XP 2009 LAYS OVER AT GLEN INNES ON A LAZY SUNDAY ,THE 30-9-84
AT THE RAIL MOTOR SERVICING ROAD USUALLY OCCUPIED BY THE NOW
REPLACED 900 DEB SET.
Back on the 24-8-81 the first power car and passenger car of the revolutionary XPT fleet was handed over to Nifty Nev at the Granville plant of Comeng.
A revolution was about to unfold for the railways of NSW and its customers. With the new train sets bringing a wave of excitement to country towns across NSW .Crowds gathering at stations to catch a glimpse of the new trains which promised a vast improvement in train services.
Even if at the expense of many old rail motors and mail trains.
Its been a long time since all this excitement .And the the 13th Sept marks 36 years since the XPT first ran through to Tenterfield ,before returning South on the 14th past BOLIVIA with stops at main stations along the Great Northern Line on the buy a vote tour.
How things have changed,we had so much and so many services.You would assume with progress things would continue to get better,but now we have been convinced and trained up to expect nothing .
Auscision released there XPT set which is a great model and a an easy add a passenger train to your layout fix.
Being a modeller of that early 1980,s period I of course purchased a 5 car set in original colour scheme.You may have noticed the lack of XPT,s on SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS .This is due to the XPT not being right for my time period.
A problem which I have finally fixed.
The XPT as supplied has the following wrong for the early period that I have attempted to rectify
Strobe lights
External horns
Radio antenas
Cow catcher
Named and numbered power units
Under-frame equipment colour to light.
So with the help of some pictures I will walk you through the process.
This is only a 3 hour project ,now I've done all the hard stuff for you.
WITH A CRAFT KNIFE REMOVE THE PAD PRINTED CITY NAME THESE WILL COME OFF RELATIVELY EASY AND A QUICK TOUCH UP WITH SOME SUITABLE RED
REMOVE THE CLEAR STROBE LIGHT MOLDINGS ,THESE ARE PUSH FIT
REMOVE THE AIR HORNS AND RADIO ANTENNAS FROM THE FRONT
AND DON'T FORGET THE ANTENNA AT THE REAR OF THE POWER CAR
ALL OFFENDING EXTRAS REMOVED
FILE OFF ROOF MOLDINGS ,AND DRILL OUT STROBE HOLES TO SUIT EVERGREEN
STYRENE TUBE TO BE GLUED IN TO FILL THESE HOLES .USE BODY PUTTY FOR REMAINING IMPERFECTIONS AND SAND SMOOTH.
PAINT OVER WORK AREA WITH SUITABLE PAINT
REWORKED ROOF WITH ORIGINAL
REAR OF POWER CAR REWORKED WITH ORIGINAL
REMOVE THE FRONT PILOT MOLDING
FILE AWAY THE PILOT AND COUNTERSINK THE SCREW HOLES
TOUCH UP PAINT WITH SUITABLE RED
DRILL 2 HOLES IN LINE WITH THE PILOT ATTACHMENT SCREWS AND HARD UP
AGAINST THE PILOT CASTING FOR THE NEW RAIL CLEARANCE BARS (PILOT)
WHICH ARE THE ORIGINAL STYLE FITTED.
THESE ARE MADE FROM BRASS TUBING APPROX 2 MM DIA GLUED INTO THE HOLES
WHICH HAVE BEEN DRILLED TO SUIT THE TUBING.THEN USING PLIERS CRIMP OR SQUASH THE TUBING TO FORM IT INTO A BAR SHAPE.WHICH IS TRIMMED TO SUIT
BOTH THE LENGTH WITH A CLEARANCE ABOVE THE RAIL HEAD AND A
TAPPER ON THE REAR OF THE BAR.
REATTACH THE PILOT TO THE POWER CAR WITH THE 2 SCREWS ,THESE CAN HAVE
THE HEADS FILED DOWN SO AS NOT TO SHOW UP WHEN SCREWED IN.
THE SIDE FRAMES AND FUEL TANK WERE REPAINTED WITH A DARKER GREY
RATHER THAN THE PRE COLOURED MOLDED PLASTIC WHICH APPEARS TO LIGHT IN
COLOUR.I ALSO PAINTED THE SIDES OF THE BOGIE MECHANISM THE SAME GREY.
THE MODIFIED XPT ALONG WITH THE AS SUPPLIED VERSION
ANYONE WHO IS PLANNING ON USING THE AUSCISION MHN XPT
TEST CARRIAGE WILL HAVE TO MODIFY THERE POWER CAR TO THIS
AS BUILT STYLE TO SUITE THE PROTO TYPE AT THIS EARLY STAGE.
AFTER SEVERAL ACCIDENTS AND NEAR MISSES EARLY ON , AN ATTEMPT TO
UPGRADE THE PILOT OF THE POWER CARS WAS UNDERTAKEN ON UNITS 2006
AND 2009 IN LATE 1982
2 LARGE STEEL PIPES .APPROX 6 " WHERE FABRICATED TO FORM A FRONT PILOT
THE ORIGINAL PILOT BARS WHERE LEFT IN PLACE.
THESE WHERE THE ONLY CARS TO BE FITTED AND 2010 TO 2014 WHERE BUILT
WITH THE PILOT AS USED ON THE AUSCISON MODEL.THIS STYLE WAS LATTER
RETROFITTED TO ALL PREVIOUS POWER CARS.
SO TO MODEL THIS STYLE COMPLETE ALL PREVIOUS STEPS
THEN DRILL 2 HOLES IN THE PLASTIC PILOT AT THE FRONT UNDERSIDE ,FOR
2 BRASS RODS WHICH WILL SUPPORT THE TUBING ONCE FABRICATED
USING THE SAME TUBING PREVIOUSLY USED FOR THE PILOT BARS.CAREFULLY
BEND THE RADIUS AND LENGTH REQUIRED USING PHOTOS AS A GUIDE .
THE 2 BARS ARE DIFFERENT SIZES TO SUIT THERE PLACEMENT ON AN ANGLE
AT THE FRONT OF THE POWER CAR.
ONCE HAPPY SOLDER THESE TO THE 2 SUPPORT BARS WITH THE CLEARANCES
REQUIRED FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE POWER UNIT AND A GAP BETWEEN THE
BARS AND CLEARANCE FROM THE RAIL HEAD.
PAINT THE PILOT UNIT GREY
THE 2 VERSIONS OF THE EARLY PILOT
THE TUBE PILOT CERTAINLY GIVES A TOUGH LOOK TO THE POWER CAR
I do have another power car which I will leave as made by Auscision.But I want to model the front with the
emergency draw bar door opened and a kadee fitted so I can drag the XPT around with a diesel loco.
Also I have been working on a dyno car kit that Joe has sent me, to recreate the XPT test train . I'm still
waiting on vents and correct bogies ,so when this happens I'll show you that.
A great source of info on the XPT can be found in the book by Chris Banger
The history of intercapital daylight rail travel between Melbourne and Sydney
THE DAYLIGHT
Rohan
ReplyDeleteAlthough the XPTs are well out of my modelling era this was an interesting post which I am sure will be a lot of value to those modelling the early 1980's.
Ray P
Thanks Ray
ReplyDeleteI was beginning to think there was no one out there.
And they had possibly all been sucked off the planet.