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NZR S Scale (1:64) - a start


Jack P
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What an inspiring post Jack!  You are a braver man than me, but I know there some very fine modellers in NZ S scale. I wish you all the best. They do look like superb kits.

 

By serendipitous coincidence a friend of mine and I were talking just this morning about the days in the early 60s when we used to haunt the Paekakariki (we called it Paekok)  statio and shed and fondly remembered the days when we could shinny up the hill and take photos identical to the last one in your post, as well as many of Kas and the odd Ab.

 

I will dig one out if I can, or perhaps some pics of the Kas, some of my photos are of an Ajin Korean brass S scale Ka photo-edited into 'Paekok' scenes. Also I have owned a brass Abs and As, and my late father Tom McGavin was given a model of his father's favourite engine in compound form, A 472 which I have photographed.

 

I hope you will permit me to show one or two of 'my' pics relevant to Abs or Paekakariki, and in the meantime all power to you. :)

 

Here is Ka 944 ready with 'The Fields', Sunday  Palmerston North train.  Edited with PSP6 photo software, and with precious memories on many adventures on steam expresses and on NZR in the 1950s and 60s...  I even remember the Fells on the Rimutaka...!  Great days.

 

944_NZR_Ka_class_3ab_r1500.jpg.93040890194592f6861e2f0714c1f194.jpg

 

A bit of artistic license.. no wires over the loop roads and a 56' adaptor on the front coupling!

 

Here below an adaptation of a photo by Russell Bidgood where I mischievously changed a Da into a Ka..

 

964_paekok_Kas_1964_33a_r1500.jpg.edb4bf2e5a0e8ec1b87d7e7cbf3e1582.jpg

 

It is an inspiration to me to see you building the 50 ft 'provincial' 2nd class car and the Ab and I wish you every success, having myself only limited use in my primary hand.

 

Here is my grandfather Gilbert McGavin, back in the 30's in a 4-cylinder compound A class at Masterton.

 

0_gilbert_mcgavin_cross_creek_r1200_crop.jpg.2db61ec452ee7ff276fe03b84a0b2686.jpg

 

I apologise for putting so much material into what is meant to be 'good on you!'. .

 

Back to 'provincial' steel carriages and Abs!   The latter had quite a few small variations to this and that; headlight mounts, spark arrestors, and lots of details which I'm sure you will discover. Have you chose which particular number Ab you will build?

 

Again, thanks for the inspiration.

 

 

 

 

 

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Outstanding!

 

Being an honorary Wellingtonian by birth and a bit of primary schooling in Johnsonville, and with a B***** busting passport, I shall be following this with great enthusiasm.  I always try to get back as frequently as possible.

 

I'm too young to have known steam in EnZed, but as a Kid I rode the Silver Fern and Silver and the old Johnsonville Line electrics.

 

Best

 

Scott

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6 hours ago, Jack P said:

This post marks the start of what I expect to be a slow and challenging adventure into modelling the Railways of New Zealand.

 

It's amazing how many options I have for the other facet of my modelling, Late 1940's Southern Railway, compared to what is available for NZR . Virtually nothing (read; Nothing) is available RTR, and as far as locomotives go, there are only a few kits on the market at the moment, with some only now being re-introduced after a hiatus.

 

There are however a few rolling stock kit suppliers, so you aren't confined solely to the world of scratch-building. After having a chat with the owner of one of these suppliers,  I decided this would be where I would dip my my proverbial modelling toe. I'm not quite sure why, but there's something charming about fat little trains running on narrow bogies and rails. In case you didn't know, prototypical NZR is 3'6" gauge, and is regarded as being 'narrow gauge'. 

 

I duly ordered a NZR 50ft Steel Panelled Day-Car (Coach). The kits comes with everything you need, sans paint (and tools, glue etc). Wheels, bogies, couplings, handrails, the whole shebang. Here's the work of a few hours efforts:

 

49160940996_5b43a61fe7_b.jpg

 

The kit is a bit of a mixed media affair, although mostly comprised of whitemetal and resin. The Resin components are actually very nice to work with, they are flexible, and sand easily - closer to ABS than to resins i've used before.

 

49160941511_c8199f51be_b.jpg

 

Here's the underframe. The trussing was all soldered together and then glued to the floor. I did fix the battery boxes on upside down and get the fuseboard in slightly the wrong place, but this has since been corrected. The same approach is taken with the vestibule ends, you solder them all together and then glue them to the carriage end. 

 

This means the resulting assembly (sans roof, interior and bogies) is already pretty weighty.

 

49161116571_286c682eae_b.jpg

 

There is still a bit to go, the ends need to be fitted to the roof and then filed to profile. But first it needs some plasticard glued in, as its not quite long enough. 

 

Of course, now I need something to pull my, err.. single coach. What better than the re-released NZR Ab?

 

49160671313_d867a9153f_z.jpg

 

The Ab was a 4-6-2, 2 cylinder workhorse. Of which 141 were built between 1915 and 1927, making them the largest (numerical) class of steam locomotive to run in New Zealand. They could be seen everywhere up and down the country, from mainline passenger work to branchline freight. 

 

Again, the kit on offer, while not exactly 'cheap' (£300 at the time of publishing), Comes with everything you need, including motor, gearbox and wheels.

 

So you pays your money, and you gets your kit:

 

49160876957_fefa4255d0_b.jpg

 

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The whitemetal parts are crisply moulded, with no defects and almost no flash. The N/S etches are fantastic, and a wooden dowel is supplied to roll the boiler, and water tank on the tender. There is also a small etched Jig supplied which helps you quarter the wheels. I've not had much to do with brass castings before, and have just purchased a jewellers saw to help me remove the parts from the sprue. 

 

The gearbox is a rather simple arrangement, and i decided to tackle this first.

 

49160459878_0b45148e8f_b.jpg

 

The worm is already pressed onto the gear axle. you just need to fit 2 small washers and the bearing cups

 

49161178722_ff111cc962_b.jpg

 

This then slots into one side of the gearbox frame, and the first pinion(?) wheel simply slots in below.

 

49160941451_e8eb2e9a77_b.jpg

 

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You then screw the two sides of the frame together. Fit the gear wheel to the axle, drop it into the slot and screw the bottom of the gearbox on. It then connects to the motor via some very tight rubber sleeve. 

 

I hope to have a few more updates, but I imagine they will be sporadic, as this is a subset of my more prevalent railway related hobby. 

 

Finally here's a photo that was published in a copy of 'Womens day' of Paekakriki depot in the late 1950's. This is just up the coast for me, and the sheds are now one of the main preservation centers in the country. They've even (present day) got a Garratt outside, waiting for overhaul!

 

49161178347_4e4ea15e77_b.jpg

 

Thanks to all those who have stuck through to the end.

 

I would say that £300 is a bargain for such a complete kit.

 

I like that gearbox. Do they sell them separately?

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I agree with Joseph P - £300 for such a complete and, by the look of the prototype, a fairly complex kit is indeed a bargain.

Jack P I recall that you also model UK Southern Railway? How is it all going to fit together? :lol:

From what I ahve seen of your work the Ab should present no problem for you, good luck. I intend to follow this build, I have a Alan Gibson BR Std 5MT kit to build which looks a bit complex too.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

 

 

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I don't know if it is of much relevance so early in the 'build' but here is an S scale Ab No.778 which I bought a while back, unknown builder but possibly Ken Cousins, it might be useful for establishing how others have built this engine in NZ.

 

 778_Ab_NZR_grade_portrait20_10ab_r1500.jpg.8792a1d7985b2464371ed2566d2fe5ba.jpg

 

Currently in storage at another house, I did another pic of it showing the other side...

 

778_Ab_NZR_grade_portrait70_2abc_r1500.jpg.8b8e2bbedfe1d4e4a0fffccfb8f72e5b.jpg

 

Those 5-chain radius curves are unforgiving!  

 

Cheers, and I look forward to the build.

 

Robbie

 

 

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Heya Rob,

 

Thanks for your reply! It's certainly a well presented kit. I'm a bit hesitant about the amount of time I expect it to take to cut everything off the brass sprues, and then clean up ready for assembly!

 

I can only imagine how good a vantage point the paekok hill would've been (Find me someone in the lower north island that doesn't call it that!).

 

Those edited photos of the Ka looks fantastic, very evocative of the types of scenes you might've seen in the late 50's and 60's. The model is brilliant too! I'm not sure if you've noticed, but they go for silly money these days, I saw a kitbuilt Ka go on trademe (a couple of weeks ago now) for a touch over $2k. 

 

I'm not sure how far away my rendition of a NZR scene will be, but I might as well start building the stock now, right?! I'd imagine this 50fter will be one of many!

 

The Ab looks fantastic too! I haven't settled on a specific prototype yet, hoping to land on something that would've been a regular around the greater wellington region.

 

Let me know if you ever think of parting with your NZR models!

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18 hours ago, scottystitch said:

Outstanding!

 

Being an honorary Wellingtonian by birth and a bit of primary schooling in Johnsonville, and with a B***** busting passport, I shall be following this with great enthusiasm.  I always try to get back as frequently as possible.

 

I'm too young to have known steam in EnZed, but as a Kid I rode the Silver Fern and Silver and the old Johnsonville Line electrics.

 

I too am too young to have seen steam in full throw, I do have fond memories of travelling behind steam on the occasional special railtour. I also rememebr travelling to J-Ville and the Hutt to visit friends in DM and EM multiple units. I'm hoping to add some of the old railcars to my lineup too (eventually)!

 

I can't confirm that the updates will be 'regular, but as often as I can!

 

17 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

I would say that £300 is a bargain for such a complete kit.

 

I like that gearbox. Do they sell them separately?

 

the more I think about it, the more I agree. It's also far less hassle than trying to sort everything individually (which could in the end cost more!). The only replacement I think i'll make is replacing the cast brass handrails for turned brass ones.

 

As for the Gearbox, the link is here - look under gearing: http://www.northyard.co.nz/ (the usual caveat of no connection other than a satisfied customer). the website has been a bit mish-mash for a while now, but if you send off an email they will get back to you promptly with a price and delivery eta's etc.

 

12 hours ago, 30368 said:

I agree with Joseph P - £300 for such a complete and, by the look of the prototype, a fairly complex kit is indeed a bargain.

Jack P I recall that you also model UK Southern Railway? How is it all going to fit together? :lol:

From what I ahve seen of your work the Ab should present no problem for you, good luck. I intend to follow this build, I have a Alan Gibson BR Std 5MT kit to build which looks a bit complex too.

 

I do indeed also model the Southern - and to boot, I have an absolute mountain of things to get on with in that genre. I hope that because it will be far easier to obtain RTR southern models. My NZR modelling will be a good opportunity to change things up when one or the other gets a little tedious. I don't plan on having either cross over, I'm still strapped for space so it's not like any great magnum opus's are going to pop up anytime soon. 

 

It certainly does look a little daunting, but i'm not worried. Slow and steady, and good quality parts should result in a decent model (I hope). This will be my first crack at a compensated chassis though... hmmmm. 

 

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Made some progress a start, on removing the brass casting from their sprues last night. This was after taking delivery of a jewelers saw.  (Why didn't I get one before?)

 

It's certainly laborious and more than a little tedious, not as bad as I thought it would be though. I've also noticed the bottom of the westinghouse pump still needs some cleaning up.

 

49170894012_bfb5d8b158_b.jpg

 

I also decided that this build is the perfect opportunity to equip the loco with a smoke generator - I know that generally there are mixed opinions on these types of things, but it's something I've wanted to at least try for a while now. Plus having recently moved to DCC, now seems as good of a time as any. I'll also be adding directional lighting!

 

This meant that with basic hand tools and a drill I had to drill out the chimney. Now that was time consuming! I've just ordered a pillar drill, which should hopefully be here soon, and will help with drilling out the rest of the holes, but specifically the holes for the piston rod in the slide bar casting - and actually getting them straight!

 

49170662126_e45241247b_b.jpg

 

Of course, I needed some reading material..

 

49170662226_94978b8e63_b.jpg

 

The NZR Steam Locomotive by Sean Miller is a fantastic book, covering (as you might expect from the title) all of the classes of New Zealand steam locomotives. There is a wealth of reference material, from operational use in the early 1900's through to preservation actions in the early 2000's. If you have even a fleeting interest in NZR, i suggest finding a copy of this book.

 

Now to start the long slog of cutting out and cleaning up all of the castings. The plan is to finish this before I start any assembly.

Edited by Jack P
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Glad to see another NZR modeller popping up.

 

That looks like the NZ Prototype Models upgrade of the JG Models kit. While John's choice of meterials seems a bit odd - pewter running bards and cab but an etched boiler - the kit was designed to be built by someone without extraordary ablities.

 

Some things things worth thinking about 

  • The cab makes her a bit tail heavy so you wil need to chuck some weight in the boiler at the front - its quite accessible after assembly, so get the soldering done before you add lead or whatever
  • The JG version had a larger motor by he looks of things - a Mashima 1833 from memory  - and it might be worth upgrading to a Canon 1833 or similar 
  • Add a torque arm or something across the fAmes to stop the gearbox rotating under load
  • Plunger pickups or PB strip wipers help  - John designed it for P/B wire as wipers on the back of the wheels and these are hard to hide and soak up a fair bit of power
  • The leading bogie works much better if you add some form of side control  
  • The brakegear is etched but i subsituted some Alan Gibson plastic brakegear
  • No two Abs were exactly the same - pick one for reference; the kit has some details which suggest an Otago or Southland engine, but you can order a whitemetal smokebox front from North yard from the oldA class kit if you want a Canterbury loco 
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On 07/12/2019 at 21:12, Hilux5972 said:

What manufacturer did you get the kit from? 

 

As Mr Mad Dan said, it is indeed the NZ Prototype Models upgrade of the JG Models kit. He doesn't have a website, but does have a Facebook page!

 

4 hours ago, Mad_Dan_Eccles said:

Glad to see another NZR modeller popping up.

 

That looks like the NZ Prototype Models upgrade of the JG Models kit. While John's choice of meterials seems a bit odd - pewter running bards and cab but an etched boiler - the kit was designed to be built by someone without extraordary ablities.

 

Some things things worth thinking about 

  • The cab makes her a bit tail heavy so you wil need to chuck some weight in the boiler at the front - its quite accessible after assembly, so get the soldering done before you add lead or whatever
  • The JG version had a larger motor by he looks of things - a Mashima 1833 from memory  - and it might be worth upgrading to a Canon 1833 or similar 
  • Add a torque arm or something across the frames to stop the gearbox rotating under load
  • Plunger pickups or PB strip wipers help  - John designed it for P/B wire as wipers on the back of the wheels and these are hard to hide and soak up a fair bit of power
  • The leading bogie works much better if you add some form of side control  
  • The brakegear is etched but i subsituted some Alan Gibson plastic brakegear
  • No two Abs were exactly the same - pick one for reference; the kit has some details which suggest an Otago or Southland engine, but you can order a whitemetal smokebox front from North yard from the oldA class kit if you want a Canterbury loco 

 

 

Heya Dan!

 

It is indeed the 'upgraded' version, but as you say, it's only really had some of the material changed as opposed to constructional changes. It should be (hopefully) a good place to start. Thanks for your list, i've gone through and addressed them in a similar fashion!

 

- I had looked at the proportions and wondered about weight distribution, so that's good to know. Having built a single coach and realising how heavy full train would be, I full expected to have to add weight anyway.

 

- I've got a spare motor kicking around, but once the boiler is rolled i'll see how much room I've got, and see if I can get a flywheel assembly in there too. I haven't had the best look at the instructions yet, but due to the motor/gearbox connection, I assumed a torque arm would be a good idea anyway.

 

- I've got some ideas on pickups, but you're right, I don't want anything that creates too much drag. 

 

- Side control on the leading bogie, do you happen to have any photos of how you've achieved this?

 

- Brakegear, what was the reason you substituted plastic?

 

- My plan is for this to be a North Island Ab, I haven't managed to track down and she allocations or anything like that so it's hard to know which ones would've been seen around wellington/paekok. I eventually plan to build to a specific prototype as you say though. 

 

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We had some horrible weather over the weekend, thunder, lighting, torrential rain and wind. A real Wellington summer!

 

I managed to get some work done on the 50' coach. The roof was a bit short, so some plasticard fillets helped bring it up to size, then the end partitions were a bit low, more plasticard underneath helped bring them to the correct height. I've learnt a few tricks here though, if I was going to build the roof again, I would glue the end parts to the door/corridor section first and then attach the main roof. Some filler and plenty of sanding got everything leveled off. Although after looking at the photos, I might need to do one more pass of filler.

 

49190078402_312b105d03_b.jpg

 

Roof ventilators fitted too - the drawings are, erm, 'interesting' to measure from, so they are in approximately the right place. I also adjusted the position of the corridor connectors, I had them too low before. the soldering looks a bit messy, but black paint should hide my sins. 

 

I think the connections might be a tad too long though, which means that either I need to take them off again and sand the backs down, or on the opposing carriages, I need to have some sort of flexible connections. I'm still not sure. 

 

49189883211_fc5a40caab_b.jpg

 

I've added working chopper couplings from NZ finescale. As per the prototype, these couplings are handed although my understanding is that the 'chopper' is held in place by a pin, and can be removed and put in either coupling I've secured the pin with a small dab of glue, this means that if later on I need to remove them, I can do without too much hassle.

 

49190078397_0fefb7a7fc_b.jpg

 

And finally here's the coach posed next to my N15x. The difference in scale (1:64/1:76) is actually very apparent, maybe less so in the photo though. 

 

Next steps are to complete the interior, this includes cutting seats and making all of the interior partition walls!

 

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On 04/12/2019 at 18:52, Nile said:

Branchlines sell gearboxes that look very similar, to me at least.

 

That is the NY gearbox - Branchlines  sells the version designed for 1/8" axles.  Northyard ( northyard.co,nz )  make a variery of gearboxes and lot of other usefulthings as well. They don't seem to have thier current catlague up on thier website, but  here s an older version. It hasn't changed much in the last few years.   

North Yard Product Catalogue June 2013.pdf

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On 08/12/2019 at 22:01, Jack P said:

 

 

On 08/12/2019 at 22:01, Jack P said:

- I had looked at the proportions and wondered about weight distribution, so that's good to know. Having built a single coach and realising how heavy full train would be, I full expected to have to add weight anyway.

 

- I've got a spare motor kicking around, but once the boiler is rolled i'll see how much room I've got, and see if I can get a flywheel assembly in there too. I haven't had the best look at the instructions yet, but due to the motor/gearbox connection, I assumed a torque arm would be a good idea anyway.

 

- I've got some ideas on pickups, but you're right, I don't want anything that creates too much drag. 

 

- Side control on the leading bogie, do you happen to have any photos of how you've achieved this?

 

- Brakegear, what was the reason you substituted plastic?

 

- My plan is for this to be a North Island Ab, I haven't managed to track down and she allocations or anything like that so it's hard to know which ones would've been seen around wellington/paekok. I eventually plan to build to a specific prototype as you say though. 

 

 

Side control was wire springs mount to the loco frame -  photos to come later in the week hopefully

 

Plastic brake gear was used because there's not a lot of room between the drivers and between the leading driver and the bogie wheel and I was getting occasional sparks on some point work. I also like the slighly chunkier look of the plastc brakeshoes vs the laminated brass version 

 

Unless you want to start counting clips on the smokebox hopper doors you won't need to do much though watch out for rivets - some had flush riveted headstocks which is very noticeble. Piping was different on every Ab - the kit instruction are typcial but some had lifting injectors some had exhaust steam injectors and so on.  I will dig out some photos later this week so you  can see some of the  differences.

 

Paekakariki would make a fantastic model; in late steam days you had changes from electric power to steam, and in WMR days there were engine changes on just about every train

Edited by Mad_Dan_Eccles
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Photos as promised -  from the original JG kit with some modified details. The observant will notice the lack of glazing in cab or headlight. The simple reason is that I haven't got round to weathering her and the number  and builders plates, glazing and folding windshield are still sitting in an envelope.   The model is based on 694 which was a Dunedin engine as she might have looked in the late 1950s. Changes include subsitutiing "wood" boards on the tender filler hatch platform; the chequer plates seems to be a late fifties/sixties mod and I have a photo of an Ab at Cromwell with wooden boards. Thye phone and interior lighting isn't the best thing for showing details of the workings where everything is basic black so the bogie details will need to wait for a fine day so I can get better shots

 

I didn't find a lot of info about  of Welington Abs. The As and the odd Ab were largely confined to the Hutt Valley - Wairarapa line by the 1950s as the overhead wires had gone up on the other side. A lot of steam engines moved away after electrification of the Wellington area, The Rimutaka tunnel meant thet the Wairarapa line was fully dieselised after it opened  but  there's a Derek Cross photo in of 831 Kaitoke in NZ 1950s Steam in Colour, though at times she was  also on the Napier and Gisborne areas and after the mid-sixties on the West Coast.  If you hunt through the NZ Railway Historical group on Facebook, there are a few photos of 831 but I can't repost these here as they don't belong to me.  Essentially the piping on 831 looks pretty much as laid out in the JG instructions but watch the postion of the control valve for the Westinghouse pump - it might be right for some engines but the steam piping to the Westinghosue pump can foul the dome   -  I needed to plug the hole in the etching and move it back about 3/8 inch  for 694. to amtc photos

 

Paekok would have seen engines from Palmy as well, though steam didn't often work into Wellington once the wires went up and there were enough electric locos available; I understand that this usually this only happened when the overhead was shut off as the clearances between the chimey and the wires were considered a bit marginal in the former WMR tunnels and there was quite some risk of a flashover.

 

DSC_0057.JPG

DSC_0055.jpg

DSC_0056.JPG

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  • 5 weeks later...

Thanks for that info and the photos Dan, the Ab looks fantastic! Sadly I haven't really made much progress on my Ab due to moving, but I have been slowly but surely removing the lost wax casting from their sprues.

 

I also took delivery of a drill press, and went ahead and drilled out the slide bars for the rods, also seen mocked up with the valve chests:

 

49376031888_7fbdbc5aab_b.jpg

49376486906_aef4d2ba08_b.jpg

 

I've also started (looking at) another coach kit, this time it's the 47' 6" Guards Van, another Northyard Kit, With the contents laid bare:

 

49376047668_636e1a852b_b.jpg

49371524518_732375a7cc_b.jpg

 

I recently put my application in to volunteer at The Silverstream Steam Railway (local Preserved steam railway). A link to their website can be found here: https://www.silverstreamrailway.org.nz/

 

After I put my application in I was invited to have a look around the premises, which also included the shed and workshop areas - OH BOY!

 

I was excited to see what they had in there, but I was absolutely foaming to have a look at the Big C (Named due to the existence of a C class loco of 1873 which was a smaller tank engine). The visit did not disappoint. She is currently awaiting an overhaul to be returned to running condition. Nothing particularly major, but my understanding is the steam reverser needs attention, and due to it being 'not right' (for lack of the technical ailment) it's damaged other components. Thankfully she is still very very clean and tidy.

 

49371524153_856a95e335_b.jpg

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49371978491_318dc55390_b.jpg

 

I was even allowed to climb onto the footplate

 

49372184612_b10ba336c8_b.jpg

49371978731_afb4b845f2_b.jpg

 

A rather unflattering shot of me in the drivers seat - despite the look on my face, I was happy as larry!

 

49376680092_7a7b71c815_b.jpg

 

A rather unusual looking 2-6-2 locomotive I suppose, with 3 domes (2 sand, one steam dome), a myriad of outside pipework and sloping tender - a knock on of this locomotive being designed specifically for shunting work. I immediately fell in love with it, and am looking forward to the re-release of the updated JG models kit! 

 

Not my photos, but that of the NZ railway rolling stock lists, shows the C class at Silverstream in full steam, and shows off the profile a little better

 

324646_orig.jpg

 

8980757_orig.jpg

 

An exciting time was had by all. 

 

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

Edited by Jack P
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5 hours ago, Nick C said:

Nice - what are you looking to do as a volunteer? I've been volunteering here for about three years now, and it's definitely worth it.

 

Not 100% sure yet, i'm looking to just lend my hand however possible. Fireman would be interesting, but then again, most things would be.

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Managed to find my notes from back when I was building a model of Paekakariki.

After the desealisation of the Wairarapa line in November 1955 no steam locos were alocated to Wellington. They would pass through under tow to and from the Hutt shops. If the power was off for maintanance Ka's would run the expresses into and out of Wellington. Surprisingly no locos were allocated to Paekakariki as it was only a servicing point. Palmerston North was the lower North island main depot. Ab's alocated to Palmerston North in 1964 were; 714, 737, 741, 751, 758, 761, 816, 819. They were used for shunting services (local freights) in the southern North Island.

 

 

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Having just returned home from NZ I am seriously impressed by the railways of NZ! 

 

The trains are smaller than those here here in Australia and the idea of S gauge is lovely. In my time there I travelled behind the W class at Glenbrook railway which was a lovely trip. I did know a local guy who had a couple of pieces of NZ railway models but have not heard from him in years. My travelling around the north island did suggest that NZ railways are very modelable... so I will watch this thread with interest. Though my other half would kill me if I started another railway interest! 

 

All the best 

 

 

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