CB Guards Van.

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. 

There is a real good article on modelling in styrene in a couple of issues of the NMRA Australasian Region ‘MainLine” magazine, Part 1 May – June 2022 and Part 2 July – August 2022. Great front cover on the July/August issue??. Mainline Magazine Archive - National Model Railroad Association (nmra.org.au)  

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.