Garden Railway Forum

Some really great shots and interesting trains. Were the doors left open on the Taitset for ventilation?

Rik

Your eyes aren't decieving you Grant! Alexander put tiny motors under all the vents in that car that are connected to traction current so they spin depending on speed which means unless they're on a section of track doing line speed you wont usually notice. I think you can see them fairly clearly in some or the GSSU videos. If hes looking at the forum maybe he'll be able to post some pictures

Turns out I even have a picture:



The rotating flettner ventilators were a very distinctive feature of these cars so it was a fun thing to model. They have these tiny motors wired in parallel with the traction circuit. I did it with one car, but then I realised how much it would cost and how much extra wiring it would need (including another jumper between the cars) to do a full set so they only function on 472M.

ge_rik wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2025 9:11 am Some really great shots and interesting trains. Were the doors left open on the Taitset for ventilation?

Proper airconditioning! It was rare to see a set with all the doors closed, especially on a nice day. The doors were modelled to open and close though so you can shut them if you really want to.

Melbournesparks wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:18 am The rotating flettner ventilators were a very distinctive feature of these cars so it was a fun thing to model.

They certainly were. That is over the top modelling, great attention to detail.
Grant.

Why not use the movement of the train to "power" the ventilators?
The O-gauge tinplate Märklich Schienenzeppelin does so for the rear propeller.
You would get speed proportional to train speed.
Might be worth a try.

Scrat wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 9:15 am Why not use the movement of the train to "power" the ventilators?
The O-gauge tinplate Märklich Schienenzeppelin does so for the rear propeller.
You would get speed proportional to train speed.
Might be worth a try.

It doesn't scale like that, the actual amount of air movement at typical running speeds is tiny. The ventilators are only 11mm in diameter.

Melbournesparks wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 9:44 am

Scrat wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2025 9:15 am Why not use the movement of the train to "power" the ventilators?
The O-gauge tinplate Märklich Schienenzeppelin does so for the rear propeller.
You would get speed proportional to train speed.
Might be worth a try.

It doesn't scale like that, the actual amount of air movement at typical running speeds is tiny. The ventilators are only 11mm in diameter.

I don't think that Scrat meant to spin the ventilators just from the airflow... The old O scale Scheinenzeppelin (propeller-powered railcar) has a belt for the blade that is driven from the rear axle which makes the blade spin proportionally to the drive speed. Similar effect, different mechanism.

More recent HO scale Scheinenzeppelin models seem to use a motor for the prop wired in parallel exactly as Melbournesparks has done here.

I wonder what kind of gearing/belt system it would take to power most or all of the ventilators from an axle, might work out to a similar cost to individual motors anyway.

A friend once built a German Class 232 and used one motor with belt drive for the fan blades.
As he used different sizes of pulley wheels for each fan they were even spinning at different speeds.
Gives a much more interesting sight than all spinning at the same speed.

Very impressed all round! The camera work, the motorised ventilators, the length and paintwork of that 3'6" passenger rake, all of it! Hats off to all involved.

Bit of a different one. Was so lucky to be able to visit this lovely railway near Maryborough a while back now. filled with beautiful buildings and tons and tons of stone thats been hauled in.

I see what you mean about the tons of rock. I like the way he seems to have matched the colours. And also, has he chiselled tunnels through a couple of the bigger slabs? I'm sure I saw a puff of steam coming from the railcar when it whistled or was that my imagination?

A really great garden railway!!

Rik

Hello Rik, Yes hes just chiselled straight through. a few of them actually contain fairly sharp reverse curves with one having a deceptively steep gradient inside with the 180 degree curve! not for the feint hearted but was certainly good fun.

The Sentinel railcar is Alexanders (Melbournesparks) from the Eltham South Electric Tramway and is scratchbuilt live steam with marine steam bits in it. run time is basically endless as it has its own electric waterpump and a very generously sized gas tank with 5 hour runs to a suburban timetable not uncommon with occasional stops for water and oil. It has to be powerful and responsive as his line is 4 scale Km with a fair chunk of that on 1:20

One of the best garden lines in Australia.

Totally agree Aaron its a stunning railway the buildings are all perfectly weathered and blend into the rockery seamlessly. Looking forward to revisiting with some South Australian Stock that'll blend in well with the arid gardenwork

the NEVR had another rare burst of activity with the climax, 8, (porter) 9, (porter) and 14 all rostered on 14 pulls a train of Tasmanian pass stock tender returning out of Marysville on the up the Climax pulls out of Port Melbourne across the trestle on quite possibly the worlds slowest express...

The string lights really add to a night run.

Right after I lost access to the forum I finally got around to posting part two of the visit to Brents railway



Things have been busy around here. Alexanders W class has been resident for the last week or two which has been providing excellent encouragement to actually build an Australian prototype steam loco. I've almost finished the M but thats not considered part of the NEVR fleet but I will keep that until its a bit further along.
The newest addition to the NEVR/ESET roster are these SAR X and Y wagons, I'm aiming to offer these, the SAR V louvre van and bogie brake van for sale as a primer for people to model Australian prototype 3' 6" The Y truck is an older version of the file before I added interior detailing and door drop down blocks Leaving port Melbourne yard The SP arrives in platform 2 as the train of opens heads for the mine

Is there a chance you could publish the 3D files for the chopper coupling you use?

VicRail10 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2026 3:32 am Is there a chance you could publish the 3D files for the chopper coupling you use?

Welcome to the forum.
When you have time, would love to hear more about your modelling.

Rik