I am not sure where this topic belongs but this was my best guess. I found out late in life that the thing I love best…is building things in full scale and as accurately as I could. I have no formal education in woodworking, or art, or of any other creative nature; it just seems that I was blessed with natural abilities that I didn’t realize I had till late in life - being Mom and raising my four sons was my first priority!
Anyway, the time finally came when I could open my dream box and see if there was anything there that I could build to make just one of my dreams come true. I used to wonder what it was like to actually sit in one of those old mystic horse-drawn carriages. “That” would no longer be just wishful thinking because I did find out! And so the work began: I set about to pick out what I thought would be the most common carriage used in a by-gone era. I selected the “1890’s Brougham” pronounced “brahm.” And btw, I worked strictly from that picture, no kit, no instructions, just sheer determination. I found out the measurements of the wheels as it was mentioned below a pic I found. From that measurement alone, I was able to scale up the rest of it.
Below is a picture of the typical brougham in actual use.
So off to the library I went searching thru a few books till I came across the pic I post here. I quickly made a copy of it, took it home and posted it on the wall of my shop. THAT would be the one I will build, I thought. Actual working copy of that pic, below. Sorry about all the scribbling I did on it; I was just working out the measurements.
Further down are some pics I took during construction; I kept a daily record with photos just like a diary.
She was just beautiful! I hope you enjoy her as much as I did building her.
Edited to add: I used it as part of a Halloween display (love Halloween!) even built the horses that I used to pull her. I kept a diary of her construction so I do have lots of pics of her beginning stages. Often I would write how it went with that day’s work in the diary as well.
Thanks Tara!
Appreciate your kind words! Back then I had bought a pre-fab barn from Home Depot, a big one, and had it put in my backyard 10 steps from my back door. I was ITCHING TO BUILD!!! As soon as the workmen completed putting it together, and were gone, like a FLASH I ran in and started taking inside measurements, so I could plan out the work spaces, storage units, shelves and desk that I wanted to build in her. Within a week, I had everything completed. Thereafter, I LIVED in my shop!!! Tools of all kinds, followed.
Hi Meg! Thought you might like seeing it as a Halloween display with my horses! So, ok…one horse, tho I did build 4 of them for another Halloween display. And of course my girls…my female vamps are here, too!
Roler, YES, it was a labor of love. I was never so happy as when I was building her! I worked a full time job, too, which I resented because it took time away from working on the carriage. I started work at 5pm, I stopped working at 4:30 pm…shook the saw dust out of my hair, took a fast minute shower. Threw on some clothes and went into work with wet hair…a lot!!
Thank you for stopping by!
Holy cow! That is so amazing! I’m blown away by your determination. The carriage turned out awesome and I love all the process pics. And the only measurements you had to start with was the wheels?! Wow wow wow!
Yes, Erin, and the measurements can be seen in the pic I was working from. They are written under the pic, right-hand column - second to last sentence, where it says, “wheels are 38” and 45". Naturally the 38" has to be for the smaller wheels and the 45 for the larger ones. That was all I needed to be able to scale up the rest of the coach. Was I lucky or what that they put in those measurements!! If you stare real hard you can make them out, or use a magnifying glass.
Thank you! Both for appreciating the work that went into making my coach and for encouraging “women” that they can “do it” too and that they just have to WANT to do it!!
