Ashover carriages

Hexworthy will need some passenger stock, so I have collected a few of the Meridian kits for the Ashover Light Railway carriages. Bachmann are soon to release a ready-to-run model so I need to get on and finish my kits first! The kit is reasonably straightforward although I guess it is getting old as there is some flash to clean up, nothing too dramatic though. 

The first was built while demonstrating at Alexandra Palace earlier in the year, and the second at Amberly in the summer. It wasn't until I got to the third until I wondered whether I should open a window. I don't have a book on the Ashover but found a couple of photos in my library showed that yes, the side windows opened in the usual way, so a few windows were modified cutting out part of the frame with a strip of microstrip across (3rd window from right on the rear coach). 

The pictures also showed the doors open, they slid behind the adjacent panel. I don't know they they were left open when the train was in motion (I expect so), and I guess that would be frowned upon on a preserved railway, but nonetheless I thought it would be interesting to model the doors open on one end. Cutting them out wasn't as difficult as I feared, some planks were scribed in the floor and I added a strip of 40-thou plastic along the inner frame to represent the edge of the door recessed into the panel. 

I have picked up a few tips for assembling these kits well. First, the floor half mouldings are slightly too short and too narrow. The length isn't a real problem as when assembled with one side and one end then joined, there's a gap of about 30 thou in the centre, but that doesn't cause any issues. The width though means that if the sides are joined to the floor they will bow in, a strip of thin plasticard along one side of each floor piece solves that, checking that the side and end come together. Also, the tops of the body sides are prone to warping inwards. I've taken to cutting pieces of sprue to form cross-bacing as seen here, and also for later builds adding a strip of 40-thou plastic along the top edge. 

Opening the doors of one coach left me with a spare pair of doors, with one unbuilt kit left. While the Ashover didn't have a brake coach (they were vacuum braked so perhaps not necessary), I thought a preserved railway might have a coach adapted for wheelchair users, children's buggies, etc. So here's some photo-edits to consider how the final coach could be adapted.

Option A: A pair of doors at the end, these would have to be hinged rather than sliding of course. I could omit the vestibule partition to make an open saloon, with the right two windows and to the right-hand end, which would make sense for wheelchairs although it isn't really a brake/guards coach. The steps would need extending. 

Option B: I noticed the door is exactly the width of the window, so by cutting out a window the two doors can be added with an adjacent panel, looking more like a guard's compartment. The inner partition splits the coach 1/3:2/3 so would fit between the fouth and fifth windows, or the second and third, neither of which makes much sense. Blanking, frosting, or replacing the right-hand window with a ducket would make more of a traditional brake coach, but wouldn't help with wheelchair access.

Option C: As above but with the cut-out door and panel swapped sides to put the panel towards the end. Actually, I don't think this makes any more sense than B, and the steps might get more complex.

Option D: Including a window in the cut-out and swapped section would provide an observation end compartment (taking advantage of the end windows), albeit rather small, and there's still little space for a guard's compartment. Maybe the same with two windows to the right, with just three to the left and the double-doors just right of centre might make more sense. 

Thoughts welcome!