Thanks, Mike, you're absolutely right about the fore-carriage. It wouldn't be hard to add a very basic one to the model with a bit of plasticard. The Britzka article is fascinating, and I learned a lot reading it!  

I do like George's idea of an 1840s traffic jam - or just a queue of carriages outside a station. It's certainly possible to produce a bit of variety. One change  to Nigel's model would be to fill in the side windows and remove the luggage rails on the roof to make a private carriage. I think it would also be possble to hacksaw off the top of the body to make an open carriage body, and just painting the top half of the body black would make it look more like a traditional stagecoach.  

2 hours ago, 45587 said:

Ta-daah! One stage coach - although I think it's probably a bit too American looking. I wonder where Bachmann got their dimensions for the coach body from? It would be a bit of a squash to get four H0 bodies in there as far as I can see. I've still got three more coach bodies to deal with so now I'm in search of more horses, H0 size.

George

That looks very good, George!

Yes, Bachmann's B&O coaches are ridiculously narrow! I think the actual coaches might have been slightly wider, but not a lot, if the replicas at the 1939 World's Fair in New York is anything to go by: