The 'madness' has started all over again

[DennisM]

Well here I am about 3 months or so into the next thing to keep me occupied for some time into the future, it is a scale model of what was the pride of the South Maitland Railways (SMR) I have seen and been around these steam locomotives since I was a child, they ran on the privately owned South Maitland line which ran from the loco depot at East Greta Junction to the mines that dotted between that location and the longest distance out to Millfield some 20 odd miles, they pulled non air hoppers which carried approx 10Tons of coal in each wagon + the weight of said wagon, anyway my engine is being modelled on No 22 as seen here


at this stage I still do not have any castings, so I have been making all manner of items that are essential for the build, but running in a parallel universe is the riding truck that I need to finish, it's bitterly cold outside and a breeze blowing, so I won't be using the Mig welder to put some of the parts of the riding truck together, hopefully I will upload more images today sometime, cheers
ps I will post this image when given permission by the owner, the image of No22 pulling the train it's just left Abermain station and is heading towards the cutting. Swamp creek is behind it, (thats where Coal was discovered by Sir Edgeworth David) one of 'Smith's' trucks can be seen on the bridge it's carrying beer kegs the Denman hotel is on the main road from Cessnock to Maitland, the image isn't mine it was taken by Roger R in May 1975, I have his permission to use the image now

[DennisM]

Here are some images from the 'parallel universe' aka riding/driving truck, I'm making this to run on the elevated track down at the club
as I know for sure that I can't get down and stay down low for any length of time, and adding to that I do have a colour vision problem,
and the ground level track is extensive and controlled by points/lights which are small and I wouldn't be able to distinguish the colours
the elevated track has no points or lights thankfully, anyway some images of said vehicle.
It consists of 2 sets of bogies with 4 wheels per bogie, all built from scratch, axles first

nice fit for the bearings

mark out the side carriers x 4

set it up on the mill using packing devices + one that allowed the boring head to do it's bit

and the part had to be +0.001" to be level with the other packing pieces

during, note that 2 items bored together etc

after

Next items were the wheels, my nephews son got an apprentice to cut the blanks that I needed but they were all over the place

so I had to be careful it all ended well

a day or so later I had  machined all the parts needed for the bogies

Brakes are a requirement on all vehicles, so I set about using a plan from a magazine


brake blocks made from cast iron window weights


the leading tie beam had to be relieved of some metal to allow the brake assembly to fit

The frame was constructed using 25mm square tube with the bearing carriers in place etc, at present it's all
disassembled for painting, more to follow I hope this isn't boring, cheers

[Lionelgee]

Hello Dennis (Dinty),

It is great to see you posting here again. Also, it is good to know that you are still doing masterful work. I will be following this thread attentively. With the photograph being taken in 1975 - what were the train's years of operation from build date to final trip on the tracks? Are the tracks still there?

Kind regards
Lionel

[Chazza]

Nice to hear from an old stalwart of REMLR again.

What sort of milling machine do you have, Dennis?

Cheers Charlie

[DennisM]

Chazza, my mill is a mill/drill that I have had for 30+ years, just at present I'm waiting on delivery of a much more modern milling machine with tilting head etc etc, my old one has served me well, I just hope I can master the use of DRO which is fitted to it.
Lionel, No22 is a 2-8-2 tank engine made by Beyer Peacock UK, No 22 was delivered in 1921, they arrived like Land Rovers CKD, builders number 6055, it was the 6th engine in it;'s class, in all there were 14 engines, built between 1911 & 1925
South Maitland Railways ceased to be in 1982, No 22 had been transferred over to what was the Richmond Vale Railway which had it's base at Hexham NSW, it ran there until operations ceased at Stockrington mine in 1987, No22 and 3 other 10 class engines were moved by road to the Richmand Vale railway preservation group nr Kurri NSW, it was determined there that No22 was not safe to run due to boiler issues, it sits in a derelict state which is a shame, at present there are none of the class at RVR in steam.
No 10 (class leader) and No 18 are shedded @ East Greta Junction which is where the SMR had their workshops, the loco's were 41ft in length, 9ft 7" wide 13ft 2" tall.
The line is still in place although not like it was in it's heyday, it used to have Up/Down mains now only single line working, the last mine they ran to was Pelton, later bougt by the chinese and now closed, nothing has run on the line for almost 2 years, Aurizon recently ? leased/bought the line, and I read on the net this morning that yesterday the ran 2 diesels pushing a long line of empty coal hoppers (80ton types) from EJG to be stored between Abermain and Weston, well it wont take long for the young graffiti ppl to vandalise them and or remove items from them, so being single line working means nothing can run like they have at other steamfests at Maitland, they would run from EJG to Neath pub, anyway cheers
here are 2 images I took when the engines were being transported from Hexham to the RVR site, showing No22 of course, note the GT Falcon towing a trailer (LOL)

and being lifted off @ RVR

[DennisM]

This will almost finish off the 'parallel universe' just some shots of the brake gear assembled etc




and the coupling s for front of truck etc

before it had a radius filed onto it

cheers

[DennisM]

Now at the start, ? what have I done to myself LOL, I was given a copy of the loco frame and a schematic drawing of the loco

lots of dots n lines, my head was spinning, the schematic drawing of a 10 class 2-8-2

years ago when I started the 'P' class materials were relatively cheap, but not anymore, I rang the the closest steel (steal) merchant
and gave them the dimensions of the 3mm plate, I called at the business some 18 miles away and I took a measuring device. to make
sure the material was the size I had ordered, the floor manager gave me the dirtiest of looks when I said I was going to check the dimensions
luckily they were correct and $40.00 later I left with what will be the chassis of No22.
I used one of them to mark out the datum lines etc then moving on to the other things that needed to be on them

the other plate was just chillen leaning against the mill/drill

I knew I was going to have nightmares about marking this out and I was spot on with that, some nights it was like a slide show, never ending images
flashing through my mind, ? did you do this right, cause it will affect that etc etc etc LOL

taking shape with all the critical dimensions

and as you can see it's a few inches longer than the 32 class, lots of dots n lines on it as well

just a small section of the frame showing some of the dimensions

well that's all Iv'e uploaded atm, cheers

[GGG]

What I don't understand is Dennis, what do you do in your spare time? 
Geoff O.

[DennisM]

GGG, I don't know either mate, anyway after marking all the dots etc I set it up to drill them to their respective sizes, some were 3/32" most were No 33

the next task was to 'chain' drill the frames and break out the debris


followed by many hours filing to the lines to end up with this

but I still needed to do the opening for the cylinders

and again file to the lines

to finish it off, with some of my 'hieroglyphics LOL

now to make a move on the frame stretchers, 9 I think not including the buffer beams
cheers

[DennisM]

I thought about the frame stretchers overnight (LOL the slide show that happens when I try to sleep) and by morning I had
decided to make the front n rear buffer beams first

they were trying to do my head in, as at some point in the making of one of them, I made an almighty stuff up, with 8 holes
drilled in the wrong place, the stuff up was on the rear buffer, but I rectified it by riveting in some bar stock and filed it over

anyway I managed to make both buffer beams they look the part


then I needed to make the angle brackets using small section angle iron, drilling all the holes was a challenge, but
achieved without any drama's

and with some dummy spacers at 4.1250" in width

The first frame stretcher (drag box) was a fabrication of 5 different parts, its the rear one on the drawing

a lot of cutting/filing was needed to get the correct width 4.1250" then set up in a 4 jaw chuck to have a a 1.0000"
hole bored through both plates


the side plates had to be made clamped n drilled to match the holes in the frames, then welded together somehow

The back plate had to be a neat fit between the chassis rails and is welded to the drag box (frame stretcher) and holes drilled
that lined up with the buffer beam, these were tapped 6BA, through steel plate 0.25000" thick a nerve wracking task, break
a tap it's all over for that lump of steel, thankfully it didn't happen

shown here being held in by four hex head set screws, but I still need to file the rectangular hole for the hook

that was near enough excitment for the day, cheers

[GGG]

Dennis, you are travelling well with that job mate, looking good. I know where you are coming from regarding 6BA taps. Breaking one in that situation would result in a few "Golly gosh's" and "bless my souls" or words to that effect.
Geoff O.

[DennisM]

I've got a damn rotten head cold, so no shed time today, nose is like a leaking radiator, eye's are very teary
can't focus on anything,anyway it will pass.
Sometimes I get bored doing plate work and need to do something different, so I knocked up
parts of the inlet/exhaust for the cylinders, these are located inside the smokebox, this is the drawing for
the blower and the blast pipe nozzle

there are 4 parts to it, at present I haven't drilled the four holes for the blower mainly because I don't have a
No 70 drill, I will be seeking advice on that as I think the holes are too small (but I know B/all LOL)

the cap being turned on a mandrel
the blast pipe


the almost finished item minus the four No 70 holes, but it has the fitting for the steam pipe which will
make the blower work

the two steam inlet pipes

these items will now be stored until required, cheers

[STDDIVER]

G"day Dennis - I love your posts and I am rating you as a 'motivator' as you are making me appreciate your skill and commitment to your project!  Well done in all aspects - I really enjoy seeing your progress!

STDDIVER

[DennisM]

I've picked up a bug it has knocked me over since last night, can't stop coughing/sneezing/eyes watery cant focus on anything, so it's going to be quiet in here for a few days, cheers

[DennisM]

Well, after a 3.5 month wait my new (bigger) milling machine has arrived, it took some unloading from the trailer and getting it into the shed, then the rigmaroll of setting it up, luckily I had my son Kyle and a mate Steve Morris from the club to help as it was heavy (450kg) and awkward, but it's now in position and almost ready for use, cheers
here it is prior to lifting

 and now in position

all levelled up etc, now I need some castings, I've been waiting on them since March, anyway cheers