Garden Railway Forum

This model follows on from the bogie stock built last year. It was built over Christmas, but has sat around unpainted until recently. Now the latest loco is finished and I've sorted out the problems with my compressor, this one has been painted and lettered.

The bogies and under frame are standard with the earlier bogie stock, the bogies being LGB archbar type, with my own steel wheels and brake gear.



The under frame is standard as well, jig assembled from wood and detailed with Peco pins and Ozark Models brake hose and brake wheel castings. Same construction as this passenger car frame, but I forgot to take a photo of the van frame.



Bodywork is built up from wood shapes cut on the router and saw tables and the van is more or less two of my 4 wheel louvre vans joined together. Roof is the usual three layers of 0.5mm polystyrene sheet laminated in a jig.

This photo was taken back in summer.....



We've had a couple of clear days between the cold fronts, so this is the completed van, fresh out of the paint shop.



There are still three underframes on the workbench waiting to be turned into bogie opens, as I still haven't decided on the final design. Steel bodywork appeals, but I'm not convinced that polystyrene sheet is rigid enough in this scale. Vans can be braced, but not opens. They may end up with ply bodies.

Regards,
Graeme

That's a real beauty, congratulations!

Such a distinctive vehicle too - what would it have been used for?

Looking forward to seeing the next ones too...

All the best,

Andrew.

Works of art!!!! Beautiful and superbly detailed.

Andrew:111506 wrote:Such a distinctive vehicle too - what would it have been used for?

Louvre vans were commonly used in Aust. for perishable traffic such as foodstuffs, etc., as well as anything else likely to be damaged travelling under a tarpaulin in an open wagon.

This one is based on the VR ng design.

Graeme

Excellent work as always Graeme.

Did you fit bearings to your LGB bogies?

tom_tom_go:111509 wrote:Did you fit bearings to your LGB bogies?

No, I didn't bother as LGB use acetal, or a similar low friction polymer, for the sideframes.

I just make sure the axle journals have a good surface finish and I fill the bearing with Labelle 106 grease before assembly. Grease stays in the bearing, so they don't need regular lubrication.

My stock is lucky to get a couple of runs a year, so they should outlive me.....

Regards,
Graeme

Wow That's a real nice, congratulations!
Cheers GME