The Gauge S Railway Project
Remember your old tinplate S-Bahn?
Here's how it all began: A model industrial locomotive made by IGRA of former Czechoslovakia. If you compare the size of the loco with that of the well-groomed boy, we can assume that they are both in the scale of 1:27, or one inch to 2 feet 3 inches.
Now the tinplate track supplied with the loco was 22,5 millimetres wide - or as we call it, gauge S. Given the above-mentioned scale of 1:27 and the track width of 22,5 mm, it was a perfect model of a Décauville track of 600 mm gauge! And rusty it was - as any track will get when stocked outdoors!
Perhaps I could have used the Magic Motor (or, for that sake, the splendid little motor supplied with modern Meccano sets) to power the Meccano version of the IGRA locomotive, but now I chose the E20R and a big fat motorcycle battery. The pulley drive is not visible in the picture - don't by misled by the 'blind' gear!
Istn't it a great looker? Being twice as big as the IGRA but using the same track, it would correspond to an original track width of just 12 inches. And top-heavy it was!
The two cars, inspired by the Coal Tippler and other nice Meccano models ...
... are currently in service on my breakfast table, loaded with seaweed (yes).