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In Production Third Release Expected: 2027 First Release: March 2011 Pre-orders: Open All prices quoted include GST

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Model Features: HO Scale 1:87 Ready-to-run 5-Pole skew wound motor with twin brass flywheels - 12V DC All wheel drive & electrical pickup Heavy die-cast chassis PCB with 21-pin DCC socket Sound ready with Vandersound speaker enclosures Operating LED headlights, number box lights & red/white marker lights Micro switches on the chassis to operate the lights on DC Scale size metal knuckle couplers Etched brass details including: windscreen wipers and side mirrors along with see-through body side & roof grilles Metal wire handrails and grab irons Detailed cab interior with painted driver figures Scale size air hoses & MU hoses Sanding pipe details Under chassis piping details Plastic body and main parts Blackened metal disc wheels (RP25-110) Brass air horns Recommended minimum radius (18 inch) Highly detailed bogies with separately applied parts Factory painted and decorated with laser sharp printing 16 Different body versions tooled 9 Different liveries to choose from DCC Sound Model Features: ESU LokSound 5, 21 Pin Decoder Auscision Vandersound speaker enclosure with twin speakers Auscision power capacitors to prevent loss of power and sound over dirty track Prototypical sound files EMD 16-567-BC engine (start-up, shutdown, idle & running) Dynamic brakes Wabco A & B 2 chime air horns (short & long) Brake & flange squealing Coupler (release & crash) Handbrake (applied & released) Radiator cooling fans Sanding valve Please note: DCC Sound models will not work on DC

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Victorian Railways - Blue/Gold

VicRail - TeaCup

V/Line - All Orange

V/Line - Orange/Grey

West Coast Rail

Murraylander

SSR

CFCLA

Auscision Models

B Class Locomotive – Order Form

B Class Locomotive – Prototype Overview

The B Class was the Victorian Railways’ first mainline diesel-electric locomotive, and worked all over Victoria, except on a number of lightly laid branch lines.

These units were built by the Clyde Engineering Company of Granville NSW, with the first of the class, B60, entering service in July 1952. In all, 26 such locomotives were built, with the last of the class, B85, being delivered in February 1954.

The locomotives were designated Model ML2 by Clyde Engineering, and featured a very attractive round-nose double-cab layout, with a General Motors 16-cylinder 567B engine making 1500HP available for traction.

The units could be found on almost any main line train on the broad gauge in Victoria, from heavy grain rakes to commuter passenger services, express freights, slow general goods, and even named passenger trains such as the Overland and Vinelander.

Progressively in the early 1980s, B60, B62, B66, B70, B71, B73, B77, B78, B79, B81 and B85 were all withdrawn from traffic, and rebuilt by Clyde Engineering at their Rosewater plant in Adelaide into A Class locomotives.

Apart from delivery runs and a short period when B60 was transferred to standard gauge in 1975 to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Harold W. Clapp (a previous Commissioner of the Victorian Railways); in VR ownership, the class was only found working on the broad gauge. This however has changed in recent years following privatisation of the rail industry.

B74 (in restored Original VR Blue & Gold livery, owned by the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre) and B80 (in the Murraylander livery) have worked in NSW on the standard gauge at various times over the last handful of years. B80 spent considerable time with ATN Access working on its Riverina grain rake to Port Kembla, together with a period of hire to Lachlan Valley Rail Freight, where generally it worked between Newcastle and Sydney. B74 has also operated with ATN Access in the Riverina of NSW.

In 2004, B61, B65, B76 & B80 were sold by West Coast Rail (WCR) to Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia (CFCLA), following their withdrawal earlier that year due to bolster cracking issues. Southern Shorthaul Railroad’s Bendigo Workshop has been replacing the bolsters on these four locomotives, with B61 to re-enter service before the end of 2005, and B65, B76 and B80 to re-enter service in the first half of 2006. All four units should re-enter service on the standard gauge, and should see work in both Victoria and NSW.

B Class units have received many different liveries over the years. These include:

• Original VR Blue & Gold livery with polished side numberplates (applied to all class members when introduced).

• Modified VR Blue & Gold livery with black and white side numberplates, more gold around the cab side windows and the tops of the cab doors, together with a thinner gold stripe along the bottom of the body sides (applied to all class members from the late 1960s onwards).

• VR Tangerine & Silver ‘Tea-cup’ livery (so called because of the shape of the silver logo), applied to B64, B68, B69, B74, B80, B81, B82, B83 & B84.

• V/LINE all over Orange livery, applied to B84 only.

• V/LINE Grey & Orange livery, applied to B61, B63, B64, B69, B74, B76, B80, B82, B83 & B84.

• West Coast Rail Blue/Yellow/White livery, applied to B61 & B76.

• West Coast Rail Blue austerity livery, applied to B65 only.

• Murraylander Yellow/Silver/Red livery, applied to B80 only.

• Southern Shorthaul Railroad Yellow & Black livery, applied to B61.

• CFCLA Blue/Silver/Yellow livery, currently being applied to B76.

B65 and B80 will also receive repaints at SSR’s Bendigo workshop in the coming months, prior to re-entering service following upgrading work. The liveries of these two locomotives are yet to be determined.

Members of the B Class have essentially had 3 different styles of bogies over their life. When delivered, they featured fabricated bogies. Early in the life of the class, these bogies were replaced. Two different styles of cast bogies have been fitted to the class since then – ‘first pattern’ bogies and ‘second pattern’ bogies. The ‘second pattern’ bogies are also commonly known as ‘Flexi-coil’ bogies. It was not unusual for a class member to receive a different style of cast bogie each time it received a bogie changeout. In fact, an odd class member now and then could be seen with one of each type of cast bogie.

A number of body modifications have also been made to various B Class members.

The exhaust stacks on all class members were modified during the late 1960’s to a new arrangement (further apart), following the fitting of spark arrestors to the exhaust system. Commencing around the same time, the nose doors and fuel tank valances were also removed, and progressively this was carried out on the entire fleet. Many class members also had their single beam headlights changed to twin sealed-beam varieties, either with a black or light grey surround.

In the late 1980s, all remaining class members were fitted with side mirrors.

When B61 and B76 ended up in West Coast Rail ownership, a number of additional external modifications were undertaken. These included additional nose handrails and steps, fitting ditch lights and double marker lights to the No 1 End only, plating the staff exchangers over, and duplicating the Brake Pipe and Main Reservoir cocks and hoses at both ends. When B80 surfaced in the Murraylander livery, it had been fitted with ditch lights and double marker lights at both ends, together with plating the staff exchangers over, and duplicating the Brake Pipe and Main Reservoir cocks and hoses at both ends.

B Class Locomotive – Prototype Photos

Artwork & photographs shown for illustration purpose only. Details, body versions, colours, livery, number fonts & some finer details may differ on the production models. Auscision Models takes care to reproduce models as accurately as possible and will always refer to the prototype for model accuracy.