Ab 730 

Some pictures on this page are pre-digital camera days!

 Ab730 was built by North British Works in Scotland and entered service in 1922. She was written off in  1969 and spent her last days in Southland. She is seen here Above; at Invercargill Loco Depot 1961. 

 Below; 4 pictures of Ab730 on the Ashburton Forks Railway.

Below; 2 pictures of Ab730 on a special running day held for her 10th Anniversary, G43 was the back-up engine for the day as seen double heading with the Birthday Girl!

Building Ab 730

Ab730 was the first NZR loco I built, I wasn't sure if I had what was required in skills to do the job so I started with the tender first to see what eventuated. These are the only pictures I took of the build, which I am now regretting! Below Left; The end result, One tender!! So now I had to build the engine unit. Below Right; The boiler is on which is made from metal tubing cylinders, cab & headstock are all styrene. The domes were turned down out of nylon with the head light being made from electrical condute, check valves & whistle were spun down from the ole plastic knitting needles. Hand-rails are tig welding wire along with the cow-catcher which is also riveted with dress making pins!

The loco was built on a Bachmann Big Hauler which ran well for a week or 2 then the loco developed a lean, it was to heavy & had slogged out the plastic where the axles went through! The decision was made to get a Barry Big Trains chassis which has proven to be the best option as it improved the loco beyond belief. The model entered service in 2000 and around 7 months (on & off) to build,