September 2018
$17.50
Photographs Grant Morrell
Grant Morrell’s On30 model of Ollie Smith’s ‘double ender’ is pictured in various locations on the North Shore MRC’s portable layout during the Rails ’n Sails Convention. The use of two diecast truck bodies meant that the model was classified as kit-built but Grant not only radically modified those bodies, he also made almost everything else from scratch. The model was awarded Gold in the NZAMRC Competitions and Grant also received the Scalecraft Trophy for his efforts.
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Contents Editor Graham Dredge Editorial Assistance Michael Gee We welcome contributions of articles, photographs and other material. Please e-mail these to <nzmrj_editor@xtra. co.nz> or post to Graham Dredge, Editor, New Zealand Model Railway Journal, 41 Fitzherbert Avenue, West Harbour, Auckland 0618. Advertising Please send all bookings and digital ad files to <secretary@nzmrg.org.nz> or by mail to the publisher’s post box. Publisher New Zealand Model Railway Guild Inc PO Box 180 116, Royal Heights, Auckland 0656. Email: <secretary@nzmrg.org.nz> NZ Model Railway Guild Inc President Lexi Browne Secretary and Membership Tony Putt Treasurer Alan Curtis Sales Pete van Grinsven Committee Alex Smith, Athanasius Santamaria (Asty), Ian Tonks, Neville Connew Auditor Philip Smith Area Representatives Northland Paul Woods 09-432 3060 Auckland Neville Connew 09-836 3751 Hamilton Trevor James 07-856 6866 Bay of Plenty Russell Jones 021-045 1931 Taranaki Ian Tonks 06-765 5879 Wairarapa Rex Fowler 06-377 1135 Wellington Mark Andrews 04-979 9176 Nelson/Marlborough Trevor Borlase 03-544 7778 Canterbury Trevor Corrin 03-9807571 Otago Don Weston 03-467 2630 Southland Trevor McMurdo 03-215 7240 Australia – Queensland Les Downey +61-7-3386 0564 United Kingdom Ian Hammond +44(0)1440763742 The NZ Model Railway Guild exists to provide a link between model railway enthusiasts to encourage modelling New Zealand prototypes.
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Volume 73 | Issue 403 September 2018
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Hikurangi Coal Bins on David Weedon’s NZ120 modular layout. 4 | WHY NZ120 David Weedon describes why he chose NZ120 scale and the layout he built. 10 | THE MIDLAND RAILCARS Michael Gee writes about the two railcars that ran between Christchurch and the West Coast. 14 | MIDLAND RAILCAR IN TWO SIZES Michael Gee tells us how he went about modelling the Midland Railcars in 1:64 and 1:120 scales. 18 | BUILDINGS WORTH MODELLING Graham Dredge presents photographs small buildings suitable for modelling.
26 | 1930’s PRIVATE OWNER TANK WAGONS Wayne Brindle desribes how he built some private ownerwagon. 28 | GRAFFITI Mike Steenhuisen presents a pictorial of how he applies Grafitti to his wagons. 30 | WINTER SCENES Photographs from the camera of John Creber. 32 | OH WHAT A LOVELY BUNCH OF COCONUTS Paul Napier shows how to make coconut palms. 34 | A TALE OF TWO LOCOMOTIVES Adrian Howard describes how he converted to off the shelf OO scale locos to S Scale NZR.
20 | LAYOUTS BASED ON LOCATION Les Downey tells how he reached his ultimate decision when planning his layout. 22 | FAKE NEWS OR NOT With all the “Fake News” news being taken for the granted by world powers, maybe there is some truth in an email sent to the Editor. 24 | PLAN PAGE Diagram Uc12 Rail Tank Wagon
36 | THE SOUTHDOCK REPORT Rodger Cullen reports on more improvements to the Southdock kits, this time, Tank Wagons. 36
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NEWS, TIPS, & REVIEWS,
ON THE COVER Da1405 on the loop at Ahuroa on David Weedon’s NZ120 layout. Photograph Scott Neill.
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Why NZ120? David was one of the early modelers to use 1:120 scale on N gauge track. Over the years he has built a highly detailed NZR layout. It blew me away when I first saw it. I’ll let David tell the story.
David Weedon I had N scale in the 1980s as a teenager and at the time there was not a great range of models to choose from so my layout was a mixture of British and American locos running in New Zealand scenery. However, I was not happy with it. Then one day I did a calculation and worked out 9mm gauge track equaled 3ft 6in at the scale of 1:118. Pretty close to TT scale at 1:120, so with nothing to loose I converted my worst running loco to NZ120 and it wasn't too bad, so I kept going and haven't stopped since. Eventually the first loco was rebuilt as my skills improved.
Photography : Scott Neill inspired by the five part series on Ahuroa station by Les Downey, starting in the February 1985 Journal. The Ahuroa station was then part of a permanent layout in a shed. However, after moving house in the early 1990s, the station was rebuilt into two parts to the then NZ120 module standards. Mangamuka and Mt Eden were added in 2005. The layout is loosely based on the North Line, 1950s era, so the station names chosen are Mt Eden (no relation the real Mt Eden), Ahuroa, and Mangamuka. Although a station was never built at Mangamuka there was a proposal to build one so I used my imagination to build it.
This layout had its beginnings in 1985,
The modules The maximum module size is 1200 x 500 mm and it is very easy to remove a module work on it then put it back by one’s self, no crawling underneath for wiring and soldering. So I continued with the modular method. Over the years I have made a few changes and upgrades. When moving house a couple of years ago, it was very easy to shift – simply unplug, unbolt and put in the car. The modules sit on top of book cases and reassembly is very quick. A couple of 750 x 250 mm lift-up modules allow easy access if required and the 300 mm high back boards are painted light sky blue. The layout was housed in a carpeted room at the previous house which was not quite level and is now housed in a room with a wooden floor that also isn’t level, so recently I added small adjustable feet to the module undersides to level the modules. Wiring between modules is achieved using 25-way ribbon cable and computer connectors. Top. The steel truss viaduct over the valley between Ahuroa and Mangamuka. Left. Mangamuka signal box and stock yard.
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Track and turnouts Track is Peco code 55 flexible and I have a minimum of 400 mm radius curves. Turnouts are Peco Electrofrog large and medium radius. Originally, Peco solenoids operated the turnouts but most are now thrown with R/C servos, although a few solenoids still exist under the lift out section turnouts because the R/C servo mounts are too deep to fit in the fully enclosed lifting sections.
Control I changed to a dual system DC & Digitrax DCC when the modules were made. After a few years, I realized I wasn't using the DC any more, so I removed the blocks and switches. In 2013, I decided I wanted to automate the signaling; that meant the layout had to be rewired into blocks again. I use Team Digital BlocD8 block detectors to detect the trains for signaling purposes. I also changed most of the turnouts to R/C servo control and made the semaphore signals servo operated. The R/C servos are controlled by Team Digital SC8 and the controllers connect to the Digitrax LocoNet buss. The few remaining Peco solenoid-thrown turnouts are controlled by a Digitrax DS64. Each station area has a slide-out control panel, buttons control the turnouts, and LED indicators show the turnout position. The panels also connect to the LocoNet Buss using the inputs to the Digitrax DS64 and Team Digital SC8 boards. All the individual module connections are done with multi-pin computer plugs.
Mangamuka Junction. Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scratch-built Drewry railcar is waiting to depart from the dock platform, while the Standard railcar waits on the loop for its next service
I use a laptop with JMRI installed to control the turnouts and signals, set up a JMRI CTC (Centralized Train Control) and a touch screen panel. Communication between the laptop and the layoutâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Digitrax LocoNet is by a Locobuffer USB interface. I hand built the semaphore signals using square brass tube and sheet and the arms operate using small R/C servos mounted under the PC board signal base. The semaphores can be lifted out so I can do layout work without damaging them and set up initial servo adjustments.
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Locos on shed and turntable. RC servos open and close the shed doors.
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The colour light signals use LEDs and are commercial items from Handmade Accessories in Australia. Locos and rolling stock The loco fleet consists of six steam and six diesel locos. I have scratch built superstructures on commercial chassis except one Da that is kit built. Chassis used are what was available at the time such as Minitrix under the Wab locomotive and Lifelike chassis in the diesels. The Twinset railcar has a Graham Farish power bogie and the Standard railcar a Kato drive. The railcars provide provincial passenger services. I am now adding sound to some locos using ESU LOK Micro sound decoders.
stock bodies are built using styrene sheet and shapes. The rake of Kp wagons were built using a styrene master from which I made an RTV mould and cast the wagon bodies using Epifill epoxy resin. The 56â&#x20AC;&#x2122; main line carriages and van are built with PCB (Printed Circuit Board) floor with styrene sides and clip on roof; seats were added and populated with passengers. In the last few months these coaches and van have been fitted with
Rolling stock is 90% scratch built. Four-wheel wagons mostly use Peco N gauge chassis, cut in the middle and length adjusted as required and the brake gear modified. Bogie stock use a variety of commercial bogies and the majority of locomotive superstructures and rolling Top. Mt Eden road over-bridge. A lot of details add to the scene, including working street lights. Right. Mt Eden Station.
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LED lighting â&#x20AC;&#x201C; track-powered with stay alive circuits to overcome dirty track and intermittent loss of power pickup. Animation I like to have animated little things. The loco shed doors are servo operated and the yard crane moves back and forth. The coaling bins have a screw conveyor which operates to load wagons and a camera is mounted inside the bins to watch the loading.
Layout plan: Graham Dredge
There is a working Faller car system with trucks automatically stopping at the railway crossing, which is equipped with lights and bells that operate when a train goes by. Working street and building lights use incandescent lamps. Operating and the future Operating is just sitting and watching the trains go by. JMRI automatically operates the signals and things go wrong only when I don't obey the signals or forget to switch a turnout. Like most modelers, I have more locomotives and stock than can comfortably fit on the layout. So some are kept in storage boxes and occasionally swapped with those on the layout, which gives me a variety of running. For the future I have a few more loco chassis waiting conversion, maybe add a working tram line in Mt Eden, more buildings and change lighting over to LEDs. For more photos of David’s layout see the March through to September 2010 Journal articles ‘NZ120 the first 40 years’ by Rhys Batchelor. You can see the layout on YouTube – search for: “NZ120 Dave”.
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Symonds Street in the background and the other roads serve as a reversing loop for the Faller motor vehicles and access Mt Eden goods sidings.
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To create the background building David drew a up a plan from photos of three buildings found in Memories magazine, and then built it in styrene. The railway track passes under the road bridge. Road markings and signage are a nice addition and help complete the scene.
The express passenger train with Ka 945 on the head end stops to pick up passengers at Ahuroa station while a Da hauled short freight waits in the loop. 8
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Top. Just after leaving Ahuroa the express passes over the steel beam bridge. Right. One of the working semaphore signals David has built. Left (top). The Ahuroa Post and Telegraph Office, modelled from the plans by Les Downey in the June 1985 Journal. Left (below). A GMC truck, a modified Faller model, waits at the Railway crossing. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
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The Midland Railcars Michael Gee Background context
Midland construction and trials
Following the success of the 1934 ‘Red Terror’ inspection railcar, by mid-1936 construction of the seven Wairarapa class railcars, and planning for the Standard class railcars, was well under way. In June and July 1936, the first of the Wairarapa railcars was being used on a promotional tour of the North Island, attracting strong media interest, large crowds, and requests to NZR for new railcar services, wherever it went. The Wairarapa railcars could not begin scheduled services until at least three had been completed.
On 13 June 1936, construction of two railcars for a Christchurch–Greymouth (Midland Line) service was ordered for the primary purpose of conveying newspapers from Christchurch to the West Coast of the South Island (it was decided to carry passengers “only after requests”). Constructed at the NZR Hutt Valley workshops, these four-wheeled Midland railcars were built on a Leyland Tiger bus chassis and powered by an 8.6 litre sixcylinder Leyland diesel engine. They were 26 feet (7.9m) long, with an aluminiumsheathed wooden body, and seats for 19 passengers plus driver and guard.
Maximum speed was about 50 mph (80 km/h). Just a month later, on Saturday 25 July, the first trial run of one of these railcars, Rm 20, took place – from Wellington to Palmerston North – a return trip of 320 km. The railcar “flew like a bird” up the steepest grades (1 in 57) and travel in it was “like being in a glass box, with a view all round.” Four days later RM 20 was shipped to the South Island, and the following day, 30 July, went on a trial run from Christchurch to Hokitika and back. The NZR general manager, Mr Garnet Mackley, reported that the speed of the car surpassed all expectations of railways department experts.
AP Godber (NZRLS Coll)
After two more days of trials, to Timaru and Ashburton, it was found that the worm and worm-wheel in the final drive of the transmission had been damaged as a result of lubrication breaking down in the abnormally cold snowy weather. This was rectified and two more days of trial runs followed, to Rakaia and Waipara.
Inkster Photography Graymouth (NZRLS Coll)
Rear of Rm 20 at Wellington on 25 July 1936.
Rm 20 entered service on Wednesday 5 August 1936, two days later than earlier announcements, but just 11 days after its first trial run, and less than two months after the construction order. The Wairarapa railcars began revenue service a month later, on 7 September 1936. Rm 21 entered service on Monday 19 October 1936, and RM 20 was then given an overhaul, having already completed 35,000 km. Midlands in service Known as “The Press railcars” (but named “Midland Railcar” on NZR plans), a car would depart Christchurch at 2.20am six days a week, Monday to Saturday, with the rear passenger space filled with half a ton of The Press newspapers. The car would arrive in Greymouth at 6.40am, depart at 7.00am, and arrive at Hokitika at 7.45am. The railcar would then provide two local return services from Hokitika to Greymouth: departing
Rm 20 at Greymouth - possibly during trial run on 30 July 1936 10
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John Agnew collection.
Hokitika at 10.00am and 1.00pm, and departing Greymouth at 11.15am and 2.30pm. At the end of the day, the car would depart Hokitika at 4.25pm, depart Greymouth at 5.42pm, and arrive back in Christchurch at 10.23pm – in time for passengers to catch the last tram to any part of the city. From 23 November 1936, a once-daily morning return service from Greymouth to Reefton (then the northernmost working station on the Stillwater–Inangahua line) was also provided – an extension of the morning Hokitika-Greymouth return trip. This service was still running on 30 August 1937 but was discontinued on or by 14 November 1937.
Rm 20 at Hokitika, 1936.
W.W.Stewar (NZRLS Coll) t
The exact timetable varied a little during the years the cars were in service but the above gives the general picture. The Press newspapers were pre-sorted into bundles in Christchurch ready for delivery in Greymouth before breakfast, and in Hokitika, South Westland, Westport, Murchison and Nelson before midday. Service cars carried the papers to places north of Greymouth and south of Hokitika. Normally, one railcar would run one day, and the other would be used the following day. The total distance travelled by a railcar during a day in service was 698 km, or 847 km per day when services ran to Reefton.
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Rm 21 at Wellington, 1936.
G Pratt (NZRLS Coll)
The new Midland railcar service provided considerable benefits for passengers. The railcar took 4.5 hours between Christchurch and Greymouth compared to 6.5 hours for the passenger express mail trains – which ran on only four days per week (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat). The expresses departed Christchurch at 10.00am and arrived at Greymouth at 4.29pm, or departed Greymouth at 10.18am and arrived at Christchurch at 5.00pm. With the railcar, Canterbury business people could spend a whole day in West Coast with only one day involved; West Coast business people could travel east in the evening, spend the next day in Christchurch and return early morning the following day. For everyone, it saved two days otherwise spent simply travelling.
Rm 20 at Christchurch, 8 July 1938.
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The railcars were popular with the travelling public. As early as November 1936, the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce was asking the Railways Department to put a “49-seater rail-car” (i.e. Wairarapa type) on the Midland line service, as the railcar was crowded every night on the evening run from Greymouth to Christchurch. A visiting Australian politician reported that 24 passengers were on his Christchurch-bound trip, “and we were all very comfortable.” On the two other known instances when passenger numbers were noted in news reports (sadly, about accidents), 18 passengers (Christchurch to Greymouth) or 19 passengers (Hokitika to Greymouth) were on board. The Midland services were profitable: revenue for 1937-38 was £9192, and expenses £6272, giving a healthy annual surplus of £2920. In contrast, the Wairarapa railcars only broke even financially. The combined capital cost of the two Midland railcars was £3281.
Midland replacement
Godber, A.P. Godber Album 108. Ref PA1-q-101. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.
Once displaced from the Midland line, there was nowhere the Midland railcars could be used. They were generally too small for the numbers of passengers needing to be carried, or there were not enough passengers to warrant providing a service, or they would duplicate other train or bus services. In 1942, both railcars were dismantled.
McClare, G. A “Midland” Railcar Reprise. NZ Railway Observer, Jun–Jul 2006, pp56-57.
Rm 20 travelled 521,390 km during its life, and Rm 21 covered 405,934 km. Sources Anonymous (1961). First diesel railcars in New Zealand. NZ Railway Observer, Spring 1961, pp76-77. Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1937, Session I, D-02 Annual Report of the General Manager of the New Zealand Government Railways. Page XXVII.
E A Gay (NZRLS Coll)
The first 50-seat Vulcan railcar, Rm 50, entered service on the Midland line on 28 October 1940. It took over the Monday,
Wednesday and Friday services, the Midlands continuing to work the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday services. More Vulcans arrived in 1941, replacing the Midlands completely. A Midland railcar was used for the last time in June 1941, after not quite 5 years of service.
Rm 21 at Addington.
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Jones, D. (1997). Where Railcars Roamed: The Railcars Which Have Served New Zealand Railways. Wellington: Wellington Tramway Museum.
McClare, G. The “Midland” Railcars RM20 and RM21. NZ Railway Observer, Dec 2005–Jan 2006, pp168-170. McGavin, T.A. (1973). NZR Locomotives and Railcars: Diesel, Electric, Steam (Fifth ed.). Wellington: NZ Railway and Locomotive Society. NZ Model Railway Guild, Plan Sheet 28, RM Midland Railcar. NZ Railway and Locomotive Society Archives – NZR Working Timetables; Midland Railcar file. Papers Past – many editions of various papers; mainly Evening Post (Wellington) and The Press (Christchurch).
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Photographs: Michael Gee
Midland Railcar in Two Sizes
Michael Gee Early efforts I had been trying to build a model of an NZR Midland Railcar for some years. The appeal as a model is that the original railcar was very successful, was a complete mixed train (passengers and freight) in a single vehicle, and outrageously cute. My first attempt was to take a rectangle of sheet styrene, cut out the four corners to give a roof with two sides and two ends joined to it, and try to bend the walls and ends down to create the body shell. My second effort involved making a wooden mould the shape of the body shell, partly melting styrene sheet in an oven, before ‘flopping’ it down over the mould. Then I tried vacuum-forming arrangements over the mould. No attempt came close to being a useable start.
in a 1:64 scale body shell in acrylic plastic that was ‘right first time.’ This included a fully formed cowcatcher at the front of the railcar. For the smaller 1:120 scale version – the size I particularly wanted – a few iterations were required as I worked out what was needed to attach handrails and a cowcatcher in such a small scale. The cowcatcher is too fine to be 3D printed so small – current printing technology at Shapeways simply cannot do it.
Mark Andrews of Marks Model Works drew one up and had it made as a brass etch. The acrylic is too hard and too brittle to easily drill precisely with a hand-held drill in a pin vice. So I got Ben (editing his file) to make four holes in the front of the 1:120 body shell to take the top of the cowcatcher, and 12 angled holes in the sides of the car – three on each side of the two doors – to take wire for the handrails. I then had to get the new version of the 1:120 shell printed.
3D printing Ben Carter, computer technology student, came to my rescue and kindly drew the body shell and hubcaps using Blender 3D software. He drew on his earlier experience drawing the Red Terror, and was not only much quicker but the first print (done by Shapeways) resulted 14
The 1:64 scale Midland Railcar 3D body printed by Shapeways.
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Bodywork The two body shells (1:64 and 1:120) were cleaned up and painted using the method described in the last edition of the NZ Model Railway Journal. The handrail knobs for the 1:64 Midland were glued in place with 5-Minute Araldite and allowed to set before the handrail wire was inserted and glued (or the wire straightens and pulls the knobs out before the glue sets). Note that the two handrails should be angled â&#x20AC;&#x201C; closer together at the top than at the bottom. For the 1:120 Midland, 0.3mm brass wire was bent and fitted into the pre-formed holes top and bottom of the handrail, and a short piece of wire inserted through the central hole to form the middle handrail holder. 1
I had to keep holding the glazing for 10 minutes until the glue set and hardened. Curtains were from textured cardboard painted beige. Photo 2 shows a curtain piece being held while PVA glue is applied to the top and bottom of the curtains of the 1:120 Midland. The wet PVA holds the curtains in place unassisted. Laying the body on a piece of bubble-wrap for these tasks protects the paintwork and handrails from damage.
Chassis Mark Andrews drew up, and had made, an etched brass chassis for the 1:64 Midland, this time selecting a North Yard gearbox rather than the worm and worm gear used for the Red Terror. For the 1:120 Midland, I found that a Kato 11-104 motorised chassis could be cut down and fitted under the body shell. The challenge was to somehow support the body so that it rode at the right position over the wheels. 3
Fitting the window glazing was more challenging with twice as many pieces of glazing per vehicle than required for the Red Terror. I used one implement to hold the glazing in position while another is used to apply the 5-Minute Araldite along the top and bottom edge.
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1. Railcar, 1:64 scale, handrail detail, note how they are angled in towards the top . 2. Fitting curtains to the Midland 1:120. 3. Under-side of 1:64 chassis. 4. The 1:64 chassis top. The PCB board pieces are bigger than they need to be. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
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I cut two pieces of 0.75mm thick styrene to make two floor pieces, one for each end of the car. I got the curve at the floor ends by tracing around the end of the printed shell. One floor piece was slightly longer than the other so that the front wheels are closer to the front of the vehicle. This gives the visual illusion that the wheels are where they are supposed to be despite the mechanism wheelbase being too short. The floor pieces were each glued to a 3.2mm x 3.2mm styrene square section using MEK solvent. Two small packing pieces were added to the inner top of the floor pieces so that they were kept all square when tucked up under the overhangs of the mechanism. The square sections were then glued to the ends of the mechanism with liquid nails to give the result shown in Photo 7. Almost. The body sat 3mm above the track instead of 4mm. So 1mm packing pieces were added to both outer ends of the floor so that the body is now at the right height. Brass wire was glued on with liquid nails to make the exhaust pipe and sanding pipes. The cowcatcher brass etch was cut from the sprue using a craft knife on a hard surface. The top was rounded by wrapping it around brass tube, the etch painted, and fitted to the railcar. The bottom braces of the cowcatcher were shortened and tucked up under the front of the shell. The cowcatcher was glued in place with 5-Minute Araldite. The braces were designed to go further back under the floor as per the prototype – but then I couldn’t have got the mechanism in and out – so I compromised.
5. Kato 11-104 chassis for the Midland 1:120 - on the right the original and left the cut down chassis. 6. Midland 1.120 chassis with floor pieces ready for fitting. 7. The Midland 1:120 completed chassis. 8. Midland 1:120 with sanding pipes and exhaust pipe fitted.
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Completion The 1:120 Midland is complete to my satisfaction. The 1:64 version needs additional underfloor details such as sanding pipes, exhaust pipe, muffler, and the ‘sweepers’ that clear the rails ahead of the front wheels. I also want to add decals and fit a sound decoder and speaker. -------------------------------------------------The 1:64 Midland is available as a kit from The Railcar Company. See them on Facebook The 1:120 body shell “NZR Midland Railcar 1:120” is available from https:// www.shapeways.com
11 9. The completed 1:120 Midland. Compare the size to the New Zealand $1 coin which is 23 mm in diameter. 10. The Completed Midland rail car, 1:64 scale. 11. Rear view of 1:64 Midland.
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Buildings worth modelling Graham Dredge On Bridge Street, Eltham, in the South Taranaki region there is a large number of old buildings dating from the late 19th and early 20th Centurys.
here. Since the 1950’s business in the street have changed and but fortunately most of the buildings survive.
Bridge Street runs from High Street, the main road (State Highway 2) to the site of the railway station and would have been built up during the period of rail transport for the masses.
I first stopped in Eltham on the way through on during a business trip in the late 1980’s however it took me until 2005 before I got the time to stop and walk along Bridge Street and take many photographs, a few of them are produced here.
Bridge Street is still the main business hub for the town of Eltham because the banks and most of the shops are located
Because of the tightening of building strength rules since the Christchurch and Wellington earthquakes, many buildings
may be at risk of being demolished in the next decade or two. I would recommend getting your camera and taking photos of any buildings with potential for modelling on your layout. Because many of the buildings are small they would be suitable for modelling, especially where space is at a premium, and a variety of business types or names could be used depending on the era you model.
Above. 79 Bridge Street. Built about 1898. David Syme, a local solicitor, was the first occupier. David Syme moved out in 1945. The building was sold to Joseph O’Connor (a fruiterer), who sold it in 1951 to Feram Fakir Patel, also a fruiterer. Mr Patel used the building for family accommodation. Built of wood this is a real cutie that would take up a small area on a model street. Left. 125 Bridge Street. The front of this building is built from reinforced concrete. The shop was built in 1911 for the United Ancient Order of Druids Lodge No 32. The front of the building housed Mr Thomas Chalmers Men’s Tailors business, with a secretary’s residence attached at the rear. References. South Taranaki District Council, Eltham Heritage Inventory. www.southtaranaki.com
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Top. “A WARE; 1927”. 86 & 88 Bridge Street. A typical tiled front building housing two shops. I couldn’t find any history about these shops, and both now house different businesses since I took the photos in 2005. The power distribution boxes on the left side of the building and power transformer on the foot path, would have been added later in the buildings life. Middle. Number 81. Miss Ford’s Tea Rooms again built around 1898. An article in the Eltham Argus of the 18 March 1904 recorded the opening of the new Oriental Tea Rooms. ‘This famous little shop features on a set of tea coasters produced by the Bell Tea Company.’ In April 1906, the Ford sisters moved to the former Bank of New South Wales building and established “Westford House”, a dining and boarding house. They made the first ice cream sold in Eltham. The shop then became the premises for Mr Tempero’s saddle and harness making business. In 1910 he leased the shop to another saddler, Maurice William Bridger who purchased it in 1941. In 1953 it was sold to Charles Stewart Talbot, a boot repairer. Left. Number 124 has been demolished since I took my photographs, I can’t find it on Google maps.
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Layouts Based on Location – My Ultimate Decision Les Downey All Photographs Les Downey except as noted
Recently I read of another modeller’s search for a suitable prototype location to base their layout on. The story reminded me of the agonising I went through for many years until in 2001 I made my ultimate decision about what and where I would base my home layout on. A few changes of address prior to 2001 didn’t make decisions any easier but at one address I had room to build a 6 metre by 2.4 metre exhibition layout named Avondale (NZMRJ April 1997) to exhibit at the Brisbane Model Train Show in 1994 and 1995.
Wharf area on Avondale Layout at Brisbane Model Train show. However a continuous circuit exhibition layout was not what I wanted for my own permanent layout, One station I considered was Newmarket Junction, a station whatever permanent is? that I visited regularly in the 1950’s. Going back a decade or two before this I had always championed having a scale size replica of a chosen location. Trouble is that unless you like some oddball little station tucked into a tight space they’re all too big, especially in S scale.
And if they’re tucked into a tight corner they’re unlikely to have much of interest in the way of facilities anyway.
Newmarket with its triangle and head shunt was a busy station with passenger trains, goods trains, and local shunts arriving or departing to and from the three directions. It also had an East and a West yard which provided a lot of shunting within, and to local industries outside the station limits.
Photo by Whites Aviation
With the Opua Express train (# 15/50) being half a dozen carriages, plus a guards van and reasonable sized locomotives my condensed platform length of two metres was too short. And no I couldn’t lengthen the platforms, because with a minimum radius 900mm curve each side into the triangle and the adjacent two metre head shunt, together with crossovers etc, I still needed a length of eleven metres and that didn’t include even minimum radius curves away from each end of the outer points. So clearly not a proposition unless I owned a hall. LOL The final killer of my great idea came when I saw a scale length model of a country station with crossing loop built by the late Ross Hughes.
Aerial view Newmarket Junction. 20
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
3. Anything else I could conveniently tuck in here and there without ruining the spacious country feel. 4. Railway wise I always was fascinated how on the single line track one train would go into the loop to cross an opposing one or to be overtaken by a faster one travelling in the same direction. Quite a lot of operating potential in this so a single line station with at least a crossing loop had to be at the centre of my country village. . There were other smaller “wants” but I’m a believer of adding suitable “extras” as the construction progresses and this policy has resulted in my satisfaction with actually achieving the goals I want.
Tahekeroa Station crossing loop. The only facility there was a little dog box type shelter shed but between the main line points would require about 8 metres in length for the crossing loop without any other trackage. And this was on the North Auckland line, not the Main Trunk. And so the thinking started again, and gradually, sorry make that very gradually, (like several years) I decided if I was going to have to compromise it would be on my terms. I wasn’t going to be totally straight jacketed in my search for authenticity. . I gave a lot of thought to what I wanted out of a layout and eventually settled on these priorities – 1. A representative country township, or at least some of the important facilities one usually found in such a place. A grocer, a motor garage, a Church, a pub, and a railway station of course. 2. Some representative snatches of various types of appropriate scenery.
I could have incorporated more features but that would have been at the expense of the overall spacious country effect. I was still troubled by the thought of generic buildings which would lack inspiration so I came up with the idea of modelling actual buildings that I liked and had seen in different locations. Many of these I had photographed either with a model railway in mind or for my general interest in this sort of thing. So a bringing together of these buildings into my country township seemed to fit my needs. I guess I also had a kick start into firming up this aspect as I built the previous exhibition layout in less than 3 months start to finish so I didn’t have time to day dream and burnt a lot of midnight oil on the project. To hold the public interest, an exhibition layout needs continual train movement but this round and round and round didn’t suit my personal interests. And because of the position of a doorway into the laundry I couldn’t assemble the layout fully in the garage, so after the two shows I decided to sell the Avondale layout. However I did keep the buildings and subsequently added more detail to them and finished some of the formerly unseen parts that I had to skip because of the initial tight time frame. I believe I am achieving a realistic “flavour” to my country township layout. And even though two of the tracks at the station will only accommodate a loco and the equivalent of ten 4 wheel wagons plus a guards van I haven’t yet had anybody notice and comment about it because it seems to blend into the scene as a whole
Representative snatches of scenery, Dudson’s Bush.
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Grocery store. Adding extras produce, delivery bike. The Grocer & staff enjoying the sunshine. Certainly it’s a little restricting in train makeup but the whole scene looks cohesive and photographs well plus it gives me a reasonable operating potential. I believe the main reason I’m happy with what I’ve created is because I didn’t just drift into building a layout.
Country township “realistic flavour”.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
I decided what I wanted from it visually and operationally, and by modelling familiar buildings and features I can identify with, and in some instances have had actual memories of association with them. It is very difficult to be patient and plan a layout but it’s also a good idea to think before you jump.
Fake News or Not This email and photograph was received from an anonymous sender Rummaging around in some neglected archives (aka, a rubbish skip), I found a folder containing an historical proposal for a locomotive to replace the aging fleet of freight locomotives at that time used to haul Auckland suburban carriage trains. Included in the proposal was a note to the effect that, to appease the Auckland City Council, often known as Japhas (Just Auckland Philandering Actors), and its then leader Mayor Leonardo Brownie, a proposal to build a new locomotive should be sent to major railway manufacturers, including Daffy Limited, who had just started building the DL locomotive fleet.
on a chassis for a locomotive they were building for a railway somewhere in Middle Earth. There was no information about responses from other manufacturers, other than a later note to say that Auckland City had placed an order with a European manufacturer for new EMUs and that the idea for the new locomotive should be quietly dropped and all documents disposed of.
The locomotive proposed was to be smaller than the DL, with a modern high-speed turbocharged diesel-electric power plant able to accelerate trains at a faster rate than the diesel freight locomotives then in use. The locomotive could also replace the aging fleet of shunting and short-haul locomotives used in Auckland and Wellington. Apparently, Daffy was the only one to submit a proposal, which included a photograph of a mock-up they had created
Model and beginners articles
One of the difficulties Kevin Crosado (our previous editor) had, and I have inherited, is getting enough suitable copy for the Journal. ‘WE NEED YOU’ to contribute articles for the Journal; about layouts, modelling, prototype and for beginners; not just NZR but also other Railways of New Zealand subjects such as bush trams and the like. I know our readers appreciate reading the articles. Although I have edited and produced two Journals to date it has been a struggle to get articles and this September issue has been particularly difficult. The cupboard is almost bear and I would like to get the December Journal in the post to you, the readers, before the end of November so that you can enjoy a good read over the holiday season, however without your help this target will be most likely be missed. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
Before you start building a model and if you would like to share your techniques with our readers, ask yourself “has it been done before?”, If the subject was covered in a Journal article more than ten years ago it may be OK to do a new one, your techniques will surely be different and you may have new information pertaining to the subject matter. If in doubt contact me first or better still contact me anyway before you commit yourself to doing an article, via email at nzmrj_editor@xtra. co.nz. Then while you are building the model, take photos and notes as you progress. If measurements are to be used in the article write these down so they can be referenced later as you compose your article. Plans and good drawings are welcome and most helpful.
Other Scales Sn3 ½ and 9 mm scale modelling articles dominate the Journal, the main reason? It is these modellers that kindly write the articles. Obviously Sn3 ½ is the most popular NZR scale, however 9 mm NZR by all accounts has less following than NZ120, so why no NZ120 articles? A complaint I received at convention from
a well known NZ120 Modeller about the lack of articles for his chosen scale, my reply was ”If I don’t get I can’t print” or words to that affect. We need more articles relating to the other scales, such as NZ120 and Ho, including Ho scale looka-likes, such as from Frateschi, especially to encourage new comers to the hobby. As luck would have it a month later I was contacted by a local NZ120 modeller, David Weedon; his layout features in this issue of the Journal.
Prototype Articles As you will be aware many of the prototype articles produced in the Journal are for subjects from the last century, reflecting the age of many of the modellers of New Zealand Railways. We need to encourage new modellers into the hobby and the younger generation relate to the prototypes of a more modern era such as the 21st century, which is now in its nineteenth year. Photographs from other sources must include the source reference and please check if it is OK for us to include and print it in the Journal. Continued on Page 41
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RAIL TAN 37½ FT
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NK WAGON T. BOGIE
Scale as reproduced 1:64
We could not find a photo of Uc740 which had Garratt water tanks fitted in 1937. The plan above shows 16â&#x20AC;&#x2122;6â&#x20AC;? (5 M) tanks which was the length of the front Garratt water tank, the rear ones were shorter. However the photo on the left shows two of the Garratt front water tanks fitted to what appears to be ex Ug horse box under frames which were 25 feet (7.62 M) long.
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This could be backed up by Reference: Addington Railway Workshops by Keith G Brown). In the late 1950s the workshop boilers at the Addington workshops were changed to oil firing, deliveries being made every second day, the oil stored in two disused water tanks off the Beyer Peacock Garratt locomotives. The tanks were later mounted on Ub tank wagons and used for transport of fertilizer to Kempthorne Prosser fertilizer works in Hornby around 1963.
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1930â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Private Owner Tank Wagons Photographs Wayne Brindle unless noted
Wayne Brindle
Private Owner Shell Tank Wagons In my article in the December 2013 NZ Model Railway Journal I referred to a photo (from T Bradley) and a drawing (in the above article) of two Shell Tank Cars with Red lettering on Yellow tanks. I decided that due a lack of suitable kits available that I would scratch build the
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two Tank Cars, so I got in the brass sheet, channel, angle and T sections.
2018 Easter Convention coming up it was time to complete the Tank Cars.
Building of the wagons proceeded at a pace until the stage I had the wagons ready to fit the bogies, but no tank or end restraint framing. Then other tasks got in the road and they were put away.
The tanks were turned from a length of 32 mm OD plastic water pipe, and the ends are 4mm thick Evergreen styrene sanded to shape. The domes are two pieces of Evergreen tube; the inner one had a sheet styrene cap that was drilled in
Then towards the end of 2017 and the
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
I produced the decals with an inkjet printer and Testors Decal paper. For the Super Shell sign writing I selected the nearest font I could find, and modified it in Photoshop to better match the sign writing in the photo. For the Shell sign writing I scanned the drawing that appeared in the Dec 2013 article, took it into Photoshop and coloured the sign writing and removed the surrounding details. From Photoshop the sign writing was inserted into a word document, sized, and printed onto A5 paper to check everything before printing on to the decal paper. For the rivet details I used Archers S Scale 7/8th inch diameter rivet Decals. These decals were a breeze to apply as there was a very short time from wetting the decal paper to the time it would slide, and as there is over 200 rivets per wagon the decals went on quickly. I used S Scale rivets, and although they are correct to scale, I suspect that if I had used the O Scale rivet decals it would have improved the look. For the Uc 795 I used North Yard BP3181 bogies, and for Uc 1031 I noted that the bogies were BP25340, these were Trackside Bogies that I obtained several years ago and I suspect are now out of production.
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Drawing Uc12 Loco Fuel Tank Wagon Peter Ross supplied me with a set of Uc tank car drawings, and I spotted the Uc 12 tank car that used the forward defunct Garratt water tanks on a U Wagon for fuel oil. As I am partial to Garratt Locomotives, this may be as close as I get to an NZR Garratt model in my collection. The model consists of a Trackside U wagon, which I replaced the angle iron trusses with rods and changed the brake cylinder to match the drawing. The bogies are BP3181 with the split spoke wheels replaced with 8 spokes and 25mm axles. The tank retainers were constructed from brass angle, strip and U channel. I scratch built the tanks using 2 mm styrene ends, spaced with four lengths of Evergreen 3.2 x 6.3 mm rectangular tube section. Two placed at the outer lower corners and two on the upper edge just inside the start of the curve. The skin was 0.4 mm styrene curved to fit before applying the glue. The domes were again styrene tube and rod. I have now seen a photo showing individual Garratt tanks sitting on what appears to be 26ft long steel bogie wagons and sign written for Liquid Fertilizer traffic. (See plan and notes Page 24. Ed)
Top. Wayneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s completed loco fuel wagon, Uc740. Above. Wayne built the tanks at the June Auckland Modellers Day and then later fitted them to the under frame. Below. The under frame was built using a Trackside U wagon kit, brass truss rods and bogies. Fittings such as tank retainers were built with K&S brass shapes.
Photograph: RScott Neil
eight places and fine styrene rod inserted to represent bolt heads. The valves were turned from styrene rod in a battery drill.
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GRAFFITI
Modern Image Modelling Photographs: Mike Steenhuisen
Mike Steenhuisen
On the modern New Zealand railway scene, graffiti is commo place and covers all aspects of the rail corridor and rolling stock. There is a series of woodchip containers that traverses the North Auckland line. This container is modelled off one of that group.
1. Once the model has received its final coat of paint, subtle weathering wash is applied and then sealed with dull coat. This is the base to begin the graffiti detail. I use reference points on the real life wagon as guides to ensure the correct positioning and scale, starting with an outline in pencil.
2. I start applying the colour and detail starting with the background to mimic the layering effect in the original work. I mix up one batch of colour at a time and complete all the details using that colour in one sitting, where possible. Sometimes, due to the duration of the work I keep the paint wet by sitting it on damp handytowels. If the work takes more than one sitting, I store the paint in an air-tight container. 28
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3. Once the background is complete, I do the outline of the lettering. This is done with a #0 soft round brush. I use cheap, generic paint brushes as the tips bend after roughly 40 hours work.
4. I have applied silver to colour the lettering. I use a #2 soft flat brush for this part to cut through the work a bit quicker. These seem to last forever, so I invest in a better quality of brush.
5. Here you can see how all the little details start to bring the graffiti to life. I use cheap acrylic paints for all of my graffiti work, as they come in small tubes and a plethora of colours. Acrylics are also water soluble, meaning they are more forgiving to work with when it comes to blending, covering mistakes and cleaning out the brushes. The final details are added and then a layer of dull coat is applied to seal the acrylic to the model. I applied a light weathering wash is applied to blend the graffiti into the already weathered container.
6. This is the reference photo I used for this HFC wood chip container, parked at the yard in Whangarei.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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Winter Scenes
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The 2018 Winter season is offially over and this year winter has been relatively free of snow storms that can create havoc on our roads but rarely delay or interrupt rail services. Present day train crews spend their work hours in a nice heated cab and usually leave the cab at the end of a shift as trains run from point to point. However spare a thought for the train crews of the past, they had to leave the comfort of their firebox heated cab and attend to shunting wayside halts in all weather, be it rain, hail or snow.
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
These photographs, taken by John Creber in July 1960, show the crew of a short goods train hauled by Ab726 working on the Kingston Branch. (John Agnew collection) I have never seen any photos or mention of a model New Zealand typical snow scene and creating one would make an interesting modelling challenge.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
Oh What a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts Paul Napier I am building an O scale (1/48th) diorama layout of a World War 2 Royal New Zealand Air Force airstrip somewhere in the South West Pacific. Our air force operated in this area from 1942 until wars end in 1945. The diorama also features a 2 foot (12 mm) gauge railway that would have been built by the Imperial Japanese Navy to assist with construction of the airstrip. One thing that is common in almost every picture of these Pacific airstrips is a stand of coconut trees in the background. I figured I would need 60 to 70 coconut trees to run right along the back of the baseboards. I checked out what trees were available commercially, unfortunately I could find nothing even remotely close to the scale height of 30 m, the height to which coconut trees grow so scratch building was the only option. Right. Part of the airfield scene Paul is trying to replicate.
Making Coconut Palms
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1. This shows the stages of making a frond which grow 4 to 6 metres long. Cut thin wire to appropriate length allowing an additional one cm to imbed into top of the tree trunk. Place wire down the centre of the masking tape and fold the tape back on itself. Cut to shape with small sewing scissors and paint. Finally lightly bend leaves so they will hang down when placed on the tree.
2. The trunk is formed from three pieces of the thicker wire one being 1 to 2 cm longer to form the mounting pin. Wrap tape along the full length of the trunk then glue a small circle of cardboard at the bottom of the trunk with hot glue. Finally run hot glue along a few cm of
the trunk at a time and wrap cord around the trunk. These should be several layers of cord at both the base and top of the trunk. There is no need to be too tidy with the wrapping as this forms the rough rings of the trunk.
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3. The cord is covered with the texture gel. I find this easiest to do with your fingers. When dry paint the trunk.
4. To form the coconuts, I use a box of Whole Black Pep-
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percorns which can be painted green for immature coconuts or brown if representing ripe coconuts. Once the paint was dry I glue them into clumps by placing a bunch into PVA drops placed on a smooth plastic surface. Once dry the clumps are gently lifted off they are easy to glue onto the trunk with PVA.
5. To attach each frond to the trunk I drive a hole with a small screw driver or drill. Each frond is then secured in the hole with a small dab of super glue. Place and bend the fronds to give coverage both around the trunk and in the vertical. Brown dead fronds can also be replicated hanging down the trunk. Note the clumps of coconuts glued in place.
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MATERIALS USED
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Florists stem wire 18 gauge
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Florists stem wire 22 gauge
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Florists stem wrap tape
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A roll of coarse hemp cord
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50 mm wide masking tape
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Reeves coarse texture gel
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Peppercorns
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Various colours of cheap acrylic paint
Paul’s airfield scene is quite prototypical and the information below backs this up. In 1913, the Germans began construction of a light railway on Upolu, the main island of the then German Samoa, to transport building material from the waterfront at Apia to a wireless station. The railway was inaugurated on 1 August 1914, just as World War I began. The railway to the wireless station was approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) long, and a total of 8 miles (12.9 km) including the various branches to the coconut plantations. German Samoa was occupied on 30 August 1914 by an expeditionary force sent from New Zealand. When the New Zealand Railway Engineers unit of the 3rd Auckland Regiment arrived in Samoa, the line was in disrepair, however it was soon repaired and the petrol engine locomotive seized was quickly rebranded N.Z.R. and christened A1. The men apparently missed the omission of the customary whistle of an ‘A’ class engine and requested to arrange to have a whistle affixed to the engine, Whether this happened is unknown. In 1939 the New Zealand Public Works Department built an air base for the Royal New Zealand Air Force at Nadi in Fiji. With the arrival of WWII and the American Forces in the Pacific there was a request in 1941 from the US Forces for the air base runway to be lengthened to provide a stopping off point and accommodate transport aircraft flying in the Pacific. The PWD ‘borrowed’ locomotives and rolling stock for the work required from the Colonial Sugar Company and imported others from New Zealand. The Lautoka to Kavanagasau sugar cane railway ran past the Nadi airfield and had to be rerouted around the airfield, forming a U shaped loop, adding a couple of kilometres to the route. Information from the book: Cane Train by Peter Dyer and Peter Hodge. Available from the New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society Inc www.railsoc.org.nz http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
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A Tale of Two Diesels Easy off the shelf locomotive conversions for modellers of New Zealand Railways.
Adrian Howard I was recently musing over the relative dimensions and overall look of two 1:76 scale diesel locos, the Hornby Railroad 0-4-0 Bagnall shunter, and the Heljan BR Class 05 0-6-0 shunter. My interest was that both locos in a smaller scale (but based on a broader gauge than NZR) could be adapted to suit NZR 1:64 which uses the same track. The Bagnall always looked too tall for OO gauge, and when placed alongside the Drewry Railcar, as in the photos, it did not seem out of place. I had always liked the look of the Hunslet shunter, with its distinctive shaped cab roof, and the rear overhang, but especially the chunky Hunslet nameplate above the equally chunky vertical bar grill (sadly these features were removed when the NZR Hunslets were re-engined). The Hunslets were South Island locos and I recall them, especially I think it was Dsa 250 working in the Gore area in the early 60s. I liked the look, and wanted to have a model version. Then along came the Heljan 05 with a variety of liveries and eras. I bought a standard green livery with the grill in red and the Hunslet nameplate also with a red background.
Adrian’s NZR Ds Shunting locomotive in 1:64 scale, converted from a OO scale Hornby Bagnall locomotive.
I am not a rivet counter, but I like to create something that is a passable option, and I think I have done that.Both locos were given a coat of NZR red, with the cab roof in silver, and then weathered. The under-frame was weathered, and the driving rods were ‘rusted’ to take that newness away. Lights front and rear were added, a driver installed, and a shunter added to the front footplate of each loco. Both locos are superb runners, at both low speed, and at pace.
Both locos were a relatively quick conversion option, and I am pleased with the decision. The initial fear of slicing in to a perfectly good proprietary loco quickly disappeared, and after surgery I now have a couple of useful shunters. I recommend a similar process to anyone wishing to create something for their own layout when alternative RTR options or kits, especially for the Hunslet don’t exist in 1:64.
With both locos, there was some minor surgery required, to remove the tensionlock couplers and replace with Kaydee couplers (although the Hunslet has retained one tension-lock to be used as a transition loco for some of the mixed stock I have). The British buffers had to be removed, holes filled and sanded and running boards front and rear constructed out of brass. The Hunslet required a chimney, and both required maker’s plates, and number plates which I purchased from Trackgang Products. The numbers are for Ds locos, but they are both different numbers for each loco, and you only notice when you look really closely (and I mean really closely). The S Scale (1:64) Hunslet. Adrian’s conversion from an Heljan BR Class 05 0-6-0 model locomotive.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
THE SOUTH DOCK REPORT Rodger Cullen reports on improvements to the Southdock range of Tank Wagons, revived from the original Trackside kits. Since my last report we have continued with the enhancement and expansion of the South Dock range. This has seen South Dock re-introduce the Trackside 1:64 scale range of Wagons that have been out of circulation for some time. The first model completed was the Mcp Road/Rail Petrol Wagon. This nice 2 axle wagon had 3 x 600-gallon Petrol tanks that were demountable for road transport.
Photos: Top to Bottom Mcp Road/Rail Petrol Wagon. (Prototype photo) a modified Mc wagon that had 3 x 600-gallon Petrol tanks that were demountable for road transport. Ubs2. These were converted from Ub flat wagons and fitted with a single tank for transporting Sulphuric Acid. Uc Bitumen Tank Wagon were distinguishable by their four ventilation stacks and heating apparatus to keep the bitumen warm and fluid for pumping to road tankers. Uc18 Bulk Rail Tank Wagon with BP (British Petroleum) and safety signage.
Following closely on the heals of the Mcp has been the reintroduction of the Ubs Sulphuric Acid tank Wagons in both single tank Ubs2 and double tank Ubs1 versions. Both these Sulphuric Acid transportation wagons were converted from Ub class stock. Once I had the Ubs completed it was time to work on some other bulk tank wagons and the Uc Bitumen Tank Wagon was it. One of my favourite wagons due to its unusual venting stacks. I had a request for a Uc18 Bulk Rail Tank Wagon while visiting the Manawatu Rail-X Show in Palmerston North, so once I returned home that was the next project. The Uc18 has a big tank length at 11.800m long with a capacity over 37000 litres. This looks fantastic in model form especially with having no wagon deck allowing it to show the underframe detail. The next wagons I have been working on at the time of writing this report are the Yc and Yf Steel ballast wagons. Both these are on target to be completed by the Christchurch Big Model Train Show in October. New instructions need to be written for all these wagons and that will come, but in the meantime, getting the models back out in the market will only serve to encourage new and existing modellers to continue in this great hobby. Rodger Cullen
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Window on Shopping Kato Power Bogie
Geared Motors
Peter Ross reports.
Graham Dredge reports
When Grant Morrell came across this Kato 1-310D1 EF510 power bogie for sale on the internet he thought, ‘let’s get one and see what it's like’. It took two months to arrive, and Grant has yet to try it out or find a use for it but it looks interesting, and the Kato brand is usually of impeccable quality.
Ideal for animation work a range of reasonably priced geared motors are available from EBay and other Chinese web shops. Grant Morrell and I have used various ones over the last few years, (see Grant’s crane article in the June 2018 issue of the Journal).
Grant Morrell
I decided to look them up the price is less than NZ$4 post free. While searching Ebay I also came across these less than $2 rulers, very cheap, but do they bend as shown in the photo?
Bad buy
The bogie is HO gauge with 32mm axle centres and 11.5mm wheels, and looks like it’s meant for a multiple unit or railcar. However a couple of hours digging out plans yielded no exact matches to anything NZR in 1:64 scale. The wheels would be too small and the only close matches I could find to those axle centres were the Sentinel Cammel steam railcar and the Drewry 0-4-0 Tr rail tractor, both at 33.3mm centres. Grant is thinking of removing the side frames and maybe fitting drive chains as per his Gamman & Co logging railcar. If you have some ideas, maybe you could write in to let others know?
Motors available range from 6V at 30 rpm, and 12V at 100rpm up to 2000rpm. The motor profile is 10 x 12 mm and the length 26 mm over motor and gearbox. The 3 mm shaft is 10 mm long has a flat on one edge (D shaped profile). Mounting brackets are also available and are useful where you want to screw the geared motor to a base, and also provide protection from dust ingress into the gearbox. Search Ebay for N20 geared motor.
Protractors and Rulers
Recently while searching the web I found some 1:64 scale Citroen L15 model cars on Alliexpress. Also shown was the size 7.5 cm long, however the manufacturer’s name was not shown. A Wiki check revealed the scale length correct at 1:64 scale so a few days later I ordered eight of them, one for me and seven for my fellow Westies who wanted them as well. They arrived a couple of weeks later, and each car came in a Shuku branded box and they were a nice model. However they just looked way too big, so I compared one with the known 1:64th cars on my layout and visually confirmed this. I then measured the Shuku model and found it is 8.5 cm long, about 1:55 scale, not good. I raised a Alliexpress dispute and managed to get a 30% refund, how long this will take to appear in my bank account is an unknown at the time of writing. They say once bitten twice shy, me twice bitten thrice shy. Anyone want some larger than 1:64 scale cars?
Grant’s bogie cost him $34 plus $16 shipping, while Google offers several sources at varying prices, try eBay or www.1999. co.jp/eng/10186721. 36
Don Wills recently purchased some stainless steel protractors on Ebay, and says “I have used mine a few times now and it is very handy. Chinesium but at a huge cost differential to the Micro Mark ones.”
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
Wellington NZR Modellersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Group Michael Gee
The July meeting of the Wellington group was at David Bewickâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 1:64 NZR layout, where Mark Andrews carried out further tests with his Josephine Double Fairlie. The gradient and curvature of the double track spiral proved ideal for the purpose. Drive belts of a different size resulted in unexpected better running and added weight to the bogie ends improved tracking. Engines and rolling stock intended for running at the 7-8 July 2018 Palmerston North RailEx were also given test runs to resolve problems before the show. The August meeting was at the Hutt Valley MRC clubrooms at Moera. Paul Napier demonstrated hand-making of O-scale coconut trees for his model
of an RNZAF airfield in the Pacific during WW2. A captured Japanese navy 2 foot gauge construction railway runs around the perimeter. Mark and Michael measured up parts required for Wairarapa railcars (1:64 and 1:120), including cowcatchers, flywheels, and running wheels. We also examined 1:48 scale Josephine parts for a South Island customer. Great conversations were enjoyed by all on topics of mutual interest. The Wellington NZR modellers group meets on the first Tuesday of each month. Contact Mark Andrews on 04-979 9176 for details.
Shapeways
Left. The Wairarapa railcar body shell is available on Shapeways in NZ120 (1:120 scale). Search under "NZR Wairarapa Railcar" in Shapeways.com. Mark (of Marks Model Works) and Michael are still working on a cowcatcher and mechanism for the 1:120 version.
Grant Morrell
Mark is just beginning preliminary designs for a chassis and mechanism for the 1:64 version. Once this is done, additional pieces can be added to the interior of the body to attach the chassis to. Once this is done, the 1:64 version body is intended to be made available for sale, together with a powered chassis.
Mark Andrews new chassis for the Double Fairlie with twin motors and redesigned belt drives. Silent and smooth, and the belts are easy to replace if they accidently drop off the pulleys. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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Trade News
Hints & Tips Introducing simple hints and tips for the readers. If you have a simple tip email Graham at nzmrj_editor@xtra.co.nz with a few notes and a photograph or two.
Tender Draw Bars.
Graham Dredge
Annoyed at the locomotive and tender coming apart whilst removing a locomotive from the track? Recently I was asked to repair a J loco that been causing problems, faltering as it ran around the owners layout. The problem I found to be a very hard to trace intermittent short circuit and after a lot of time investigating the cause I applied a simple technique to the locomotive to help prevent this occurring again. I use this technique on all my tender locomotives and it saves a lot of time and anguish when removing or placing the locomotives off and on the rails.
Coreless Can Motors. Mark Andrews of MMW, is using and supplying small coreless motors in his kits and advises that coreless motors run well on DC. However when using DCC decoders the motor drive frequency must be set at 20 KHz or higher. A couple of years ago I tested the output of a small range of DCC decoders and although most decoder manufacturers state they run at high frequency the motor drive methods vary considerably some pulsing the high frequency on and off at much lower frequencies, such as 60 Hz. I came to the conclusion that I would avoid commonly available US supplied decoders (Digitrax and TCS decoders tested) as they could cause coreless motor overheating and poor running. This may be because the US manufacturers have very little, if any, experience with coreless motors and have adopted “silent drive” high frequencies because it is a common way to reduce motor buzzing noises that was common in early DCC decoders, and is it now easier to implement from an electronics point of view than it was a decade or so ago. ESU LOK decoders are OK and can be set for 20 or 30 KHz. Because coreless motors are very common in Europe, decoders from European decoder suppliers should be OK, and would be my preference if using coreless motors.
Above: Removing the locomotive from the track caused the light wires to come adrift and they were sticking out all over the place; this had caused the small circuit board under the cab floor (top right) to come adrift and short to the live chassis, which destroyed a function output on the ESU sound decoder. Right: The simple solution is to fit a 3 mm length of 1/8th inch plastic tube (Evergreen #224) over the tender pin commonly used on the locomotives. The tubing is a tight press fit and shown in its raw white state. Later I coloured it black with a permanent marker. Note the tidier wiring using heat shrink.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
2019 NEW ZEALAND RAIL SCENE Wall Calendar. For the 10th year, MAJIK VIDEO SYSTEMS and Blackfish Media have produced the 2019 NEW ZEALAND RAIL SCENE Wall Calendar featuring twelve of Janet Weir’s images of KiwiRail services and main line heritage excursions. The calendar also includes a complimentary 60 minute DVD showcasing items that compliment Janet’s images. The calendar retails for $24.99 each plus $3.00 p&p within New Zealand, $34.00 to Australia and $42 to other countries. Contact lindsay@majikvideo.com RES 60th ANNIVERSARY DVD. MAJIK VIDEO SYSTEMS in conjunction with the Railway Enthusiasts’ Society, has produced a 90 minute DVD to celebrate the Society’s 60th Anniversary. It covers the many excursions that the RES have run since 1958. From the movie cameras of Dawson Wilkinson, Bob Mann, John Wallers, Warren Stirling, Cran Julian and Ross Crook, their historical colour footage covers the 50th Anniversary of the NIMT held in Taumarunui, the Kaihu Valley Railway featuring old-style Ww 556, the 1958/59 Otago/Southland Rail Tour with the South Island Signals Train that travelled over the Waimea Plains Railway, Kingston, Mossburn, Wyndham and Tuatapere branch lines. The RES journeyed to a large number of destinations including the Portland Cement Works, the Whakatane Board Mill’s lines, the NIMT including the Raetihi branch and Ellis and Burnand’s Ongarue tramway. There is rare footage of Ab 832 recreating the ‘Taranaki Flyer’ in 1962 and the triple-headed North British Ja’s excursion from Auckland to Hamilton. NZR modellers will find the archive footage valuable in recreating the 1950’s/60’s infrastructure, wagons and carriages, station layouts, locomotives, etc. The DVD also features more recent excursions from 1986 when video cameras became
affordable to record the many excursions the RES organised when heritage steam was permitted to run on NZR rails. The DVD retails for $25.00 each plus $5.50 p&p within New Zealand. Overseas orders welcome. Contact lindsay@majikvideo.com
Woodsworks. News from Paul Woods As some of you may already know, I have suffered from serious back problems for many years, thanks to the permanent effects of a car accident a long time ago. Recently it became apparent that I was struggling to supply my customers in any reasonable time frame, so I have decided to park Woodsworks while I regroup and seek ways to work around the issues. I continue to hold stocks of Microengineering products such as rail, spikes, flextrak, turnouts, bridge kits etc., and some solder. Unfortunately the physical effort involved in machining timber means that I cannot supply wood strip for the time being, at least until I can build a power feed machine for my saw bench.
Na (top) & Nh Wagon (bottom) Kits. (Photos are built up kits) Darryl Palmer of Station Road has put together another production run of Na and Nh flat wagons in 1/64th scale. Price is still $45 per kit, including wheels, bearings and decals, but not couplers. See the Station Road advertisement on page 47 for contact details.
Baldwin NZR “T” class kits. (right) From Railmaster Exports John and Doreen Agnew advise that they will be abroad until 27 September, at which time we will reduce our few remaining Baldwin NZR “T” class 2-8-0 kits from $699 to just $629 for a week only, this kiwi sale thus ending on 5 October. These kits include enough parts to enable the loco to be assembled as imported in its 1879 guise (Top) with short smoke-box etc, or in its late 1890’s version (Bottom) with longer smoke-box etc. We will have the laptop with us abroad so first in first served. Contact John via email john@railmaster. co.nz
Below: John Agnew of Railmaster Exports has recently had a couple of his USA 3’ gauge 2-6-0 Sn3 Kits converted by North Yard to run on the 3’ 6” gauge for a customer in Norway, the first country to adopt the 3’ 6” gauge. We of course then followed suit.
http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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Book Reviews
New Zealand Railway Motive Power by David Parsons Reviewed Pete Van Grinsven This is an update of David’s 2002 book describing the non-steam motive power that has run on NZ rails. It follows the model of the previous book with a well written history and a number of interesting photos and provides a story of the
Hunslet & Hudswell Clarke Locomotives in New Zealand by Sean Millar Reviewed by Alex Smith. Having had the privilege to fire on New Zealand’s sole remaining operational Hunslet steam locomotive Y542 and a long held a soft spot for small industrial engines I awaited the release of Sean 40
progress of NZ rail power through the era of diesel electric and petrol power. The first chapter runs through the developments up to 2002. Subsequent chapters chronicle the years since. Having the developments listed this way made me realize how much has happened in the last 15 years. From a repower involving locomotive upgrades and purchases to major investments in urban transport. All this around major changes in the administration of the rail network including considerable investment in maintenance – something neglected for many years. The chapters dealing with the new investments are well laid out with enough information provided to clarify the processes involved and the reasons for the decision making process. David has managed this well and does not get lost in more detail than is necessary to tell the story. I found the two chapters on industrial locomotives and the track maintenance equipment particularly interesting. It gave me a clearer understanding of the work which goes on that we do not generally see. As rail fans we tend to look at front line operations and not often at the less glamorous side of locomotive power.
The text is backed up by tables of preserved locomotives and their disposition today. These are scattered through the chapters giving a picture of how the locomotives referred to in the text are or are not preserved. The last 30 pages comprise a set of tables giving a complete list of equipment with their original and current numbers and the various liveries that they have worn during their working lives. From the perspective of the modeler this book has much to offer. The modeler of diesel and electric equipment can use this book to assist in checking liveries and dates of service of different locomotives. It also gives information about use, development and power units. The photo are also helpful – but a modeler will have to find more specific information for particular locomotives at particular times in their lives. This is always true - and this book certainly helps as a useful reference for the modeler. I found the book interesting and would say it is a worthwhile addition to any rail fan or rail modellers library.
Millar’s latest book with interest. Following on from his previous books on Bagnall and Barclay locomotives this volume covers those produced by both Hunslet and Hudswell Clarke, which the author states as being a natural follow-up. The format of the book is similar to the previous volumes, with an overview the history of each manufacturer followed by a detailed record of each individual or series of locomotives. These include the NZR M & Y class, the Hunslet Dsa class shunters, the small PWD Diesel locomotives produced by Hudswell Clarke and the former Armstrong Whitworth B10 & B11 locomotives. A range of historic and contemporary pictures accompany the story of each locomotive and are supplemented by a large colour section. All will have some interest to a modeller looking to build one of these prototypes, in particular the weathering shown on the colour images. As with previous volumes this book helps the general reader to gain a better understanding of the lesser known histories of New Zealand’s industrial locomotives. The story of the B10 & B11 was most intriguing to me as it explained the relationship between the two locomotives
and the origin of the B10 identity this locomotive wears to this day. It is unfortunate that this book was released around the same time as an extensive article on the Hunslet Dsa class in the NZ Railfan magazine, however there is now a wealth of material available for anyone wishing to find out more about these locomotives. Released in his standard self-published soft cover format A4 format, the home made nature of the book is evident only in the slight graininess of the printing and some subtle streaking. This might bother some people however it is something I think can be easily ignored in favour of the interesting subject matter and the reasonable price. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in shunting and industrial locomotives, and hope that the author will continue to document the locomotives of other manufacturers such as John Fowler or Manning Wardle in future publications.
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
Available from the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society http://railsoc.org.nz/
Available from Sean Millar Publishing http://seanmillar.co.nz/
Continued from Page 23
Photographs Peter Ross’ previous articles provide excellent guidelines for taking photographs, however most of us don’t have the required Digital SLR cameras, lighting rigs or shadow boxes so my intention here is to describe some pitfalls to avoid while taking photographs for Journal articles and are intended for those without the experience to take professional photos.
Colour I had issues with colour saturation with some photos in the March 2018 Journal, only out find out after publication that the very expensive digital SLR camera used was set to take ‘Vivid’ photos. Set the camera to ‘Natural’.
Un-cropped close up photo of my old Da locomotive. The rear half is out of focus.
Dust and Background Often I have been caught out with dust and bits of lint on a model and had to start over again. In some photographs contributed the model is on a green work mat with tools and general work bench clutter in the background, the latter two detracting from the model itself; the result a poor photograph. Use a neutral background such as a matt surfaced white or light coloured card, a couple of sheets of A4 copy paper, or an ironed sheet for a layout background. And try to keep the layout fascia out of the photograph they can be very hard to crop out.
I stepped back about 30 cm and took this shot. Obviously the layout facia ruins the photograph.
Focus Automatic focus settings on modern cameras and phones can give good results, however care needs to be taken if you are photographing a long model using the typical wedge shot. To correct the depth of field can be as simple as moving the camera back a few centimetres or even up to a half a metre and take the photo. With the high camera resolution available these days a 16M pixel resolution photograph quite a lot of the surrounding edge can be cropped and the photo will still be suitable for publication. However keep in mind the photo content and background card should be within an area suitable for printing in say a 6 x4 format.
Lighting A cheap LED torch or work light can be used to reduce shadows and highlight low areas such as locomotive valve gear. If you need more light and decide to take your photograph in sunlight a sheet of tin foil can be used to direct light at the darker parts of your model. Crunch up the tin foil first and then unfold it to spread the light more evenly. I helped Scott Neil use a similar technique to photograph Mike Steenhuisen’s modules featured in the June Journal.
Viewing and Saving Photographs Immediately view the photo and zoom in the camera display to check that the photo is in focus, using the camera arrow buttons to move around and check all areas of the photograph. If not satisfied with the photo, delete it from the device and take another. Finally download and view the photo on a computer or laptop screen, zoom in and check the quality of the photograph. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
I cropped photo 2 and this is the result the locomotive, carriage and background are now in focus. The photos were taken with my $189 Canon SX170-IS, 16M pixel camera.
Don’t use the viewing program to save or rename the files if in JPEG format as most picture editor programs compress JPEG files each time it is saved accumulatively reducing the quality. Rename the photos in the file folder you used to save the photos, usually by using the right click on your mouse and then clicking on “Rename”. Use a sensible name such “Subject Photo 1” and so on and include the photo reference with suitable captions at the end of your article. Send the original photograph and leave cropping to me (your editor). Cover photos should be taken in using portrait (vertical) format, with the subject matter in the lower two thirds and a good background on the top third for the Journal banner and other information. Keep in mind that cover photos are usually reserved for the feature article and there are only four covers per year.Good photos for ‘Jewels’ and the back cover are welcome. NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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Train advice Coming events for NZ modellers Finishing your article Reference the photographs at the end of the article and write their captions alongside. Use your spell checker and the leave the article for a few days and read it again, edit it and repeat again after a few more days. Have a friend read it; another person’s critique can help. Email the article to me and if I see minor errors, such as spelling, I will correct these but will not rewrite the article, as has happened in the past, after all it is your words not mine. If I need clarification I will contact you. Email me the final article and photographs. nzmrj_editor@xtra.co.nz
6–7 Oct 2018 The BIG Model Train Show. Pioneer Stadium, Lyttleton Street, Christchurch. 20–22 Oct 2018 Model Railway Exhibition. Hamilton Gardens Pavilion, Cobham Drive (SH1), Hamilton. 28 Oct 2018
Auckland NZR Modellers Day. Birkenhead Scout Hall Recreation Drive, Birkenhead. See below.
11 Nov 2018
Collectors Toy & Model Fair. Mt Eden War Memorial Hall, 487 Dominion Road, Balmoral, Auckland. www.acmrc.org.nz email newmilns@xtra.co.nz
9–12 Nov 2018 Pokaka Cultural Convention. Taylor Memorial Lodge, State Highway 4, Pokaka (Milepost 333). Email nzrmodeling@yahoo.co.nz for information. 24-25 Nov 2018 RailEx Model Train Show. Walter Nash Centre Lower Hutt. @facebook.comRailExNZ 2 Dec 2018
Auckland NZR Modellers Day, Birkenhead Scout Hall, Recreation Drive, Birkenhead. See below.
11-13 Jan 2019 Tauranga Model Railway Club Annual Show, Mount Maunganui College Hall. email - rob.thomson@kinect.co.nz 10-13 Apr 2020 NZAMRC Convention, St Andrew's College, 347 Papanui Rd, Strowan, Christchurch 8052, email sd90mach@gmail.com for details. Need I say more. This photos lighting came from indirect sunlight through an adjacent window and overhead work lamp fitted with a compact fluorescent lamp, (CFL).
Auckland NZR Modellers Days. Reminders will be posted on the Guild Face Book page. Contact Pete van Grinsven petevang@xtra.co.nz
If you’re organising an exhibition, meeting or other gathering open to NZ modellers write to PO Box 180 116, Royal Heights, Auckland 0656 or email <secretary@nzmrg. org.nz> to have it included here. There is no charge for this service. Details must be with the publishers at least three months before the date of the event.
In Passing
Same subject and location except with a couple of sheets of A4 printer paper. The overhead light casts a fairly strong shadow and may have been better turned off, but I left it on to show for a direct comparison.
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DUNN, Edwin Dacre (Ed). Ed was born on 5th May 1931 in Westport, the son of an NZR fitter. He passed away peacefully at home in Otaki on the 12th of June, 2018. Although best-known for his 1:87, 1:48 and 1:22.5 American modelling, he also modelled NZR in 1:34 scale during the 1980s. Ed joined the Guild in 1957 (member 249) and his modelling was featured in the Journal on a number of occasions. Ed was Chief Financial Officer for New Zealand Railway Corporation for several years.
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
Colin McHarg 10 February 1945 – 13 June 2018 Passed away peacefully on Wednesday 13th June 2018 at the Moxon Centre, Cambridge, in his 88th year. Colin began building NZR models about 1966. As he was not a railway man, Colin based his models on what he had seen in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty in the 1960’s. Always a fastidious modeller, Colin numbered and lettered his locomotives and rolling stock correctly and applied appropriate weathering. Also, his rolling stock was revenue earning and seldom without a load of some description. Modelling in these early years when there were few resources available, most of Colin’s fleet of locomotives and rollingstock was scratch built. The three locomotives shown here were all scratch built from his own photoengravings. These started as large flat sheets of zinc with the detail, rivets, boiler bands etc., engraved on. The pieces then had to be cut out, shaped and assembled – a very time-consuming process. The end results however, were exceptional. Wanting the correct numbers for the locomotives he built, Colin started producing his own etched plates. He soon became well known for this and for many years was the go-to person for NZR locomotive number and maker’s plates as he had the number for every locomotive that was ever in service. To this he soon added coach class numbers and locomotive numbers for illuminated headlights and number boards. The method he used was to make a large drawing and then arrange for a photographic negative to be made. This was then reduced to scale by a printers plate maker and etched onto zinc or brass sheet. The locomotive headlight number “glass” plates were made from photographic negatives. If you have a model NZR kit more than a few years old then most likely it will contain McHarg plates. Colin also produced etches for some rolling stock such as tank wagons which were difficult to model accurately by other methods. All together he built some very nice NZR models and these featured in the Journal on a number of occasions and won several awards at the National Model Railway Conventions. Colin was a long-standing member of the Hamilton Model Railroaders club (HMR) and a staunch supporter of their exhibitions. From the late 1980’s when HMR built their NZR modular layout, Colin’s locomotives and rolling stock were always star attractions. His rakes of J and H wagons were always carrying stock and has Whakatane Board Mills Fa was always a feature of the sawmill scene. Another crowd pleaser was his ‘Rotorua Express’ usually pulled by a K locomotive. All naturally, were scratch built from his own engravings. Colin was always a gentleman, he showed immense patience and was never heard to use anything other than the Queens English or to utter a disparaging word about anyone. Until he retired Colin was Deputy Headmaster and a science teacher at Cambridge High School. He was a member of the Territorial Air Force and Piper in the RNZAF Base Te Rapa Pipe Band. He is survived by his wife Joan and three children Ian, Jenny and Kirsten. Joan McHarg and Trevor James
Ab 733 The last steam engine to work on the Cambridge Branch Line (June 1967). Colin built this model in the early 1970’s but after much running at shows, it was later rebuilt onto an ONLINE chassis. http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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New Zealand
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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As New Zealand Railways pushed the rail network about New Zealand, opening up new country for development, a challenge presented itself to house railwaymen in country areas where infrastructure didn’t exist or was newly formed. Railways only alternative was to construct houses for their employees. Initially part of the Public Works Department responsibilities, eventually an Architectural Branch within New Zealand Railways was formed under George Troup. This development lead to new designs of railway houses, a design that was to become symbolic in the New Zealand landscape. To manufacture these houses, Railways set up a sawmill and special factory in Frankton, kit-setting houses, delivering them by rail as parts packs and ultimately erecting them about the country. As well as far-flung reaches of the railway system, Railways ended up developing “model” railway settlements at places as diverse as Otahuhu, Newmarket, Frankton, TeKuiti, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Taihape, Palmerston North, Napier, Eastown, Kaiwharawhara, Christchurch, Arthur’s Pass, Otira, Dunedin and other places around the country. The book closes with Government’s exit from railway house ownership in the 1990s and a chapter on the railway house survivors. Complementing the text is a lavish selection of black and white and colour images from the era and current day. Railway houses and the nearby railway environment are extensively featured. Landscape format, 72 black and white and 84 colour illustrations, 16 diagrams, 142 pages, hardbound. Posted free to your door.
Available direct from
NZ Railway & Locomotive Society Inc. 1A North Street, Petone, Lower Hutt, 5012
RRP $49.00 NZMRG MEMBER PRICE $39.00
Or email nzrls.books@actrix.co.nz with your name, address, Guild membership number and credit card details split over 2 emails.
New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society Inc. The NZ Railway Observer is published every two months. Packed full of interesting articles covering the steam days of NZR, bush and industrial railways, through to today, this fullcolour magazine is available on subscription and $65 per can be shipped to your mailbox for NZ$63 calendar year. E-mail us or see our website. As Publishers of high-quality railway books on New Zealand rail transport, we have in stock a large number of books at generous member discounts. See our website for a detailed listing. Our Archive has one the largest holdings of New Zealand railway material. Research facilities are available to members persuing specific areas of interest. Please contact our Archivist for details. Sponsors of the Thomas McGavin Research Grant, this grant is available to cover expenses incurred during research and is open to everyone. Contact us at – nzrls@actrix.co.nz www.railsoc.org.nz Phone (04) 568 4938
NZ Railway & Locomotive Society Inc 1A North Street, Petone Lower Hutt 5012 New Zealand
http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
New Zealand RAILSCENE 94 Volume
Jb 1236 ‘Wanganui Vintage Weekend’ Silver Stream Railway 50th Celebration Ab 608 ‘Marlborough Flyer’ 60 minutes of NZ RAILSCENE action
NZ RAILSCENE covers KiwiRail operations in New Zealand, main line excursions, heritage railways, historical footage and special events.
DVD’s $35.80 each plus $5.00 p&p MAJIK VIDEO SYSTEMS P O Box 15, Westpark Marina West Harbour, Auckland 0661, New Zealand www.majikvideo.com NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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RES 60TH ANNIVERSARY DVD
CROSS CREEK MODELS Sn3 1⁄2 NZR kits Carriages, wagons, Guards Vans Kit assembly available S.S.A.E. for details and price list to
This DVD production covers over seventy RES excursions from 1958 until 2015.
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* Rare & out of print books on railways & industrial history. * New Railway books. * Quality books bought & sold – single copies or libraries. * Free search for hard to get titles. Send A4 SAE for current catalogue. 16 Cambridge St, Wanganui. Telephone 0-6-344 4764 Facsimile 0-6-344 4732 e-mail gtcarter@clear.net.nz website www.gtcarterbooks.co.nz
WEBSITE
The NZ Model Railway Guild highly featured interactive website is proving a hit with members and others interested in the hobby, in New Zealand and around the world. Join us now at www.nzmrg.org.nz Features of the Guild website include: • Personal login for members • Automatic 20% discount for members when logged on • Online subscription renewals with fully secure payment services • Online shop offering: Journal back issues for your reference and collection New range of Cedric Green plans in B&W and as blueprint replicas Complete range of Guild structure plansets Traditional range of wagon plans High quality binders for your Journals and for your Cedric Green plans • Photo galleries including additional photographs supporting Journal articles • Special members only area for detailed information and photographs for Journal plans • Links to our sustaining advertisers and to retailers and manufacturers.
Contact details are on the website for the Guild Executive and your Area Representative. See the www.nzmrg.org.nz/HOME page for details on how to log on. Log on regularly as the site changes often.
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NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
P O Box 402, BLENHEIM 7240 Email: northyard@xtra.co.nz Web: www.northyard.co.nz
NORTH YARD MECHANISMS
A New Modelling Scale for NZR Prototypes
NZR 3/16 (1:64)
A Group of New Zealand Railway Modellers are developing this new New Zealand Modelling Scale to complement existing scales. As the name suggests, the scale is 1:48, or 1/4 of an inch to the foot, commonly known as O Scale (US). However, as the New Zealand Prototype uses a gauge of 3ft 6in, the scale track gauge is 22.23mm. NZ48 fills a void between the current NZR prototype model scales, allowing good detail but still small enough to fit a reasonable layout in your average bedroom or garage. It also enjoys the huge advantage of being able to use the vast range of vehicles, figures and accessories already produced in 1:48 scale for model railroaders and doll-house miniature enthusiasts, plus shared opportunities with those currently modeling in the 1:48 scale of On30.
Contact us for RTR Mechanisms STOCKISTS OF:
The aim is to work to Prototype fine scale standards. For those who wish to avail themselves of commercially available Flexi-Track, Points, Track Gauges, etc, Standard “S” Scale runs on a track gauge of 22.42mm (only 0.19mm over scale for NZ48). Tests indicate it is feasible to run rolling stock to the NZ48 fine scale standard on standard S Scale track. The best of both worlds.
Further information is available in the December 2014 edition of the Journal
We are looking for Manufacturers and Modellers who are interested in helping us develop this scale as a viable option for NZ Modellers If you are interested in helping, please contact:
(available within New Zealand only)
Greg at krisalys@outlook.com, or Fergus at drydoc@xtra.co.nz Or Join us on the NZ48 Yahoo Group
NZ48 - NZR Prototype in “O” Fine Scale
North Yard Gearboxes Wheels and wheelsets NZR Colour Matched Paints
NZR Brass Bogie Kits, Sn3.5 Brass Detail Parts 1:64 NZR Couplers & Hooks Miniature Screws, washers, nuts, spacers, springs, etc. Miniature drill bits and other small hardware Brass wire, rod, tube, square, etc. Low melt solder Brass Chain & mesh Etched Brass, Nickel Silver Sheet Phosphor bronze wire And much more, INCLUDING…
SOUTH DOCK MODEL KITS Freight wagons, stock wagons, Heritage series, Guards Vans, Coal wagons, Passenger cars, etc.
Email; stationrd90@hotmail.com for list of kitsets and accessories http://nzmrg.org.nz/ www.facebook.com/groups/nzmrg/
NZ Model Railway Journal September 2018
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Scott Neil Mike Steenhuisen
Mike Steenhuisen is a master at painting wagons of the more recent era, which of course includes graffiti. Both of these models were created using photographs of the real thing. Maybe there is some merit in true Graffiti art work. Top A Zp wagon on his North Auckland Line module, that featured in the June 2018 issue of the Journal. Below. Another fine example of Mikes work.
