24 May 2011

20 May 2011 - 'WA Weedex Tank'

Work has commenced on the master for the 'WA/WX Weedex Tank'








Background Information:
Between 1955 and 1959, twenty five tank wagons were place in service. Nine of these wagons were bogie tanks with E underframes. The remainders had a cylindrical tank mounted on a fixed wheel underframe. The WX tanks were numbered 1 to 15. They were used in a weed spray train with a weed spray van HZ/WZ. In 1963, the WX class was re-lettered to WA. This was because the code conflicted with the introduction of letter 'X' indicating bogie exchange and so the class was re-lettered to WA.



Numbers 10 - 19 were scrapped prior to the WA re-classification leaving numbers 1 to 9 and 20 to 25. The fleet of tanks in active service was reduced to WA 1 to 9 and the remaining were scrapped or stored. Four (1, 3, 7 and 9) of the WA's in the group 1 to 9 were fitted with replacement underframes in the the late 1970's. This work was done at the Bendigo Workshops with an ELX design underframe being used.




In 1988 the WA tank wagons, number 1 to5, 7 and 9 were re-lettered to VZVA.




For more information and picture's head over to Peter J Vincent's website.

14 May 2011

Have you seen our new website?

Go to http://www.vrcasts.com/ and check it out?


The website has a whole new look and layout (keeping in mind it is still a work in progress). There is an updated online store with all the new specials currently available. In the description of each product in the store it will tell you if you need any other additional items to complete the model. With the new changes came some sacrifices this includes the loss of the members side and page. We have transferred all members to our VIP emailing list. An email will be sent out to all those people.



Work has been progressing on the Pintsch Gas Q26 and 30 nicely left is a picture of the master for the tank. This product at this stage will be a four piece kit. The parts include tank, body of the cabin, roof on the cabin and the underframe. We are currently sourcing decals as well.

The follow is some back ground information on the wagons:


In 1878 two Q bogie flat wagons number 26 and 30 were built by Tozer in Melbourne. By 1903 Q 30 was modified at the Newport Workshops where it gained a Pintsch Gas tank with an engine as too did Q 26 in April 1910. These two wagons had the remains of very old passenger carriages installed over the engines and the front of the tanks to protect them from the weather. In the early 1970's both wagon came off register and are currently been preserved in non-operational condition by the ARHS at Newport. In 1982 they had their number swapped so Q 26 became Q30 (2nd) and Q 30 became Q 26 (2nd). The Pintsch Gas was used for the lighting of passenger cars and country stations.

01 May 2011

Special Offers Now available

We currently have 3 Special Offers running at the moment these included:

Special Offer 1 - Bulk Flat Wagon Buy
4x VC 09 I/IK/K for $35 - save $5

Special Offer 4 - Bulk Open Wagon Buy
2x VC 06a I/IB (wooden)
2x VC 06b I/IG/IX (falling doors)
All 4 for $40 - save $4


Special Offer 3 - Combo Pack
1x VC 05a HD 27
1x VC 05b HD 33
1x VC 06a I/IB
1x VC 09 I/IK/K
All 4 for $40 - save $5

To receive these special offers head over to our online store: http://www.vrcasts.com/