As I suspected, Santa very kindly left a Eureka 40 Class diesel under the Christmas tree.This was a locomotive that I believe should have a place on Philip's Creek as it was a true transition period locomotive. Indeed, the retirement of this particular class preceded the withdrawal of some of its steam powered cousins. Fortunately, there are quite a few photos of various 40 class locomotives in service in my primary reference, John Sargent's book, 'NSWGR Diesel Electrics - The Tuscan Generation'. As John notes in his introduction, the photographer, Ross Tollow, "certainly loved those 'dowdy' old 40 class that nobody bothered about - they would always be there!"
Out of the box, to my uneducated eye, the model seemed fairly consistent with the photos in my reference although the air tanks on the model appeared to be mounted a little lower than the prototype. As usual, detail parts seemed to be press fitted into place but fortunately, none were lying in the bottom of the box when the locomotive was first unpacked. There were no instructions in the model I purchased. I know Eureka are not the only manufacturer to exclude this item but it's something that I miss as it gives mugs like me the confidence to tackle some basic jobs like removing the body. The consequences of the lack of instructions were soon to be become evident.
The model ran smoothly on a DC test track and even managed to negotiate a 500mm radius curve. Then it was time to fit the DCC decoder. Yes, I know I'm a Luddite who hasn't made the transition to sound but I still needed to remove the body. Based on previous experience and in the absence of manufacturer's guidance, I proceeded to remove the front and back couplers. With the benefit of hindsight this was actually the correct move, and had I then attempted to insert a thin blade to ease the body off the chassis, all would have been fine. But I didn't!
With the couplers removed, the platform around the locomotive was looser but the body remained firmly in place. I had noted a number of lugs securing the platform to the body and thought these may need to be released to remove the body. As I subsequently found out they didn't! However, the body did gradually come loose until only one final lug remained but sadly, with all of the pushing and pulling, it broke. Also with all of the manipulation, a number of the detail parts came adrift - fortunately, nothing that could not be repaired.
The photo opposite shows how the body shouldn't be removed and the two following show the broken lug and the loose detail parts.Actually, after the body had been removed once, it was relatively simple to remove the body subsequently. The consequence of the damaged lug was that care was needed when tightening the long hood coupler. If over-tightened, the platform was pulled away from the body.
Still, as they say 'all's well that end's well'. The decoder was installed, body replaced and detail parts refitted. Again, superglue was my friend. It was then test run again, this time on the layout with a typical bulk wheat load. No problems there and 4006 was then sent to the paint shop for weathering. I have yet to see a photo of 40 class actually working in anything other than a grimy grotty condition, and by my modelling time period, the late 1960s, this was certainly the case. This model had to be heavily weathered. It was now that Ross' photos came into their own as he had managed to get images of the locomotive from many different angles. Coats of rust, dust, soot and oily grime were applied in that order. Most were sprayed but rust and oil spills were supplemented with washes in specific places. A finish of Dullcote was used to seal the weathering.
So now 4006, one of those 'dowdy old 40 class' will be seen occasionally passing through Philips' Creek on its way to or from more distant locations on the Main North. I'll just have to make sure that it never appears at the same time as 44222.
