Monday, October 4, 2010

Down at Tenterfield the other day

The last two weeks have been a welcomed break from the retail frenzy I work in. We began the holidays with just on a weeks camping at Girraween National Park, just south of Stanthorpe in Qld. I'd been watching the long range weather forecasts for about a week before, with mixed feelings about what was going to be our weather outlook. As it turned out it wasn't too bad at all, with only one really wet day. A perfect opportunity to head south to Tenterfield.

The railway museum is well worth a visit, with various different displays to keep you interested. Z & H both seemed to enjoy themselves, especially as alot of what is there is as it was when in use.

I'd seen a few photos on their website and was keen to look at some of their pre WWII exibits. They have an early S wagon, 4whl Sheepvan, and 4whl meatvan.
The sheepvan is well restored from the chassis up anyway, the underframe is still in need of some work. I enjoyed seeing the differences between this van and the many that came after it. It did seem alot more open than the models of the bogie stock we see running around on layouts. The use of the doors in the end would have been a hoot with a string of these wagons all linked together, imagine loading and unloading!

I think that I may need to get onto greg edwards for some more line drawings of the Early years wagons that he has. This wagon would be a great addition to my rollingstock.
The meatvan has been completely restored, Z was very interested in the use of all the hooks hanging from the ceiling. However I don't know how impressed with the 'picture' I painted for him in their correct use.

Sorry no photos of the Meat van today, getting late. I did however think that a quick update would be worth it after such along time. More on SSC another day, Oorroo!

4 comments:

  1. Geoff, I would be looking very closely indeed at that sheep van. It does not match anything used in NSW that I have ever seen. All the NSWGR 4 wheel vans that I have ever seen photographic or drawing proof of have solid ends of one form or another - end doors were not used in NSW. The body itself looks very suspicious and appears to sit in board of what looks like the sill of the underame. (The black painted piece below) Frankly, I would be asking the museum a little about the origins of this wagon - notice also the "buffers" on the ends either side of the draw hook - they look like the bases from close coupled coaching stock. Finally, the flush floor is atypical for livestock vans. I suspect a bit of creative work based on an existing body and underframe of some sort.

    regards,

    Craig W

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  2. Craig, when I was looking at the buffer bases I thought how like QR bases they were, maybe a clue there. QR had wagons that were linked between the wagon ends. I will contact the Museum for some further info on the origins of this wagon.

    Thanks for your feedback, great to hear from you, Geoff.

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  3. Geoff, I just noticed that if you look at the second photo down you can see that the underframe of the sheep van looks to be more akin to a bogie. It certainly is not a NSWGR van in any case. I am sufficiently ignorant on QR 4 wheelers that I cannot say it is one of them. Is your ignorance a little less than mine?

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  4. Ignorance is one of my most endearing qualities, ask anyone who knows me Craig. I have been sorting through a few line drawings of QR wagons that I have and I think you may be correct. Yes, it was a bogie, and I'd thought that the underframe was still in the workshop, as they've got a fair few jobs on the go.

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