C30T on the Tumbarumba Branch

 

NSW C30T on the Tumbarumba Branch.

One of the disappointing aspects of trying to model the Tumbarumba branch around 1970, was that very few locomotive classes were used.  After about 1961, virtually all the traffic was handled by 48 class alcos, with CPH railmotors for the passenger trains.  Steam working on the branch virtually stopped, with only the occasional steam special hauled with C30T, and the rare standard goods on special workings.

Lachlan Valley maroon livery 3026 with a shuttle train heading to Ladysmith, passes Rocky Hill in 1985.  My photo converted from slide 

Prior to 1961, C30Ts handled most of the goods trains, with help from D50 standard goods..  One had to go back to the 1920, and 30s to find Z19s and Z25s

 

This blog post though will concentrate on the C30T, mainly through photographs, and include a modelling angle at the end.

Pictures from the Tumbarumba and Wagga Wagga Rail Heritage booklets

Tumba rail have been producing a series of A5 sized booklets, showcasing the line, and publishing a number of photographs accumulated over the years.  These are a great resource for my modelling, and I have received permission to include some of the pictures with acknowledgement in my blog.  (Apologies in advance for the poor quality of the scans).

 

3080 at Tarcutta in 1954 -  I K Winney photo

3060 passes Shell Siding in 1960 with a long goods - Barry Lynch photo

3060 just east of Copland street crossing - April 1960 - Barry Lynch photo

3001 at Tarcutta in August 1953 - Jim Powe photo

 

3060 on Wagga turntable - around 1960

Steam excursion.

The ARHS, and Rail Heritage groups run a number of runs to Tumbarumba in the 1960s and  early 1970s.  Some of these pictures have been uploaded to the internet to be shared.  I also have interviewed Pete Neve – who has supplied me with some of his pictures from the 1965 double header trip

1965 tour - at Humula

1965 Tour 3142, and 3020 taking water - at Borambola - Graham Pegg picture

1965 Tour train arrives at Tumbarumba - Graham Pegg

3020 on the Tumbarumba Turntable - Graham Pegg photo

Remarshalled for the return trip. Tumbarumba Potato Shed in the background. Graham Pegg photo 1965

3020 and 3142 returning to Wagga - Graham Pegg photo 1965

 

1965 tour train crosses Mannus Creek - Pete Neve photo

3020 (and 3142 hidden) crosses the bridge just north of Humula - Pete Neve photo 1965

Lachlan Valley steam shuttles to Ladysmith

After the line was cut near Tarcutta by flooding in October 1974, the only steam loco that ventured onto the line was Lachlan Vallery’s C30T 3026.    I was fortunate in being able to travel along the line to Ladysmith, hauled by 3026. 

 

Green 3026 taking water in 1983 - my photo

3026 approaches Lake Road level crossing - my photo

One trip, Tender first to Ladysmith - My photo 1983

After run-around, the train is ready to depart - My 1983 photo converted from slide

Modelling a C30T.

In the early 1980s, Bergs Brass Models had the C30T made in HO.  It was a must have.  I purchased mine from Peter Pan, in Canberra for $285.  I painted my model in colours close to Lachlan Valley, and numbered it 3026.  It was, and still is a solid model, with some shortcomings in detail, an extended firebox into the cab, and openframe motor.   But, this was the only model for some time, until Trax brought out their excellent C30T, with bogie tender around 1988.  Quite a rare model if you can find one

Bergs 3026 - repainted to LVR colours.

Bergs 3008 - bought on ebay around 2017 cheaply as it didn't run.  Problem was the cummutator pickups on the open-frame motor had worn out

3028 - bought privately a few years ago.  Paint job is excellent

Another Ebay purchase, only last year.  The original Bergs 6 wheel tender had been replaced by someone with a brass bogie tender - possibly from a Bergs 32 class.  A far more suitable arrangement, as all the photos, apart from 3026, that I can find, had bogie tenders

Trax C30T.  What a difference in the details!  Samhonga quality model from the late 1980s.

Later, Footplate Models/DJH produced a C30T kit, with Portescap gearbox/ motor, and 6 wheel tender.  I bought a kit at the time, and it sits in storage, awaiting assembly

For those wanting plastic RTR, Wombat Models produced a great looking and running model in about 2017, initially with a 6 wheel tender, but the second batch also included a bogie tender.

Wombat models C30T with 6 wheel tender crosses my model of the Kyeamba Creek bridge.

An opportuntity?

I was checking out the Trains, Planes and Automobile site in 2019, and noticed they had an assembled DJH C30T for auction.  Just one photo – looked OK. 

Picture from the TPA catalogue.  Not even with the tender the correct way around. Hopeless,  Lighting is also poor.  TPA charge sellers around 18% seller commission, and I would expect for that, they would a) test the model, and b) have better lighting for their catalogue images

As I live no-where near TPA’s auction rooms in Katoomba, I could not check in person, so I placed a modest online proxy bid, and waited.  To my surprise, I won the loco for around $300 including commission and post.  Just over a week later, the loco arrived at my place, and I now understood why others did not bid.  Not only was one tender axle missing (TPA lost it), the others were loose.  Many of the tender castings were broken or missing.  The loco body sat high on chassis at the cab end. 

Missing axle on the tender when it arrived al my place.  The poor body to chassis fit is not obvious in this picture

Underside of tender.  The pickup for the wheel is visible, as is the poor standard of soldering

More poor soldering on the drawbar attachment end

The red wire is the link from the drawbar to the Portescap motor. It was routed in such a way that the body would squash this wire when attached to the chassis. 

I had intended to replace the 6 wheel tender with a DJH D50 tender – (I had previously purchased a part assembled D50 cheap), so I wasn’t too phased with a damaged tender.  

The part built  D50 kit.  I had thought I would use the tender of this kit to replace the C30T tender.

As I was fixing the chassis problem, caused by a poorly routed motor wire, I was interrupted on the workbench.  Loosing focus, my shirt sleeve caught the body, propelling it off the workbench,  Thus the body ended up damaged on the wooden floor.   Unimpressed, and  after taking some damage pictures, the whole lot was placed in a clear Klip-it container, almost forgotten until I completed Wagga station

The damage caused by the fall to the floor

Repair

Tender.  In the intervening 3 years, I had sourced a replacement axle.  When I was shorting out one of the insulating bushes on this axle, (drill a hole, and insert a wire that touches both the axle, and the wheel casting), I then saw the phosphor bronze pickup wipers in the tender.  So, the original builder had chosen an inferior method for pickup that only collected power on 2 of the 3 axles.  A good look at the tender shows a shoddy assembly job, but this also explained why the axles were loose.  The solder joins holding the axles were cracked.  Simple resoldering repaired.  However, .in the process of reinserting the axle, the axle box fell off.  Cause easily identified, no tinning on the brass, and the subsequent use of low-melt solder did not provide a firm connection of the whitemetal axle box casting. 

Body.  It was then I found some bubbling paint on the cab to footplate join.  This paint easily flaked off when prodded.  Cause most probably inadequate cleaning of the body prior to painting.  The cab was bent back into roughly square, and resoldered. The funnel, and headlight were glued as I could no longer access the inside of the boiler for a lowmelt soldering fix.   However, for strength, I inserted a brass pin into the base of the funnel, and drilled out a corresponding hole into the boiler. 

Chassis.  I reattached the motor wire in such a way that it was no longer affected the reassembly.  To my relief, the loco mechanism was quite smooth. 

Testing on DC.  After reassembly, the loco runs smoothly.

After repair.  The missing tender balance bar is seen with a ghost image on the brass. Most of the axle boxes had also had the springs missing

Future work.  My original idea to mate this loco with a DJH D50 tender, but unlikely now, as I now have both Wombat, and Bergs C30T with bogie tenders.  And I am now aware that D50s, with original tenders were also used on the branchline, with pictures showing 5040 with a stock special in 1960, and 5163 shunting a returning Tumbarumba train in Wagga  

With all the damage, and shoddy work, I just can’t justify spending significantly more effort on this loco.  I may just touch up the paint by hand, and weather.  Not sure that fitting DCC will be on the agenda  either.  Maybe sell it to raise  funds?

 

Conclusion

Buying a model on the basis of one photograph is risky.  And more so, when the seller does not provide any guarantees on its running quality.  Yes, I spent too much.  Another lesson to be learnt.  But, it was good to at least turn a bunch of parts into a working loco, and it is one more task ticked off my huge list.  And I am back into building locos.  Now, maybe the D50 can be completed. It has sat around for over 5 years

 

Until next time.

Tumbarumba Goods Shed - revisited

 Tumbarumba Goods Shed - Take 2

Shortly after I had finished my construction of a goods shed for Tumbarumba around 3 years ago, it was correctly pointed out that I had made a big goof - I had used the wrong kit.  I had used a Bergs  G1b kit, but I should have used the smaller G1a kit.

One of the reasons for writing this blog, was for information exchange.  And I have been rewarded with contacts from knowledgable people, a large number of photographs.   Fortunately, there have been a few published in the "Tumba Rail" booklets, although images on the internet are rare.  

Still my only picture of the goods shed - I took this one in 1980.

The goods shed I had made (described on the earlier blog-post),

   https://buildingwagga.blogspot.com/2017/09/tumbarumba-goods-shed.html

was not right, so in some ways, I welcomed the opportunity to make a new shed

My initial build - probably closer to the Bergs instructions than I should have done.  Still an acceptable model, but it isn't Tumbarumba.  I plan to reuse this shed at Humula - the Railways track plan there shows a goods shed of the same size as a G1b, and good enough for me, although I have never seen a picture, and may not have been constructed at all

The new build

A few months after realising my mistake,  I acquired a Bergs G1a goods shed from ebay, and made a start on construction.

The techniques are similar to the ones used on the original build, although I did use a micromark magnetic clamp system for the basic shed. 

However, my desire was to make new models, and the partially made kit was placed into a plastic storage tray, and moved to one side.

A long time (a few years) later

Whilst I should be powering ahead with Wagga station, I was getting far too many interuptions for a concerted effort to complete (read kitten, gardening, lawn mowing, etc), the goods shed was something smaller, and taking up space on the workbench - mocking me to complete.

So, its time had come.

The build resumes

All of the metal corrugated sheets were attached to the wood the same way

Some foam added to the roof.  The foam block is a gentle way of providing a clamping grip over a large area.  I used white glue, rather than contact adhesive, for the metal, on wood join, as the latter does not provide any ability to reposition if you have not quite got the metal located correctly

A suitable weight on top of the foam block plus gravity is all the force needed

After the glue had dried, the metal roof is secure

One of subtle differences in the two sheds, was the supports.  The bergs kit assumes wooden piers, the Tumbarumba shed actually has brick piers.  I had made brick piers before for the Ladysmith goods shed - by wrapping superquick brick papers around square wooden pegs.  This time, try a new technique.

I cut 20 piers from Evergreen styrene using my mains powered 400 watt table saw.  This saw was a covid lockdown purchase from a company in Melbourne.  I think the saw is actually made in Australia.  The beauty of this saw is that it allows me to get a 90 degree cut on the styrene, something that I found near impossible to do just with hand tools

I cut a strip from the Slaters brick sheet styrene

Positioning the evergreen pier on the back of the slaters styrene strip shows me the material I have to bevel.

The pieces needed to make just one pier

Piers in position.  The set of steps was scratchbuilt from styrene strip, to be a clone of my original steps made from wood.  And in a departure from other small models I have made, I used a 0.040 thou styrene base for the shed.  After the piers had dried, the steps (just there for the photo) will be removed, and the whole lot turned upside down, and sanded to a uniform height on a sheet of glass paper.

The as yet unfinised shed on the base to test the positioning of the steps (held in position with a dab of blue-tac).  It will later be secured with styrene cement

Finishing

Downpipe made from sytrene rod, cut and reglued to get the angles.  Secured to the wall with white glue

All parts now painted, awaiting weathering, positioning on the layout, and blending in the scenery.  The shed has been tacked to the piers with 4 dabs of white glue - to enable easy removal for the future scenery work

I have had a lot of fun finishing this model.  I tried out some new techniques, and happy with the end result.  Whilst, I may now prefer to build in just styrene, rather than a composite materials, it is good to not loose those skills.

Conclusion

Looking around my workbench, I note quite a number of unfinished projects - (eg. silo for Ladysmith, water tank for Borambola, lamp building for Bomen, DJH D50), and as a new years resloution, finishing these will be the goal.  I will let you know how I go via the blog.

And finally, a couple of extra pictures.

*

Bomen lever frame - under construction, by Tony, of Mackenzie in HOland. Tony visited me last week to show off his progress.

Trouble kitten on her Xmas present.  Assembling the Cat Tree was a bit more of a challenge, as the Chinese made kit, contained just a colour picture, the parts, and an inventory of parts.  Still, Trouble was happy with the end result.

All the best for the festive season, and the upcoming year.  

Until next time