Today was a moment for celebration for the staff of the Mechanical Branch as they watched ex Victorian Railways GY 5127 roll out from the workshops after undergoing an extensive rebuild to convert it to an NSWGR K wagon. The management have described the conversion as being very successful, despite the extremely late delivery of the wagon. With the paintshops still not ready for use, the powers that be have informed me that the wagon will enter service following the fitting of Kadee couplers and continue running in its current condition until such a time that the remainder of the work can be finished. This will include the fitting of underframe details such as brake gear, hoses, handrails and tie rings as well as new brake shoes as the old ones were beyond salvage. It will also be required to beef up the side sills of the underframe so that they are flush with the sides, as per the prototype, however it will be possible to complete this work within a short time frame. It is expected that once GY 5127 is completed and repainted into Gunmetal Grey, it will be renumbered as K 25576. GY 5127 was originally purchased back in 2004 as part of a small lot of model trains, however it was not until 2008  that the decision to rebuild it as an NSWGR K wagon was finally made. Now after two long years, the Mechanical Branch have released their first rebuild into traffic. The management are very pleased with the results of the conversion, and as such have purchased a second GY wagon to under go a similar treatment, GY 16347. Various parts of GY 5172's original underframe will be re-used to rebuild GY 16347's underframe, beyond this, the conversion will be essentially the same as with GY 5127. Upon completion GY 16347 will be renumbered as K 23040.

Happy Modelling
Murringo's Shed Foreman.