A Converter Wagon On A Budget - Model Railway Tutorial

A budget converter wagon for your 00 gauge model railway!

Click here for more info on building these Dapol Mineral Wagon Kits:    • How To Build A Dapol Mineral Wagon Ki...  

If you have vintage wagons in your stock you may find they have an older style buckeye coupling instead of the standard tension lock, so here's a quick tip on how you can make your own buckeye to tension lock converter wagon using a cheap Dapol kit!

Before the tension lock became the most common type of coupling, manufactuers all used their own style of coupling and sold converter wagons with their own coupling on one end and different type on the other - thus allowing you to mix rolling stock from different companies. But since nearly all ready to run rolling stock is now supplied with tension lock couplings, converter wagons are a thing of the past and aren't really made anymore, which isn't good news if you want to mix your old and new rolling stock.

You can occasionally pick them up on Ebay but instead why not consider the Dapol mineral wagon kits? These budget ex-Airfix kits are so old that, even though they're now supplied with tension lock couplings, you still get the old style buckeye connections in the pack. All you need to do is add the buckeye to one end and the tension lock to the other and you have your very own converter wagon which can be decorated in anyway you like.

The Dapol wagon kits are easy to put together and usually cost between £5 - £10 so will probably end up cheaper than getting a second hand converter wagon off Ebay if you're on a budget with you model railway!

Thanks for watching :)