North East Victoria Railway

[Tropic Blunder]

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The other revelation made was that the new Mabel crucially will successfully negotiate the ESET's fearsome 1:20 gradients and reverse curves and also return again. the load was 3 bogie opens, 4 4 wheelers and a bogie guards van which is more then adequate. The prototype that it will be rebuilt into in the future was capable of towing 90t up a 1:37 and can tow 185t absolutely slugging up a 1:50 so this will be absolutely perfect for what will be required of it in the future. Lesson learned though. always buy factory RC!

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The Climax returns back to the junction ready for its transfer back to NEVR metals. This was carried out at night to avoid congesting the busy lines back to its storage area.

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One of the first vehicles I designed for 3d printing back in 2014 is finally seeing the light of day. Practically all dimensions were wrong but after quite a few modifications and a lot of photos from my South Australian trip I'll hopefully be able to get the likeness fairly close. It will use the same chassis as the SAR guards van I just built. I'll probably end up building a few as traffic on the Bright line and surrounds used quite a lot of vans for tobacco traffic.

[Mitch stack]

The railway is desperately in the throes of the Pre GSSU build streak that happens every year but am currently I am sitting in a hotel in South England unable to work on any projects and other then some of Grants incredible boat posts none of my Australian compatriots are posting and I have an itch that needs to be scratched
A month or two ago the ESET hosted some visitors (A pair of Victorian tramway modellers normally known for their ON30 efforts) and another from Tasmania who works on the famous rack railway with a long family history involved in preservation. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the interlopers other then a few shots of Davids Shay but hopefully Alexander can post some of his excellent shots from the two days
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The newly blacked out Climax crosses the ESET's gorgeous bridge on its way to grasslands. This area gets quite lush in winter compared to summer!
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Tolmie Timber companies 3 truck shay descends down the beginning of the escarpment. despite doubts about it being able to negotiate the tight reverse curves and limited loading gauge it actually performed superbly.
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The NEVR's trusty DE dragging a long train of Tasmanian and WAGR wagons towards the depot. The biscuit load seen in the first wagon is a regular load on the ESET. return trips can take over 20 minutes depending on traffic levels and food and drinks must be carried by the crew!

oh boy he posted!! looks the goods dude, cant wait to run with you guys at GSSU this year!

[LNR]

Jake,
That bridge in the first pic. is a cracker. I seem to remember some Meccano plates that looked like that, is that what has been used.
Roll on the GSSU.
Grant.
PS Hope you enjoyed your scratch.

[Old Man Aaron]

Must say I'm rather impressed with the performance of a non-geared kettle over the ESET.

Great photos, too.

[Tropic Blunder]

Thanks gents.
The bridge is made out of the base of a broken bread tray from a milkbar or similar I believe. Alexander was kind enough to give me the remains of the tray which ill fit to one of my own bridges when I rebuild the railway post GSSU. Are you attending Sunday Grant or Friday?

The performance of the Mabel was everything I'd hoped but also exposed the real world issue of priming with the high waterlevels required to run the length of the line! It has to run cab first up the hill to keep the dome as high as possible but I can live with that. The failure of the Accucraft shay to get up the line even light engine has got me quierying things though. If it cant make it then my 1:1 geared Aster shay that I currently have in pieces is going to be a waste of time. Looks like it'll be getting listed and potentially another Mabel purchased to replace it. Unfortunately there aren't many bar framed American 3'6" locos that compare to it but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it

Speaking of Mabels heres a teaser of what the next post will be about...

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[LNR]

All three days, plus setup on Thursday for Me Jake.
Grant.

[Mitch stack]

Thanks gents.
The bridge is made out of the base of a broken bread tray from a milkbar or similar I believe. Alexander was kind enough to give me the remains of the tray which ill fit to one of my own bridges when I rebuild the railway post GSSU. Are you attending Sunday Grant or Friday?

The performance of the Mabel was everything I'd hoped but also exposed the real world issue of priming with the high waterlevels required to run the length of the line! It has to run cab first up the hill to keep the dome as high as possible but I can live with that. The failure of the Accucraft shay to get up the line even light engine has got me quierying things though. If it cant make it then my 1:1 geared Aster shay that I currently have in pieces is going to be a waste of time. Looks like it'll be getting listed and potentially another Mabel purchased to replace it. Unfortunately there aren't many bar framed American 3'6" locos that compare to it but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it

Speaking of Mabels heres a teaser of what the next post will be about...
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Lovely Pic Jake! Cant wait to have our two Mabels together for GSSU this year!

[Melbournesparks]

Apologies I too have been away lately, it turned out that was almost the last day of operation before a three month winter shutdown.

It's always good to see the NEVR stock running, it is one of the few times all the sidings and loops get some use on the normally electric multiple unit train and railcar worked line.



The DE approaching tunnel 3, on the short down hill grade before the long climb to Falls loop.




The SP waits for the DE at Falls, you definitely want to avoid stopping a locomotive hauled train on the long grade if possible.




Waiting at Currawong for the big shay. Currawong loop is a tramway era relic, both short and on a continuous grade despite being the most usefully located loop at approximately the mid point of the line. There's plans to rebuild it 'soon', but no progress yet




The DE on the downhill trip in some very Tasmanian conditions. I'm sure the crew very much appreciate this unit's dynamic brake, something it's VR broad gauge cousins mostly lacked.




Steam and electric sets at West Grasslands, now with actual steam facilities!




The NEVR motive power at West Grasslands. Not often that B siding gets used!




The spark waits for line clear as a goods train arrives into the loop.




Plenty of geared steam locomotive action at West Grasslands!

[LNR]

Some very nice scenic shots there, thanks for posting.
Grant.

[StuartJ]

Wonderfully atmospheric photos - particularly the third and fourth

[philipy]

I do love your line when we get to see it. Just a pity you are so far away!

[Melbournesparks]

I do love your line when we get to see it. Just a pity you are so far away!

I should get organised enough to make my own thread instead of just posting in Jake's, for the people who find it inconvenient to go to the other side of the world to look at garden railways.


Another 'recent' event was a visit to the Australian Model Railway Association G scale layout by the NEVR and ESET steam power. It's an interesting line to run on, obviously built back in the days of LGB track power with many tight curves.



Just prior to going to AMRA the NEVR Mabel had paid a visit to the tramway workshops for RC equipment to be fitted. It's basically the same type of installation as the Eltham South Electric Tramway Ruby, using two servos and an aircraft type 2.4ghz receiver. It seems to work well when controlled by the Micron rail type radio transmitters. The battery installation was yet to be finalised during the test run here.



The NEVR and ESET steam power fired up at AMRA.




This was a good line for the Mabel to have a decent test run of the RC, with a typical goods train of Australian 3'6" gauge wagons.




It did a good number of kilometres very reliably, certainly looks like a fine unit and has made me consider if the ESET might be able to make use of more steam power.




Since there are basically no other electrified lines the steam railcar is the main rollingstock when we're away from the wires, unless we resort to ...less elegant... solutions.




As well as the NEVR and ESET stock there was some steam traffic from other visitors.




The NEVR is somewhat better equipped for battery power and the Malcom Moore loco also did a decent amount of running. The MM has been an iconic part of the NEVR motive power roster for many years now.




The AMRA line has an interesting two level layout, with a steeply graded ramp connecting the two lines. The MM ventured up the ramp to the upper level.



It's a very scenic line with some interesting engineering features



The line has a very built up and established feel, very different to the rural bushland in Eltham.




The upper level is apparently supposed to be for track powered rollingstock, but the SP had to go up there too just because we could. The railfans require it for the rare mileage!




Steam servicing in the yard. The LGB track power heritage is evident, though I finally got to test to see if the SP's bogies swing far enough for an R1 curve. They do, building it into the original design requirement paid off. It actually made it around all but one of the four main lines, defeated on that one by the dreaded swept envelope clearance.




The NEVR Vulcan also did a fair bit of running, seen here along with the SP on the upper level.




The Vulcan on the upper level passes the SP on the lower level main line.




And both back down on the lower level with the SP.

We also have a bit of video footage of the day's running: