The title is an Australian term, used by the travelling public to describe older railway carriages of the British non-corridor compartment type. Presumably the name came from a resemblance to the starting boxes at a dog racing track, especially when a suburban train stopped at a station during the rush hour. It was not used as a term of endearment.......
This model was built to match the arc roof pass cars already in TVT service. The other TVT cars are based on an Irish prototype from the Tralee & Dingle line and while this one has no exact prototype, something similar ran on the County Donegal and also on the EBR in Tasmania.
Construction is the same as the earlier TVT cars, having a wooden underframe and bodywork laminated from layers of 0.5mm and 1mm polystyrene sheet. I finally found a local supplier of 1mm clear acrylic sheet recently and this is the first model to use it. It worked out much better than the 1/16" acrylic sheet I've been using for years.
For anyone interested, construction details can be found in the original post on the older models here. https://gardenrails.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=7254
If this had been built on the short underframe of the first TVT models, it would have had only four compartments and the proportions didn't look right when sketched up. After a bit of fiddling with the drawing, it was decided to make it a five compartment body on the same length chassis as the US style cars that I kit bashed from Bachmann JS models. As it happened, it came out the same length and with the same number of compartments as the later VR ng NB class cars. The internal arrangements are similar to those as well.
The underframe was built first, to confirm that it would handle the curves and clearances on my backyard track. As expected there were no issues, although like the US style cars, the coupler swing on some locos needs to be taken into account when marshalling a train.
The first photo shows the finished underframe sitting in the sun just after Christmas during track trials.
The next photo shows the completed bodywork fitted to the underframe and ready for the paint shop a couple of months later. The underframe had sat around while I worked on other things, as I was waiting for Brandbright to open up again. I needed more of the same ventilators used on the other cars in the set, but eventually decided to complete the model and fit ventilators later if/when they became available.
This photo shows the internal arrangements. Two compartments at each end with half height dividers and a single compartment in the centre with full height ones. The centre compartment would have been for ladies, one of the end compartment pairs would have been a smoking compartment and the other non-smoking. Interior detail is just basic seats made from custom wood mouldings cut to length and assembled, with the interior walls painted to resemble stained wood.
The next photo is of the model painted and finished, ready to go into service. As always the sun finally came out after the photo was taken.....
Finally, the last photo shows the branchline loco making up the weekly branchline mixed train. It will place the pass cars at the platform to load, then add a couple of goods trucks, before setting off. Normally the train crew outnumber the passengers on this service, but an excursion group have booked a return trip and the new dog box is included to provide enough extra seats.
TVT Story
This was another 'find' from Tasmania for the always cash strapped TVT management committee. Excursion traffic into the area served by the TVT has been on the increase and the other TVT pass cars are saloons with fairly limited seating, as aisles are necessary to access seats.
Even the longer Yankee cars only have thirty-four seats, and the short Irish cars are worse with only twenty-four seats in second class. Both types have plenty of standing room, but the TVT isn't a suburban railway and excursionists complain loudly if they have to stand all the way.
The dog box car seats forty passengers and loads/unloads much quicker than the saloon cars, so the management is happy with the investment.
Regards,
Graeme
