B-Class wins Canterbury Award at MEANZ convention

 
The B-Class shines resplendently in the sun at Whakatane

Highest Model Engineering Award in New Zealand

John Heald's DHR B-Class locomotive has taken the prestigeous Canterbury Award, the highest honor among model engineers in New Zealand.   The award was presented during the main dinner and ceremonies at the bi-annual MEANZ international convention held this year in Whangarei, NZ.   The award, judged by an international panel of respected figures in the model engineering community and presented by the Canterbury Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (CSMEE) is for best model of any kind, not limited to locomotives.    CSMEE member Jock Miller presented John with the award, and John thanked everyone who had given him assistance with the locomotive and the prototype 2205 Duplex Steel Boiler.    The award is a validation of the great effort that was made to make the engine not only look good, but steam well and ride well as it did during the convention and all of its other outings during its inaugural New Zealand summer steam season.   The award is engraved with all of the past winners and when the new engraving is complete we will have more pictures of the award itself.

Scale Turbogenerator

The B-Class engines have turbogenerators of varying types affixed to them to power the headlamp.   Upon asking around, it appears that the one on our prototype 777 at the Delhi museum is either a re-branded Sunbeam, or a copy thereof.   

Fortunately, Ken Schroeder, a well known live steam supplier in the United States has just finished castings for a 3 3/4" scale Sunbeam, which is just right for our B.

We received the first unit sold.   It is a dummy, but there are plans to make it functional later.

The unit is currently en-route to New Zealand for installation on the B before big convention in January.

I have added a new gallery of photos I took of the genny before sending it off, as well as a picture of the one on 777 in Delhi. (painted 'preservation white')  Here are some highlights.  The ruler is a 150mm rule.

     

Track test video!

Here is a short video of the track test shot by John as friend Paul runs the engine.   Sounds very good, very close to the original!  

Successful Track Test!

The Locomotive received it's NZ boiler certificate and has been track tested at Tauranga.   Initial results are excellent, showing a stable locomotive that does not porpoise (thanks to the hidden adjustable spring suspension and good balancing) and steams incredibly well thanks to the duplex steel boiler.     It steams so well on regular coal that the door had to be kept open for some of the time to prevent the safety from lifting, firing it will take more getting used to.  This will be a very powerful locomotive able to pull many people or freight.

The only issue was a tight side clearance on one of the crossheads, which has now been corrected.

We'll have some video on the way this coming weekend, in the mean time here are some of the photos we have added to a new gallery.

     

Steam!

First steamup of the complete engine on a stand to check everything out.    Track test news will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

The headlight is also completed, which marks the completion of the entire engine.   The back of the headlight is made from a metal mixing bowl that happened to be just the right size and shape!

Also note the final touch, the re-railing pole in the lower left photo. 

Click the large photo below for a very high resolution version to study the details.