All American Mutt
New Member
Greetings, all!
I am seeking some advice about purchasing a model locomotive for an unusual purpose. Straight to the point: can a single G-Scale car reasonably envelop a 4" x 6" x 8" volume of material?
Let me elaborate. My father is recently deceased and he chose to be cremated. He loved model railroading, so I have decided to honor him with a visually appealing "urn" that I would like to be a model railroad locomotive hauling his remains either in its tender or an appropriate freight car, possibly a caboose, mounted on a section of track. I definitely want something small (that is, urn-sized), namely the 4" x 6" x 8" above-mentioned volume, and something beautiful to see in the room where it will be displayed. G-Scale seemed like a good size for this, but I have been unable to see anything in person to measure or to test attempts to fill the space of candidate cars, and hobby stores in my area only carry some cheap-looking plastic G-Scale sets and cars. I am also interested in thematic consistency; that is, I don't want a wood-burning engine hauling an oil tender.
I find this Jupiter 4-4-0 American (http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=20011521) particularly appealing visually, but I am not sure about the size of the tender, or what other car I might add that would be sufficiently large and also thematically consistent and still visually appealing. I am definitely interested specifically in die-cast items with high-quality paint jobs. As you can see from my link, it costs enough that I don't just want to "buy it and see." I wondered if folks on a forum like this might have some experience and ideas to help me out. =)
So I was hoping for advice and ideas about this. Has someone already built such a thing? Is there a better scale I don't know about? The only larger scales I have found seem to be real working trains that people can ride. I know that since I am not using the locomotive as an actual working railroad, that I don't need to use a working model locomotive; I just wanted to use an already manufactured item with great workmanship and detail. Another candidate I have in mind is essentially a cookie jar in the shape of a locomotive, that is obviously well-designed to contain a volume but less aesthetically pleasing.
Thoughts?
I am seeking some advice about purchasing a model locomotive for an unusual purpose. Straight to the point: can a single G-Scale car reasonably envelop a 4" x 6" x 8" volume of material?
Let me elaborate. My father is recently deceased and he chose to be cremated. He loved model railroading, so I have decided to honor him with a visually appealing "urn" that I would like to be a model railroad locomotive hauling his remains either in its tender or an appropriate freight car, possibly a caboose, mounted on a section of track. I definitely want something small (that is, urn-sized), namely the 4" x 6" x 8" above-mentioned volume, and something beautiful to see in the room where it will be displayed. G-Scale seemed like a good size for this, but I have been unable to see anything in person to measure or to test attempts to fill the space of candidate cars, and hobby stores in my area only carry some cheap-looking plastic G-Scale sets and cars. I am also interested in thematic consistency; that is, I don't want a wood-burning engine hauling an oil tender.
I find this Jupiter 4-4-0 American (http://www.wholesaletrains.com/Detail.asp?ID=20011521) particularly appealing visually, but I am not sure about the size of the tender, or what other car I might add that would be sufficiently large and also thematically consistent and still visually appealing. I am definitely interested specifically in die-cast items with high-quality paint jobs. As you can see from my link, it costs enough that I don't just want to "buy it and see." I wondered if folks on a forum like this might have some experience and ideas to help me out. =)
So I was hoping for advice and ideas about this. Has someone already built such a thing? Is there a better scale I don't know about? The only larger scales I have found seem to be real working trains that people can ride. I know that since I am not using the locomotive as an actual working railroad, that I don't need to use a working model locomotive; I just wanted to use an already manufactured item with great workmanship and detail. Another candidate I have in mind is essentially a cookie jar in the shape of a locomotive, that is obviously well-designed to contain a volume but less aesthetically pleasing.
Thoughts?