Locomotive Annie

The Heilmann Locomotive would have to be one of my favourite locos and when I found out about it when I was younger I was seriously taken with it enough to attempt to build a model, only I didn't really have the skill to build such a complex model at the time. I won't post anymore than a single picture because a very good article on it can be found here ; - http://www.douglas-s...nn/heilmann.htm These days though I might stand a chance at building one now that I've found Lego. It's a pity this loco design didn't get taken up by other railways because they were by all accounts very successful.

I'll be finishing the Freight train reveiw soon bjtpro. I have most of the photos taken for the reveiw (can't take photos for toffee) and then it will just be writing it all up. The Freight trainset cost $NZ145.00 and the Hi-speed Passenger train cost $NZ113.00. For what comes in the box the price isn't so bad, but as always here in New Zealand it's the shipping costs that pushes the price up. Sounds like your Beijing prices are a steal to me and you should go for it. Advert your eyes now purists for I've been making one of my Sluban locos 'bricky' With the the aid of a razor saw, magic type hi-tech two part activated plastic glue and a broken 24 stud Englighten train base I've converted the Sluban mech and lower chassis half so anything I please can be built on top of it. This is all very experimental and WIP, but I'm aiming for a loco to haul logging disconnects and flat wagons of sawn timber. Essentially I copied the idea of a 2nd hand government railways loco in timber industry rebuilt guise with a plain squared off oversized cab and extended bunker for carrying slabwood for fuel. The added pony wheel under the bunker is also a fairly typical industry mod too. I may rebuild it in either brown or grey yet, it's just that I didn't have quite the right bricks when I was trying things out last night, It would great if Lego did curved slopes or even ordinary slopes in a corrugated iron finish, because that's what these locos usually had for a cab roof. The batteries will be going in the bunker covered by some of these http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2431pb243 and these http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2431pb132 and these http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6636pb057. The cab is large enough to hide a r/c board from a toy car so it will be fun to see if I can get all this to work. I don't like the Sluban cylinders and even though I've sawed them about to make them smaller they still need to be cut down a lot further yet.. I'll post more pictures once I've been able to whip this loco a little more into shape.

Further WIP picture showing alterations to cab and coal bunker.

Ooooo I must try that Ben, thanks for the suggestion. I did rebuild the cab with cheese wedges and some other changes and now it's looking a lot more like the prototype. Picture soon I promise.

To my surprise the doors are reasonably priced on Bricklink and this is because they aren't an exclusive train part and are found in a number of other sets. They mount onto '3581 Brick 1 x 1 x 2 with Shutter Holder, Modified' which also cheap and reasonably available. To my mind they are just the job for older style light railway good vans and the like.

The chain drive loco is of a type which was used on the timber industry tramways here in New Zealand. Some did start life as traction engines, but most were cobbled together from 2nd hand locomotive boilers and modified steam winch parts.

I love seeing these old sets, - especially when in working order. The situation you have with the original stickers on this set is similar to when I was a part of the tinplate train collecting scene. With an old playworn loco do I restore or do I leave it in original, but shabby condition. Myself I was a member of the leave it original camp because once the original finish is gone it's gone for good. So I guess I'm saying preserve it as is and let an old and much loved toy show off its playwear with pride.

I was planning on building a 4 wheel guards van for the Kotanga Tramway so I was looking around for four 3644 Door 1 x 4 x 6 in red. On impulse I decided to see what sets used this door and I was delighted to discover that the 7820 mail van set used these doors. I can't really afford a genuine mail van, but using Google again I was able to find a scan of the instruction sheet and the parts list. I thought I might update the mail van with the later style wheelsets, but otherwise build it according to the instructions. I will still build my tramway guards van like I planned on doing, but it will be good to have a classic mail van to go with the varnish as well Just as a by the way I'm going to experiment with using the '4180c01 Brick 2 x 4 with Black Spoked Train Wheels, Modified Small 23mm D' 12v wheelsets to build logging disconnects. These wheelsets are just about spot on perfect for this purpose so I'll be working on making some of these as well.

It's been great to read through this thread and see how your layout is developing. My space for a layout occupies half of a fairly large bedroom and will be an open centred rectangle when it's all done, but compared to your amazing layout it will be a pipsqueak in size. It's very inspiring to see how other folk build their layouts so thank you very much for sharing. And I'd just like to say that it's great that you are helping to raise awareness about Autism. My own daughter has Asperger's Syndrome and as a child she was quite a handful. It took a long time before my daughter was finally diagnosed and finally I could understand what was going on with my child. My daughter is 29 now and is studying for her Computer Science degree. I love my unusual daughter very much and despite all the ups and downs with her growing up I wouldn't want to change a thing.

A very simple and elegant design of adapter. I don't own any of the old track, but I could see myself using this adapter and some of the old track parts to create a permanent way repair crew scene.

Hey that Trex looks to be really useful and just the thing for a garden railway. I've just been checking to see if there is a New Zealand supplier and there is Thanks for the tip Dr Spock

Oh my word that's stunning! It must've taken hours and hours of work to build your loco to that standard.

Clone is used a lot by me because I don't have much spare cash to spend on my hobby being an invalid, BUT I do order bricks & etc from Bricklink for finalising a project once I'm happy with it as once my locos are complete they will be considered to be permanent and won't be broken down into bricks again.. There is Lego where it counts in this loco, all the Technic bits are genuine and the the motor block is a brand new Lego r/c 9v motor. Once I have the boiler length and other body work details finalised those strange looking red clone bricks will go back into the storage boxes and I'll replace them with something decent by Lego. True enough I do make use of the Enlighten printed smokebox door, but if Lego made this part I'd be using it like a shot. The track is actually a design originally developed by Oxford and isn't a Lego design at all. I don't see it as being any different to using track made by ME or BBB once it's available.

I've been waiting for my MOT locos to arrive from Bricklink and as a result a general lack of working brick compatible steam locos about the place can make a girl go searching in far away lands for a way to keep the freight and varnish moving without breaking the bank. I'd heard of the loco made by Sluban before, but going by what the moan brigade had to say about them they were not only cheap and nasty, but were likely to bring about the fall of Western Civilisation as well. Not believing a bar of it I ordered two from Hong Kong and they arrived about two weeks after placing the order. Sluban trainsets are a little strange in that the loco is sold individually with a circle of track; - much wider radius track than Lego I hasten to add, - and if you buy either of the two sets of brick built rolling stock you get further pieces of track that allows you to make an oval of track. I didn't want any of the rolling stock sets because to put it bluntly the wagons just look plain odd and even if they built up perfectly and rolled sweetly I couldn't see me using them for anything else except being a source of spare bricks. Besides Sluban sell track packs which are a really good deal so I didn't need to buy any sets of odd looking wagons just to get more track. Sluban track is around 0.5mm wider in gauge than Lego, Enlighten and Banbao's trackwork, but in practice this isn't a problem. The loco fits nicely on Lego & etc's straight track, but doesn't like the curves which are too tight for an 0-6-0 with all flanges on. Sluban doesn't make points/switches, but I've figured out a way to modify Banbao points so they will work ok with these wee locos. . The individual loco sets come without decals as it's only the Sluban sets with locos included that have stickers in the box. This suited me fine as I will be decorating these little locos to look like they belong on a Kiwi branchline such as the Kotanga Tramway. What particularly drew me to these locos is that they are proportioned to represent a narrow gauge locomotive being 7 studs wide, 13 studs high and 24 studs long (not counting the cowcatcher). Even bone stock out of the box they don't look so bad at all .parked alongside my single Fairlie and 'F' class loco. Having used Chinese made trainsets of various kinds as a source of bits for more serious models for some years now I found no surprises with this little Sluban loco. Compared with most of the ones I've seen this Sluban loco is actually reasonably good. It runs on 3 voils and takes two AA sized batteries in the boiler, the battery compartment is very cleverly hidden beneath a panel in the boiler top which is accessed by undoing a screw inside the funnel. As is usual for this kind of loco it is powered on the rear driving wheels which have rubber traction tyres. The other two driving wheel pairs are just along for the ride and are unpowered. This little loco has one piece side rods that pretend to be coupling rods, connecting rods and valve gear all in one. Nothing I haven't seen before in other Chinese trainsets, it's just that Sluban actually manage to make quite a convincing job of it and they don't offend the eye at all. On the cab roof there are two switches, one for fwd-off-rev and the other turns on the train sounds chip. One of the first things I will be doing is removing the sound chip and speaker because the sound effects are terrible and I can assure you they won't be missed by anyone unless they have a serious hearing deficiency. The loco also has a working headlight with a LED not a bulb. The headlamp body is just a featureless plastic box, which is a pity because most of the other details are reasonably convincing. With the aid of a small Phillips screwdriver and my Swiss Army knife I found it wasn't too hard to dismantle a Sluban loco. They come apart quite easily once all the screws are all removed and the wheels are gently eased off their axles. The only tricky part is removing the cab roof from its clips, but after a bit of a fiddle I persuaded it to come off without any damage. At this point you may now unscrew the sound chip from inside the boiler, clip the wires and throw it as far far far away from you as it's possible to do it. Inside the loco body you will find three pieces of steel barstock intended to provide some traction weight, two pieces of grubby sponge rubber which help pack the motor/gearbox assembly inside its casing and of course the sound chip and speaker which you should have thrown away by now. The motor and gearbox casing stands vertically inside the firebox/boiler end and the gearbox is well packed with white lithium grease. The gears are made from white engineering plastic and there is a spring loaded overun clutch on the final drive axle to protect the mech against being overloaded or stalled. By the way if anyone is wondering why there is a black 6x2 plate in the picture, this fits into the rear of the cab so your minifigs have something to stand on so they won't fall off. The plate is released once the bodyshell is split apart. I'm going to perform experiments on the loco I've taken apart and will be seeing if I can fit it up for radio control using parts from a toy car. There is certainly plenty of room inside the bodyshell for fitting the necessary bits in. I've got some other mods in mind as well to make it more 'bricky', so purists please check that your heart meds are up to date or else don't look because I won't be held responsible for any sudden health related trama you might suffer

Wow, that's a beautiful turntable Aussie and your engine shed is excellent as well. I'm holding off the need for a turntable by using tank engines for my railway, but I'm going to need one eventually.

Shhh! mustn't talk about heretic clone railways too loudly in here........ Sluban and some other Chinese trainset makers' track is to L gauge, but they have much wider radius curves which makes for better running and less problems with long wheelbase locos getting around those curves.

I'm hoping to motorise this loco sometime and I guess it won't pull much, but that's Ok. I have a soft spot for vertical boilered locos too and I had to have at least one on my layout. Pity that you don't have any pictures of your loco, sounds like it would've been interesting to have a look at.

Yes that series by Marc Found is good isn't it I have a lot of parts for 'G' gauge and 16mm scale already, but using those would mean that I would need to work in approx 15-16mm scale with building brick built trains and I don't really want to do that. In that size I'd be much better off going back to building rolling stock in wood and metal like I used to and again I don't want to do that at the moment. The brick trains I'm building at present in 8 wide work out to being about 9mm to the foot scale which is perfect for me in my present state of health. 8 wide is not too small and not too big and it's easy for me to work on my train models in bed on those days when I'm not well enough to be up and about. As I've said in an earlier post, making my own trackwork doesn't bother me at all as I've done it before.

I've just had some of those cheese wedges arrive in my latest Bricklink order so I might give that a go. Thanks for suggesting this as a possible method

Your station is beautiful and shows off your rake of green coaches perfectly. It's a pity that you don't have somewhere to setup your station and other buildings permanently so you don't have to go to so much effort to get everything out so you can play trains.

Great work with your new Dining Car, the interior details really set it off and make it a superb MOC. I enjoyed seeing the other green coaches in the set as well

Yes I've been trying to think of a way to make the cab roof less curved on top, but so far I haven't really come up with anything better.

Just a progress shot while I had the camera out.

Indexed by Moderator `Back in the mists of time the Kaitangata Coal Co decided they needed a more powerful loco for their private railway near Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand. They ordered from Sharp Stewart & Co an 'F' class locomotive that was similar to the 'F' class locos owned by the government railways, only with various modifications to make it an 'Improved 'F' Class. Only one of these locos was ever made and it has survived into preservation. As owned and operated by the Kaitangata Coal Co. Present condition in preservation. There were quite a few private railways and tramways in New Zealand making for all manner of interesting branchlines at various sites around the country. My own make believe branchline is the Kotanga Tramway, a timber industry tramway that somehow managed to survive long enough to become of interest to both tourists and railway enthusiasts and thereby obtain a measure of financial security for itself at long last. So yesterday when I wasn't feeling quite so well and needed something to occupy myself with, I decided that there was a a second Improved 'F' built by Sharp Stewart & Co and amazingly enough it was owned by the Kotanga Tramway. Starting with a 9v r/c motor block and a 24 stud train baseplate I eventually ended up with a very high percentage of all the bricks I own spread out on my bed as I searched for the right bricks, plates and tiles to build myself something that looked like an Improved 'F'. And by and large I think I have been successful. The main problem is that the loco is two studs too long and needs the boiler and the footplate shortening to bring it properly into proportion. At the same time I need to make a proper buffer beam at the front and sort out a cowcatcher for my Improved 'F' as well. I don't like using a small cone brick for a bell, but I don't know what else to do at the moment. One way to solve it would be to fit up the large air brake tank on the boiler instead and do away with the bell entirely. Overall I do like the loco a lot and I'm happy with how it's turned out since it was built in one go over the course of about three hours. The Technic side rods will be replaced with a set of Zephyr's siderods once I've got the loco running properly. At the same time I'll sort out the connecting rods to the cylinders, but for the moment they can just sit there and be ornaments. Once I am sure that I don't need to pull the loco apart again I'll make a set of decals to go on the sidetanks with 'Kotanga' done in the same style as Kaitagata was displayed on the original prototype loco. Work is still continuing on the 'R' Class single Fairlie btw, I'm just waiting on some more bits and bobs to arrive from Bricklink.

This webpage here has some really good information about setting up a turntable. http://www.baylug.org/zonker/ZRondDom.html