5 November 2004

General News

 Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail, Australia - ATHRA

At a National meeting held in Canberra over the weekend of 9 - 10 October a constitution was adopted for the National Association. The accommodation and air fares to bring all the representatives together from all over Australia was kindly met by the Australasian Railway Association.

150th Celebration of Railways in Australia

The celebrations held  in Victoria to commemorate the running of the first mechanically powered railway in Australia,  which ran at 12.20pm from the site of Flinders Street Station to Sandridge,  Port Melbourne on the 12 September 1854, was a very low key affair. Without the efforts of Heritage Rail on  the day it  would have been virtually ignored.  Disappointingly  the State Government had a very low key Luncheon and display at Station Pier to celebrate the occasion.  Most Heritage Railways in Victoria  ran a commemorative train  to celebrate the event.  Special celebrations were not possible on the original railway line as the line is now a tram line. Further, Spencer Street Station which is usually the venue for such celebrations, is under full reconstruction with only a limited number of platforms available for country trains.

In the Metropolitan area,  Steamrail was able to run a number of shuttle steam trips and the ARHS had a luncheon where the original speeches were delivered by members in period costume.

Heritage rail ran special trains and Mornington Steam Preservation Society for example opened a pedestrian bridge. 

News from Members

 Alexandra Timber Tramway and Museum

 The railway has been able to take delivery of the historic Kelly and Lewis diesel locomotive No 5957 which was restored by the late Paul Simpson in NSW. The engine was one of a pair of identical engines delivered to the Alexandra Sawmill in 1936.  While the initial Kelly and Lewis engine remained in the district and was restored by the Museum, the dream was to reunite both engines if the occasion arose. The engine was sold by the owner to the Museum and has been transported back to Alexandra. The locomotive shed has been extended to  house the engine.

The engine will officially return to service at Alexandra on the 14 November 2004.

The Fowler Steam engine has returned to service after its boiler examination and some new sleepers were replaced in the track north of the road crossing.

Australian Railway Historical Society

 The Society helped to commemorate the 150 Anniversary of rail with a banquet and issued a commemorative issue of Newsrail for September. The contents included  the details leading up to the first run by the Hobson's Bay Railway Company in 1854  and the opening Banquet and speeches held then. Lithographs of the times decorated the front and back pages of the publication.

The Museum has repainted steam engine N432. As part of the work in cataloguing the Museum's collection the curators have noticed that they do not have any details regarding the VR gardening competitions and are seeking items such as signs etc for the collection.

The Great Railway Swap meet was again a great success  and the next event will take place on 19 February 2005.

Work has started on repainting D3 635 and K 165. Two models  of a Hitachi drivers coach and a Comeng motor coach have been stolen  from the Museum.

A book entitled "What a Journey" has been released for sale  and work has started on  a Signalling Book.

Ballarat Tramway Museum

Work is continuing on tram No 40 and the body is being stripped back to bare wood  metal to give the car a very high finish. The Museum was given from the Estate of Ben Parle of Sydney slides and movies of the Ballarat system. 2005 is the centenary of electric trams in Ballarat and planning has started for the events in August that year. 

A total of nine trams are in regular service and a further six vehicles are under restoration or repair. A total of 178 days were operated in financial year 2003/04 and 20,849 passengers were carried. The trams travelled  6524 km.

Bellarine Tourist Railway

As part of the celebrations for the 150th year of railways, the Bellarine line also had its own celebration of the 125th anniversary of the opening of the line to Queenscliff. 

Daylesford Spa  Country Railway (Central Highlands Tourist Railway)

91 RM has been running the majority of the services except when the motor needed some servicing. This was taken up by Y 159 and MT 26 for several weeks over winter.

Work on No 63 RM in proceeding slower than wished for due a need for greater voluntary workers to complete the work. The overhaul is very through with the roof removed and new  beams being bent to replace old timbers. Work is also going ahead on the engine and new internal ceiling panels are being made and fitted.

DRC 40 is in service but is still having drainage problems with its roof when the vehicle is stationary for a few weeks. This is thought to be a design  problem.

The line has 30 vehicles including engines and freight wagons. There are a total of 48 trolleys and track machines.

GreenTrail.

Tim Fischer was the guest of honour for the railway's celebration of the 150th. The level crossing on the new Federation Way access to the Corowa - Wahgunyah  Murray River Bridge has been built by a work team from Puffing Billy as sub contractors to the John Holland Group who are the main contractors for the bridge works over the Murray River.

Puffing Billy

The Puffing Billy shop at Belgrave has been fully refurbished and the lighting improved. 

The railway is installing a new internet based telephone interconnection system which is to replace the existing 40 year old rural carrier system.

To help celebrate to 150th the Luncheon train was dispatched from Belgrave at 12.20 pm and burst through a barrier of streamers. In addition a special brochure was printed for the day and given to passengers.

A mixed passenger and good train was specially prepared and run by a NA to Gembrook to raise funds for the restoration of the Climax. Another special event was the annual children's run against "Thomas" which was held at Gembrook. A firewood collection train was run to collect timber from the trackside to use as lighting up wood for the railway's engines.

The new workshop extension fit out is almost complete and the extension will be opened  on Sunday 14 November. the railway's trolleys have been receiving attention and NK3  is back on the railway after the replacement of its hydraulics. Trolley EBR 26 which has been under rebuilding for the last two years is almost complete and is expected to be back for the summer fire season.

Steamrail

Through the efforts of the Department of Infrastructure and V/Line steam and heritage trains have been able to return to the mainlines of Victoria. To celebrate the 150th shuttle train trips were able to be run between Flinders Street Station and Caulfield and Sunshine Stations.

All the former West Coast R class engines are under the care of Steamrail. Y 112 is stored at the Steamrail depot at Ballarat East. Restoration work on locomotive A2 986 is continuing and the boiler is at the stage that the boiler inspector can now be called in to have it certified and officially registered.

The operator's T class diesel engines are all on hire to Pacific National. The work on B 72 is continuing and the engine, main generator and air compressor will soon be lifted into the engine room.

The preserved Tait set and Swing door motor carriage have all been cleaned and polished and now look like new. Hopefully they may be soon running again.

Mornington Railway Preservation Society

Locomotive T334 Is being worked upon and various cab structure areas have been repaired and a new gutter fitted on the driver's side. .Patching of the engine room doors will see the driver's side largely completed. The radiator room door covers on the observers side have been removed, sand blasted sprayed blue and replaced in position.

The run round loop at Mornington is to be ballasted and work has been done on the ballast wagon preparatory to doing this work.

The former Fitzroy pedestrian footbridge has been rebuilt at Moorooduc and has been erected by Puffing Billy.

Tramway Museum Society of Victoria

 The tramway ran a special tram as their contribution to celebrate the 150th anniversary using W3 667. Tracks are being laid outside the Exhibition Shed to provide access to the shed space for trams.

Ballarat tram No 36 has been returned to service and work on the painting of 7W continues.  19 W is to be restore to its former glory as NMETCL Co No 4 at Bendigo in time for centenary of electric tramways in Melbourne in 2006. Work had started under a scheme in the North Fitzroy depot several years ago but was not completed.

Yarra Valley Tourist Railway

Major work has been done on the trolley fleet to keep them in peak operating condition. The large trolley PM16 is having a major overhaul. In the meantime trolley 8W14 is the main trolley and is equipped for bi-directional running.

The railway is setting up an assets register to record all property and its location.