Although this is a covered waggon, never mistake it for the Prairie waggon which 'opened' up the American West. The Prairie waggon is a covered waggon but not all covered waggons are Prairie waggons.

The Conestoga originated in the Conestoga valley, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It was the freight waggon that kept the American Eastern Sea Board as a viable colony, taking produce out and imported goods in. This waggon is thought to have been designed and built by early German emigrants into Pennsylvania, although the blacksmithing on these waggons show a Dutch input as well. The first record of this waggon type is in 1717 then 1718.

The Conestoga was built to survive the rough forest tracks, with high wheels to give clearance for the odd tree stump in the way. Also on the left side between the heavy dished wheels is a tool box which contained a wheel jack and tools. Each waggon had an axe fastened to the shafts for when the track needed clearing, and along with the carriage pin being a hammer pin, running repairs could be undertaken on the road. The waggon bed is boat shaped, not to float it through rivers but so that if the load shifted with all the up and down hill work, it would shift into the centre of the waggon, not off the tailboard. The waggon bed was not fastened to the running gear which was unusual but in this case very practical. The coupling pole has a pin which when pulled allows the wheel base to be shortened or lengthened, so if a large load went north, but the teamster could only find a small load to take south, he could remove the large waggon bed, shorten the wheelbase, put a small waggon bed on and then load the smaller load. This was probably the first waggon to have a mechanical brake system. The horse feeding trough on the tailboard was placed on the shaft pole with the horses being brought up in turn to be fed.

This waggon was pulled by a 6 horse team of Conestoga horses, bred for this task from the English Shire and the Arabian horse. Each horse carried on its collar a set of 4 brass bells, the teamster's pride. A teamster would lose every thing but not his team. The waggon has a lazy board on the left between the wheels, only a lazy teamster would be seen sitting there, they either walked along side or rode the left hind horse.

Many colonial sayings have originated with the teamsters of this particular waggon, the obvious one is 'came home with his bells on' which referred to the teamster who had not had to sell one or more of his brass bells to get cash to get home.

As usual, with this waggon I used what I had in my magpie collection by way of brass fittings. So while this is representative of the waggon type, it is not intended to be a museum quality waggon. I make these because I like working with wood in miniature and these vehicles are an excellent medium for the miniaturist.



All the timber in this model is demolition Matai.
Metal work is brass, and the waggon cover is unbleached calico.