Monday, March 26, 2007

PVH 1 Progress 2.


Here's a shot showing recent works including buffers and sills below footplate, front radiator grill and completed engine hood (excepting handrails which I need to acquire). The grill work on the side of the hood is made by cutting holes through the hood wall and inserting corrugated styrene - it's repetitive work but I think provides a good impression of vent sills in this scale.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Emu Bay Railway E Class (First Series) Van

The First Series E Class covered wagons appear to have originated from the Van Diemen's Land Company's rollingstock which was absorbed on formation of the EBR (happy to be corrected on this), so these wagons had very long lives. Chassis structure and detailing is as per the open wagons below.

Tasmanian Government Railways (TGR) B Class

The EBR was a connection point for the TGR Zeehan-Strahan railway to the rest of the TGR system, so through TGR traffic was common, and hence concurrent to building an EBR fleet will be assembly of appropriate wagons for a TGR fleet. The B class is an early HOn3.5 model - wood body on the same chassis elements (slightly different spacing).

PVH 1 Progress 1.

Front left and rear right views of the near completed below-footplate section (sans buffers, sand pipes, sills and painting) showing the battery boxes, sanding boxes, steps (nb. the flared rear steps are to clear the rods - a prototypical feature) and other minor detail. Following a suggestion in Continental Modeller, the drive rod has only been actually connected to the minimum number of counterweights required to operate, this reducing the risk of complications in this complicated area!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Emu Bay Railway - Decals

Decals make a difference! Here's some of my Emu Bay stock now decalled from a sheet produced on request from Brunel Models.

Emu Bay Railway - PVH 1

The first HOn3.5 locomotive for my EBR layout will be PVH 1. Named after her power and drive unit (Paxman Voith Hydraulic), she was purchased from North British in 1953. While originally undertaking mainline work, PVH 1 is best remembered as Burnie Yard's dedicated shunter where she spent most of her life following replacement by the two series of Walker Diesel Hydraulics. Here's a photo of PVH 1 just after delivery, probably in 1953.

(M.Dix Collection, Author Unknown)
And a much later photo, as Burnie tippler shunter in 2000. Aside from a livery change, the later extension to the pilots (with larger buffers) for autocoupler fitting, two extra low windows at the rear to aid visibility and replacement of the sealed beam headlight with a more functional light are the major changes over the 47-odd years of her service with EBR.

Here's the EBR's Rollingstock Register line diagram, and Detail Sheet of PVH 1 covering the key characteristics of the locomotive.

(both Copyright Burnie Pioneer Museum, Burnie)
My model is of PVH 1 in original condition. Much work to go yet, here's the chassis (a Hollywood Foundry Bullant-Major) with counterweights, rods and pilots fitted.