TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Discussion of Live Steam locomotives should be located here
Post Reply
User avatar
GTB
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:46 pm
Location: Australia

TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by GTB » Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:26 am

The US designed Climax geared locomotives have been in my sights for years, long before moving into garden scale. This is a long story!

A handful of Climax locos operated in Aust., made up of seven of the smaller A type, with seven of the larger B type. There were also seven (1 A type and 6 B type) that ran in New Zealand, which will become relevant to this story.

Two survived into preservation in Aust, the ex FCV 25 ton B type that has been restored to running condition on the Puffing Billy line near Melbourne and one 30 ton B type restored to static condition in the Tasmanian Transport Museum in Hobart.

Of course I'd like a model of the FCV loco., but building a model Climax runs up against a major problem. The prototype design uses skew bevel gears, which are not available commercially in suitable sizes. Kozo Hiraoka has instructions for cutting the correct gears in his book on building a 3.5" gauge Climax and I read it from time to time, but I'm fairly sure that sort of gear cutting is well above my pay grade.

The only garden scale live steam models that have been available commercially are as rare as hen's teeth. The most recent commercial model is from Accucraft, who made a 35 ton B class Climax model around the time I took up garden scale. I looked at one on the Argyle stand at an exhibition, but never got around to doing anything about it. Fast forward to more recent times and a used Accucraft one was on the sale table at the last GSSU before Covid shut everything down and then lo and behold there were two at the next GSSU last Nov. More thought, but still no action on my part.......

A couple of weeks ago an Accucraft example turned up on Argyle's Market Place page and that co-incided with me finding a photo I hadn't seen before of one of the Climax locos that ran in New Zealand. The main reason I hadn't done anything about the Accucraft models I'd seen was that they didn't look much like anything that ran in Australia. The model is a 35 ton B type loco built before WW1 with a wooden cab and a parallel boiler, while all the models I've seen locally were the version with a rather ugly metal cab fitted to the prototype during a rebuild. The largest of the Australian and NZ Climax locos were later 30 ton B types with a large steel cab and a wagon top boiler, which have a distinct family resemblance to the preserved FCV Climax.

The New Zealand photo I found showed a 30 ton loco with a wooden cab and a parallel boiler and something finally clicked. An overnight think and a bit more research resulted in a phone call and then a little while later a day trip into the Dandenongs. The TVT capital account has recovered from building the track and is currently healthy, so the Climax followed me home...... :roll:

The first photo shows the new model sitting in the yard for a photo before it's first test run on home track. The vendor is someone that I trust and apparently this model had only had a test run before becoming a shelf queen. He gave it a test run and a going over to check that everything worked, before I paid for it and picked it up.

Climax-a.jpg
Climax-a.jpg (185.6 KiB) Viewed 3910 times

The next photo shows it running on my track as a light engine. The day was warm and sunny, but calm and it was leaving a nice steam plume on it's first test run on this track. It also has an audible exhaust beat at low speeds, although that fades into a continuous roar at higher speeds, like all geared locos. The sun is behind the loco in the photo and helps emphasise the steam plume.

Climax-b.jpg
Climax-b.jpg (259.09 KiB) Viewed 3910 times

A Climax loco is designed for working on timber trams after all, so the next test run included a load. The photo shows the result in action, probably the first time the loco has pulled a train. It barely noticed the load and maintained speed and pressure throughout the run.

Climax-c.jpg
Climax-c.jpg (199.93 KiB) Viewed 3910 times

During the last run a goanna appeared in the station yard to sun itself. Actually it is a Garden Skink, about 3" long, but it scales about right for a 1:20 scale goanna. One lived in the workshop for a while and there were a lot less spiders in the workshop while he was around. We also have genuine dragons (Eastern Bearded Dragons) in the local area, but I haven't seen one of those in the garden.

Goanna.jpg
Goanna.jpg (166.41 KiB) Viewed 3910 times

I have to say that I am impressed with how well this model runs. I've been wary of Accucraft models after the problems with the Shay, but this one just worked out of the box. With the burner at minimum setting, the boiler can steam the cylinders continuously without losing pressure.

It will still get a makeover when I get the time, but it will only be cosmetic work. The cab will be replaced with a more attractive wooden cab and the air compressor, air tank, generator and electric head lights will be removed, to bring the model into more typical Aust/NZ condition. The stack and spark arrestor need to be shortened as well, but that will take some care so it doesn't change the exhaust sound.

Specifically, I am after something of the look of Climax no. 522, which ran on the Ellis & Bernand timber tram in the North Island of NZ. The remains apparently still survive in a museum collection in NZ.

As I hinted in the Harman loco post, if you have a Harman loco, you need a Climax loco to do the real work. 8)

Regards,
Graeme

Trevor Thompson
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 964
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:30 pm
Location: South West Wales

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by Trevor Thompson » Sun Mar 19, 2023 11:28 am

Brilliant!

Trevor

User avatar
Keith S
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1624
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2011 11:44 pm
Location: Canada

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by Keith S » Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:07 pm

My Dad, Brother and I drove down to America a few years ago to see some steam engines. The main attraction was in West Virginia: an entire logging railway restored with "Shay" locomotives, and the log wagons built into open passenger carriages. It is brilliant.

On the way, we stopped at another place and saw a Climax running on a bit of track somehow connected to a main line somewhere, but more or less used only by the Climax to chuff up and down. The whole area had an air of charming "time stopped in the 1950s" decrepitude, including the rails themselves and the towering forest all around. The Climax seemed to be in very good shape, and what a fascinating engine to watch. I find them the least awkward-looking of the three main types of geared American locomotive. The Americans certainly know how to put on a good show with their steam locomotives.

User avatar
Old Man Aaron
Trainee Driver
Trainee Driver
Posts: 795
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2016 11:08 am
Location: Sunshine Coast QLD, Australia

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by Old Man Aaron » Wed Mar 22, 2023 8:52 am

Keith S wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:07 pm The Americans certainly know how to put on a good show with their steam locomotives.
Theatrical bunch, aren't they? I've noticed that too.

Looking forward to seeing the improvements, Graeme. Nice to see you got a good Accy this time too. :thumbleft:
Regards,
Aaron - Scum Class Works

User avatar
GTB
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:46 pm
Location: Australia

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by GTB » Wed Mar 22, 2023 11:59 pm

Keith S wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 10:07 pm The Climax seemed to be in very good shape, and what a fascinating engine to watch. I find them the least awkward-looking of the three main types of geared American locomotive.
I was lucky enough to get a cab ride on 1694 on the Puffing Billy line when it ran a work train years ago, just after it's first restoration. The ride was really good by steam loco standards, but when it gets up to speed (all of 5mph) the frame starts to flex and the ride becomes 'floaty', a bit like walking on a light suspension bridge.

From what I've read a Climax was less prone to derailment on bad track than a Shay, but was prone to breaking axles. During the most recent rebuild of 1694, PuffRail did a lot of computer simulation work to remedy the axle problem.

Graeme

User avatar
GTB
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:46 pm
Location: Australia

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by GTB » Sun Sep 10, 2023 7:02 am

The TVT engineer has lately been doing a bit of moonlighting for one of the local timber companies........

The Mt. Deception Hardwood Co. recently bought a s/h Climax steam loco., which was no oil painting, to be charitable. This company is a newer customer of the TVT and its line runs to the east of the TVT mainline, connecting with exchange sidings on the mainline. The other timber company in the area is the older Mt. Delusion Sawmilling Co. which has a line to the West of the TVT mainline and connects to the branchline running west to Cassilis. Their locos. are easily distinguished. The Mt. delusion Co. paints theirs unlined green, while the Mt. Deception Co. uses plain black.

Work carried out on the Climax included removing equipment such as air brakes and electrical lighting that would not be used on a timber tram in the wilds of East Gippsland. As well as yankee fripperies like the bell. The ugly cab had to go as well.

The first photo shows the loco. as received for comparison and the second shows a trial fit of the replacement cab and various other bits and pieces.

Climax-a.jpg
Climax-a.jpg (185.6 KiB) Viewed 3262 times
Climax-d.jpg
Climax-d.jpg (209.37 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

The timber company agreed it was an improvement in looks and some further work was done to bring the loco. up to roadworthy condition. This included tracing the reason why the gauge glass wasn't functioning properly.


The engineer swears blind that this pile of parts in the next photo. will be a Climax steam loco. when painted and assembled.

Climax-h.jpg
Climax-h.jpg (153.06 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

It would seem the engineer was right. The last photos show the rebuilt loco. sitting in weak sunshine on a cold spring day in SE Aust. Running trials still to come, as the track has to be dug out of the undergrowth and some weedicide spread around to control the cape weed, dandelions and various other unwanted greenery that have grown up this winter.

Climax-j.jpg
Climax-j.jpg (169.93 KiB) Viewed 3262 times
Climax-k.jpg
Climax-k.jpg (159.71 KiB) Viewed 3262 times

The paint shop queue is now down to two models.........

Regards,
Graeme

User avatar
ge_rik
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 6497
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:20 pm
Location: Cheshire
Contact:

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by ge_rik » Sun Sep 10, 2023 7:37 am

A great improvement - especially the matt finish. Out of interest, are the bogies actually driven by the prop shafts?

Rik
------------------------
Peckforton Light Railway - Blog Facebook Youtube

User avatar
LNR
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1533
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2016 5:26 am
Location: Australia

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by LNR » Sun Sep 10, 2023 8:15 am

Hope your not becoming deceptively delusional Graeme!
The bigger cab definitely takes some of the lengthy appearance away from the original, much better looking.
Grant.

User avatar
GTB
Driver
Driver
Posts: 1550
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:46 pm
Location: Australia

Re: TVT - It followed Me Home.....

Post by GTB » Sun Sep 10, 2023 8:25 am

ge_rik wrote: Sun Sep 10, 2023 7:37 am Out of interest, are the bogies actually driven by the prop shafts?
Yes, it has a fully working geared drive. It's even got the correct skew bevel gears on the driving axles.

Unlike the Bachmann Climax, which has motors in the bogies and the shafts just go along for the ride.

Graeme

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests