Seat Gondola or Lowlug Gondola

Fifteen years ago this little gondola started as a last-minute build for a show. It’s not based on any particular prototype, I just happened to have some blue seats lying around and I liked the texture it gave the sides. I just called it the Blue gondola. When I did the instructions I called it the Seat Gondola.

Later I found out that Tim Gould on the other side of the world had seen a photo of it in a folder from a train show, where I exhibited with some fellow Lowlug members. He called it the Lowlug Gondola and built his own. Other people have built it too and modified it, including a shorter version.

A word of warning. This is a car with rigid axles. It is at the limit of spacing between axles that will go around standard LEGO R40 curves. It’s happy being pulled, but not so much being pushed over switches.

German railroad speeder Klv12 (Dr. Alpers and Beilhack)

Motordraisine Klv 12

Bahnmeister-Draisine Klv 12 (Deutsche Bundesbahn)

For the “Oc TRAIN ber 2020” competition of the BrickModellRailorader, a diorama was created that centered on the Klv12 motorized railcar of the Deutsche Bundesbahn. This trolley was used by the railroad maintenance depots for inspection trips and minor maintenance work. With a VW industrial engine derived from the Beetle engine with 28 hp, the trolley travels up to 70 km/h.

Between 1953 and 1962, the companies Draisinenbau Dr. Alpers Hamburg, FKF-Werke Fa. Schmitt and Beilhack GmbH produced a total of 696 units of the Klv12. Between 1958 and 1961, a further 79 units of the similar but four-door Draisine Klv12 were also built.

Due to its size, the model is not motorized in the instructions. Using some 3D printed parts and a circuit cube, I built a powered version.

Klv 12, Kl 12-4976, AW Nürnberg, 03,08.1984