VGR Young Volunteers Group

VGR Young Volunteers Group This page is dedicated to the projects carried out by the young volunteers group at the Victorian Goldfields Railway.

F212 Update - Since the last update we have had a few exciting achievements with the progress of the F. Central Vic Lase...
30/12/2024

F212 Update -

Since the last update we have had a few exciting achievements with the progress of the F.

Central Vic Laser completed the laser cutting of the replacement steel sheet for the Cab wall, 2 new cow catcher plates and a full set of new louvres for the radiator doors.

Outlaw castings have cast the new builders plate and number plates. These will have the holes drilled and be trial fitted before they are painted up.

The long end body of the loco was primed in 2 stages. The fireman’s side and front was completed in late October and the drivers side was prepped and completed just before Christmas.

The preparation of this section was very time consuming and annoying to say the least, With the numerous places where 70 years worth of paint and grime had built up. Not to mention the diesel stains coming from the fuel tank inspection covers.

The fixed roof cover had to be trial fitted with the new welded in section needing to be formed to the shape of the fuel tank, and bolt holes drilled.
The battery boxes were a mission to clean with the interiors having been painted with a tar based paint to protect the steel from battery acid. The remaining battery box extensions to suit the large loco starting batteries were also removed.

We did have a slight set back when we discovered a heap of rust holes in both sides of the bottom coolant tank below the mounting fl**ge for the radiator elements. While its quite annoying, it’s better to discover this now instead of after the loco is finished. We have left this for now and will repair at a later date once the undercoating of the loco is almost complete.

The next stage will be to prep and prime the 3 engine bay roof covers and all of the engine bay doors. Before the engine bay doors can be painted, some of them need to be straightened slightly. Nothing a bit of heat and weight can’t fix. At the time of this post one of the roof covers has already been primed.

If you would like to get involved, Shoot us an email- [email protected]

Congratulations to Fletcher, the VGR's newest diesel driver! When he isn't working hard on our restoration projects, Fle...
27/09/2024

Congratulations to Fletcher, the VGR's newest diesel driver!

When he isn't working hard on our restoration projects, Fletcher likes to operate trains, and last weekend he passed his test. Well done! 🤩🤩👏

Fletcher has always been passionate about trains. His hard work and training is helping him kick many goals around the railway. He is currently the youngest driver at the Victorian Goldfields Railway!

F212 update- A massive achievement for the railway and huge step forward for the F’s restoration was reached a few weeks...
11/08/2024

F212 update-

A massive achievement for the railway and huge step forward for the F’s restoration was reached a few weeks ago with the successful replacement of the trailing drivers side axle box!!
It ran a ‘Hot Box’ while running a train approximately 15/16 years ago and was then mothballed and restricted to Maldon yard.

This awesome achievement will allow the F to run around unrestricted once it’s all finished.

The design work and quotes for the new pilots and upper cab have been completed and should be given the go ahead in coming days. Drawings have also been made up for the radiator louvres to allow new ones to be made.

The builders plates should hopefully be cast in a few weeks. This will allow us to drill suitable holes in the plates to then transfer onto the buffer beam and tap the holes to suit.

The long end headlight bracket was cut off, cleaned up and welded back on straight and level.

The long end body framework is in the process of being sanded and cleaned up ready for primer. The engine bay doors will also be cleaned up soon and primed at the same time.

Once this is done attention will turn to the cab exterior and interior. This will be a massive task in itself and the cab interior is littered with exposed conduit, pipe work and gauges. There is also some steel work to be done at the base of the side window cavity’s.

70 years worth of dust and muck also needs to be cleaned out from under the cab floor so we can then make up a ‘sub-floor’ for the new timber flooring (hopefully a feature in itself)

This restoration is certainly a huge job but should hopefully make it a bit of a show piece once it’s all finished 🤞

If you would like to get involved, shoot us an email- [email protected]

In Early May, J549 returned to service after an extensive boiler overhaul and repaint spread across 15 months. We have n...
15/06/2024

In Early May, J549 returned to service after an extensive boiler overhaul and repaint spread across 15 months.

We have now turned our attention back to F212’s restoration. New nuts and bolts have been fitted to the fuel tank and nuts welded in place to allow the generator room cover to be fitted and new holes drilled to suit.

We are planning to lift the F in coming weeks to finally replace the axle box that was damaged way back in 2008. This is the reason why the locomotive has been restricted to occasional yard use at Maldon.

Steamrail provided us with a replacement axle box for the F a few years ago, on the basis the old axle box would be re-metalled and returned to them. The replacement box has been cleaned up in preparation for the lift.

Want to get involved with the F’s restoration or future projects? Send us a message or email to find out more- [email protected]

Keep an eye out for further updates.

YVG Update We have been pretty quiet on social media over the past year, yet extremely busy on the job with a few of our...
22/02/2024

YVG Update

We have been pretty quiet on social media over the past year, yet extremely busy on the job with a few of our members working hard on repainting J549. The tender is now completed with some small detailing and touch ups left to do. The repaint of the loco unit is progressing as the workshop team put it all back together.

The restoration of F212 has been put on hold while the J gets repainted. We will get stuck back into it once the J is back in traffic.

Plans for T333’s cosmetic restoration and final mechanical works have been cooking away in the background.

Materials for 16ZLP’s rebuild is now on hand, and a game plan being put together for when this project kicks off again. This has been a slow process as some of the Timber had been on order for 12 months before we received it.

Hopefully once the J is finished and we get stuck back into our list of projects, our updates will become a little more frequent.

F212 Repaint-Works have slowed down over the Christmas/ New year period with most volunteers away on holidays or working...
18/01/2023

F212 Repaint-

Works have slowed down over the Christmas/ New year period with most volunteers away on holidays or working. A few volunteers have been able to keep working away through the jobs list and completing the following-

Completing the new handrails around the loco. This included cutting out the cab steel plate where the handrails have been ripped off the loco in its life or hit hard which had pulled the steel out of shape.
While we were making new handrails for the fireman’s side cab, we bent up a new service tank breather pipe. A big improvement to the old pipe which went in every different direction possible from the top of the service tank to the bottom of the cab.

New battery box doors have been made for both sides of the loco. Michael Swyrydan machined up some brand new latches for the doors to replace the original ones which had either ceased, broken, bent or fallen apart over the years. This small detail is certainly a massive improvement while still retaining the original look of the battery boxes. New striker plates were also made to compliment the new latches.

The interior of the cab is progressively being sanded and needle gunned. A loud, dirty and very fiddly job.

The generator room is almost ready for paint. With only some degreasing required on all the diesel fuel pipes. (This will be done shortly before paint is applied)

If you would like to get involved with the F’s restoration, please email - [email protected] or message us on this page.

F212 Repaint- Since our last post a number of items have been ticked off the ever so long ’to do’ list. The engine has b...
16/11/2022

F212 Repaint-

Since our last post a number of items have been ticked off the ever so long ’to do’ list.

The engine has been cleaned up and painted up! The rest of the engine bay and piping and generator room will follow in coming weeks.

Works in the cab is progressing slowly, but most of our attention has been on the exterior.

All the shunters steps have been removed and rebuilt. Only the bases of the steps were reused. We even made up some brand new handrails for the steps.

4 Sander brackets were fabricated to replace the damaged or non existent sanders. This was complimented with ‘modern’ rubber sand nozzles.

The final cover above the generator room has also been removed. This gives us plenty of light and space when cleaning and painting the generator room. This will also allow us to make a few repairs to the cover at ground level and also when the time comes, easily paint it up.

We are doing a lot more than we originally planned with the F.. so naturally.. we are doing a few extra things to to top the restoration off… stay tuned for what the few special extras are 😁😁

T333 rides the rails again! Today T333 made it outside of Maldon Yard under its own power for its first running test. 18...
06/10/2022

T333 rides the rails again! Today T333 made it outside of Maldon Yard under its own power for its first running test. 18 years since it left the VGR for its ”interesting adventure” on the mainline & 9 years since it ran under its own power.

Keep an eye out for a post in the near future about details of its reactivation.

Since our last post, we have been focusing on all the steel work on the F. This has included cutting out mangled parts o...
18/09/2022

Since our last post, we have been focusing on all the steel work on the F. This has included cutting out mangled parts of the valence in a number of spots and heating and straightening running boards.

All of the shunters steps have been removed and will be rebuilt. The exisiting bases will be reused and new angle iron frames will be made up. The steps will then be bolted into position on the loco instead of being riveted. This is so they can be removed easily and quickly for ease of maintenance as required.

The cow catchers on the F have been welded onto the buffer beams at some stage in its life, where as originally they were bolted on to the buffer beams. We have cut the catchers off so we can replace the C Channel uprights and drill new holes to allow them to be bolted on. We will also use the opportunity to repair and straighten the steel plate as required.

The Battery box extension on the fireman’s side running board has been removed and we’ve rebuilt the end as close to original as possible.

The underframe has been completely needle gunned ready for a quick prep wash before painting when the time comes.

Paint stripping in the cab has been continuing at a reasonable pace with most of the front cab wall almost complete.

As always, if you would like to get involved, please email: [email protected]

F212 Repaint- Over the past week, our team has been making some good progress on the F! Most of the engine room doors ha...
25/08/2022

F212 Repaint-

Over the past week, our team has been making some good progress on the F!

Most of the engine room doors have been removed and needle gunned. 90% of the body has now been needle gunned with only a few spots left to do.

After a few Discussions, we have decided that we will needle gun the underframe, so when it’s painted it can look as good as possible.

We have also started the tedious task of scraping all the paint in the cab. There will be a mixture of different methods used in the cab like scraping, paint stripper, sanding & needle gun.

A few volunteers have started straightening running boards, grinding old shunters board brackets off etc etc.

All the paint has also arrived along with all the normal consumables needed for these jobs. There’s still heaps to do.. but hopefully it can all come together quickly.

If you would like to get involved, email- [email protected]

F212 Repaint Progress- We have actually achieved quite a bit in only a few weeks! The entire cab exterior has been needl...
19/08/2022

F212 Repaint Progress-

We have actually achieved quite a bit in only a few weeks! The entire cab exterior has been needle gunned revealing a few extra dents and battle scars. The entire roof has been needle gunned. Only the engine bay doors are left to do on the drivers side and the fireman’s side isn’t far behind being up to the same stage.

We recently acquired a Sandblasting cabinet thanks to a generous donation. This has come in extremely handy so far! We have been able to sandblast all the F’s smaller pieces like marker lights, Sun visors and more.

Over the next couple of weeks, the F should be completely needle gunned, which will then allow us to Buzz over the surface with a sander or wire wheel to remove any small paint flakes the needle guns have left behind.

A number of body repairs will be completed in the coming weeks including: Repairing the large dent & twisted angle iron in the cab, straightening handrails, repair and straighten parts of the valence, removing the battery box extension which is no longer required and installing a metal plate over the end.

The body will never be perfect after the hard life it has had… but it’ll be better than it is and closer to its former glory.

As usual, we can always use extra pairs of hands, so if you want to get involved- email: [email protected] for more details

Keep an eye out for more progress in coming weeks.

We are after another “J. Stone & Co.” headlight that is on the nose of the F, we would like another to put on the cab end like it originally had towards the end of its VR life. If anyone has one of these and are willing to sell/ donate it for the F, please PM us or email- [email protected]

Address

Gangers Shed, Hornsby Street
Maldon, VIC
3463

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm
Saturday 8am - 6pm
Sunday 8am - 6pm

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