Building a Belgian R

Building a Belgian R
In 1883 the VR purchased five 0-6-0 tender locomotives from "Societe de St Leonard de Liege" because of quick delivery (the English builders must have had full order books) and the competitive average price of £2,957/3/3. These were the only locomotives used on the VR that were not built by either a British or US manufacturer.

The VR gave the, numbers 237 to 245, odd numbers only. This was the practice for goods engines; passenger locomotives carried even numbers. They were classed as "R" as their power was almost the same as the English built "R" class 0-6-0 and were subsequently referred to as the "Belgian R Class". A characteristic feature of these locomotives was the tapered, rather than parallel sided dome cover. The tenders had shunters foot boards and hand rails on each side. When new the reverse lever, was in the back position when the loco was moving forwards. All other classes were the other way around. This must have caused a lot of buffer banging!

The Belgian Rs received new boilers and the dome was placed a little to the rear of its original position. All were scrapped in 1920.

I intend to finish the model as it would have appeared around 1902- 03. At this time they would have still been painted green. Alterations would have been:

A number of other matters of interest include the existence of "shunters" footboards and handrails on the tender. fitted as delivered. The VR seem to have adopted this practice in subsequent years.
A line drawing of the Belgian R, taken from the VR diagrams book

Two photos of the locomotive.

Some pictures of the model in progress

Some pictures of the completed model.

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