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On 12/02/2019 at 23:00, Bandsaw Steve said:

Always interested to see your work Barry. The ‘Exploded’ view is highly instructive. Will get round to doing one of these one day. Promise. 🤞 

Now for some Steam tram photos, Not 'exploded' views but a disassembled one! ( No 7 was the only one to actually explode but that was c1897) It was subsequently rebuilt and is now in regular service at Ferrymead Heritage Park in Christchurch as shown below. I have now made 2 models of it.

 

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Why 2, you may ask. Well I have a friend who, every time he saw mine running on his layout would say 'I must make one of those when I get around to it' so I got a round to-it for him and made No. 2, it being the second one. Mine is No 5 because that number was easy to paint. There were 8 Kitsons running in Christchurch at the end of the 19th century.

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Now, how do they go together?

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Top:    the roof with water tanks in place and the funnel fitted.

Left:    the 'boiler' with steam dome on top, mounted on the floor of the model.

Right:  the complete body sides and ends.

Lr left: the skirts which hide the motion. The 'knob' on each end is the towing point for trailers. These skirts are       closer in shape to the originals of the 1880s.

Lr right: The Works. Motor drives 1 axle via worm and pinion,the O ring between the 2 axles transmits the               drive for traction purposes. The O ring runs in a groove turned on the inside of these wheels which are not              insulated. The other side wheels are fitted with a nylon bush and the power pickups can just be seen.

Botton: 2x 4x3/8 screws which hold the whole thing together.

 

Edited by Barry Marchant
correction
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3 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Excellent! And I recognise the background in that photo as well. 👍

Thank you.

I should have 'doctored' the original by removing the background and substituting a photo of a blue sky with patches of cloud to give it atmosphere. Tried it before and it works well!

BTW I believe the concrete block background is to be painted a suitable blue shortly!!!!!!!!

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/28/2019 at 2:49 AM, Barry Marchant said:

Hello Lordairgtar,

This type of truck was used in NZ and UK and elsewhere. It was an effort to give a smoother ride on a long car than a single truck would, but without the complications involved in wiring 4 motors as would be involved if 2 ordinary trucks were fitted. The large wheels were on the driving axles and the small (pony) wheels gave the trucks turning ability.

The driving axles carried <> 60% of the car weight and the truck pivot point is closer to the driving axle than the pony axle,  In NZ such trucks were used in Christchurch, Wellington, Dunedin. At Crich the Hill Of Howarth car is also fitted with them. The Ferrymead tramway in Christchurch has a number of cars requiring these trucks, but none being available world wide, They have set up to produce new replicas from scratch using motors obtained from overseas and casting new steel parts from their own patterns. So far, 2 pairs are in regular use and more are to be constructed.

My models have wheels turned to scale, all trucks being identical. See the decker above.

Makers I am aware of are Peckham and Brill.

Thank you for your answer explaining this. Love UK and NZ stuff, so different yet so cool.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

For those of you who have found these tram models interesting, you should go to your library and ask to borrow the book "Always a Tram in Sight" by Graham Stewart. this is THE book on NZ electric trams and describes all but 1 or 2 very early works cars, and the systems on which they worked.

 All but 1 type of Christchurch electric tram and 4 types of trailer are preserved at Ferrymead Heritage Park, also a Kitson steam tram (No 7, makers number 26 of 1881 vintage) in working order.

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