VRBroadgauge

Tonight’s job. Fitted and soldered six crank pin washers. Cigarette paper and oil used to great effect. After filing the end of the crank pins I managed to put four washers onto said pins first time in a row. All wheels spin freely.

Put it on the list?

Add to that is the knowledge that you're getting an accurate measurement first time every time. Saves time, saves what little sanity we have left as 2mm modellers.

I've tested my tri-axle rolling stock down to a 24' curve which works beautifully. I always use tri-gauges which give you an automatic gauge widening in curves. Never had a problem. I've been using the micro engineering code 40 Hon3 versions which work very well.

Enjoy them Jerry. I'm sitting here looking at an assembled bellows (Dr. Nick's coathanger) that Kev did. Have fun with that. Kev or I can give some assistance if need be. Let me know what else you'd like.....

True. With the amount of track that I'm proposing to build I'll be the antipodean Laurie Adams in no time.... Confidence in your own ability can be lacking sometimes (particularly when no support is forthcoming). If you don't make mistakes you don't learn anything. I'm a big fan of the 2mm community because of the support and encouragement that is prevalent.

Yours is nicer than mine. I too, enjoy fully soldered track. I’m attempting a double slip.

If you can track down a drawing of said lever (my reference library is mainly oz prototypes) I'd be happy to make you some Angus. I've got a long list of etches that I'm doing for my 10.5mm system and I can sneak these beasties onto some free space that inevitably occurs on the sheets that I have. I've been doing a few things for others in the Association. Plus it'd be nice to contribute to the layout of another 10.5mm modeller. :)

Do you have a drawing of said ball ended kick-over type? Are you able to post it here?

I like your track work Angus. I take it from the extended sleepers at the points you're modelling the point levers. How are you doing that? I'll probably etch mine (like just about everything else I do).

My wagon fleet as of April 2023. 20 No. IA wagons (Open top general purpose) 2 No. GZ wagons (Open top general purpose) 11 No. M wagons (Cattle) 5 No. IZ wagons (Open top general purpose) 16 No. K flats (Flat car) 1 No. T van (Insulated Ice Refrigerator) 6 No. U vans (Louvered general purpose) 1 No. WT water gin 1 No. Z van (Guards Van) Total 63 vehicles A massive thanks to Kevin Knight at the Burpengary Wagon Works for the construction of most of these along with creating all the decals that adorn these fine models. Also thanks to Steve Bigelow who has been an invaluable help with advice and support. Most of these have wheels but only a very few have couplers. I’ve etched drawbars to connect things together until couplers become available. 2mm Finescale 10.5mm broad gauge VR prototypes Scratch built from custom 0.3mm nickel silver etches with regauged 2mm Association wheels and Z scale Microtrains couplers.

Although I have a bit more to do on the mechanism I decided to make a start on the body ( couldn’t resist). I’d already etched the cab so I folded it up so that I could determine whether it fit where it was supposed to. A little bit of filing was necessary but we’re somewhere near. I’ve cut the boiler from a piece of brass tube and will have to modify it to fit over the firebox. There needs to be a cut halfway through the tube, a lateral cut made in the bottom and the “wings” straightened and bent down. I’ll get a mate to turn up the dome and stack from brass to my specifications. The U van is a 3DP from artwork by Steve Bigelow on my etched chassis (got a tri-axle version on the printer). So far so good. 2mm Finescale 10.5mm broad gauge VR T class 0-6-0

A bit more success. I’ve managed to insert the drivers and quarter the wheels successfully. The association jig is all kinds of awesome. Had a bit of trouble getting the muffs into position but a little jig was concocted my my friend Steve which cut down the stress and swearing. I had a video of the wheels rotating with the rods connected but it was too large for the format. I’m a happy camper.

More on the T. I made a couple of spacers/shims out of 0.25mm styrene which do the job nicely. The Association muffs are made for standard gauge beasties and are therefore too short. The lateral movement has been minimised and the gears still spin nicely. Just to prove it’s not all bunnies and rainbows there was a bit of a problem. The two bearings to the right of the gear axle are there for the rear set of drivers with the included muff and gear. The rear spacer for the chassis is fouling the gear and prevents it from turning. I hadn’t allowed for this in the design drawings. You can’t be right all the time. I spent the evening with a file making a slot for said gear to rotate in. I’m about half way there. 2mm Finescale Broad Gauge VR T Class 0-6-0

This evening’s little job was to put the worm and idler gears on the muff and make a couple of 3.9mm stub axles. I then fitted said axles and gears to the T class gearbox. Reasonable free rotation but will need a couple of 0.25mm shims to prevent too much lateral movement. So far so good.

That's a half decent size shed Jerry - nearly Australian in scale. :) A question. I take it the rails were in concrete in the original. How are you tackling this and the pits? I've tinkered with a pit or two on a much less grand scale and I found it a bit tricky. I have a ridiculous masonry shed that I plan to do at a later stage and I'd be interested to know what you plan.

The T is now actually starting to look like a T. The drivers and rod are still just sitting in place but it appears that my mathematics and drawings were correct. Footplates line up as they should do. Still a long way to go but pleasing nonetheless. 2mm Finescale 10.5mm Broad Gauge (VR)

I managed to get the wheels into the tender chassis of my Victorian Railways T class Beyer Peacock 0-6-0. It’s not perfect but I’m pretty happy with the first effort. I’m not Jerry or Dr Nick but I am pleased that it’s all my own effort - designed the etch and put the beastie together. Add to that this particular model hasn’t been done and it’s very satisfying. I’m still learning my craft so little wins like this give great encouragement.

I always built a styrene (plasticard) foundation that the building proper sat on like a sleeve. This gives you a base to scenic up against and also allows the building to be removed for maintenance and access. Apart from over scale there's nothing worse than a structure sitting on top of the ground. You can also achieve a prototype ground line that doesn't look like a table top. Flexability.

Bricks and brick coursing have always been a problem in our scale. A brick is usually 3' (75mm) tall - well in this country anyways. A course is around 0.5' (10mm) which is negligible. I've thought about this at length and I'm coming up empty. Do we produce something that is as close as we can get within the parameters of reason that we can all live with? As Kev will tell you I'm a bit of a scale tragic and don't take kindly to close enough is good enough. I'm sure there's an answer out there if we all throw some ideas around. (I even thought about etching up a sheet to see how that worked). I'll see what I can do.

These are the S class streamlined pacifics that plied the North East main line from Melbourne to Albury and through my home town of Wodonga. The Spirit of Progress was a wonderful thing. It terminated in Albury because of our break of gauge. The whole train was turned on the Y at Wodonga (one leg of which was the Cudgewa Branch line) and then cleaned in the purpose built sheds. There were four locomotives in the class. S300: Matthew Flinders S301: Sir Thomas Mitchell S302: Edward Henty S303: CJ La Trobe Tragically they were all cut up. Victorian Railways S class Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Newport Workshops Build date1928 Total produced 4 Specifications Configuration: Whyte 4-6-2 Gauge1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) Driver dia. 72+15⁄16 in (1,853 mm) Length1928: 78 ft 6+3⁄4 in (23.95 m) 1951: 85 ft 6 in (26.06 m) Axle load 23 LT 10 cwt (23.9 t) Adhesive weight 70 LT 10 cwt (71.6 t) Loco weight 1928: 112 LT 5 cwt (114.05 t) 1951: 114 LT 10 c (116.3 t) Tender weight1928: 82 LT 8 cwt (83.7 t) 1951: 109 LT 7 c (111.10 t) Total weight 1928: 194 LT 13 cwt (197.77 t) 1951: 223 LT 17 cwt (227.44 t) Fuel type Coal Oil Fuel capacity1928: 9 long tons (9 t) 1951: 2,000 imp gal (9,092 L; 2,402 US gal) Water cap.1928: 8,600 imp gal (39,096 L; 10,328 US gal) 1951: 12,600 imp gal (57,281 L; 15,132 US gal) water Firebox: Firegrate area50 sq ft (4.6 m2) Boiler pressure200 psi (1.38 MPa) Heating surface1928: 3,691 sq ft (342.9 m2) 1951: 3,723 sq ft (345.9 m2) Superheater: Heating area570 sq ft (53.0 m2) Cylinders3 Cylinder size20.5 in × 28 in (521 mm × 711 mm) Valve gear Walschaerts / Gresley Valve type10-inch (254 mm) piston valves Valve travel 6 inches (152 mm) Valve lap1+1⁄4 inches (32 mm); exhaust lap: −3⁄16 inch (−4.8 mm) Valve lead 5⁄16 inch (7.9 mm) Performance figures Power output at drawbar: 2,300 horsepower (1,720 kW) at 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) Tractive effort41,670 lbf (185.4 kN) at 85% boiler pressure Career Operators Victorian Railways Numbers S300-S303 Delivered 1928-30 Disposition all scrapped

A bit of progress on Progress Junction. This will eventually be an exhibition layout to showcase some VR broad gauge 1940’s varnish. The proposed model of the Spirit of Progress is underway with the 11 heavyweight passenger cars already mocked up with some fine 3DP work by Kevin Knight. Etches will be prepared from these masters. The streamlined pacific locomotives are having their chassis crafted by Phil Badger. The layout is pretty simple. A single track model of the North Eastern main line with a loop at the far end. There is a descending grade down to the loop. Goods trains will come out of the loop and up the grade. The gap in mid photo is for the Goulburn River bridge. There are 2 x 100’ spans and 2 x 40’ approach spans. These have been etched and are under construction. I’ve just roughed in the foam base for the scenery to see what the initial shape of the topography needs to be. These four modules are about 4.8 meters long. Along with the fiddle yard they fit into two constructed boxes.

Just to prove that I can actually build things please see exhibit A. I've been building a Victorian Railways 1874 Beyer Peacock & Co. T class 0-6-0 (10.5mm broad gauge) from my etch of my design. It's a bit of a process which frankly scares me constantly. I've soldered the frames together and have sat the drivers in the bearings. The footplate has been positioned on top and the holes for the splashers have been filed out a bit to make sure the wheels move freely. I've just cut out one set of rods and positioned it over the crank pins. I wanted to see if my calculations were correct and the drivers rotate freely. To my surprise freely rotating drivers were forthcoming. Beginners luck.

Nice bogies. I'm just about to etch a broad gauge version for my own use. We call them arch bar bogies in oz and they have the standard 3' wheels thankfully. Are the springs etched? I've been talking to a bloke here that has been using cut down bolts as the springs. Gives you a bit more weight and makes the bogies track a bit better. He was in HO so I'm not sure the logistical numbers would stack up. Seemed like a good idea but not sure how practical it would be for us.

Might be worth doing a redraw of that body off an original etch. A roof would be easy and it might be handy if others wanted a copy.