MOW/PWM-Train Part 3 - Making a Crane Wagon on a budget, followed by another 'Day Out'

Earlier this spring I've converted a couple of LGB-wagons for Maintenance of Way and Permanent Way Maintenance uses.

You can read more about these conversions on these two links:

• Remodelling a Permanent Way Department wagon
• MOW/PWM-Train Part 2

To help the maintenance crew getting sleepers and rails on and off their wagons I thought it might be helpful to add a small crane to this Maintenance rake and get a complete Maintenance of Way/ Permanent Way Department train. I found free STL-files to 3D-print for a complete Crane Wagon on Thingiverse. Even if it was made to Standard Gauge in 'Gauge 1' (1:32) it still had the same gauge (45mm) as my narrow gauge 16mm (1:19) military trains, and could be printed and used as is:

I already have several similar looking G-scale wagons primarily from LGB, and didn't actually need to add another one to my growing fleet at this point. Besides this was a Gauge 1 wagon with standard gauge buffers which would look a little too small and odd for my 16mm narrow gauge. Therefore I decided to just make the crane on a removable false floor just like I did with the rails and  sleeper load so I could add it to an existing wagon when needed. I have too many wagons to run them all at once anyway, as my engines can't pull that many. To make the crane base fit my standard-sized LGB-wagons and making it less like 'Gauge 1', I increased the size about 30% before printing it. 132,64% of original size to be exactly if you are going to follow this description and make one for your self.

Than all the 3D-printed parts was assembled and painted. The stones for the countherweight I found at an island at our cost during a day out with my family.

This can be fitted into any 'standard sized' LGB-wagons to temporarily turn them into a crane wagon:

Togheter with the 2 earlier mentioned MOW/ PWM wagons I can now make up a short Maintenance of Way/ Permanent Way Maintenance train:

Another 'Day Out' at Heine's Garden Railway

When I finished this project fellow model railway club member Heine coincidentally suggested that we could take our weekly club-evening in his garden for a running session as the weather was good. This was my first chance to run all my MOW/PWM wagons together as a complete Maintenance of Way/ Permanent Way Maintenance train:

These smal rail-buses were also used to haul local goods on Branch lines

This maintenance of way train rake is perhaps not so 'warlike', but I imagine that military railway operators use many of the same kind of cars as civilians. Besides, now my military trains are able to repair any (battle-) damaged tracks if it gets blown up by partisans or aerial bombings.