34th Edition

Welcome to the thirty-fourth edition of The Eureka Times.

The past year has been a period of ups and downs here at the Eureka offices.

On the up side there has been much to celebrate in our work with our latest manufacturer with delivery of the long awaited 40 class together with the latest in our 12-wheeler series, the MAL sleeping cars, the ACS composite cars, the AB dining cars and the re-run of the popular CHG with the promise of more projects to come in 2019.

On the down side, the on-going attempts to recover Eureka’s tooling from our former manufacturer were continually frustrated in what the lawyers described as an attempt at extortion.  This resulted in regular bouts of depression and periods of complete doom and gloom amongst the Eureka staff.

However, the good news is that the situation has been resolved and the tooling in its entirety has been recovered and transferred to another site for safe keeping.  To speed up deliveries of three outstanding projects arrangements were entered into with Phoenix Reproductions for their manufacturer to use Eureka’s tooling to assemble these projects. These projects were the Private Owner Hoppers, the VR bogie S flat and bogie O open wagons and the NSW NTAF tank wagons.  The first of these projects, the private owner hoppers has now been delivered. The VR bogie S flat and bogie O open wagons are nearing completion and will be followed by the NTAF bogie tank wagons.

These three projects are being made available in both the Eureka Model’s and Phoenix Reproductions packaging. 

The other projects for which tooling is either partly or fully complete are the subject of other arrangements and will be available as usual under the Eureka Models banner. These include the K class, 620/720 re-run and DEB sets and the 59 class. (See below for details).

The air of doom and gloom no longer hangs over the Eureka offices and whilst there will undoubtedly still be periods of gloom from time to time amongst the Eureka staff, given the two steps forward one step back nature of this business, there is much to look forward to over the next twelve months. (Followers of the overseas model press will see that major overseas manufacturers such as Hornby in the UK and Atlas in the US are all suffering similar issues and no doubt go through similar ups and downs.)

On the positive side, let’s have a look at what is in store over the coming year.

The RH four-wheel cement hopper and steel hopper LCH – due May.

The next in our series of four-wheel hoppers based on our popular LCH four-wheel under-frame is the RH cement hopper and LCH steel body coal hopper. Assembly of these hoppers is complete and they are being packed as this newsletter is being written. Delivery is expected in May. 

Southern Portland Cement four-wheel cement hopper.                 

 Steel bodied LCH four-wheel coal hopper

        

                       

Whilst on the subject of four-wheelers, the accompanying interesting photograph has recently come into the possession of the Eureka Times’ office.

Taken on the Illawarra, the photograph shows a train of 14 RSHs which presumably had been loaded at the fertilizer works at Port Kembla and was now headed north on the Illawarra to destinations throughout the State. Any reader with more knowledge of this movement please drop a line to the Eureka Office. 

The 38 Class re-run – due August.

The 38 class re-run is well under-way at our main manufacturer in Nanjing. An engineering sample is expected to be received as this newsletter goes to press. 

The re-run will include the following engine numbers.

Streamlined:   3801    Green/Black/Grey

  3802    Special Green 1946-1953

  3803#  Special Green 1946-1953

  3804    Black late 1950s

  3805#  Black late 1950s

Non-Streamlined 3806   Green with Black Smoke Box
3807    Royal Train Black

3809#  Black

3815   Black

3818    Green with Black Smoke Box door

 3820#  Black

 3822    Green with Black Smoke Box door

3827#  Service Green

 3830    Green with Black Smoke Box door

The numbers marked with a hash (#) are being produced in very limited numbers only and are intended to be basically “to order” only. From experience in the first run, only 3801 and 3830 will likely be available in retail outlets. All other engine numbers, especially those engine numbers being produced in small numbers will be available, initially at least, only direct from Eureka Models. Artwork has been prepared and will appear on our web-site shortly.

The NSWGR 12 Wheelers – The next in the series - The TAM sleeping and MCS sitting cars – due August.

Following on the success of the NCR sets, the MAL sleepers, ACS composite cars and AB dining cars the next cars in the 12-wheeler series will be the TAM sleeping car and the MCS sitting car. The TAM will be the later version of the TAM in that it will have Masonite sides and no crown lights. This will allow both cars to be produced in Candy livery as well as Indian Red. Tooling of both cars has been completed and injection has commenced. Delivery in the second half of 2019 is expected. Order forms are attached.  

                  Both photos Dave Allen

With the latest in the 12-wheeler program well under-way, the factory has asked for details of the next offering in the 12-wheeler program. Eureka staff have already been discussing this and the field has been narrowed down to a couple of candidates. The first is the Commissioner’s Train involving three new cars, AAH7, AAH8 and AAH9, all of which use the current underframe.  The second is another group of two cars, an MBE and an MFE in early configuration including a cantilever underframe. This underframe would allow the production of other 12-wheelers with crown lights and tongue and groove siding.

The K Class:

Tooling for the K class has been retrieved and is being transferred to a new manufacturer.  With two minor corrections the tooling is ready to proceed to assembly. The factory has said that assembly should be completed within eight months so delivery sometime in the first quarter of next year is expected. 

More details including numbers and artwork will appear in the next edition of The Eureka Times.

620/720, 600/700 two car diesel sets, 900 class DEB sets.

With retrieval of the 620/720 tooling the proposed re-run of the 620/720s can commence. Discussions are underway to this end and it is now proposed that the 620/720 tooling be modified to allow the re-run to incorporate a run of 600/700 sets. This is a simple process with just new sides, one new roof and new bogie side-frames being required.  It would not be difficult to produce the 900s at the same time.  Producing all three models at the same time would have its advantages. How-ever at over 5000 cars it would be a huge project and the factory may want to break the project up into two parts. This is currently being considered. More details later.

HUB sets:

A re-run of Eureka’s very popular HUB sets is underway with the tooling having been successfully tested. The re-run sets will not have interior lighting which will allow the wheelsets to be changed to those currently fitted to the 12-wheelers. The re-run will include more of the two additional cars which sold out so quickly in the first run and all four liveries will again be available.

Pre-orders particularly for the additional cars are recommended.

The 59 class:

Last in the previously announced projects to get underway is the 59 class.

This is a project which requires new tooling. The main consideration on starting such a project is production time at the factory. Discussions currently suggest that tooling will commence around July this year which would suggest delivery next year.

The Future:

Re-runs of the AD60, R class, HUB sets, BSVs, and 40 class together with new projects such as more LCH variations, more 12-wheelers plus other new projects will keep Eureka staff and our manufacturers busy for some time yet.

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