16mm SAR brake van from the WHR

[tac foley]

A while back I decided that my Accucraft B-G needed some cars behind it, if only to justify the expense, so I started to make a typical ballast car of the type obtained from SAR - another story for some time. An easier [hah] option was to make the brake van, a simple box on a couple of trucks, with lots of photos on the website, both before, during and after the rebuild.

Easy!

Well, no, actually.

Suffice it to say that I resorted to my old skills as an image analyst and using photogrammetry, made myself a set of plans derived from the one end view of the vehicle standing on the tracks at Boston Lodge.

So here are a few pics of the build, using styrene, and 586 Cambrian Models rivets. The decals were custom made in three days by my dear old friend Stan Cedarleaf, over in Arizona. In fact, he makes ALL my decals, and has done for years.



Here's a YT clip of it's first trial run behind my B-G on the Charlie Brown Memorial track in my back yard -

Enjoy!

tac

 

[casey jones snr]

That is a beauty.

 

[tac foley]

Thank you, Sir.

tac

 

[playmofire]

Very impressive.

 

[owlpool]

That's a lovely piece of work

 

[trammayo]

Very, very, nice!

 

[mike]

Very nice tac

 

[tac foley]

Thanks, people, for your kind words. I think that the biggest chore was actually putting them rivets on. As you can see, I made a guide/template, and three different kinds of rivet sizes/bolt heads. Rivets for the sheet of the carbody, and bolts for all the ironwork, made of either styrene scrap or flat brass. The hook and loop fastenings actually work, although I'm not going to be the one that works 'em! I had to modificate the Bachmann trucks to get under-body clearance, and took the opportunity to make the bearing blocks look more like they should-ish.

See -









The yellow grab-rails were made from 3/32" diameter alloy tubing, flattened at the ends, shaped, drilled and secured with plain pins. Footsteps came from Phil's Narrow Gauge. The roof is 2" wide masking tape, 'painted' with a 50/50 mix of PVA and water. Air stands are from Brandbright, and actually 'flex'. TBH, there really are nothing like these little units - I bought all that were available from one dealer at the Llanfair show a few years back. I am SOOOOOOOO glad that they are now trading again.

I know it's not exactly 'exact', but it's pretty darn close, and looks good at the end of the train of one ballast car. I could post details of that, except it was featured in the 16mm website MOTM a year or so ago, and I guess many of you may have seen it there.

tac
OVGRS
POCRR

 

[stockers]

Very nice.

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi Tac if that Garrett can take 4ft Rad Curves you are very welcome to give it a challenging run on my line at St.Neots. Plenty of stock with LGB Couplings to hang behind it.
JonD

 

[maxi-model]

Those are stunning Tac. I might have to use you for inspiration. I've had no end of trouble getting a selection of "prototypical" stock for my Accy' Garratt to pull. Just got 2 GRS WHR saloons that I have only now completed building.

Put my name down for Triassic's 4 car SA passenger coach sets 4 years ago (checked and reconfirmed with them at Peterborough each year since except last, which I missed). By chance saw they were doing a production run last summer, tried e-mailing 3 times to confirm an order - no response, and no telephone contact details available.

Contacted ACME Engineering about a month ago and had a nice chat with Mike Ousby about getting WHR ex' SA B or D wagon and guards van. Said he would get back to me with prices. One confirmation and 2 follow up e-mails and no response to any of them. Very frustrating when you are "hot to trot" and you yourself getting blanked like this. Can anybody throw some light on these. Sorry, rant over. Max

 

[tac foley]

Being a simple old soul, I try hard to be helpish and friendful to anybody who asks for help that I might be able to give, whether it be trains or my other major hobby, shooting. However, in view of the rules of this forum, I'm not going to make any comment to your very real concerns that might get me advised to leave again, so I'll simply say that certain manufacturers and NG railway businesses are extremely lax in responding to requests of any kind, particularly if it involves the general public.

Let's just say that the ability to carry out scaling and measuring from a single photograph is a very useful skill to acquire. That is all I have ever done with ANYTHING I have scratch-built that is here in UK.

tac
OVGRS
POCRR

 

[tac foley]

Hi Tac if that Garrett can take 4ft Rad Curves you are very welcome to give it a challenging run on my line at St.Neots. Plenty of stock with LGB Couplings to hang behind it.
JonD

That's a very kind offer, Sir, and you living just down the road! Fancy that, now! I have to admit that I've never tried it out on anything as tight as that - my own track has 14 and 15 foot radius curves, as you may have seen in my YT movies. See your PM for contact details.

BTW, I drink coffee black, and I don't suppose there's any lemon meringue pie around, is there?

tac

 

[PhilP]

Lemon meringue pie? - That's a bit more specific than 'cake'!

 

[tac foley]

Marionberry pie, then?

tac

 

[Tim Brien]

Terry,
nice to see you back and full marks on that beautiful waggon.

 

[maxi-model]

However, in view of the rules of this forum, I'm not going to make any comment to your very real concerns that might get me advised to leave again

Let's just say that the ability to carry out scaling and measuring from a single photograph is a very useful skill to acquire.

With regards to the first - I might have to PM you on that. As to the second - Yep done that, amazing what you can deduce from having just one key critical measurement (that's how the master for the car I use as my avatar was done) a ruler and an understanding of perspective.

The guy who had my NGG16 before me fitted it with blind centre drivers - it can cope with 2'6" radius curves. Can I have some cake too Jon. Max.

P.S. Just got a reply from one of the suppliers mentioned......wonders will never cease.

 

[tac foley]

...and.................?

tac

 

[tac foley]

Terry,
nice to see you back and full marks on that beautiful waggon.

Hey, Tim! So far it's been good! Thanks for the plaudit - much appreciated.

tac

 

[Fred Mills]

Nice to see my VERY GREAT PAL Terry Foley, showing his skills. I wish he would show you guys his "Other Caboose" which he built just recently....another "Winner"....... The Bird actually tolerates me when it comes to visit, with Terry....as long as I feed it fresh Chicken wings......with honey garlic sauce....!!
Fred Mills.