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Big Trains in Small Spaces North Pole Railway (1n20, 36" x 9") This little narrow-gauge "industrial" railway was created in 1966. The photos are early Polaroids, and so are pretty fuzzy--they've been touched up a bit so you can recognize the scenes. The scale is 3/8" = 1' (1:32), and the gauge is 16.5mm, making this a 1n20 railroad. The inhabitants, however, are dime-store Santa figures impersonating toy-making elves, so scale doesn't count there. All three of my sons enjoyed this little line! |
 The entire road measured 36 by 9 inches. It was built
on an old plank that I found in the cellar. The track was handlaid, on widely spaced
ties, then covered with spray-on snow. MInimum radius was 3.5 inches! I made the
low-relief factory, Polar Toys, from shirt cardboard and balsa wood. Operation consisted of picking up loaded gondolas of toys at the factory, pulling them around the right end of the layout and back to the left end, then backing them into the lone siding to be unloaded by the yard crane and transferred to standard gauge cars (not modeled) to ship out to the eagerly waiting world. Empties then returned to the factory for another shipment. |
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---Carl Arendt
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The little loco started life as a Mantua
0-4-0T Booster. After removing the cab and stripping the boiler, I added a scratchbuilt
(of balsa) 3/8" scale cab, along with Kemtron 1:48 dome and stack ... right
in scale for a very tiny 1:32 engine! In this work-in-progress shot the lokey still
lacks a headlight, couplings, sand pipes, and many other details. The object in front
for size comparison is a cigarette--a universal "yardstick" in the 60's!