Queensland Government Railways (QGR) is a 3 foot 6 inches narrow gauge railway, and over time it acquired many unique vehicles. With some 5,000 miles of track across the state, crossing the Great Diving Range in a number of locations, trains were not that big. Trains were required to climb 1:50 grades around four (4) chain curves. Loads for small locomotives were not great. In some places, the load was less than 150 tons. Half of that was just the tare weight of the wagons on the train, leaving a pay load of about 75 tons. If we were to use a Guards Van for the Guard, that would drop another 10 tons. Not all trains required passenger accommodation.
At the end of the day, the Guards required a small compartment that allowed them to carry their duties at the rear of the train. QGR came up with many unique “Save Weight” Guards Vans were built for specific traffic types, coal, minerals, cattle, sheep, suburban passenger trains etc. Over the years, some worked better than others with some not having many years of service at all. And it didn’t all end there, with bigger locomotives and later diesels, these vans were used of other trains as needed. Cattle/sheep vans were used on coal, ballast and general goods trains.
Ipswich early
1970’s.
For this post, I will cover the CB class Guards Van. Looking at photos and plans, there appears to be three different versions of the class. Two types had a centre Guard’s compartment, the main difference between the two was the construction method of the extended roof for the guard’s compartment, one type had recessed side hand rails to allow the goods compartment doors to slide. The other lesser type had the Guards compartment down one end, these were mainly used as breakdown vans. Bowen had one for many years and I recall seeing two as part of the Gladstone Breakdown train. The class had a few mates similar in style, that being the CHB and CCB guards vans.
As the “C” in the
classification suggests, they were eight (8) wheeled covered (box) wagons
converted to brake vans, thus the “B”. Wagon Plan # 34 dated 5/01/1914 is
titled Ventilated Goods Wagon and refers to Drawing 2671. The ventilated is
crossed out and the title was changed to Covered Goods Wagon, a note inculcated
the louvered ends were replaced with solid ends, dated 18/11/53. Average tare
is shown as 10 T 10 Cwt and average capacity is 9 T 10 Cwt. The Guard’s
compartment is 5 ft. 3 inch long. Wagon Plan # 35 dated July 1945, refers to drawings
2671 and 2671A. It carries the same notations plus it shows sliding doors
giving the Guard access to both goods compartments from the Guard’s
compartment. This plans shows the side hand rails and raised centre section is
one inch lower. Both vans have a 32 ft. underframe with the same internal
measurements. The vans were “black out” vans, no electric light, Guards used
their kero shunting light to write up their occurrence sheets or where light
was required etc. Some consideration was given to the comfort of the Guard, the
4 ft. bar frame bogies were replaced with 4 ft. 6 inch. Passenger angle iron
bogies.
Maryborough Breakdown Van. The side lights on this van could be deceiving, yes, they are usually fitted to vans that have electric light. Internally there is a holder for a bulb as well as a cistern for a kero light should the bulb blow in traffic miles from nowhere. The guard carried a container of kero in his Guard’s Box. Hats off for the good old days with a plan “B” to keep trains running. You just got to love it, having lights fixed to the van ensured there would be lights in place when needed.
Looking at history cards will give us some understanding of their life on the network.
CB
4575
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
31.12.1897 |
Built
as a C wagon. Cost £150 Drawing 1267 |
James
Frost Maryborough |
|
1914
|
Converted
to CB |
|
|
03.1983 |
Written
Off. |
|
CB 5640
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
12.1899 |
Built
as a C wagon. Cost £145 Drawing
1267 |
Toowoomba
Foundry Co |
|
1915
|
Converted
to CB |
|
|
8.1960 |
Louver
ends replaced with T & G |
Rockhampton |
|
4.1987 |
Written
Off. |
|
CB 5360
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
10.1899 |
Built
as a C wagon. |
Toowoomba
Foundry Co |
|
1914
|
Converted
to CB |
Townsville |
|
6.1947 |
Bowen
Breakdown Van |
|
|
10.72 |
Written
Off. |
|
CB 5618
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
1899 |
Built
as a C wagon. |
Toowoomba
Foundry Co |
|
1914 |
Converted
to CB |
Ipswich |
CB 9115
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
12.1910 |
Built
as a C wagon. |
Shillits
& Sons Ipswich |
|
1914
|
Converted
to CB |
Ipswich |
|
5.1957 |
Written
Off. |
Townsville |
CB 9108
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
1910 |
Built
as a C wagon. |
Shillits
& Sons Ipswich |
|
1914 |
Converted
to CB |
Ipswich |
|
1953 |
Stencilled
“Ipswich – Roma St Milk Tfc” |
|
|
1954 |
T
& G ends |
Maryborough
|
|
1963 |
Written
Off. |
Ipswich |
CB 5637
|
Date |
Work |
Remarks |
|
02.12.1899 |
Built
as a C wagon. Cost £146 Drawing
1372 |
Toowoomba
Foundry Co |
|
1915 |
Converted
to CB |
Sliding
doors Guard’s Compartment |
|
1954 |
T
& G ends |
Ipswich |
|
23.02.1959 |
Attached
to Emerald Breakdown Train |
|
|
11.1959 |
Spray
painted |
Rockhampton |
|
09.07.1986 |
ARHS
|
|
Other Numbers and Service
5628 (1914 – 1982). 5629 (1913 – 1967). 5630 (1915
– 1966). 5631 (1945? – 1966).
5633
(1913 -1987). 5640 (1915
– 1987 B’down Van). 5645 (1913 -1987
Gympie B’down).
5655
(1915 – 1946). 5656 1915 – 1974). 5664 (1915 – 1970). 9078 (1916
– 1987).
9089
(1915 – 1964 Burn out
Mt Isa). 9111 (1914 – 1966). 9113 (1921 – 1951).
CB 5637 part of
the ARHS collection at Rosewood.
Gympie
Breakdown Van. Stove and window have been added for the crew comfort.
Gladstone
Breakdown Vans. Two vans with the same construction outline, but very
different.
Model-
The underframe was
constructed using plain styrene sheet with Evergreen strip for the sole bars,
headstock and bogie bolsters. Couple box were built into the frame with strip.
Sides and ends were fabricated from Evergreen scribed sheet with strip being
used to add detail. The roof sections were cut from sheet and curved on a short
length of steel water pipe in a dish of boiling water.
Galvanized Iron roofing sheets I make from aluminium foil using a mill made by Kerrie's brother –in-law. The Guard’s compartment roof was made removable to allow painting and fixing of open doors and the guard.
Commercial
Parts.
Caintode Flats Production:- Buffers CFD
1, Bogies CFB 8 S, Combined brake cylinder CFD 3.
Queensland Railway
Miniatures:- Queen Posts. Brake Hoses.
Darley Workshops:- Side
lights. (Centre Guards Compartment model only).
Tichy Train Group:-
Turnbuckles on trust rods.
Kadee:- 158 Whisker
couplings. (Bulk Pack – box built into underframe during construction)
Keiran Ryan Models:-
Brass wire – Trust rods, hand rails, light brackets etc. (0.3 & 0.4 mm)
North Yard NZ:- Brass mini Strip for bottom step. (0.25 x 1.5 x 150mm) Step
Step Brackets were made from Bostitch 1000 standard staples cut to size.
(Brass wire and mini
strip can also be purchased from Andian Models, Sydney).
Decals. Ted Freeman -
Toowoomba.
Paint-
Body - PGC Scale Models
Red Oxide, Underframe- SMS Chassis
Black. (Both are Acrylic Lacquer paints that require airbrushing).
Roof
and Weathering: Vallejo
acrylic (water) Paints.
The van was painted much the same as the CLV in the previous post except the main body of the van is painted with PGC’s “Red Oxide”
This van is off my
“Breakdown Train” (Blog post, December 2020), it was built much the same as
about from photos (no plans), maybe some modeller's licence for bits unknown.
The body of this van was
painted using the same paints, once finished with decals applied a black wash
was applies to give a weathered beaten look.
Trust, you find the information helpful and assist you with your modelling ventures. Construction method and materials can be used for any scale or prototype.
Acknowledgements.
Brake Vans of the
Queensland Railways 1864 - 1980 by John Armstrong.
QR Plans
Queensland State Archives
Australian Model Railway
Association Queensland Library
Arthur H.