1890-something Railway Hopper Car

The "1890-something" system is a solution to a problem I've had for quite some time. I want to display small-scale trains, but don't have the space or budget to run a conventional model train set. But, what if there was a system that prioritized ease of production and durability? So, this is what I came up with, and I've been working on this for the past few weeks.

First off, I am not prioritizing historical accuracy or fidelity by any means. I'll include engines from the 1910's or 1880's (despite what the name suggests) and mix rolling stock from different locations. However, I'm aiming for a broadly "wild west" theme. The models have no defined scale, though I accidentally made them kind of similar to HO scale. I designed some rudimentary tracks for displaying the models, though I'll admit they're a little finicky.

At their core, these models are meant to be static displays, cheap and easy to produce with no additional parts.

These are some more railcars I've been working on, and I like how they came out. The bulk cargo is a separate piece for printing in different colors (silver, coal, etc.), and while I would've liked to print the wood sides in brown, I don't have any brown filament, and I'm too lazy to paint them. These also print pretty quickly, but support removal is tricky. Also, there's four variations of the cargo so there's no identical-looking railcars.

INSTRUCTIONS

All parts have already been aligned for ease of printing, but an image of the CAD model should provide good reference for assembly. Below are the instructions. Super glue is recommended for joining parts.

• Insert the bogies into the base

• Attach the main hopper section to the base assembly

• Attach the ore, and the couplers on either side, making sure they're oriented correctly (reference image for correct position)