Genisis
John’s model captured my imagination so I decided to build something similar, namely “Red Fred”. With a scale of 1:6, the track gauge would be correct at 3”6” and the rig would be a shade under 3 metres long, just the right size to put on a trailer and do the grey nomad thing. Several considerations came to mind. It must be instantly recognizable and properly proportioned, be
mechanically modern and reliable, be able to perform with minimal compromise, and must sound and drive like the real thing. Sure, the steam engines were nice but I didn’t think for one minute that I, with absolutely no engineering skill, knowledge or contacts, could possibly consider owning one.
Red Fred is something of a Queensland icon. Nearly all red railmotors were custom built to suit the intended line’s traffic. They made unprofitable lines keep going in faraway towns like Aramac and Cooktown. Fred was built from a second
hand AEC truck chassis (the same chassis as the London Buses with the outside spiral staircases) in the Ipswich workshops in 1930 I visited Rosewood museum and was allowed numerous trips to take pictures and measurements, from which a set of scale outline drawings was made.
The sheer size was impressive (obviously I hadn’t been to DVR!), but the space for the motor was a bit minimal, not to mention room for a drive train (electric wasn’t considered, I’m an electrical idiot).
I started asking lots of questions and everybody wanted to help, mostly by telling me it couldn’t be done, or suggesting I start with a Stuart Turner and learn how to use tools properly. Join a club they said. Collect tickets, repair track and hopefully somebody will tell you how to use basic tools. Nobody wanted a geriatric apprentice. I withdrew back into my shell, insulted, and vowed to do it anyway, just to spite them all.
Then I remembered Peter Brock’s famous catch-cry “bite off more than you canchew, then chew like crazy”.
mechanically modern and reliable, be able to perform with minimal compromise, and must sound and drive like the real thing. Sure, the steam engines were nice but I didn’t think for one minute that I, with absolutely no engineering skill, knowledge or contacts, could possibly consider owning one.
Red Fred is something of a Queensland icon. Nearly all red railmotors were custom built to suit the intended line’s traffic. They made unprofitable lines keep going in faraway towns like Aramac and Cooktown. Fred was built from a second
hand AEC truck chassis (the same chassis as the London Buses with the outside spiral staircases) in the Ipswich workshops in 1930 I visited Rosewood museum and was allowed numerous trips to take pictures and measurements, from which a set of scale outline drawings was made.
The sheer size was impressive (obviously I hadn’t been to DVR!), but the space for the motor was a bit minimal, not to mention room for a drive train (electric wasn’t considered, I’m an electrical idiot).
I started asking lots of questions and everybody wanted to help, mostly by telling me it couldn’t be done, or suggesting I start with a Stuart Turner and learn how to use tools properly. Join a club they said. Collect tickets, repair track and hopefully somebody will tell you how to use basic tools. Nobody wanted a geriatric apprentice. I withdrew back into my shell, insulted, and vowed to do it anyway, just to spite them all.
Then I remembered Peter Brock’s famous catch-cry “bite off more than you canchew, then chew like crazy”.
Serendipity
As the mailman rode away I realized that his “postie” bike was about the right size and
when driven gently, sounded sort-of vintage. That sealed it, horizontal bike engine with built in gearbox should do, and it might even sit low enough to be out of sight. Cooling could be a challenge, though. The unitary motor would save a lot of the complicated drive belts, chains
and hydraulic motors that I’d seen in magazines and websites. Mustn’t forget the KISS principle, and after all there’s plenty of motorbike shops that can help me.
The search for an engineering shop that would make wheels resulted in the painful realization that cheque book modeling is not possible on my budget, and if I was going to succeed then I had better teach myself to make everything . A Myford lathe from ebay, plus a heavy bar of 4140 steel and several days later the first wheel appeared. It had cost about $2000, but from then on the rest would be cheap! A similar story resulted in a stick welder, and I taught myself welding by making a trailer for transporting the finished train. My neighbor commented that I must be improving because a grinding disc was finally lasting longer than a welding rod!
I believe that the standard way to assemble a motorized train is to take a steel plate and bolt a Briggs and Stratton and
drive train on top, and wheels under, then build a body. I am used to building models where you make a body and then find a way to put a motor in it, so that’s what I did with Fred. The body had to be strong enough to sit on (single axle drive would need some weight over it) so a skeleton of 12mm bar took shape, with aluminium panels that could be riveted or glued on. The engine and chassis would need to be a separate unit so that it could be fully tested while parts were still accessible. An aluminium roof was going to be too hard to roll, so layers of plywood was settled on. The beast was sstarting to shape up.
when driven gently, sounded sort-of vintage. That sealed it, horizontal bike engine with built in gearbox should do, and it might even sit low enough to be out of sight. Cooling could be a challenge, though. The unitary motor would save a lot of the complicated drive belts, chains
and hydraulic motors that I’d seen in magazines and websites. Mustn’t forget the KISS principle, and after all there’s plenty of motorbike shops that can help me.
The search for an engineering shop that would make wheels resulted in the painful realization that cheque book modeling is not possible on my budget, and if I was going to succeed then I had better teach myself to make everything . A Myford lathe from ebay, plus a heavy bar of 4140 steel and several days later the first wheel appeared. It had cost about $2000, but from then on the rest would be cheap! A similar story resulted in a stick welder, and I taught myself welding by making a trailer for transporting the finished train. My neighbor commented that I must be improving because a grinding disc was finally lasting longer than a welding rod!
I believe that the standard way to assemble a motorized train is to take a steel plate and bolt a Briggs and Stratton and
drive train on top, and wheels under, then build a body. I am used to building models where you make a body and then find a way to put a motor in it, so that’s what I did with Fred. The body had to be strong enough to sit on (single axle drive would need some weight over it) so a skeleton of 12mm bar took shape, with aluminium panels that could be riveted or glued on. The engine and chassis would need to be a separate unit so that it could be fully tested while parts were still accessible. An aluminium roof was going to be too hard to roll, so layers of plywood was settled on. The beast was sstarting to shape up.
The B0dy and the Power
By luck I heard about a neighbor who had bought home a kid’s quad bike for Christmas but didn’t tie it down to the ute well enough for the trip and it took to the air. The “postie clone” motor was perfect still (the peripherals were somewhat
rearranged though) and for $400 I had a brand new power plant, it even had a 3
speed and reverse gearbox with auto cluctch and electric start.
I sat the body over the motor (after a few passes with the angle grinder) and then realized that while it was a perfect fit, there was no room for a chassis. More head scratching while I retreat to the telly with a beer. Looking at the motor racing, realized that the low slung cars had a mid mounted engine in a “tub” with front and rear subframes added on, so I copied that idea. A bit of liberty with the dimensions of the battery box and fuel tank of the prototype and the tub took shape. Two short lengths of 100mm RHS made the sides, joined by a 6mm plate “firewall”,while two lengths of 50mm angle on each end would support the axles. Lots of action with the angle grinder saw the motor snuggly inside the tub.
The “firewall”plate could support a hanger mount to hold the motor , which like most bike engines, mounts from above, and also attach a very short swing arm using quad bits. This meant that I could directly drive the axle with a short chain, rather than the counter shafts that I was expecting. The quad’s hydraulic disc brake caliper was added, plus a disc fabricated from a steel post top and an aluminium pulley. With a sprocket from a minibike, the gearing was in the ”ball park”, though if I was an engineer I would have to calculate that first! Self aligning bearings held the axle to the swingarm , which was slotted to give some adjustment.
rearranged though) and for $400 I had a brand new power plant, it even had a 3
speed and reverse gearbox with auto cluctch and electric start.
I sat the body over the motor (after a few passes with the angle grinder) and then realized that while it was a perfect fit, there was no room for a chassis. More head scratching while I retreat to the telly with a beer. Looking at the motor racing, realized that the low slung cars had a mid mounted engine in a “tub” with front and rear subframes added on, so I copied that idea. A bit of liberty with the dimensions of the battery box and fuel tank of the prototype and the tub took shape. Two short lengths of 100mm RHS made the sides, joined by a 6mm plate “firewall”,while two lengths of 50mm angle on each end would support the axles. Lots of action with the angle grinder saw the motor snuggly inside the tub.
The “firewall”plate could support a hanger mount to hold the motor , which like most bike engines, mounts from above, and also attach a very short swing arm using quad bits. This meant that I could directly drive the axle with a short chain, rather than the counter shafts that I was expecting. The quad’s hydraulic disc brake caliper was added, plus a disc fabricated from a steel post top and an aluminium pulley. With a sprocket from a minibike, the gearing was in the ”ball park”, though if I was an engineer I would have to calculate that first! Self aligning bearings held the axle to the swingarm , which was slotted to give some adjustment.
Its enough to drive you bogie
The front bogie is very much a feature of Fred and caused a lot of headaches. Carrying a
scale 14 ton driver was a challenge for the flimsy arch bar bogie I think the current bogie is No 6, but it was a good learning process, firstly of my welding, then of getting compensations and swing whilst using wheels that are well over scale width. I used the build method outlined in AME
issue 133 by Karl Hempel, scaling it down a bit for Fred. Instead of his sideplay limiting bolts, I found some bearings with external circlips (against the inside of the axleboxes) and with double bearings for more contact area. Correctly weighted working springs were a pain to set up and probably unnecessary, however, with a Toyota engine mount for the pivot as it has just the right amount of “give” and the ride is excellent.
Up to now the rear wheels were made of plywood. Fred’s rear wheels are very distinctive so a turned blank would not do. Instead I turned up some 25mm MDF on my old wood lathe, and made webs and cutouts with a lot of filing and Dremel work. Eventually the local foundry agreed to make some castings, but it took them 5 months. On the up-side they used SG iron and did a lovely job. Turning pushed the Myford to its limit. I had to work out how to use a faceplate, and hand file the first bit until it cleared the bed. A very tentative and scary bit of turning, with no idea what tools or speeds to use, but luck was on my side and they came out tops. The flanges have a taper on the inside, too, as I figured the the long wheelbase might cause rail climbing. So far I have had no tracking or derailment problems.
Then came the big test. The guys at Tweed Valley were a great bunch and good social contact and I was now a member. I strapped Fred on to the trailer and took it down to the Tweed to see the reaction. The guys looked at it, and then decided it wasn’t too bad. It even stayed on the track when pushed with a diesel shunter. Whilst my work looked a bit strange and my ideas weird, they seemed to accept that I was serious and my efforts were worthy.
scale 14 ton driver was a challenge for the flimsy arch bar bogie I think the current bogie is No 6, but it was a good learning process, firstly of my welding, then of getting compensations and swing whilst using wheels that are well over scale width. I used the build method outlined in AME
issue 133 by Karl Hempel, scaling it down a bit for Fred. Instead of his sideplay limiting bolts, I found some bearings with external circlips (against the inside of the axleboxes) and with double bearings for more contact area. Correctly weighted working springs were a pain to set up and probably unnecessary, however, with a Toyota engine mount for the pivot as it has just the right amount of “give” and the ride is excellent.
Up to now the rear wheels were made of plywood. Fred’s rear wheels are very distinctive so a turned blank would not do. Instead I turned up some 25mm MDF on my old wood lathe, and made webs and cutouts with a lot of filing and Dremel work. Eventually the local foundry agreed to make some castings, but it took them 5 months. On the up-side they used SG iron and did a lovely job. Turning pushed the Myford to its limit. I had to work out how to use a faceplate, and hand file the first bit until it cleared the bed. A very tentative and scary bit of turning, with no idea what tools or speeds to use, but luck was on my side and they came out tops. The flanges have a taper on the inside, too, as I figured the the long wheelbase might cause rail climbing. So far I have had no tracking or derailment problems.
Then came the big test. The guys at Tweed Valley were a great bunch and good social contact and I was now a member. I strapped Fred on to the trailer and took it down to the Tweed to see the reaction. The guys looked at it, and then decided it wasn’t too bad. It even stayed on the track when pushed with a diesel shunter. Whilst my work looked a bit strange and my ideas weird, they seemed to accept that I was serious and my efforts were worthy.
The Ancillaries
It was time to start adding all the ancillaries. As a temporary measure I used half of the quad’s handlebars to mount the throttle and hydraulic brake control. The battery fitted nicely under the bonnet and a rider mower fuel tank ended up in the roof. There seemed to be a thousan wires that came off the quad, and since they were damaged, I stripped the harness, throwing out anything not needed and reassembled the rest with all the relays, coil, heatsinks, etc, on the top engine mount bar. It was getting quite crowded! Amazingly the motor fired first time, and everything worked. A stubby muffler from a Howard Rotovator modified the exhaust crackle to a dull rumble. The handleba controls turned out to be practical, if not beautiful, so they are still there!
Running trials were carried out, and as you can see, it’s child’s play to operate! Some changes were needed, like the footrests that were too near the ground, and the foot operated gearlever that was too hard to operate (pity that, as I’d taken alot of care to disguise it as a running board.) but generally it was a goer. Body fittings included tracks and frames for the windows, electric fan and plywood roof. John Andrews AME tram article mentioned that stacked plywood was easy to profile because the layers acted like contours. The picture shows the stripe sprayed first, then masked over ready for the red colour.
Running trials were carried out, and as you can see, it’s child’s play to operate! Some changes were needed, like the footrests that were too near the ground, and the foot operated gearlever that was too hard to operate (pity that, as I’d taken alot of care to disguise it as a running board.) but generally it was a goer. Body fittings included tracks and frames for the windows, electric fan and plywood roof. John Andrews AME tram article mentioned that stacked plywood was easy to profile because the layers acted like contours. The picture shows the stripe sprayed first, then masked over ready for the red colour.
"Detail Frenzy, Finale and Prize"
The railmotor didn’t escape the detail “frenzy” and now has windows (fixed open so the motor doesn’t overheat), bulbar with crank handle, opening windscreens and operating lights! The local signwriter did a lovely job making nameplates to match those on the front of the real Fred. As a concession to my being old, I borrowed the seat off my rider mower, making a very comfortable, but removable, perch. In all the project has taken a leisurely eighteen months, and has been a great learning exercise. Along the way I have been meeting a great bunch of guys (and a few grumpy stick-in-the-muds!) The rig has already done some travelling. It is great fun to drive and to see the reaction from onlookers and passengers. For its first public test run, I was persuaded to take it to Grandchester’s 11th birthday party. It performe faultlessly, and for my troubles, I walked away with their Grand Champion prize. Thank you GMLSA, I was not expecting that.