TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

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TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by GTB » Tue May 08, 2018 4:06 pm

The major TVT project on the bench has been proceeding very slowly, so a 'quickie' project for the timber tramway was embarked on recently to raise a bit of enthusiasm.

Prototype History

I grew up on the Goldfields near Bendigo in Central Victoria and this project has a tenuous connection with the area. Bendigo had one of the few steam powered street tramways in Aust. and the only one in Victoria, thanks largely to the members of the local council collectively being far from the sharpest tools in the shed. Around 1890 a company was formed to build a street tram between the City of Bendigo (at the time named Sandhurst) and the nearby Borough of Eaglehawk. The Sandhurst Council decided it didn't want it's fair city sullied by overhead wires and forced the company to use battery trams, built in the UK to a Belgian patent. These were an abject failure, as the battery and electrical technology of the time wasn't up to the local geography.

The tramway company quickly went broke and a new company formed to take over the system. Bendigo Council was still adamant about no electric trams, so the new company bought five Baldwin steam dummies and converted the battery trams to trailers. This photo shows a Bendigo Tramway Co. Ltd. steam tram waiting at the Bendigo railway station entrance for it's next run to Eaglehawk sometime in the early 1890's.

Bendigo Steam Tram-1.jpg
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My grandfather could remember these steam trams from when he was a schoolboy and had stories about them. They were a good example of being careful what you wish for, as the anti-electric tram council now found itself with smoke belching steam dummies chugging through the city centre, leaving a trail of sparks and embers behind them, as they were often wood fired. After about twelve years a new company took over with a plan to build a power station and introduce electric street lighting and electric trams. The steam trams were sold off after the system had been upgraded in 1903 to running electric trams. The electric trams were eventually taken over by the State Govt. and were still operating when I was growing up. True to form, the Council kicked up a stink when the Govt. decided to close the system, even though their grandfathers hadn't wanted them. Part of the system still survives as a successful tourist tramway.

After about 12 years service on the Bendigo trams, the five little Baldwins and the three larger Phoenix Foundry built steam dummies were sold off and ended up in industrial service across Victoria and Tasmania, mostly on timber trams. One even ended up in northern Queensland working for a harbour board.

Two were bought in 1908 by Hayden Bros. of Barwon Downs for their timber tramway on the eastern side of the Otways to replace horse haulage. These two were converted into one working loco, including conversion from the standard gauge used in Bendigo to the 3'6" gauge used by the Haydens by an engineering firm in Geelong. What was left of the second loco was kept as a source of spares. The little loco ran until the timber tramway was closed in 1917 and was then sold, ending up with the SR&WSC on various water supply projects until it was scrapped in the '30s after completion of the Hume Weir project.

Which bring us finally to the point of this story....... :roll:


The Build

The model was built using an Accucraft Ruby kit. The kit was one of the latest batch and cost all of A$750. Argyle Loco is local to me and I was able to pick it up from Michael at the Sandown Exhibition in early March.

I picked it up on the Saturday and started assembly on the Sunday. The kit went together easily and was ready for an air test the same day. Being a prepainted kit, I ran a tap through all the holes to clean any paint out of the thread and there were no problems fitting any of the screws. This was also only the second model loco I've ever assembled where I didn't have to remove any binding to get the chassis to run nicely. The last time that happened was 50 years ago and the kit was a Tri-ang CKD Princess kit........ The pic. shows the assembled chassis ready for testing on air.

Hayden-1.jpg
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By close of play on the Monday, the loco was ready for a steam test. The test went OK, but I found that the water ran out well before the gas, contrary to what the manual said. The burner wasn't particularly efficient at boiling water and struggled to maintain pressure. It was also noisy and difficult to light, so a new burner of the Roundhouse type was added to the to-do list as well as some work on the smokebox to free up the gas exhaust path a bit. The gas tank got in the way of the planned bodywork, so it needed replacement and relocating. The pic. shows the loco ready for steam testing.

Hayden-3.jpg
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The next pic. shows the loco after the new burner, gas valve and gas tank had been made and fitted. By this stage it also had the new boiler fittings in place and the reverser had been moved forward a bit to clear the planned bodywork. It should be up on the running board beside the boiler, which is where it was fitted on a Baldwin steam dummy. This wasn't feasible with the Accucraft design, without a lot of modification that wasn't worth the effort. The model turned out to be a real oil thrower and although the original had a stove pipe funnel, I end up fitting a working diamond spark arrestor to intercept the oil, the design being similar to the one I fitted to my Aster Krauss loco.

Hayden-5.jpg
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After a lot of work and new parts, the replacement burner was now much the same efficiency as a Roundhouse one. The loco was now much quieter and the boiler was better at keeping up with the cylinders. Work now started on the bodywork and other bits and pieces and the loco. started looking a bit like the prototype. The pic. shows it with the basic bodywork fitted, as well as new headstocks. The water tanks are at the rear of the cab and what look like side tanks are just side sheets to keep the driver from falling off the running boards.

Hayden-7.jpg
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The next step was the corrugated iron roof that was reminiscent of one on a traction engine. This pic. shows the roof supports and framework before the corrugated iron was fitted.

Hayden-9.jpg
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The big trick was making a corrugated iron roof that was strong enough to not be easily damaged. On rolling stock I use corrugated card stiffened with shellac. This wasn't feasible in this case, so eventually I used the barrel corrugating machine I had built to put corrugations into a sheet of annealed brass shim. Corrugating this was a real saga as the sheet had to be annealed four times during the process and I lost count of how many passes through the machine was needed. Curving it to fit the roof was an anti-climax. The corrugated sheet was stiff enough that it curved nicely through the bending rolls without squashing the corrugations. The next pic. shows the corrugating machine and the roof sheet made with it.

Hayden-11.jpg
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The first of the next two pics. shows the model fitted with the completed roof. The loco was more or less complete by this stage, but a few more cosmetic bits like crossheads, slidebars and motion brackets were added, as well as dummy steam chest covers to hide the countersunk screws that hold the valve chests to the cylinders. This pic. was taken outside on a sunny day, just before I remembered the steam chest covers hadn't been fitted....... The second pic. shows the new covers and a closer view of the added crossheads , etc.

Hayden-17.jpg
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Hayden-18.jpg
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It was now time to break the model down into paintable sub-assemblies and the pic. shows it set out on the bench waiting for the paint shop.

Hayden-19.jpg
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I recently decided to stop using Humbrol enamels and this was the first loco. to be completely painted with Revell enamels. This went much better than recent fights to use Humbrol paint, there was no drying in the airbrush, a much smoother finish and less stress all round........

The following pics. show the model outside in some late autumn sunshine, with the TVT engineer up in the cab on a test run.

Hayden-20.jpg
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Hayden-21.jpg
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The last pic shows the loco. in late afternoon sun with a load of sawn timber, on it's way to the transfer siding at Barwon station where the timber will be loaded into VR broad gauge trucks. The VR for some reason disliked station names with two or more words and although the town was called Barwon Downs, the station name was just Barwon.........

Hayden-22.jpg
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Conclusions

The model had been run in on the bench during the long series of modifications and runs smoothly in both directions when set up, so the valve gear didn't need to be modified. The valve gear design is heavy on steam though and uses about 20% more steam than a similar size RH loco., which means the original burner struggled to make enough steam to maintain boiler pressure when running.

The only prototype info is a couple of photos of the steam dummies in service at Bendigo and a single snapshot of the loco in timber tram service, taken in front of the Hayden's general store in Barwon Downs. The main appearance problem due to using the Accucraft Ruby is the boiler, which is longer than the one fitted to these small Baldwin steam dummies. The smokebox especially, is much longer than the prototype, but modifying this would be difficult. It would be easier to make a new boiler, which kind of defeats the purpose of using the kit. My story is that the loco has been reboilered.

While I don't agree with some of the design philosophy, the kit is very well made. All the parts fit properly and no holes needed elongating. I was particularly impressed with the way the coupling and connecting rods fitted without any binding, straight out of the box. The wheels and cylinders are already painted as well.

Regards,
Graeme
Last edited by GTB on Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:59 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by IanC » Tue May 08, 2018 4:25 pm

Graeme,

That is an excellent account and review of your build. She looks superb and is a credit to you.

I have a roundhouse loco and have experienced water running out before gas on occasions. It is now fitted with a water top up valve although the loco doesn't have a gauge glass as it wasn't designed for one. I put a few squirts in mid run until the pressure drops slightly to add a bit of a margin to my runs.

Enjoy the loco. I'm sure you will.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by invicta280 » Tue May 08, 2018 9:51 pm

A great build and an attractive loco. Well photographed too. There is something about corrugated iron roofs on locos which gets my attention every time.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by daan » Wed May 09, 2018 2:18 am

It's always a joy to see a live steamer being built. These little ruby's are ideal for kitbashing, your version is a very interesting one. Great locomotive!
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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by LNR » Wed May 09, 2018 2:31 am

Glad to see you've been keeping off the streets. Nice build. Agree about Revell paints, good to hear of no drying problems etc.
Grant.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by ge_rik » Wed May 09, 2018 7:58 am

Wow! Now that must be the ultimate in kit-bashing! Your persistence with the corrugated roof is to be admired, I think I would have given up after the first attempt (or melted the brass on the second).

Great looking model with an interesting (and personal) history.

Rik
PS The driver really looks the part as well. I assume he was kit-bashed too. :)
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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by daan » Wed May 09, 2018 9:56 pm

GTB wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 4:06 pm ... The valve gear design is heavy on steam though and uses about 20% more steam than a similar size RH loco..
You could check if it's set for inside admission.
"En schöne Gruess" from an Alpine railway in Holland.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by GTB » Thu May 10, 2018 9:48 am

IanC wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 4:25 pm I have a roundhouse loco and have experienced water running out before gas on occasions.
Early Rubys had smaller cylinders, so used less water during a run. The gas tank remained the same when they fitted the larger UK cylinder design to later batches, so the water now runs out first.

With the tinber tram bodywork there was limited available space for a gas tank, so I built a new one to fit what space was available. It is slightly smaller, so there is now a few water left when the gas runs out.

With the more efficient burner that is now fitted, it still has about the same run time as the unmodified model.

Sometimes you win, sometimes the loco does. I think I fought this one to a draw........

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by IanC » Thu May 10, 2018 10:13 am

GTB wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 9:48 am
IanC wrote: Tue May 08, 2018 4:25 pm I have a roundhouse loco and have experienced water running out before gas on occasions.
Early Rubys had smaller cylinders, so used less water during a run. The gas tank remained the same when they fitted the larger UK cylinder design to later batches, so the water now runs out first.

With the tinber tram bodywork there was limited available space for a gas tank, so I built a new one to fit what space was available. It is slightly smaller, so there is now a few water left when the gas runs out.

With the more efficient burner that is now fitted, it still has about the same run time as the unmodified model.

Sometimes you win, sometimes the loco does. I think I fought this one to a draw........

Regards,
Graeme
I'm not sure if I've won, lost or drawn. I'd say I've got to know my loco now and operate it accordingly.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by GTB » Thu May 10, 2018 10:51 am

ge_rik wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 7:58 am Your persistence with the corrugated roof is to be admired, I think I would have given up after the first attempt (or melted the brass on the second).
The old school motto was 'Illegitimi Non Carborundum'. 8)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegitim ... arborundum
ge_rik wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 7:58 am The driver really looks the part as well. I assume he was kit-bashed too. :)
The driver is a slightly modified Schliech 'Pioneer Settler' figure, now out of production. He came holding a stetson, which I carved off, leaving a remnant to suggest he has a rag in his hand.

His mate the guard is a slightly modified Bachmann figure, the main addition being the fag in his hand.

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by GTB » Thu May 10, 2018 2:36 pm

daan wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 9:56 pm You could check if it's set for inside admission.
Inside or outside admission makes no difference to cylinder efficiency, as the valve timing doesn't change.

The article you linked was developed in the US for the early Ruby model with small cylinders, which often ran better in reverse than in forward. Rearranging the eccentrics could improve running in foward, but at the expense of reverse running. Better running in this context means smoother, not more efficient.

Current Ruby models have larger cylinders based on those used in models for the UK market and run well in both directions out of the box, so reversing the admission won't make much difference, if any.

The issue is with Accucraft using a reversing valve and lap on the cylinder valves, which means as well as inlet lap they also have exhaust lap. As a result the valve opens the port well after dead centre at the start of the stroke and closes it well before dead centre at the end of the stroke. the cylinders also have a lot of end clearance between the pistons and the end caps, presumably to help with compression in the cylinder at the end of the stroke due to the valve closing the exhaust port early.

All of which means the cylinders use more steam at a given load and speed than they would if they used a reversing link, no exhaust lap and less cylinder end clearance.

There is an article online from Bill Allen in the US on modifying the ports of Accucraft piston valve cylinders to improve the valve timing on the early Ruby models and others with this valve gear. I was considering this mod but when I took some measurements the port dimensions on my model were already similar to those recommended in the article, so I left the ports alone.

The port modification article is here if you are interested http://forums.mylargescale.com/18-live- ... n-new.html

My model runs nicely in both directions once setup and I'm happy with that, but the high water usage irritates me.

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by philipy » Thu May 10, 2018 5:04 pm

I've really enjoyed this thread, thanks Graeme. Nice looking unusual loco as the end result, pity we can't see it running.

As an aside, I have distant cousins in Bendigo ( been there since the 1870's) but apart from the gold mining, I know next to nothing about other aspects of the area, so thanks for this logging info as well.
Philip

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by tom_tom_go » Thu May 10, 2018 5:38 pm

Best looking Ruby conversion I have seen, thanks for sharing.

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by 11thHour » Fri May 11, 2018 1:59 am

GTB wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 10:51 am The driver is a slightly modified Schliech 'Pioneer Settler' figure, now out of production. He came holding a stetson, which I carved off, leaving a remnant to suggest he has a rag in his hand.
Regards,
Graeme
Just as well you didn't model the driver based on the prototype in the head picture. What a larrikin!

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by FWLR » Fri May 11, 2018 7:21 am

Brilliant build, love the way you do your’e corrugated iron. Wish I could have one of those machines. :mrgreen:

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by GTB » Fri May 11, 2018 4:50 pm

philipy wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 5:04 pm As an aside, I have distant cousins in Bendigo ( been there since the 1870's) but apart from the gold mining, I know next to nothing about other aspects of the area, so thanks for this logging info as well.
My lot had been here for a couple of generations by the 1870s. The first one to arrive was given an all expenses paid ocean cruise to Sydney, before there was any other destination in Oz.......... 8)

Anyway........

The nearest thing to a timber industry in the Bendigo region was based on supplying firewood to the mines and by my time only sleeper cutters operated in the local state forest. The little Baldwin tram worked in the Otways after it's rebuild, which is a range of mountains on the coast 250km SSW of Bendigo, where it is wet enough to grow really big trees.

This Aust. Govt. film on Youtube shows the Eastern Aust. timber industry in the postwar years, but before major modernisation took place. Mostly taken in Gippsland in Eastern Vic. Prewar they would have been using horse or bullock teams and timber trams, instead of the war surplus bulldozers and trucks in the film. The rail loco that appears is one of the Days tractors we were discussing recently in another thread. What's left of the timber industry is still the most dangerous occupation in Aust.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wlh6uMYLoL8

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: TVT - Hayden Bros. Tram

Post by dewintondave » Sun May 13, 2018 9:16 am

Excellent build Graeme!
Best wishes,
Dave

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