VRBroadgauge

Correct. I'm currently building an 0-6-0 beastie from 1874. Beyer Peacock built the pattern engine and then Phoenix foundry in Ballarat did the rest. The smoke-box was modified and a cowcatcher added in later versions. There's only one remaining in the museum in Melbourne but it has the wrong tender. Victorian Railways had a lot of British designs and some from the US (Baldwin).

The original Tallangatta (Tal-lang-gat-tah) yard before the enlargement of Lake Hume which covered this area (and the town which had to move) with water. Four roads through the station, goods shed, 10 ton crane, engine shed, 10000 gallon water tank, 50 foot turntable, ash pit and coaling stage. I'm making a scale model of this on four 1200 x 600mm modules. The stock yards are out of shot to the right (Cudgewa end). Another shot of Tallangatta yard. That's a Leyland railmotor contemplating a trip back to Wodonga in the shed and a D3 4-6-0 on the turntable lead. The turntable was basically in a hole in the ground. This one was a 50' version. They were later enlarged to 53' as the branch line lococs got a bit too long for the 50' versions. Sometimes N class 2-8-2's were turned and had to have their tenders disconnected and turned separately. The engine crews weren't impressed with this. The engine shed is 60' long with two annexes - one for a small workshop and one for an office. The Cudgewa (Cud-gee-war) line was renown for it's timber trestle bridges. The tallest on the line (this one is the 2nd tallest) was a good 90' above the creek. Construction of these bridges was with poles (trees). These tall beasties had one pole fixed to the top of another as the trees weren't tall enough. My grandfather Bill Cook was a bridge ganger on this line. One of the long timber trestles on the line over the Kiewa (Key-war) River flats near Bandiana (Bandy-anna). The openings are 20' and there was a lot of them. I'm stupidly building a model of the trestle at the Mitta River flats at Tallangatta which has 235 openings at 20'. That's about 9.8m long with approaches in 2mm scale. I have copies of the original engineering drawings with the centerline levels and a decent plan. I plan to cast the bents in lots of five. Shouldn't take too long. :)

It makes me a happy man to see some 10.5mm gauge in another part of the world. There's a whiff of Australia in some of those photos of Ireland that makes me want to know more about it. The 5'3" gauge in my part of the world that I'm modelling is what I would call a pioneer line - sharp curves down to 8 chain radius and a plethora of 1:30 grades. There was only 6" of river gravel ballast on the line and very light rail. I don't want to hijack your post Angus so I'll put a few pics up on mine. Love your work. Look forward to seeing more of it. Bruce

RY wagon and an I wagon. Pretty much complete with Z scale microtrains couplers mounted. I'm happy with the results.

Here's the dimensions that I use. Back to back for wheel sets - 9.6mm Association axles - 13.7mm I use a jig made out of 0.5mm and 0.25mm styrene (plasticard) laminated together with a hole drilled to take the end if the axle. Use a flat surface like a piece of glass and put the end of the axle into the hole and push the wheel down until it moves no more. The end of the axle to the face of the wheel is 0.75mm. If you're doing your own etches the distance on wagon chassis frames is 13.6mm O/A (outside dimension). I don't recess the wheel bearings so the distance internally between the bearing faces is 12.6mm. I use 0.3mm NS for my etches exclusively. I will be experimenting with 0.2mm NS for my lacework signal posts and possibly a VR L wagon (sheep). If you're doing a locomotive chassis I've allowed 0.45mm from the back of the wheel face (not the axle boss) to the chassis frame. Therefore the dimension for the outside of the chassis is 8.7mm O/A.

9.6 mm is about right. I've got all my design dimensions written down but not within arms reach at the moment. A friend milled up some spacers which have been extremely useful. I'll check all my design notes and post what I have.

Like most I’ve got a few things cooking at the same time. I finally got the spacers soldered in on the T class. Next job is drivers and gears.

The I wagon has basically been completed by Steve. Just needs Z scale couplers and a paint job. Note the grab rails.

M wagon. To say I’m pretty happy with this is an understatement. I wagon. Work in progress but looking good. T van with ice hatches to be soldered on. My friend Steve is building these as a diagnostic on the etches. So far so good.

As part of the testing of my etches I get my friend Steve Bigelow to assemble and check for any mistakes. So far so good. This is a VR T van on the left and a K wagon on the right.

My K wagon flat body married to my 10’ 6” chassis. Worked first time - will wonders ever cease? I couldn’t get the bolt heads on the planking but I did simulate them with indents. These models will be part of some WW2 material goods trains that were on the line that I’m modelling. Both VR (5’3”) and NSWGR (4’8 1/2”) were used so I’ll have to come up with some dual gauge gauntlet trackage. Anyone achieved this?

Nice job on the framing Jerry. As I'm not from where you are did you need a permit to do the works or are garden sheds exempt? Here in oz they make us get a permit for just about everything.

My latest batch of etches from PPD. This is a VR I wagon. 11’6” axel centres. Over 3000 of these were constructed. Many were later butchered into other stock. This is an M wagon (cattle). Loading doors were at the left - not centrally placed as in other places. There’s a nice elegant transparency with the spaces between the planks. This is a VR T van (refrigerator). The ice hatches will be 3D printed and glued in. This one is a bit of a lucky dip. There’s a full train shed etch for St Albans Abbey for Kev Knight. There’s some TT detail parts for a local mate and some level crossing gates and architectural details for me. PPD has been excellent. This whole shooting match only took 9 days to get from Scotland to just about as far away as you can get on the planet. I’ve received great service from them.

Two out of three spacers installed. The tender spacers will be diabolical to do but we soldier on.

I've just had a read of your posts Argos. Those locos are excellent. Try getting hold of some Micro Engineering (USA) code 40 HOn3 tri gauges for your track. They are 10.5mm by a happy accident. I've had a bobbin gauge turned up by a friend up north. My wagon chassis and bodies are etched in 0.3mm nickel silver to my design. I must say your 3D printed beasties are very nice. I've done about five different wagons so far. I experimented with the chassis' before committing to the bodies. Whilst the underbody details are fairly simple I have a reasonable representation of the brakes/handbrakes. VR wagons had air brakes so we've 3D printed the air reservoirs and will glue them in the appropriate position. I'm just going through the design process for a 15' tri-axel chassis which our guards vans (Z vans) and some early reefer vans, horse boxes and ventilated vans had. If you're interested in VR stock take a look at www.victorianrailways.net which has great resources. There may be something of use to you.

This is a model of a VR T class 0-6-0 that I'm building (albeit at glacial pace). The etch is mine and seems to be working ok without too many problems. The original pattern locomotive was made by Beyer Peacock in 1885 and then copies made here in Victoria at Phoenix Foundry in Ballarat. I haven't decided what I'll make the body out of but I'm leaning towards a mixture of brass and 3D prints. I'll try and get a DCC sound chip squeezed into the tender if I can.

There was actually a standard gauge version Kev.

A couple of photos of my work. The 0-6-0 os a model of a VR T class which was a Beyer Peacock design (1885). BP built the pattern locomotive and the rest were constructed at the Vulcan Foundry at Ballarat Victoria. This is my own etch from drawings prepared by me which is going together at glacial pace. It's my first attempt at scratch building a locomotive. The trestle bridge is one that exists on the branch line that I'm modeling. This bridge is to scale. It's on an 8 chain curve and a 1:40 grade. I managed to obtain the original longitudinal sections from the construction plan set and was able to plot the actual center line natural surface levels. I'm pretty confident that they're within a bull's roar. I've used photo graphs to extrapolate the ground around the bridge. The track geometry is fairly accurate. I'm experimenting with painting and weathering. Ballast will be a problem as I can't use anything commercial as it's not fine enough. These pioneer lines were ballasted with 6" of river gravel. I have other things which I can post if there is an interest.

This is a VR ash pit Laurie. We modeled most of our infrastructure on the British versions. Our inspection pit had steps in one end. I have access to quite a few of these sorts of plans at Victorianrailways.net. This may be useful to you if you have nothing else available.

I'd be interested in seeing your work Argos. I'm about as far from Ireland as you can get on the globe. I don't know much about Irish railways but I will do some research. The link we have is the gauge. Where I live in oz was a break of gauge between two state systems. Wodonga was the end of the VR system (5'3") which extended to Albury on the NSWGR system (4'8.5"). There was some overlap. The broad gauge has since been rebuilt to standard but there are still lines in the state of Victoria running on the broad. The line I'm modelling was a branch from Wodonga to Cudgewa (Cud-gee-war). Lots of 8 chain curves, 1 in 30 grades, timber trestle bridges and magnificent mountain scenery. I'd be interested to hear how you're coping with the amount of scratch building that modelling a broad gauge layout entails. I've learnt to design etches for all of my rolling stock and have started on my first locomotive, a Beyer Peacock 0-6-0 with a six wheel tender (VR T class). I'm lucky that I have a number of people in this country and also in the UK that are helping me. I'd like to be able to generate a bit of discussion on broad gauge - no matter the scale. I can be a bit of a red-headed step child at times - I love watching the standard gauge boys glaze over on zoom meetings when I bring it up 😂 I'm just happy that there's others out there doing what I'm doing. If anyone needs some bits and pieces like wagon chassis or loco chassis please contact me and we'll see what we can do.

Hi Laurie. You're still the track King. I'm interested in your inspection pits. I assume that you've anchored the rail to what will be the floor of the shed and retro cut the pits out. How do you go with the lining of said pits? I assume they would be brickwork. I've done a couple of trials on my Tallangatta module. I made the pits out of styrene and glued a long PCB sleeper laterally which I soldered the rail to. I've got one pit in an engine shed and an ash pit in front of a coaling stage. I've had mixed results. Are there any difficulties with the way you're doing it (apart from a lot of swearing)? Cheers Bruce

Between Newcastle 1899 and Ross' model of Central Station in Sydney there is 16 years work. What you don't see in these photos is the staircases inside the station, all the tables and chairs in the dining room and all the detailing under the wharf. Ross is truly a craftsman of the highest caliber.

Hi all. Just wondering if there are other modellers out there that are building 2FS models that run on 10.5mm gauge track. I'm modelling Victorian Railways (Australia) in the 1940's. VR was mainly what I would call broad gauge (I realize that our pommy friends call the GWR 8' broad gauge) and the pioneer branch line that I'm doing was certainly so. It's certainly a challenge. Happily I can use HOn3 track gauges for gauge correctness and the 2mm association provides 9' sleepers. I have to re-gauge wheel-sets and have etched my own rolling stock and locomotives. I'd be interested in touching base with others who are into this. Bruce Cook Australia