DOSSIERHOWTO
At first, we opted for the Billard set, mainly because we had a dimensioned drawing and a rough sketch. When examining the many photos visible online, I realized that the trailers all seemed different. I decided therefore that the trailer would be the symetrical twin of the driving unit. This meant one single drawing…
H0-9?
As it was a case of modelling 0.75m gauge prototype track, H0-9 was the obvious choice (0.75m ÷ 87 = 8.6 mm, almost exactly 9 mm). A choice helped by the fact that a plenty of spare parts are available in this scale.
The original idea consisted in converting the generator van into a driving van, climbing the gradient in simple adhesion, to do away with the constraint of the rack rail. The latter would be simply cosmetic. This meant we could have used the driving mechanisms of the small N scale Fleischmann E-Lok electric locomotives. But it turned out they could not tackle the 5 % gradients when hauling a load.
