The BNR (another way)

[GeraldH]

A recent excursion from England caused the BNR's civil engineers some consternation as such long carriages have not tackled the BNR's first radius curves before. Quite apart from possible derailment, there was concern about clearances. The train proceeded at a snails pace and remarkably the train, its passengers and the infrastructure came out unscathed .

[GeraldH]

There was some concern during the recent test running of the visiting car transporters that the TCG (Terrorist Corruption Group) might take the opportunity to snaffle some new automobiles . Fortunately the Ballybongle military were able to take a break from tackling the goolies (insects) to guard the new vehicles .

[Phred]

GeraldH wrote:
goolies (insects)

Heh, in Australia a goolie is a small rock. To be kicked in the goolies is no joke. Little pebble sized rocks are gibbers.
Both these names mainly refer to rocks found in desert areas.
I offer this information for no particular reason.

[GeraldH]

No pressure, but long time no see. I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread from the begining and am very much looking forward to further reports from the BNR correspondent. Best wishes.

I agree I've learnt a lot from just reading through this thread.

Wow thank you both . There are a few bits bubbling away in the background on the BNR, but the staff seem to be a bit tied up at the moment. Seismologists have also detected some very slight tremors lately and thoughts are turning towards a potential earthquake (house move), but they are some way off at the moment.

[GeraldH]

Work has continued on the restoration of the buffet car. Some damage was found on the edge of the roof which needed to be fixed.

Fortunately the BNR's workshops have developed techniques for repairing this kind of damage. The initial stage is to add a blob of epoxy covering the damaged area. The BNR generally use JB Weld partly as they have a ready supply, but also because the grey colour is not that conspicuous.

Once the epoxy has fully set it can be filed and sanded to shape. When it is partially set it can sometimes be cut with a sharp knife, but care has to be taken not to damage the setting bond. Caving out the slot underneath was a bit tricky, but the BNR's craftsmen got there in the end.

Now the roof is in place and ready for painting. It's quite hard to see the repair already .

[GeraldH]

The BNR's motive power department are continuing to try and diversify their diesel fleet as it is felt that there is too much dependence on Heljan motive power which is becoming very costly and spares are almost impossible to obtain. They have recently been looking at AHM/Mehano traction, but they do seem to have scraped the bottom of the barrel with their latest purchase which looks like it came from a scrapyard.

The loco also had serious electrical faults and the electrical engineers have refused to let it operate until it has been completely rewired.

Further investigation suggests that the loco has had a series of misfortunes damaging numerous parts and fixings. The previous railway had obviously resorted to fixing things with large quantities of glue. After some work the loco was stripped down ready for restoration and BNRification to begin .

[Bigmet]

The BNR's motive power department are continuing to try and diversify their diesel fleet as it is felt that there is too much dependence on Heljan motive power which is becoming very costly and spares are almost impossible to obtain ...

Heljan could do with better spares support than GM provide, rather glad I picked up the little of what was required (mainly the new nickel silver wheelsets) while Howes were still handling Heljan spares support in the UK. That said, the performance of the Heljan items I own has been perfect. (Riding for a fall here, the imminence of the reportedly significantly improved mechanism O2 2-8-0's will be my next purchases from this brand...)

...They have recently been looking at AHM/Mehano traction, but they do seem to have scraped the bottom of the barrel with their latest purchase which looks like it came from a scrapyard... After some work the loco was stripped down ready for restoration and BNRification to begin ...

Love it. Look at that neat and simple drive line arrangement to all wheels, with simple wiper pick up from all those wheels too. You just know that with a little patient work on the wiring, a working motor and the drive line in good order, it will run and pull like a champion. Good decision by DNR MPD, pay rises for the whole team.

...AHM/Mehano traction ...

I have had several AHM / Rivarossi / Mehano HO steam models to look at over the years and own a couple (never been completely clear what the exact relationship between these brands was, they all internally display the same mechanical DNA) and they illustrate all too clearly just how many decades HO mechanisms were ahead of H-D, Triang, Wrenn and Margate Hornby in its various guises.

[GeraldH]

Love it. Look at that neat and simple drive line arrangement to all wheels, with simple wiper pick up from all those wheels too. You just know that with a little patient work on the wiring, a working motor and the drive line in good order, it will run and pull like a champion. Good decision by DNR MPD, pay rises for the whole team.

Thank you I'll pass that on to the MPD team .

[GeraldH]

Work has been continuing rather slowly on restoring the BNR's latest acquisition. One of the protrusions, which held the bogie frame on, had sheared off and so needed replacing. The workshop team have become very adept at solving these kind of issues and a blob of JB Weld was dropped onto the area where the protrusions had disappeared. Once set this was filed to shape

A hole in the chassis was addressed with the same technique, although to ensure a smooth surface some perspex was temporarily fixed to the chassis so that the epoxy would set with a smooth even surface.

It was now time to remove the US style end platforms and fabricate UK/Ballybongle style buffer beams. These were salvaged from some Class 58 spares acquired recently. The Class 58 buffer beams were much too tall and so had to be reduced in height first. Couplings have also now been fitted and it's now down to the electrical engineers to fire up the power unit .

[GeraldH]

THE BNR's latest loco project has stalled lately as workshop staff have been called away to fix other items of national importance to the citizens of Ballybongle. There has also been some debate as to the type of cab to be fitted to the loco. It was decided that the American style of cab access was unsuitable, but there was some difficulty in sourcing components for a new cab.

In the end it was decided to use two Class 06 diesel cabs that had been in store for some time. The rear cab windows of the Class 06 would have been obscured by the bonnet and so the front end of a second cab was grafted onto the rear. Visibility is not going to be great, but it is considered to be acceptable. Some improved cab handrails now need to be added before the bogies and power unit are reinstalled.

[GeraldH]

The latest BNR loco project has continued to stall. The workshop staff have spent quite a bit of time scratching their heads trying to figure out a way of attaching the updated loco body to the chassis in such a way as to allow future maintenance. These narrow bodies diesels do seem to present quite a problem in this regard. It has finally been decided to create a peg to fix the rear of the long bonnet to the cab.

The cab and short bonnet will be fixed with self tapping screws as will the front of the long bonnet. The screws for the long bonnet will have to be partially under the bogie frame, so that will have to be removed before the body an be removed for access to the power unit. Once the new M1.7 screws arrive the electrics will be installed and test running can begin. A trip the paint shop still looks some way off .

[GeraldH]

The electrical engineers have finally wired up the BNR's latest creation. There was a slight delay as the new cab wouldn't fit on to the body - someone didn't realise the bogies were fitted in place with clips that made them wider! Running was initially poor due to invisible gunk interfering with the pickups, the loco was also prone to derailments, which was eventually traced to the drive shaft cups restricting the pitch of the bogies.

The loco is now running pretty well, although like all it's AHM/Mehano brethren, it has a tendency to jump a bit on starting. It's a weird looking thing, but it might look a bit better after the paintshop has got hold of it .

[Mountain]

It looks a lovely loco.

[GeraldH]

It looks a lovely loco.

Thank you

[GeraldH]

After many distractions and much head scratching the design team and workshop staff have come up with a new design of diesel loco for the line.

It uses surplus parts imported from the UK and combines parts of a Class 58 with an EMU. This is fitted to an AHM power unit and there's still plenty to do. This will be the third AHM loco on the line and the workshop staff now have some experience in getting the best from them. They're not as smooth as some of the latest models, but they are much more affordable, more robust and easy to service