Just new from the TA workshops a sneak peak of the Beta K.
I know you are going to like this!

Indeed it is nice. Russ, you've taken my old clunker to a whole new level.

Thanks!



Cheers,
Matt

Hi Matt it wouldn't be this nice if it wasn't for ChromeBullet.
He provided substantial help and tweaked parts to get things just right.
All of the Phases will be represented with a couple of one off variants as well.

Team-ALCO once again is making more good steamers.
Great Pics Matt and Russ

cheers,

That is one great looking steam engine. Well done to all involved.

Its looking even better now I have obtained photos of detail that wasnt present in the plans.
Many polys though!

Hey Russ, I got a question.
With the TA K class, Will this release also have a couple of K class in other liveries besides Black?

cheers,
Josh

If I dont have too much trouble with mapping and the colors they should be a possibility.
I have experimented with a green version which looked ok but I want to get the shape honed out first.
Cheers Russ

That's very reasonable mate.
Most of the other TA released VR steamers are mostly Black with no colour whatsoever (except for the Spirit Of Progress Pack) Defenantly Worth Waiting for.

Due to the tragic Circumstances that claimed the lives of 2 of my workmates at Benalla I will NOT be doing the Blue one.
It just wouldn't be right.

Russ, that is entirely understandable.

I would suggest that said locos did not carry such liveries, therefore it would be somewhat superfluous to release them in a livery other than black. The TA D3 was released in Canadian Red, as a matter of interest.

Most of the VR steam was standard Black.
Some had red painted on various parts but Black was the color of the day.
Canadian red was an early scheme but only lasted into the 30s I think.
The Blue and Green Ks are just painted that way by the preservation societies.

I thought as much - the red embellishments only really emerged with the Js and Rs, am I correct? I quite like the weathering on the H and Xs, much prefer my freighters to be everyday workers than museum pieces. Nice looking K Russ.

I am open to correction here as the dates would only be approximate.
Up until the 1920s all locos were painted BP (Or close) green with yellow (Gold??) pin striping.
Then came Canadian red. even the Unstreamlined "S" classes wore this at one stage.
Then good old low maintainance black.

I seem to recall that Canadian Red was so named because it was introduced by Commissioner Tait when he came from Canada in 1903. For some reason I thought some of the early Dds were so painted.

Cheers,
Matt

To the best of my knowledge, the Dd's did enter traffic in Canadian Red. Along with the A2's...go further back to the Y's and V's etc and it was Green with Gold lining. There was mixed bags, Y's for example over their working lives wore green, red & black liveries.

The C class was the first class to enter traffic in all over black, with C1 being the last loco to enter service in the Canadian Red. The all over black became the norm until the R class, when the Red deflectors and lining were added. As we know this also occured with the J's, the commisioner's D3 (639) also had red lining and polished brass. There was also another D3 (688?) That was "Tarted" up.

Whats this means regarding the TA K class? Theres no valid point for coloured models. Russ won't do the blue (which was the best livery I'd seen on a K), Green 190 looked rotten. Mind you the early 90's two tone green did look good on both 163 and 190. But either way, they are preservation era liveries, which makes them close to fictional

After much fiddling around and adding extra undercab detail this is where the Ks are at so far.
3 different varients. Early, middle and last models.
K 188 is a bit of a mongrel having boxpok wheels except for No4 axle which carried the spoked variety. (As Seen in a photo!)

Back in the day when I was in early development with the Ks, I recall (and did) a K with three spoked drivers and a Boxpok. Don't remember the number though. K171 maybe?

I think there is a call to do preserved Ks. I completely agree with the decision not to do K183, but the other preserved Ks would add variety and give options for people who may want to do modern-day activities either with preserved locos and cars, or having them as AI trains in activities.

The popularity of the Steamrail cars at Steam4me shows that there is a definite level of interest in preserved stock. It is all part of the history of these locos, so they're worth a go.

I have the old K models in most colours. Looking at them now shows how much they've come along thanks to Russ and Chrome Bullet. The wheels! Oh, the shame! Mind you, it was 2003...



Cheers,
Matt

the Green K class is great Matt, and the J class too barely

Russ, I have a 5 chime whistle from my No4 model that i'm more than happy to give you for these magnificent machines if you want?

Just a quick not on the colour schemes:

From fairly early on in the piece, the VR used a mid green which was pinstriped with white and a darker brunswick green. There were around 3 different lining styles, and a darker mid green was used for two of them.

The first batch of Dd's were painted the last simplified version of the green. The pattern Dd - 560, was the last VR loco to have polished brass boiler bands and dome cover fitted. All Dd's built until 1904 were painted green.

From 1904 onwards, the canadian red, white and chocolate brown scheme was introduced. It is believed that the first loco painted was the first Dd to be built with high running boards. The canadian red scheme was basically unchanged until the late 1910's when the white and chocolate brown was dropped.

From 1921 onwards a full black livery was introduced, and would remain until the end of steam, with the exception of the S class 'Pacifics' which were painted ferric red (wagon red with a gloss overcoat) in 1934, and when streamlined for the SoP in 1937.

in regards to the K with the boxbpoks on the main set of drivers only, it was K175.

CB, the shots I have of K175 taken at Geelong in the late 1960's/early 1970's show it with the regular drivers. Were the Boxpok's an earlier thing?


In the meantime, just a few shots of a test run of the K's around the Bendigo area.

Good shots there Chris, Just have to remind myself tho save $$Money$$ to purchase this release payware. This is a very good one to wait for.

K variations.
K 100 to 109 (140 to 149) old Newport cab windows went right to the sill at roof line. built 1922 to 1923 Spoked wheels.

150 to 160 built 1940, 161 to 178 built 1941.
179 to 183 built 1943. The cab windows were lower with a gap between the windows and the roof line. Spoked wheels.

184 to 192 Built 1946, Single window cab and Boxpok Wheels.

K 188 is special as it had Boxpok drivers except for No3 drive axle which was spoked. I have a side on Photo of this.
It also was the locomotive that was attached to a steel hawser and used to start the dismantling of North Melbourne Loco.

Hi Darcy I have a 5 chime whistle already in my parts folder I just have to replace the old one with the new.
Thanks for the offer.