Departmental Stock

The Victorian Railways had many wagons set aside for departmental duties. Most were old wagons which had outlived their original purpose and were cascaded into no-revenue service. Here are two very different wagons which came under the classification "HD":

This is a HD van which was a former U van with a 10ft wheelbase and lourves which dffered to later variants of U vans. The kit itself is a Steam Era Models HD plant truck but has been modified to represent wagon HD49 preserved at VGR. Windows have been fitted at both ends plus an extra side window on the side shown. The handbrake is on the opposite side to the brake cylinder (as on the real HD49). Round axlebox lids have been fitted and the standard spoked wheels supplied have been swapped out for disc wheels.

 

 

This HD van was a former Tommy Bent I wagon converted into a HD van by adding higher sides and a roof. This model will represent HD38 which is also at the VGR. The kit itself is a Steam Era Models Tommy Bent I wagon while the added roof section was produced by through this website (now sold-out). Bracing has been added with styrene strip below the wagon body as on the prototype.

 

Both wagons are ready for paint.



Guards van and Cattle Class Part 2

As it turned out I was able to finish off both projects with time to spare. Over the Easter weekend they completed many laps around the Bendigo Model Railroader's exhibition layout 'Elphinstone' without any problems:

After a couple of days recovery work has started on the next two projects. Both are non-revenue wagons.

Guards van and Cattle Class

With a week to go till Easter and the Bendigo Model Railroaders staging an Open Weekend I've set myself a task to complete some wagons in time for running on the club layout.

The ZF guards van is now ready for paint. The handrails, steps and vents on the roof have now been added:

Two weeks ago I attended the Sandown Model Rail Exhibition and was able to pick up the new Steam Era Models M cattle wagon kit. The original kit was as old as the GY before it was upgraded (the original tooling was 30 years old). The upgraded M wagon now includes thinner bracing above the boards and a fret of etched brass components that include shunter's steps, handrails, handbrake and brake rigging. The first it what will hopefully be many more of these wagons is now ready to join the ZF van in the paintshop:

 

 

And so begins a busy week to try and have both finished in the next 6 days.

Riveted wagons Part 2 and a guards van

The riveted IZ/RY wagons have now been painted and are ready for traffic:

 

 

I decided to make one a IZ with 1950's lettering and the other a RY with post-1970 lettering thus adding some more variety to my wagon fleet.

 

Meanwhile here is a progress shot of the BGB ZF Guards van:

 

 

 

The bogies will be replaced with more suitable ones for this type of van (the prototype had aligned bogies with a destintive pushrod arrangement on the bogie sides). Detail still to be added include shunter's grabrails, steps under the central doorways and some pipework.



How many vans does a guard need?

With the IZ/RY wagons ready for paint, it's time to look at finishing a project that has been on the backburner for 2 years:



                                               Photo sourced from Mark Bau's website

 

Some time ago I purchased a Broad Gauge Bodies ZF van kit. While not a hard kit to assemble the castings do require some work to get them to a good standard. As such mine has remained in a box awaiting the day I'd finally look at finishing it. Some work was done on the kit late last year which resulted in the basic componments being assembled to a running standard. I am now working on adding the detail which will make it look more like the van it will represent.

 

The next post should contain some photos of the progress.

 



Riveted Wagons

Steam Era Models excellent riveted IZ/RY wagons are the first project to be posted on this blog. The detail is supurb and rivals any of the RTR product coming onto the market. These two wagons are now ready to enter the paint shop.

Hello and welcome

Blogs seem to be the way people show off their model railway efforts these days so I have finally joined the fold. I hope the content of this blog will not only appeal to those who model Victorian Railways but also to those who enjoy model railways in General.