TVT - Modernised Passenger Services
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 6:51 pm
The photos below show my new toy.
I have been contemplating building a large rail motor for the TVT, but hadn't got past acquiring a motor and some gears, although a few concept drawings had been done, mostly based on rail motors operated by the EBR in Tasmania.
I remember the VR broad gauge Walker railcars from my childhood, although they rarely ran on our line. I mostly saw them on trips during holidays, which has probably left me with rosier memories than the real ones deserved.
I was aware that Trackshack were planning a model of one of the CDJR/IOMR Walker railcars, but they don't ship outside the UK. Then as you do, I was browsing Argyle Loco's website a while back and found that they had some Accucraft Walker railcars. Predictably they had sold the last one just before I rang them......
Anyway, to cut to the chase, Lesley managed to track down one of the last ones left in captivity and some of the kid's inheritance changed hands.
The model eventually arrived in Oz and was delivered safely last Wednesday. It is now sitting on the bench while I contemplate how to fit it out for r/c battery power. As it comes it is set up only for track power, although I believe Trackshack were offering to fit r/c battery power as an option.
The photos show it standing in the steaming bay on a dreary day between rain showers. The lighting is better for photography though.
The first photo shows it from the power unit end.
The next photo shows the back end of the passenger section, looking like the back of a bus, which they basically were.
The last photo shows it buffered up to a bogie guards van, showing that it fits in well with other TVT rolling stock. There's no space for goods and parcels in the railcar itself, so it will be getting a suitable trailer when I get around to building it. In the meantime a guards van will fill in for a bespoke trailer.
This model is too big to work on in the study, so the r/c conversion will have to wait until I can clear enough space in the workshop. Current planning is to use a Tx from the Aust supplier RCS, with one of the new Omega-10 ESCs also from RCS. The rest of the hardware can be sourced from the local Jaycar Electronics and a local model aeroplane shop.
That will at least get it working, so I can run it on the home track. Longer term it will get a dedicated trailer and the batteries will then be moved into that, so the big ugly battery box under the passenger section can be removed. It may acquire a new coat of paint and some detail mods at the same time. The early VR Walker silver and royal blue scheme appeals........
TVT Story
So......
Why a Walker railcar, apart from nostalgia?
Well, the largest customer for Walker railcars was actually the Victorian Railways, who during the late '40s/early '50s had acquired twelve 102HP and fifteen 153HP broad gauge railcars, basically similar to the ng Irish ones, for branchline services. There were also twelve much larger 280HP cars for mainline services. There was also a ng Walker railcar in Aust., owned by the EBR in Tasmania and delivered during WW2 to a pre-war design. All of which makes a Walker railcar reasonably believable on a minor Aust. railway.
The 102HP VR cars are shown here on Mark Bau's VR website. http://www.victorianrailways.net/motive ... lk102.html
The resemblance between the VR 102/153HP cars built in the late '40s and the Irish ng cars built in the early '50s is strong and it may be that the VR ones were used as the basis of the styling of the Irish cars built for the CDJR and WCR. The VR ones were all double ended, but otherwise similar in construction, the bodywork being basically the same as a road bus of the period. The VR ones had bodywork built by Martin & King in Melbourne, who built bus bodies, among other things.
My story is that the TVT staggered into the post-war period in dire need of a major investment in track and rolling stock, like the rest of the Aust. railway system. The VR wanted no part of the TVT as it was busy closing down it's own ng lines, so some money was extracted from the State Govt. to keep the line afloat and some of it was spent on a Walker railcar to maintain the passenger service.
Prewar the TVT passenger service was a daily mixed train. Like the VR broad gauge branch lines after the advent of their Walker railcars, the service changed to a daily rail motor service and a weekly steam hauled roadside goods. The railcar providing a faster service and a more comfortable one than a road bus, while the last serviceable steam loco (the Bagnall) soldiers on with the weekly goods trains.
Regards,
Graeme
I have been contemplating building a large rail motor for the TVT, but hadn't got past acquiring a motor and some gears, although a few concept drawings had been done, mostly based on rail motors operated by the EBR in Tasmania.
I remember the VR broad gauge Walker railcars from my childhood, although they rarely ran on our line. I mostly saw them on trips during holidays, which has probably left me with rosier memories than the real ones deserved.
I was aware that Trackshack were planning a model of one of the CDJR/IOMR Walker railcars, but they don't ship outside the UK. Then as you do, I was browsing Argyle Loco's website a while back and found that they had some Accucraft Walker railcars. Predictably they had sold the last one just before I rang them......
Anyway, to cut to the chase, Lesley managed to track down one of the last ones left in captivity and some of the kid's inheritance changed hands.
The model eventually arrived in Oz and was delivered safely last Wednesday. It is now sitting on the bench while I contemplate how to fit it out for r/c battery power. As it comes it is set up only for track power, although I believe Trackshack were offering to fit r/c battery power as an option.
The photos show it standing in the steaming bay on a dreary day between rain showers. The lighting is better for photography though.
The first photo shows it from the power unit end.
The next photo shows the back end of the passenger section, looking like the back of a bus, which they basically were.
The last photo shows it buffered up to a bogie guards van, showing that it fits in well with other TVT rolling stock. There's no space for goods and parcels in the railcar itself, so it will be getting a suitable trailer when I get around to building it. In the meantime a guards van will fill in for a bespoke trailer.
This model is too big to work on in the study, so the r/c conversion will have to wait until I can clear enough space in the workshop. Current planning is to use a Tx from the Aust supplier RCS, with one of the new Omega-10 ESCs also from RCS. The rest of the hardware can be sourced from the local Jaycar Electronics and a local model aeroplane shop.
That will at least get it working, so I can run it on the home track. Longer term it will get a dedicated trailer and the batteries will then be moved into that, so the big ugly battery box under the passenger section can be removed. It may acquire a new coat of paint and some detail mods at the same time. The early VR Walker silver and royal blue scheme appeals........
TVT Story
So......
Why a Walker railcar, apart from nostalgia?
Well, the largest customer for Walker railcars was actually the Victorian Railways, who during the late '40s/early '50s had acquired twelve 102HP and fifteen 153HP broad gauge railcars, basically similar to the ng Irish ones, for branchline services. There were also twelve much larger 280HP cars for mainline services. There was also a ng Walker railcar in Aust., owned by the EBR in Tasmania and delivered during WW2 to a pre-war design. All of which makes a Walker railcar reasonably believable on a minor Aust. railway.
The 102HP VR cars are shown here on Mark Bau's VR website. http://www.victorianrailways.net/motive ... lk102.html
The resemblance between the VR 102/153HP cars built in the late '40s and the Irish ng cars built in the early '50s is strong and it may be that the VR ones were used as the basis of the styling of the Irish cars built for the CDJR and WCR. The VR ones were all double ended, but otherwise similar in construction, the bodywork being basically the same as a road bus of the period. The VR ones had bodywork built by Martin & King in Melbourne, who built bus bodies, among other things.
My story is that the TVT staggered into the post-war period in dire need of a major investment in track and rolling stock, like the rest of the Aust. railway system. The VR wanted no part of the TVT as it was busy closing down it's own ng lines, so some money was extracted from the State Govt. to keep the line afloat and some of it was spent on a Walker railcar to maintain the passenger service.
Prewar the TVT passenger service was a daily mixed train. Like the VR broad gauge branch lines after the advent of their Walker railcars, the service changed to a daily rail motor service and a weekly steam hauled roadside goods. The railcar providing a faster service and a more comfortable one than a road bus, while the last serviceable steam loco (the Bagnall) soldiers on with the weekly goods trains.
Regards,
Graeme