Emu Bay Railway - 12 Class Beyer Garratt - 3

Some more work on the first engine unit this week: The pickups have been fitted so that the chassis now runs on its' own, the chassis frames have been extended outward at the top to clear the motor and gear tower, and at the rear to house the trailing bogie, with a styrene plate fitted at the top of the rear which will form the base for the centre unit. I also attached both the front and rear bogies via my old favourite, though quite unsophisticated method, moving bolt attached to a fixed nut. The rear bogie was tricky as it sat very close to the trailing driver, I built up a styrene saddle as shown in the photo at the top, with a shaft (ex paintbrush cover) for the bolt to run through to prevent lateral movement. Now to do it all again (but a bit better hopefully) on the second engine unit.

Emu Bay Railway - 12 Class Beyer Garratt - 2

Some recent activity with the first engine unit - I (1) removed the cross braces (the Bullant can be ordered without them) as they would have fouled the frames. Then (2) drilled through the second driver (that the coupling and driving rod will be fitted to) and fitted Alan Gibson crankpins to test clearance. I then (3) measured out and made the frames from the thickest styrene that would fit as they will be load-bearing. The frames were painted and weathered black/brown before attaching as they will be very hard to get to later. Also (4,5) made the leading and trailing bogies from styrene. The wheels in the bogies are Steam Era, with the pinpoint axles cut off and filed down flat as the 12 Class had inside bearings.

Emu Bay Railway - 12 Class Beyer Garratt - 1

The starting point - Here's the two Bullant Major mechanisms built to Hollywood Foundry's usual quality and precision. Like the PVH chassis, they have lateral motion on the two centre axles to assist on tighter curves. Beyond this specification, these two are a bit special - they employ wheels made by SEM for WD Models, quartered on the Hollywood Foundry axles, the push-fit wheels easing this phase of construction. The wheels are slightly underscale at 39" (as against the prototypes' 43"), the 4" difference (approx. 1.2mm in HO scale) is considered an acceptable compromise for available wheels that will fit the 2mm Bullant axles. The motors chosen are the most powerful that will readily fit into the tank/bunker sections. I requested Hollywood to offset each motor to ensure they fit within the tanks/bunker and allow room for the leading/trailing bogie swing as per the picture below where the two unit's are roughly located on a scaled copy of Tony Parnell's excellent side elevation showing how the 12 Class will be powered:

(Drawing from T.Parnell in L.Rae "The Emu Bay Railway")

Next task is to define and build the framing for the two units, therein providing a platform for all the work that will occur on each unit, then fit the pickups (usually fitted by Hollywood however this wheelbase is below the minimum)

Emu Bay Railway - Now it gets scary....EBR Beyer Garratt

EBR Beyer Garratt at Rosebery, mid 1950's - Tom Rogers Collection

(Copyright Burnie Pioneer Museum, Burnie)

The Emu Bay Railway was a user of Garratt locomotives from the 1930's when the first type (as shown in the diagram above) was brought into service, through successful employment of Australia's ASG type post war, to the end of steam in the early 1960's. To model the late steam/early diesel era of the EBR then, Garratts are necessary. I have decided to model the original Beyer Garratt type as my next model. I will be using two Hollywood Foundry Bullants with WD Models/SEM wheels as the basis, with the remainder of the locomotive being scratchbuilt. Scary? Absolutely. An achievable challenge? I think so.

Emu Bay Railway GR Class Bogie

The GR class was a flat wagon on the same chassis as the more numerous G class bogie open wagons, and was probably ordered around the same time early last century. Model is made of wood, styrene and wire, with polyurethane cast bogies from a styrene master.