"15mm Steam Train" Topic

I found a Steam Train tonight that is pretty close 15mm scale. More true 15mm than the newer, 18mm size. Looks to be a steam engine with tender from the 1920s or 1930s. It came with two flat cars with waist high walls all the way around. I found these at Family Dollar for $5 USD a set. I need to go back and see if there were any other mixes of cars. I was in a hurry and didn't take the time to look. I think these will be usable from maybe WWI until the 1960s. Definitely, going to use this for Russian Civil War and for my Twilight 2000 project. I also think this would work for African bush wars I.e. the movie Dark of the Sun. I let everyone know what else I find

I will let everyone know if I find any other cars. Pics, too.

Perhaps approximating TT scale which is 1:120? Or just cheap plastic that might work with 15s? Probably the latter. I'll have to check and see what's out there. Used to find trains at Xmas every year and had a bunch but gave away. Looking forward to seeing your pics/

I was right about when these were built. I did some image searching on Bing and found a pic of a scale model that matches. These are D51 Japanese steam locomotives that were produced from 1936-1951. They were based on the earlier D50 that began production in 1923. So a little late for Russian Civil War, but Spanish Civil War and World War II would be okay. I still think it would be okay for a lot of stuff from 1920 to the 1960s. I will just ignore the fact that it is Japanese.😁

You can find them on Amazon under Midwood Brands. Unfortunately, I don't see any other car combinations, just this one.

Looking at more images, it would appear that the 2-8-2 Mikado locomotives are very similar and were used all over the world. This train set just became a WHOLE LOT more useful! I hope they do some different car mixes in the future!

two flat cars with waist high walls all the way around

In US RR parlance, those are called gondolas.

Looked on Amazon but didnt see any trains. Have a link per chance?

Thanks!

Like this?

link

Doug

That's the one! The loads in the gondolas pop out easily. The Family Dollar price is $5 USD per set. I got two sets.

I believe this is the one in question:

A mix of Euro style engine with USA style cars.

Actually, as posted earlier, very much more Japanese than European. For gaming I wouldn't bother but to make it more American you'd want to reduce the size of the steam dome and remove the wings at the front. But it will work. I would, at the very least, paint the loads in the gondolas to improve there look. But for the price, whatever it was, it ought to work. And you can buy multiple sets to get more cars and then modify them into other things – even longer passenger cars by combing two cars and cutting two tactically and then recombine for a longer car. Lots to work with here.

In the US there is also a store called "Five Below" that
had them at Christmas time for $5.00 USD. In one of the sets
there was a modern tanker car and a higher sided gondola
that would be used to haul coal. As for track, they are
scaled to fit HO track. So it would be easy to add track.

very much more Japanese than European.

I'm very much ashamed to admit I'm not that picky.

'Looks Euro to me…'

For ten to fifteen, enough to have fairly large trains and track, I EXPECT fuzzy details.

In the US there is also a store called…

Others to have a look include Big Lots, Dollar General…

It turns out many 'Dollar' stores aren't. ;->=

Doug

Thanks for the link and the photo guys!

Marc

I bought one of these!

Great for a generic "Eastern Front" looking train….I cut down the sides of the wagons to make proper flat cars that are big enough to put a 1/72 tank or artillery piece on.