Building NSWGR Railmotor 401

[Jim]

I decided on this project to keep out of mischief as along with the rest of the world we manage life turned upside down by Covid 19 with favourite pubs/clubs closed, restrictions on travel and out here the need to keep one kangaroo apart for social distancing.

The railmotor is basically a woodworking exercise in building the body work which sits on a steel sub frame that will include the cross beams for the 2 power bogies, the buffers and coupler pockets.

Fellow club member Les Penrose has built a lovely model of Railmotor 402 which was modified to include a small first class section. It was the only one to be modified as the growth in bus and road transport saw a major decline in country branch line passenger and goods traffic with the result it was deemed uneconomical to convert the rest of the fleet.

This is Les's superb model of No 402

While I've been scaling up a general arrangement drawing of 401, Les very kindly sent me his scaled up and more detailed drawings which have proved invaluable in getting the smaller details right.

I spent today cutting the rebates in a length of 28.5mm dowel to form the rounded corners for the side and front panels to fit in. The mill and a slitting saw proved ideal for doing the job. The final photo shows the  sides and a mock up of the No1 end with the round rebated sections yet to be trial fitted.

 

To be honest I'm making a lot of this project up as I go along but for me it's the fun of the journey rather than the destination.

Stay safe

Jim

[Jim]

Today after a trip to the local hobbyshop to pick up some tin plate and 3mm brass angle work continued with construction of the gangway doors at either end of the the rail motor.

I must admit I like doing things by hand so the radiused corners of the door's window were done with a step drill and the rest cut out with jeweller's saw followed by a clean up with a file. I'm happy with the door and it will become the pattern for the door at the number 2 end while the construction method will be used for the side doors too.

This whole project is totally unlike the Britannia, no proper drawings to follow or books telling you 'how to', basically it's a fly by the seat of your pants project and for me very enjoyable.

 

The slitting saw again proved ideal for cutting out the door once everything was set up and double checked and a solid backing support provided to support the thin plate while being cut.

Over the next couple of days I hope to complete the front of the number 1 end then start working along the sides cutting out and fitting the windows and doors.

Stay safe.

Jim, having fun in iso.

[Jim]

I managed to get some more done on the railmotor this morning before the temperature dropped from chilly to freezing and the rain started just to add to the misery.

The two panels either side of the gangway door are now fitted to and make a nice fit into the rounded corner sections and to line up with the door sides.

The next task will be to complete the cutouts in the floor for the two corner sections so they can slide down to fit flush top and bottom with the side panels. Windows also need to be cut in the front panels then detailing of the gangway door and door frame can start as the half round beading arrived right on time today from Ben at E J Winter.

It's quite a change to be cleaning up sawdust instead of swarf.

Jim

I've since been back into the workshop to cut out the recesses in the floor for the two corner posts to fit in and sit down at their correct heights.

The next job will be to start detailing the front then move to repeat it all at the No2 end of the railmotor.

[Jim]

A little more progress today with the gangway door detailed, such as it is, and the door's door frame added. The next job will be to cut out the two forward looking windows either side of the door.

The weather has become very cold with heavy snow up in the high country and brief flurries down where we live so a move back inside where it's nice and warm seems the way to go.

Jim

[Jim]

With the arrival of Warrick Sandberg's neat power bogies work has continued on the railmotor. First up I needed to make the bogie bolsters and once done and tested, decide on the size of the floor cutouts to accommodate the motor units.

I did a trial of the bogies on their bolsters to check that they wouldn't foul the sub frame.

Then with the bogies in place the the jig saw was fired up  and the floor cutouts created.

Rather than have the sub frame rest on the bolster's cross beam as one would normally I decided to fix the beam to the top of the frame so as to bring the rail motor's floor down the correct height above the rail head.

The old ironing board is now the spray painting table thanks to an idea I pinched from Barry Potter, it's also a handy place to put things while working on the rail motor.

I'm quite enjoying this project as a 'stay sane at home' project helped of course with some planning time over a soothing ale or two.

[Jim]

The 400 class lock down project has continued with the basic cut outs for the windows and doors on left hand side now complete. A friend has lent me a copy of Australian Diesel Scene No4 which has an excellent chapter on the development of the 400 class railmotors. Having read the chapter I've decided to base my model on the 'as built' petrol version which had a clean roof free of the extensive radiators the later diesel conversions had.

This is really a very simple and straight forward project where a razor saw, jeweler's saw and sanding blocks are the main tools needed, still I'm having fun and staying sane.

Muriel and Gemima decided they'd try the passenger seating at the No2 end and where in the 'as built version' a toilet was located. The toilet was shifted to a location further back in the carriage as it blocked the driver's view to his right.

Now to repeat it all on the other side.

Jim

Remember to wash your hands and keep at least one kangaroo apart. 

[dscott]

I love the use of the Ironing board for additional storage of bits needed.
Lily has used the iron only once since 2005 6th Aug. When we got married.

A Lovely project you are doing. I love the power bogies.

I did similar for our latest beast but driving onto a single axle with Steel wheels.
It only slipped when the forward motor stopped due to a cable coming out of its socket.
It still pulled but didn't have the Kick. Two of the large disabled buggy motors each driving with a slight reduction
directly to the axle via a 15 mm toothed belt 5 mm pitch. The frame is quite heavy as is the battery held above.
Full size car type 33 Amp Hours. The track is not long enough to get to top speed!!

David and Lily.

[Jim]

Thanks David,

The ironing board sat by the recycle bin for some months then I read the post on this site by Mugbuilder, who just happens to be anything but with more than 50 museum quality locos to his name, who was using a similar ironing board as a spray painting table with the advantage of the mesh being handy for hanging small parts from to dry.

I think I've reached an age where I'm happy with an easily transported model that is quick to set up, easy as to operate and will haul me and some passengers round the track.  If I want to have a wiff of steam oil and smoke I can always steam the Britannia up on the test track poking out the workshop door.

I'm just happy enjoying life.

Jim

[Jim]

Since the last posting I've been busy completing the cutouts for windows and doors along with making the two large doors for the parcels compartment and the smaller entry doors to the passenger compartment. Once these tasks were completed it was time to move on to filling the joints etc followed by sanding and over spraying with automotive spray putty to get a nice fair and smooth surface.

As the photos hopefully show it's getting there but there are still a couple of spots that need further filling and feathering before I can move on to applying the top coat of Tuscan Red.

After filling cracks, sanding and with a final coat of spray putty things are starting to improve.

Once to top coat has been applied the windows, blinds and the protective bars on the parcel compartment doors can be added not forgetting the windscreen wipers on the driving compartment's window at each end.

Things  are slowly moving forward.

Jim

[Jim]

Over the last few days I've been able to complete the filling and sanding plus a couple of coats of automotive spray putty to get to a point where the body of the rail motor is almost ready to paint.

I've also added the cross bracing to the body work as, up until now it has been fairly flexible and so unstable when trying to fill joints etc.

Mounted on the power bogies I was quite pleased at how low profile they are as the motors barely show above the window ledges which means adding detail to the inside of the carriage or have the windows with the blinds down. Now there's a thought.

Jim

in isolation with a soothing ale

[Jim]

This is 401 at Inverell, New South Wales and looking rather neat with her yellow 'hi vis' front and simplified lining. At this stage 401 had been converted from the 'as built' petrol motive power to a more powerful diesel power plant resulting in the instalation of heat exchangers on the roof.

[Jim]

Had a great day out today when we drove across to the club for the annual NSW Scale day. It's a long drive of 6 hours return through the country side of the western slopes  and last time we did it the countryside was ravaged by drought now after drought breaking rain, the lush green grass and bright yellow of the Canola crops almost hurts the eyes.

The Covid pandemic meant numbers were down on previous years but even so there were some very impressive models and scale trains on display.

Sadly I don't know the name of the owner of this superb rake of NSWGR Passenger carriages.

The joy of steaming through the park.

A check of the car's trip meter tells me we did a round trip of 609 kms or 378.4 miles. Pity the club isn't a bit closer.

Jim

[mugbuilder]

Good to see you at the wekend Jim. Didn't get much of a chance to talk. The 'R' cars belong to Craig Parkinson from the Wollongong club and were built quite a long time ago by Phil Gant. If tiredness is any guage then we had a great weekend.
Barry

[Jim]

Thanks Barry it was great to catch up with club members and to share ideas on models. It was a bit unfortunate that Les arrived after we'd left for the trip home but in a later email from Les I discovered the colour he used for his rail motor is the same as Colorbond use for their fences. It's not often you get 2 for the price of one in this hobby.

Jim

[Jim]

Well some work has been progressing in the carpentry shop with the lift out 'ceiling' now cut out and fitted. This section lifts out so the 2 12V batteries can be accessed or removed from their location in the parcel compartment of 401.

As a bit of a diversion from making sawdust I jury rigged the two power bogies to run in tandem and to test the motor controller to check on its operation using a 12V battery charger as a power source. I was more than happy to see it all worked so spent a bit of time happily driving the two motors back and forth along the short test track.

The neighbours who happened to see all this were it seems a little concerned quietly asked Margaret, "Is Jim OK?" her reply was, 'Yes he's always been like that...'

Boadicea seems fairly happy to share the lifting table with 401.

Now all this calls for a soothing ale..I'm not as young as I used to be..

Jim

[oldnorton]

I'm enjoying seeing this work on your new project Jim. But also glimpsing your lovely Britannia in most of the shots; I'm glad you haven't covered with with a dust sheet!

Norm

[Jim]

Thanks Norm, I must admit I'm having some fun with this project too.

I fully intend to take the Britannia to the club this year as I think I have a solution for getting it out and to the car without any major dramas. At the time I built the workshop I was building the Burrell which rolls in and out and round the corner with ease but sadly not so the lifting table.

Jim

[David]

You're tearing along with this one. Looking good.

[Jim]

I started this project to stop me going nuts while facing Covid 19 lock downs and venue closures and it's proved to be 'just the glassy agate' to quote my dear old dad, marble terms were were popular back then when I was a lad and the latest technology was a wireless with valves that lit up and an aerial that ran all round the kitchen. Depending on atmospherics you could sometimes hear the short wave BBC amid whistles pops and fade outs...Ooops I'm rambling again.

Anyway a bit more progress today with the roof formers now in place along with extra stiffening for the 'ceiling' and sides which have been cut from 3mm ply and so tend to be a bit floppy.

I'm thinking I may cut out two sections of the ceiling above the battery compartment in case the terminals at some later stage are just a fraction too high.

Under the roof I've added three brass keeps for the side batten to slip into, three matching ones will be fitted to the opposite side so apart from keeping the roof in place it will stop any tendency for the side walls to spread

The two 3 bar panels on the floor are the safety bars to be fitted to the two large parcel doors. They will go in last after the 401 has been painted.

Stay safe everyone

Jim, in iso with a soothing ale...bliss

[Jim]

Some more progress on my isolation project with both sides of  body of 401 getting a coat of Tuscan Red with the No1 and No2 ends yet to get a coat of yellow. In another step forward the parcel compartment door of the left hand side now has the window 'glass' fitted along with the bars protecting the glass.

Details yet to be added include door handles, windows, blinds, windscreen wipers to the driver's windows and of course the coupling and buffer assemblies.

I must say this isn't to be a fine scale model but more a model that friends or the grandchildren could enjoy having a drive of with some very simple guidance. It's a nice fun project and keeping me out of everyone's hair

Stay safe

Jim