Price Meyer Class Arb

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:59 am

Now let me say right off that Price Engineering Ltd here in Kiwiland never built a Class 'Arb'; - they did build a Class Ar though, - only one. It was an amazing loco, the largest Price built loco to run on a timber tramway and did it hard work up until 1946 when it was scrapped. Which was a shame because it really was an exceptional locomotive and totally New Zealand designed and built.

This is wot it looked like....... Note the geared drive to each bogie.

I like Meyer locos, - only a class 'Ar' is too big for the Kotanga Tramway. Soooooo I asked myself what would have happened if the Kotanga tramway management approached Price Engineering Ltd and said, 'We really like your 'Ar' loco, but could you make a smaller one for us?'
And after a little messing about with the plan I came up with this

I have a good many Lego motor blocks and it's simplicity itself to regauge them to 45mm (Lego gauge is @ 1&1/2 inches). Being very compact and self contained they are ideal for building articulated locos and I want use a pair of them to build my might have been class 'Arb'. Because I'm an invalid I don't have much money to come and go on so building things with wot I've got is very much the order of the day.
This loco I can build without having to buy anything in and it should make a perfect workhorse for the Kotanga Tramway.

If the idea works out I'm strongly considered rebuilding 'Emily', my Locolines based 2-6-2 tank engine, as a Meyer loco too. But we will see......

Peter Butler · Post by **Peter Butler** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 10:49 am

Well done you, Annie. You do come up with some interesting schemes and ambitious projects.... Go Girl!!!!
I do hope this works and you can show us all what to do.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 11:19 am

Thanks Peter

I'm hopeful that I will be able to make use of the Lego control system too which I think works by infra-red or something of the sort. Getting it to fit into a Lego loco was always a challenge, but with a 16mm loco I shouldn't have any problems.

And yes I will take pictures as I go and describe how I did it.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:48 pm

I should have mentioned that the loco wheels I use with these motor blocks can be found here........http://bigbenbricks.com/

tuppenced · Post by **tuppenced** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:36 pm

In what way is the Arb smaller, please, Annie?

Ah! I can see it now - shorter, more like a C class.

D

Snailrail · Post by **Snailrail** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 4:02 pm

Hi Annie, I am fascinated by articulated locos too, though the number of different types and variations can be quite bewildering. I think this is what is often known as a Kitson Meyer with the bogies separated to allow the firebox in between. The bogies are powered by their own cylinders so I guess the geared drive would be for the reversing mechanism ?

It's one decidedly odd looking loco with that large front overhang, I think your shortened version makes it into a really nice looking well- proportioned engine. Would be great to see a model of it.

Brian

Keith S · Post by **Keith S** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 6:28 pm

I agree with "snail rail". I think your "re-imagined" version actually makes a nicer-looking locomotive than the original. Better proportions.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:26 am

It was that long overhang at the front which was my main concern, - that and the longer wheelbase. I did consider a Price 'Cb', but I didn't want to get into the complication of building a geared locomotive, - or at least not yet anyway.

Price type 'Cb'

This Price Cb made it into preservation and works at a tramway museum in a neighbouring town to where I live. As I understand it its boiler has recently been rebuilt.

Building a 'what if' Price 'Arb' was a good compromise as it lets me have a Meyer type loco and it still has the classic Price Engineering look to it.

The loco body will be my usual plywood reinforced cardboard construction and the batteries will be hidden in the boiler and accessed through the smokebox door.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 12:59 am

This is going to be a BIG loco :shock:
Remember this is my shortened version of a Price 'Ar' so I would hate to think how big an 'Ar' loco built to scale would be. Fortunately Mr Knott rode over on the new bicycle he got for Christmas to give me a hand ;)

My first task is to cut out the footplate from 2.5mm ply and this is going to be reinforced with long Meccano angle strips which will be hidden by 2mm cardboard overlays. This loco is an experiment because I want to see if a pair of Lego motor blocks re-gauged to 45mm will work on a big loco like this. If not I'll have to devise something else, but anyway we shall see.

And yes I'm doing a lot of my model making in bed at the moment.

tuppenced · Post by **tuppenced** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 1:20 am

I'm doing a lot of my model making in bed at the moment.

So am I, except there's a witch's black cat sitting right in the middle of a drawing of a Union Foundries bush tractor. D

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 1:47 am

My cat used to 'help' by doing that only the poor old thing died a few months ago and I really miss him (sigh).

steam Technology · Post by **steam Technology** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:17 pm

You'll have to be careful, Annie, with lego & meccano on the same build all sorts of arguments might ensue.

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:55 pm

Yes that could indeed be a possibility

All the glue I had from when I last did any model making has mysteriously gone hard so I've had to go and get some more. Grrrrr....

It seems too that my eyesight isn't as good as it was and I'm having to wear a magnifier so I can accurately mark out a large 16mm scale loco for heaven's sake. Just as well I'm not trying to work in P4 anymore!

Peter Butler · Post by **Peter Butler** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 2:29 pm

Welcome to the club Annie.... I'm afraid it comes to us all eventually.

Gralyn · Post by **Gralyn** » Sat Jan 09, 2016 3:20 pm

Annie:115490 wrote:
It seems too that my eyesight isn't as good as it was and I'm having to wear a magnifier so I can accurately mark out a large 16mm scale loco for heaven's sake. Just as well I'm not trying to work in P4 anymore!

Watch out if you ever go to vari-focal. no more straight lines.

tuppenced · Post by **tuppenced** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:44 pm

Gralyn:115503 wrote:Watch out if you ever go to vari-focal. no more straight lines. :(

Nah!
I do know what you mean, but there are no straight lines on a spherical retina anyway - straight lines are all in the mind, literally. Although I desperately resisted Varifocals as long as I possibly could, once I'd got them, my braincell soon adapted, just as it had to the distinctive distortions of each previous new pair of specs.
(Except to working on ceiling electrics, where I need close vision above my head. THAT's where Varifocals let one down big-time. Sometimes I put my specs on upside down - luckily I have enough hair to hold them on - and a big enough conk.)

David

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:59 pm

That's what I found too when I went to vari-focals or progressive lenses as they are sometimes called. At first I found them strange, but very quickly my brain learned to work with them. I think I shall have to go and get my eyes looked at though because I'm having problems and I'm not sure if It's a result of having been ill or something else going on.

The Price Meyer is slowly progressing, - no pictures as yet, but hopefully soon.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 3:33 am

My eyesight has "gone west" in the last year or so. I have always been 20-40 one side, and 20-200 the other, but now I also have problems with short range vision. As my arms are not extendable, I have had to go to bifocals, which are OK, but there are times when I need the short range vision up, not down, and I cannot turn them over as my eyes are so odd legged!

However, it is not too bad with 16mm, but I am very happy I am not modelling in OOn3 anymore. I think 5.5mm scale on 16.5mm track would be a stretch now - at least for scratch building. At least ballasting and track work do not need good eyesight, and that is the major task now the snows are over.

Cheers,
Peter in AZ

Annie · Post by **Annie** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 5:32 am

I've started doing some On16.5 modelling just lately, but if I really want to get stuck into something that has a bit more heft and detail it's 16mm all the way. I certainly couldn't see myself getting involved in any modelling smaller than 7mm scale as it's just too darn small.

railrev59 · Post by **railrev59** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:50 pm

Snailrail:115072 wrote:Hi Annie, I am fascinated by articulated locos too, though the number of different types and variations can be quite bewildering. I think this is what is often known as a Kitson Meyer with the bogies separated to allow the firebox in between. The bogies are powered by their own cylinders so I guess the geared drive would be for the reversing mechanism ?

It's one decidedly odd looking loco with that large front overhang, I think your shortened version makes it into a really nice looking well- proportioned engine. Would be great to see a model of it.

Brian

Hi Snailrail

No, the gearing was to reduce the gear ratio from direct drive to something approaching (in this case) 2:1. The jackshaft (i.e. the one running between the axles, which is the one the cylinders drove) had 22 teeth and the cogs on the axles had 45. The reversing mechanism was the standard steam loco reverser, sometimes called the 'Johnson bar' in the USA.

The articulation was indeed of the Meyer type, and it's true that Kitson did build most of the Meyers that have ever existed, but other manufacturers (e.g. Hunslet) also built Meyers, so technically, this loco was a Price-Meyer.

Happy New Year!

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