Building NSWGR Railmotor 401

[stevep]

When you do the windscreen wipers, make sure you get the authentic look.

Click on the picture under 'October' on this page from our web site to see what I mean.

www.tivertonmodelengineering.org.uk/potm.htm

[Jim]

Thanks Steve, your club site is a serious distraction. Having looked at the beautifully done 'dirty windows' on the Class 22 I then ambled on looking at the Britannia, the Beam Engine, The Warship and on and on. I'll never get anything done at this rate.

Jim 

[Jim]

What with Covid then a 5 day rail tour on Vintage Rail Tours' restored 'Southern Aurora' things have been a bit full on of late but now all is back to 'normal' and things have resumed on Rail Motor 401 with the 'cat's whiskers' done on one side of the No 1 end. The lining still needs some tidying up in spots but the system seems to be working.

Jim

[runner42]

Hi Jim,

you woodworking skills are equal to your metal working skills, both excellent. However, I think that the completion of the front of the roof, with its double curvature is going to challenge you. I await your solution with interest.

Brian

[Jim]

I have a cunning plan Brian which will be revealed if and I stress 'if' it works if not then plan B will be activated. At this stage I'm still working on plan B

Jim.

[Jim]

This beautifully detailed railmotor was photographed at the Bathurst Railway Museum which was one of the stops on our rail tour. I think this model in HO is actually of the 600 class but it is the same colour scheme I have opted for and which was used on the 400 class.

Jim.

[Jim]

A bit more progress on the rail motor with the 'cat's whiskers' now completed on the No1 end.

The next task will be to do the VEE on the door that links the uppermost brown band bands.

Following a visit to a fellow club member's workshop I decided to follow his lead and use a small multi pin plug to connect the motor controller plus horn and emergency stop buttons to the rail motor. It's a much neater solution than than my earlier idea of using a multi pin trailer connection,

Originally this was intended as a fairly simple and quick project but I keep finding more details to add and so on it goes but it is fun and keeps me from doing the garden

Jim

[Jim]

It took some deep breathing to steady the hands but the VEE is in and so completes the lining on the No1 end. Now take some more deep breaths

to repeat it all on the No2 end which will be the leading end when all is complete and the rail motor is up and running.

Other tasks to do include completing the gutter strip which will also hide the gap between the roof sections and the body that are visible in this photo. Luckily I had the foresight to buy some metre lengths of brass strip while K&S brass was still fully stocked in the local hobby shops. Then of course there are the hand rails, marker lights, etc etc. but it will happen. 

Jim

[barlowworks]

That is looking brilliant Jim. The yellow is a little eye watering to our northern sensibilities but is spot on with the HO model. What of Boadicea. Have you managed to get her out for a good run yet.

Mike

[Jim]

Boadicea is still in the workshop feeling a bit neglected as the rail motor besdie her takes shape.

On getting Boadicea to the club I think I have a solution which will involve adding a pair of swivel castors to replace the fixed wheels at the rear of the lifting table then rather than the complex job of backing the car round to the workshop the easier solution will be to move the loco on the lifting table into the trailer and to take the lot to the car. I could take everything in the trailer but it bounces on the pot holes which is not good for the loco.

Boadicea will get there..promise.

Jim.

[dhamblin]

We'll hold you to that!

On a serious note though - what's the final weight of the Railmotor likely to be (less batteries as they can be moved separately)? It certainly should be easier to move around than Boadicea.

Like others I'm rather intrigued as to how you're going to tackle the curved cab roof.

Regards,

Dan

[Jim]

Hi Dan,

Just been out to the workshop to check the weights. The power bogies weigh 8.2kgs each and the body including the under frame weighs 9.7kgs so all up

a total weight of 26.1kgs (57.5lbs in the old money) which can be easily managed between two people. As you say the two batteries which are heavy but are carried separatly and added to the Rail Motor once on the track.

Regarding the roof, at this stage I will be adding a number of longitudinal ribs to go between the shaped roof sections to support the roofing material which I'm thinking of making out of 3 layers of heavy chart paper. This might sound a bit adventurous but the roof is non load bearing and if it goes to plan as I hope it will it can be easily sealed and painted to water proof it. I will make sure of having to strong points to fix appropriate vents to act as finger grips to fit the roof off, as you can imagine it is very light weight anyway. Plan B would involve rolling sections of galsteel to form the roof which is something I hope won't be necessary.

The molded front sections will have a sub base of balsa blocks shaped to the correct form then sealed with 'Builder's Bog' a 2 pack epoxy filler that can be sanded and drilled once set. This method or something very similar has been used by a friend in our club who has built a number of electric powered railmotors of various designs.

I'll keep you posted Dan but bear in mind if you hear nothing nothing on this site you'll know it was another of Jim's classic 'He did what???' ideas that didn't work.

Hope you and your family have a very happy Christmas despite these testing times.

Jim

[barlowworks]

I know it was in O gauge and may be totally irrelevant but I have made coach roofs in wood using formers across the roof and then long strips of wood running the length of the roof side by side, the gaps being filled with filler then sanded smooth. A bit like balsa aircraft construction, it gives a very strong roof when complete. In O gauge I used to then cover the roof in watercolour paper to represent the canvas but that probably wouldn’t work in 5 inch gauge. Just another idea to add to the pot.

Stay safe

Mike

[Jim]

And a very good suggestion Mike. I may well do as you have done as I'm not totally wedded to the concept of chart paper over an under frame.

Thanks again for the suggestions, it's all grist for the mill.

Jim.

[dhamblin]

That's a good weight to handle, hopefully it will make it easier to get out to the car and track. Thanks for the detailed breakdown of the roof plan - it sounds promising and looking forward to seeing it pan out as intended. It reminds me of the approach used on canvas covered aircraft of the pre-World War 2 era.

On our Underground trains there is a lot of GRP used for the sculpted front end panelling on cab fronts, although on the older stocks it is aluminium panels formed using rollers and rivetted to steel structure. The cab roof on Bakerloo line 1972 Tube Stock is GRP (something that was re-discovered when one got caught by a gantry crane hook!), although that is just a single curved panel whereas this on the Railmotor is far more complex.

Hope you and your family have a great Christmas too - think our plan is pretty much bunker down for the moment with a brief outdoor meet with close family. Roll on next summer!

Regards,

Dan

[Jim]

A bit more progress. With 401 laid gently on its side the lining along the side of the No2 end has now been completed. Only the other side and the Vee in the door remain to complete the lining and I can start to relax.

Jim.

[Jim]

A little more progress with the lining completed on the No2 end of 401.

For those interested the brown and yellow lining consists of strips cut from a half A4 sheet of Inkjet White waterslide decal paper.. I have the clear waterslide decal paper too and could have used it  also. The clear decal paper is really intended for laser printers where the colours are solid unlike inkjet colours. In this case I sprayed one half sheet brown and the other yellow using the same spray enamels used for the cab ends and main body.

From memory the A4 decal sheets came in a pack of 20 from a supplier in the US. I should have the details somewhere.

Jim

[Jim]

We've been in the grip of a heatwave for the last week creating a workshop too hot to work in with the temp sitting on 35<40C despite the ceiling fan working like a helicopter rotor. Then it all changed 16C overnight with rain and a daytime temp of 21C so back into the workshop to start wiring up the Railmotor starting with the socket and plug connection between the Rail motor and the hand held motor controller that will fit in a bracket on the driving car.

Having looked at a range of multi pin plugs and sockets I decided to use a bog standard 5 pin round trailer plug and socket for which i discovered 2 metres of 5 cored trailer cable hiding under a pile of 'this could come in handy' stuff I had in the garage. As I said to the boss, 'See, I knew it would come in handy one day!' I won't quote her reply.

The 5 pin trailer socket minus its top cover.

I've decided to mount the socket at the No1 end in the position normally taken by the headlight. This will call for some creative metal work to make lift up lid with included dummy headlight to give access the connection but when not in use to close and hide the socket's location.

With a few more cooler days I should have it wired up and ready to test.

Jim

[GWR 101]

Hi Jim, great work as always, the Rail Motor is looking brilliant. Can you please send some of that heat our way, its 0 deg. at the moment, even with heat in the workshop with all the metal around my fingers soon become cold. Regards Paul

[Jim]

That could be a project for this forum Paul...developing a heat exchanger between here and the UK, you send us cool air in exchage for hot air.

I shouldn't complain though as we've had much needed rain with more on the way which has really brought some of the areas devastated by last summer's fires back to life with new gree shoots appearing on blackened trees.

Jim