OK Pie Cart —— Scratchbuilt to 1/12th scale
Here's a 1/12th scale model of an ‘OK Pie Cart’, these carts were made and used in and around Toowoomba, a provincial city in Queensland, Australia.
I found a photo on the web and became intrigued with it, because of it’s unusual design, I found a bit more about them from the Toowoomba Chronicle ( Toowoomba newspaper ) and even managed to track down a daughter of one of the drivers of these vehicles, a Mrs Gloria Ciesiolka, one of the daughter’s of a driver by the name of Mr Bill Stuart, she gave me quite a bit of information about the everyday operations of these horse drawn vehicles.
There were only two of these Pie Carts ever built, looks like whoever built them, has used the springs from an old front end from a fancy carriage that had been tossed away. The wheels, axle and springs were used, they look suspiciously like they came from a very fine carriage.
That new fangled motor vehicle was starting to gain popularity about now, so the old horse drawn stuff was just getting tossed away, as nobody wanted these old ancient vehicles anymore.
These two carts were used in and around Toowoomba, Qld, they were made roughly about the middle of the 1930’s and in use right thru to the late 1950’s.
Eventually the Toowoomba City Council’s Health Department was responsible for stopping the sale of food items from these carts, think maybe a few shopkeepers might have complained once too often.
They made and baked the pies on the household premises in Ruthvern St Toowoomba, out the back in the shed then loaded them onto these two carts and sold them all around town.
Think of the old pub closing times here in Australia of 6.00PM, the whole country was kind of 'into the dark ages' about the effects of booze, then they would hang around for the pictures to shut at about 8-30pm and after that head for home, as nobody was out and about.
I had to make my own drawing for this cart before I could even start to make the model. Had to get a bit of help from other more learned persons, for some of the dimensions of the vehicle, as I only had that one decent photo to work from, started to draw it on the computer and after quite a few adjustments later, it was ready.
Got stuck into it and this eventually appeared on my workbench.
Took the finished model out to Oakey, Qld to let the lady by the name of Mrs Gloria Ciesiolka have a look at it, told her I would let her know when it was finished, because of the information that she supplied me, I even took along that coloured photo as well.
Showed her the coloured photo and she said, ——— ”where did you get that photo”, I replied ——— “off the web, why?”.
Could have knocked me down with her answer, ——— “it’s my older brother Billy, who got killed in the 2nd world war”.
Turns out not only Dad sold pies for the OK Pie’s, but her elder brother did for a short while as well.
Her Dad got repatriated from Egypt at the start of WW2, with an injury that got him flicked from the Army.
So when Dad couldn’t work the Pie Cart, brother Billy did it for Dad, that’s why brother Billy is in that photograph.
So a little bit more history for the cupboard, eh -----------------------
Usual/normal construction methods were used, same as for the decals, paint job and anything else that I can't think of now.
First photo is what I found on the web, then the simple drawing of the vehicle side on, followed by a series of different photos of the finished model.
Any questions, then please ask ----------------------
Here's a 1/12th scale model of an ‘OK Pie Cart’, these carts were made and used in and around Toowoomba, a provincial city in Queensland, Australia.
I found a photo on the web and became intrigued with it, because of it’s unusual design, I found a bit more about them from the Toowoomba Chronicle ( Toowoomba newspaper ) and even managed to track down a daughter of one of the drivers of these vehicles, a Mrs Gloria Ciesiolka, one of the daughter’s of a driver by the name of Mr Bill Stuart, she gave me quite a bit of information about the everyday operations of these horse drawn vehicles.
There were only two of these Pie Carts ever built, looks like whoever built them, has used the springs from an old front end from a fancy carriage that had been tossed away. The wheels, axle and springs were used, they look suspiciously like they came from a very fine carriage.
That new fangled motor vehicle was starting to gain popularity about now, so the old horse drawn stuff was just getting tossed away, as nobody wanted these old ancient vehicles anymore.
These two carts were used in and around Toowoomba, Qld, they were made roughly about the middle of the 1930’s and in use right thru to the late 1950’s.
Eventually the Toowoomba City Council’s Health Department was responsible for stopping the sale of food items from these carts, think maybe a few shopkeepers might have complained once too often.
They made and baked the pies on the household premises in Ruthvern St Toowoomba, out the back in the shed then loaded them onto these two carts and sold them all around town.
Think of the old pub closing times here in Australia of 6.00PM, the whole country was kind of 'into the dark ages' about the effects of booze, then they would hang around for the pictures to shut at about 8-30pm and after that head for home, as nobody was out and about.
I had to make my own drawing for this cart before I could even start to make the model. Had to get a bit of help from other more learned persons, for some of the dimensions of the vehicle, as I only had that one decent photo to work from, started to draw it on the computer and after quite a few adjustments later, it was ready.
Got stuck into it and this eventually appeared on my workbench.
Took the finished model out to Oakey, Qld to let the lady by the name of Mrs Gloria Ciesiolka have a look at it, told her I would let her know when it was finished, because of the information that she supplied me, I even took along that coloured photo as well.
Showed her the coloured photo and she said, ——— ”where did you get that photo”, I replied ——— “off the web, why?”.
Could have knocked me down with her answer, ——— “it’s my older brother Billy, who got killed in the 2nd world war”.
Turns out not only Dad sold pies for the OK Pie’s, but her elder brother did for a short while as well.
Her Dad got repatriated from Egypt at the start of WW2, with an injury that got him flicked from the Army.
So when Dad couldn’t work the Pie Cart, brother Billy did it for Dad, that’s why brother Billy is in that photograph.
So a little bit more history for the cupboard, eh -----------------------
Usual/normal construction methods were used, same as for the decals, paint job and anything else that I can't think of now.
First photo is what I found on the web, then the simple drawing of the vehicle side on, followed by a series of different photos of the finished model.
Any questions, then please ask ----------------------