Introduction

Platelayer's Trolley (Type I) Russian Gauge 1524 mm from Armor35. Item ARM35401 is a resin kit of a common rail cart used by track gangs. The difference between the type I and type II are the wheels.

Platelayer's trolley serves for the transportation of track parts, materials (sleepers, fastenings, ballast) and instruments for track maintenance and repairs. Rails are transported using two trolleys.

Trolleys are pushed by hand. When not in use or to allow trains to pass, the trolley can be lifted off the track by four men.

The trolley weighs 200 kg and lifts 1.5 tons. - Armor35.

Military-scale railroad modeling grows with an ever expanding selection of models in the dominate military scale of 1/35. Project Armor35 is an enterprise from Russia to create accurate 1/35 German and Soviet railway subjects circa the Great Patriotic War. Armor35 produces resin rail and track components, i.e., spikes and tie plates, wooden and resin sleepers (crossties), scale sand and stone ballast and coal, lineside equipment like signs and a water column, as well as dozens of civilian and military figures, and statues.

While there is not currently a 'model rail scale' for 1/35, it is very close to No. 1 Scale (also referred to as Gauge 1, Gauge One, 3/8", etc.) of 1/32. Regardless, it does afford some crossover to electric model railroading.

Currently Armor35 catalogues 49 figures and 30 railway models.

The kit

Platelayer's Trolley (Type I) was created in cooperation with Sergei Dorozhkov of the Pereslavl Railway Museum (link at bottom), and Vasiliy Goncharov.

The kit includes 16 resin parts;

Deck body (part No.1)
Wheels X 4 (part No.2)
Axles X 2 (part No.3)
Axleboxes X 4 (part No.4)
Handles X 4 (part No.5)
Bending gauge (jig)

That bending gauge is to form handles with 0.5 mm wire. No wire is included with this kit.

Each of the parts are sharply cast in gray resin. Casting is first-rate with no air pocks, flash, and except for the little hand grabs, no mold seam marks. Some parts of my sample are still attached to their pour blocks. All of those pieces are secured in zip-lock plastic baggies.

These carts are not large, hardly more than 5-feet by 5-feet. I placed an Armor35 1/35 track worker (ARM35135, Soviet Railroader, Trackwalker) next to it to show the size of a cart.

Detail

What makes this a Type I trolley is the wheel. Type I wheels have spokes that flair like fan blades. The wheels also appear to have coned profile treads.

These trolleys were made of wood. Armor35 sculpted subtle wood grain on the body. Additionally, brackets plus bolt and nail heads are cast on.

Individually cast to be attached are the handles, axles and axle retailers.

Overall a simple kit. It took me longer to type this review than to assemble the model.

Painting and assembly instructions

The instruction sheet is a single piece of paper - high-quality glossy paper with excellent full color illustrations that show the kit parts content, clear assembly sequence and procedures, and an inset demonstrating the bending gauge. Armor35 also inset two period photos of actual trolleys. The instructions are printing in English and Cyrillic, and include the short prototype information quoted above.

Also included on the sheet is the painting guide. Three colors complete this model: wood; dark steel; shiny steel.

Assembly

As mentioned above this is a simple kit that goes together without fuss. I built it in about 5 minutes, attaching pieces with CA.

Conclusion

Armor35 has presented railway modelers with yet another great little kit for their dioramas and collections. Clean, crisp casting of parts and nice engravings make a highly detailed track gang trolley.

I don't have anything of importance to criticize about this kit.

These little trolleys were ubiquitous, with track gangs probably having several per section of track, along thousands of miles of track. Modelers who want a railway subject in their collection should get one or more of these neat track carts. I happily recommend it.

Please remember to tell vendors and retailers that you saw this model here - on Armorama.