Marty's O Scale Narrow Gauge

Look what followed me home from my road trip yesterday!

 

There is an official designation, but everyone calls it "the Coffeepot."

https://www.pichirichirailway.org.a...ailways-smc-class-commonwealth-railways-njab1

 

Picked up another little loco. I traded one of my fleet of Ixion Hudswell Clarke locos for this one. I owned six Ixion Hudswell Clarke locos, which have been unavailable for a few years now. A couple of small bits missing, but nothing major. I am at least the third owner now. Overall size is similar to the VR Na class. I am surprised to find that it runs just fine around 18" curves, although that rear overhang is at the very limit of the coupler swing!

 

Speaking of... I found more Trix Tippers on eBay Germany. In fact, I have also kept the old couplings off the other ones and I have the original cardboard box in good condition. I can probably put together a complete set of mint tippers back into an original box and make it available to a collector.

Not shown here is an On3 kit for a D&RGW 30' Stock Car which I bought for just $20 AUD.

The gentleman who sold me the Coffeepot also gave me an almost complete Bachmann On30 Trainset (Mogul + 3x Carriages) for free. This was because the previous owner had made a somewhat ham-fisted attempt to convert them from On30 to either On3 or On42. The locomotive mechanism is a write-off, but a source of some spare parts, and the 3x carriages all need replacement bogies (which I have ample supply). As a bonus I got a complete loop of Bachmann EZ-track, so I can now wire up a second loop and have two trains running simultaneously on the wooden floor!

I didn't plan on getting into the Bachmann EZ-track system, but so much of it has turned up as a bonus in my purchases and I bought a couple of points for very cheap.

 

Further to that, I actually have quite a bit going on in my O Scale Standard Gauge collection too. A mate of mine picked this collection of O gauge wagons up for me at a club sale day. Paid $100 AUD for the lot. Just to put that in perspective. The GWR Brake Van kit currently retails for about that much by itself.



A job lot of four Atlas O Gauge Plymouth MDT switchers came my way.



And you might remember that my collection of Hudswell Clarkes had expanded to a trio a while back. Well, it has expanded to a Septet, though one was bought as a damaged/incomplete model which is being used primarily for spares. The green one on the left was my first model which I purchased about 10 years ago. It was originally black, but I painted it green since those sold out quickly. All the others I bought second hand, and a couple of them damaged/incomplete were very cheap but I have enough spares to make them complete. And that is after I traded one for the Forney!

 

Among my recent acquisitions was a Bachmann On30 Trainset. It was a freebie since a previous owner had converted them to On42. The three coaches needed replacement bogies, which I had in stock from the job lots I had previously bought. A real bonus was a complete loop of Bachmann HO EZ Track.

So I now have two complete loops of the track. I am thinking I should arrange for some sort of portable baseboards so I can take the trains somewhere for a running session. I have four matching points.

 

My "Coffeepot" was poorly. I suspect that having sat in its box for so long the lubricant had congealed. I had it cleaned and serviced and it runs like new.

I want to give a shout-out to Woodpecker Model Railways in Pendle Hill (Sydney) Australia. I paid the princely sum of $15 to have it cleaned and serviced.

 

TrainTech battery powered LED lighting being trialled in one of my combines. See! I do actually do some kitbashing and not just buying stuff off the internet!

 

I also picked up some Bachmann On30 Stock cars for a good price from a bloke in Tasmania. Going to have to see if I can Australianise them.

 

Not much to say lately other than I recently acquired an Ixion Hudswell Clarke in the Forest Green livery and my Bachmann Forney is back from repairs/servicing. The motor had somehow gotten jammed up so it was unjammed, cleaned and lubricated and it runs sweetly once again. Needs a smokebox stay. I lost one of them!

 

Stock cars arrived today and my AWOL parcel of underframe upgrades was found at a house 1km up the street from me. Just waiting for a weekend of good weather where I can set up the new spray booth and get to working!

 

This evening I upgraded few more of my wagons with the newer style underframes and kadee metal couplers. I then got a phone call that my sister is coming to stay tomorrow evening so all the trains have to be packed up. I have been using the floor of her former bedroom as my "play area" for the trains. It has now been suggested that I make a collapsible table of some sort to make it easier to set up and pack-away the trains.

 

I bought a BLI C-16, because I found it looks a lot like a Queensland Railways C-15 Class.




[EDIT: I confess, this is actually the slightly larger QR C-16 (Baldwin) Class,which is visually quite similar. A picture of a real QR C-15 is posted later in this thread.]

And I found this article on back-dating the BLI C-16. I may be using a spare Bachmann Mogul tender behind it.

http://www.euram-online.co.uk/railways/other/c16/c16.htm

I spoke with one of the Australian Narrow Gauge gurus over the weekend and he pointed out to me that I should look at the "Shire Tramways" of Queensland. Basically, there was an 1882 Act of Parliament in the then colony of Queensland which allowed registered companies or local authorities to build their own "tramways" (since only the government were allowed to build "railways" in those days). Most were built by Shire Councils, hence why they are generally known as the "Shire Tramways."

One might think of them as being similar to the "Light Railways" of England, or the rural Short-Lines of the USA.

Now, none of them ever saw big locos like the C-16, but I can create my own fictional history and run whatever the heck I want!

 

Well, there is no doubt that my BLI C-16 will become a "Queenslander" but I am in two minds about what to do about the cab.

https://www.pacificng.com/ref/locobuilders/blw/style/stylediag/JA-OVEREND-C-15-2-8-0.png