the German BP-44 armoured train some years ago. You can see some pictures on my site: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tozu/bp44/bp44.htm. This kit was a real pain to build as almost nothings fits but the end result is rather rewarding I think.

Tom

[ssculptor]

Two replies, really.

First, what gauge is that very nice Mach2 kit of the German BP-44?

Second, back in the mid-1950's in the USA there was a real proposal to make several trains that carried ICBM's. The idea being if these missile trains were always on the move the Russians would not be able to find them to knock them out. ICBM's in underground silos make a stationary target, but the trains would be constantly on the move. Neat idea but nothing came of it, aside from some designs. I made a complicated 3 point perspective drawing of such a train for a class in design school back then.

Come to think of it, it would make a good G gauge project today. I could motorize it so the sides drop away and the missile is elevated to vertical position. Then use a real model rocket and let it fly. This would work as most of the G gauge railroads are out of doors and the model rockets come with parachutes. I would not recommend it for an indoor model railroad. The wife may get get a bit put out when the rocket penetrates the ceiling. Wives are funny that way.

[TomZ]

The Mach2 kit is 1/72 so it doesn't fit on standard HO rails. It's meant as a static model anyway.
There are a number of 1/72 rail sections provided in the kit to display it on but they are so badly molded that I changed the axles to fit on a piece of HO-gauge track.

Tom

[ssculptor]

As I recall 1/72 is a lot closer to the old OO gauge, which, unfortunately, never caught on in  the USA.
OO was just a bit larger than HO and 1/72 and 1/76 scale tanks fit it much better than HO.
Fortunately, I have a rather relaxed outlook on "fine scale modeling". and close enuf is good enuf as far as I am concerned.

In G gauge we run a variety of scale on the same track. The G track is 1.75 inches between the rails, which makes it just about right for 1/32 scale. However, we also use it with 1/25, 1/29, 1/25, 1/24, 1/22.5 and 1/20.3 scales. Tends to drive one nutz. But its only a hobby and as far as I am concerned everything in a hobby is good for a laugh.

I have a bunch of the plastic 1/35 scale plastic models for converting to operating on G gauge track. I also have a bunch of the paper card models of armored trains in 1/25 scale.
So, I can run both on the same track.
Weird! It wallops even me. 

My advice? Do whatever you want to do and just enjoy yourself.
Stephen

[TomZ]

Stephen, I agree totally! I build models for fun and it should stay good fun. No rivet counting for me 

[Weaver]

There seem to have been a lot of armoured train models around in various scales in the last few years, so this article from dark roasted blend seems timely. It's certainly interesting:

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2013/05/awesome-armoured-trains-and-rail.html

[tigercat]

The Airfix Gun Emplacement and Coastal Defence fort wwould seem to make a good source of armament for a Rail gun / armoured train.

[Weaver]

The most recent armoured train was the Krajina Express used in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s:

Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krajina_Express

Article with loads of pictures, unfortunately not in English: Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krajina_Express

[McColm]

I've been collecting Lima Ho armoured rail stock off eBay or jumble sales. There a 'Toy kits' which you can buy and Whiff or paint to your colour scheme.

[RLBH]

This article on the last Soviet armoured trains may be of interest to some:
http://sovietoutpost.revdisk.org/?p=63