30 June  2009

National News

ATHRA Alerts

Victorian News - ATR

Bush Fires

Victoria suffered one  of the worst  bushfire seasons on record in February  2009. There were three days  of excessive heat each  day over 40 degrees C and  it escalated on  Saturday 7 February 2009. This day was 46 degrees  and with  the  high winds it resulted in huge fires all across the State with great loss of  life, property  damage and destruction of the bush  and wildlife.

Heritage Rail did  not escape, as the Yarra Valley  Tourist  Railway  lost   track  and  a number  of bridges and buildings and stores at  Yarra Glen but   the running section was spared from the  flames  which  licked at  the Yarra Glen  Station building. The Tramway  Museum  was  in great  danger and flames were  very  close to  the  Museum. Puffing Billy at Belgrave was threatened  by  two  fires and Alexandra Township  was  also in some danger. The Daylesford Spa Country  railway  lost  about 2 miles  of track  which  will have to  be re-laid with  new  rail and sleepers.

At  the  present time both  the Yarra  Valley   and Daylesford Spa Country railways are  hoping to  receive some State Government funds to  allow them to  restore their losses.

Meetings

The next  ATR meeting is the AGM and General Meeting to be  held at  Hawthorn Tram Depot  on Thursday 20 August 2009  starting at  6.00 pm. The  November  General  Meeting will be on Saturday 21 November 2009  at  a location to  be confirmed.

Address

The postal address for the ATR and the Records Officer has changed recently. Please make sure your records have the correct address as follows:

PO Box 271
Queenscliff 3225

Theft of Overhead Material - Bylands

The T.M.S.V reports as follows:

  I wish to inform you that we have had a serious situation that was discovered this morning, not long after opening up the museum and turning on the power. The tram driver for today, John Walker, reported that the overhead wire at the north end of the line was, very saggy, and hanging.  On closer inspection it was revealed that several pole length of trolley wore was missing, chopped down from pole 40 to the tie off on pole 44.   The wire has been cut on the "down" side of the ear on pole 40, on both sides of the ear on pole 41, 42 and 43, and at the insulator on the tie-off on pole 44.

 The wire has obviously been cut into about 6 foot lengths to remove it, as one length was left behind.   Other evidence was also found such as a torch (with a name on it too!) and some new flexible strand wire,  similar to fencing strainer wire. The police have been on-site and a report made and the evidence taken.  I have also supplied the police with a small sample of the type of wire for use in their investigation.  It seems that the perpetrators have either entered our property via Mc Kerchers Road, off one of the adjoining properties.

It is interesting to note that there is a large pile of ballast right under the bracket arms at pole 40 and 41, and there has been "someone" walking on the piles. The only fortunate part of this is that the remaining overhead wire has only sagged back to the yellow bug hut at the site of the loop.  There is a wire joiner there and it is tensioned off with diagonal strainers, which is retaining the tension back to the museum site.   I do not believe that this last piece of wire will fall or dislodge in the interim, nor needs tying off immediately     Tram services have again been truncated back to the gate.

News from our Members

The Bellarine Railway 

 

T251 is  now  in service and  is  on  most  weekend  trains  when  the  roster  calls for a steam engine. Other  achievements  are  the hosting  of the ATHRA conference and a Rail Trail Family Day race with  Thomas and Friends.

T251 is in effect  a brand  new  engine having had a full overhaul  lasting several years. Part of the work was fabricating a new  tender, having a new smoke box tube plate made and  other  work  done. The engine last  saw service  in 1991.

T251 at Queenscliff passing V1209 11 July 2009

The  Bellarine  railway  is  now the  proud  owner  of Thomas  the Tank  Engine. Klondyke has  been transformed into  Thomas partly due to the requirement  by  the  owners  of the events HIT who  have  introduced more stringent requirements to  operate such an event. Only a few railways  in Australia now  offer  Thomas the Tank  events  and  only Puffing Billy and the Bellarine Railway in Victoria. One  of the recent changes  is that if you  offer such  an event  you  must  have a Thomas engine. Hence the transformation of Klondyke  into  Thomas.

After  much  work  the  turntable at  Drysdale has  been tested and  proved successful.

The railway  has been  valuable to  the town of Queenscliff when  major events are  held  in the town as it  has the  means  of providing a shuttle service from the  outskirts where  parking  is available. The  ingress to  Queenscliff is restricted to  one road owing to  the towns  topography. The railway  was able to  provide a shuttle service from Swan Bay  Halt where there  is adequate  parking for the annual Queenscliff Seafood Festival  at  Easter. Trains ran every 15 minutes.

Recent works have seen  the completion of the down platform face at  Lakers Siding and the  station  is  now a very  useful island platform  where trains can be crossed. At  the  new Lakers Siding shed the work of setting  it  up  continues and two tracks are complete with  work going  on the third and fourth tracks. All stored rolling stock  has  now been placed  in the shed. Carriage DB 46  has  been converted to  dual braking with  only two  carriages  of the  main  carriage  fleet  to  be converted. The Blues train  season  is  steadily  being extended due to  demand.

The railway  was  successful in obtaining from  the Puffing Billy  Museum the three foot six gauge  engines and freight vehicles which were formerly  on display  at  that  Museum.

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Daylesford Spa Country Railway

 

Bushfire Damage

The railway  suffered badly  in the  7 February  bushfires with  about 1.6km  of track  destroyed. About 2,000 sleepers were  burnt  out and the rails buckled. Such  was the heat  from  the fire that  the  entire burnt section will have to be rebuilt. Consequently the railway  is  left  with only a short section  of  operable track  just  beyond Daylesford station up  to  the  beginning  of the treed section. This  means that  the railway  is restricted  in its earning capacity.

 

 At  Easter intending  passengers were  offered a ride  by trolley to  the  damaged area.  The rolling stock  was not damaged  in the fire and  is  operational An application has  been  made for  funds to  repair the damaged track.

 

Just  before the bushfires, the railway commenced a new wine and  dine service  called the "Degustation Train". This  is  a higher quality food and wine train  with three courses and a talk on winemaking and wineries by  staff  from the Captains Creek organic winery  at  Bullarto  station. The  event was a great  success.

 

91RM

Walker  railcar, 91RM has  had  some body  repairs carried  out and the roof  fibreglass  patched where  necessary. DRC 40 is running well but the batteries  need attention and  a separate bank of 24 volt  batteries  will be fitted just  for the diesel alternator set.

 

 32RM:

Work is continuing steadily on the rebuild of this vehicle. Once again all work has been concentrated on the passenger car body. With the luggage racks fitted work turned to re-fitting the window blind runs. This included the manufacture of new vertical masonite strips that cover the blind runs. Work has also progressed on the floor with the completion of the replacement of the floor boarding. New masonite floor underlay is currently being cut for fitment. More painting has been completed on the interior particularly around the toilet.

 

On the outside of the car body the roof itself has been sanded, primed and painted in brilliant gloss yellow. Only the re-fitment of the ventilators is required to complete the roof. The steel window pressings have been returned from repair and have been painted and now await re-fitment. Finally the front driver and passenger window pressings have had the repair/replacement of the wooden framing completed, corrosion removed and have been finally re-fitted. The roof cowling above these pressings has also been removed and awaits completing on sanding painting before it can be refitted.

 

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Diamond Valley Railway

The railway has a number of  projects underway and  is  building replacement  single slip between the  Inner  Circle/Outer Circle  and the east  Yard point  interchange. The loop on the PTL and Fork Tree Cutting is complete and awaits signalling and  point  motors before  it  is  brought  into  use. Meanwhile  traffic  is diverted onto  the  loop  to  assist  its  bedding down New outside  double slip  crossover plus turnout to  the  up local line has been  commissioned. The installation of the construction siding along 1A road alignment continues. The Coleman Bridge has had  angled railings added at  each  end and the Chelsworth Bridge has  had repairs done to  the  timber decking.

Being in such  a heavily treed area the grounds  need  considerable attention but the drought and the  high  temperatures  of the  past  summer  took a  significant  toll on the  plants.

Melbourne Water is to  commence an upgrade  of Blowfly Creek and this will  not affect  the railway  but  will mean that the  Pine Creek picnic area  is  unavailable to  the  public while the  work is done.

The railway is experimenting with  railhead grinding and flange  lubrication to  try to  reduce excessive  rail  and wheel  wear. Some experimental flange greasing systems have  been installed and these seem to be effective without reducing adhesion of trains.

A safety audit of trees has  been undertaken and it was found that  sugar  gums  in the Avenue  of  Honour have a beetle  infestation due to  the severe  stressing  of the trees due to  the drought. Some are  in danger  of falling  over and  permission  is  being sought to  do this and replace them with approved  trees and shrubs.

(In 2008, over 101,000 passengers were carried by the railway. This  makes the number  of  passengers carried by  the  Diamond Valley Railway  the  second highest number carried by a heritage railway in Australia  after  Puffing Billy.

With  the  bushfire season coming so  close to  the Yarra  Valley, the  group  has  looked at  its fire precautions and  is taking steps to  remedy  perceived threats including the removal of tree debris as it  falls.

Immediately  after  the  Bushfires, the railway  took  the  initiative in raising Bushfire Relief  donations on Sunday  15  February  and together with  the railways  own donation to  charitable causes, over $10,000 was raised.

The railway  has placed  in service some new  VR  grain and gondola carriages. A lively debate  is  under way  about wheel standards for 71/4 inch  gauge lines. The  consensus from  operating the existing standards over the  last  24 years at  Diamond Valley  is that  the existing standards are essential  for such  an operation where carriages and  locomotives run upwards  of 2,000 km per annum over  22m radius curves.

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Friends  of the North Australia Railway  at  Adelaide River

As it  has  been  the dry  season  in the NT Adelaide River has  had  many  visitors calling  in to  view  the site and the station.

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Mornington Railway Preservation Society

On Friday 3 April, the MRPS held an evening to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This celebrates the work that has been done over those 25 years to progress the railway from the stage of just having a forlorn and lonely steam locomotive in Jubilee Park, Frankston.

IK163 has now been back in service and is performing well. In addition the  two diesel locomotives T411 and T334 are now both back in active service following a rather grim period back in October and November last year when at times one or both required substantial repair work just to keep operating. With assistance from Downer EDI the problems were progressively solved and the maintenance regime now put in place under the rail safety accreditation program should reduce the chance of repeat problems.

Work continued on the top coat of enamel on 3ABL as well as the completion of the new canvas on the roof and three coats of Emerclad. It is now preserved but not restored on the inside.

Track work

Following the Christmas break, the points at 3 & 4 roads in the yard have been levelled and repacked, and some worn bolts replaced. These points are made from 60lb. rail, compared to all our other sets at 80lb, and therefore need closer attention. They will be replaced in due course.

 

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Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society

New mirror brackets were cast and machined for fitting to trams 407 and 670. W4 class trams had unique mirror brackets which necessitated casting new brackets utilising a set off 670 as patterns.

New cab handrails were also fabricated for 670, being necessary as the original ones were too long.. Both trams have now been fitted with the offside mirrors, which is in line with the Association's policy of providing vision of  both running  boards from the cab.

VR41

During March the new drop centre storm curtains were fitted to VR 41. This project was not without its difficulties due to the fact that  they were unable to source suitable new spring rollers of the same diameter as the originals  They eventually located replacement units that were slightly larger and this necessitated alterations to the end brackets and side runners.

With the decision to now undertake the fitting of storm curtains to the drop centre doorways of L 103 Alterations have had to be made to W class spring rollers as when this tram was acquired along with L 105 neither tram had a full set of fittings. Whilst the centre doorway is the same dimension as all blind equipped W2 class trams this is not the case with the large outer doorways, which are approximately 100mm wider on all L class trams. Suitable W2 class rollers were taken from store then dismantled and lengthened by welding extension pieces on to form the correct length. New intermediate slats and bottom bars have been fabricated from stainless steel for these blinds

W3 663

This tram is stored  in the workshop building on No 1 road and work will commence  on this car once SW5 849 is completed. An investigation is  being made  into the best  way to  repair the water  damaged sections  of the  plywood roof  of this  car.

Other  Works

The track work is receiving attention and the curve behind the car barn is  to be rebuilt. The rails are to be  re-rolled and it  is  hoped to  relay the curve in August. Associated with  the track is the  overhead  and replacement  poles 7 and 12 were connected to  the  overhead network with spans to  the  old  poles removed.

At  the entrance to  the  Museum  a new information sign has  been  erected.

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Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board 

The annual  Great  Train Race was held in May  and  was very  successful  with a record number  of runners taking  part  in the event.

Lakeside Station

At  Lakeside Station the  ETRB is  negotiating with  the municipal council seeking access to  additional land to build facilities there. The railway  had to  expend a vast  amount  of money  to  allow  it to meet  the new requirements  of the Transport  Safety Act. Two people were engaged  to  do this work. As  a corollary  to  that is the training of our staff and the railway has purchased a second hand portable class room from the Education Department to allow us to do this most necessary task.

Marketing

Marketing is slowly changing as the origin of passengers from overseas changes and the railway is  concentrating on the Indian and Chinese markets as well as our other visitor sources, not forgetting our home market from whence the base patronage comes.

A new innovation is the "Murder Mystery train" similar to "Murder on the Orient Express" using characters similar to those in Sherlock Holmes. Most of the action takes place at the Packing Shed. The players are a local group, the "Gemco Players".

Workshops

In the workshops we have 8A under a heavy "D" examination and 12A is under its 10 year overhaul. The Garrett G42 needs to have a "D" examination conducted. This work is  most  extensive and has been deferred with G42 being currently stored. Of the little engines, the Peckett is receiving attention to the axle's journals and brasses and these have been machined and the wheel sets installed. The Decauville has had its boiler lifted from the frame and is receiving a full overhaul. The Climax engine 1694 is  under  heavy  overhaul and work is continuing  on the boiler and it  is ready  for  inspection. Work on the  motion is  proceeding and a design for the axles has  been completed.

Climax Boiler from 1694 ready  to  steam Belgrave Workshops 10 July 2009

All photos  J.Frost

 The two "new" second-hand DH class diesel engines were obtained from Queensland. The more complete one is now at Belgrave to be rebuilt. Its bogies are 3'6" gauge and need to be converted to 2'6'  to allow it to run on our track. To deliver it from the Museum at Menzies Creek  DH31 was robbed of its bogies to allow the engine to be transferred to Belgrave by rail. The other DH is for spare parts as it came without an engine.

Carriage 2NBC has  had a full restoration and other  carriages are receiving attention  as needed.

Museum

The PBPS has  decided to  award the 3'6" gauge equipment at the  Museum at  Menzies Creek to  the Bellarine Railway. The engines being disposed  of are  the Garratt No2  from the Fyansford Quarry  and Perry No 11 from  the same location with  several  side tipping ore wagons. As well  Pozieres from Port Pirie in South Australia, which  is  one  of the few engines from World War 1 service, is  part  of the deal.

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Steamrail

Double headed trains  at  Castlemaine leaving for Maldon  and for Melbourne

The group  ran successful  steam shuttle trips in March to Williamstown  from Flinders Street  station. The shuttles carried  over 1250  passengers and four trips  were run using K190  and K153 topping and tailing the train. On Mother's Day  a Rail  and Sail trip  was run  to  Geelong behind K153 with  the return trip  to Melbourne on Port Phillip Bay  on the Victoria  Star.

On Good Friday the display  train  was again  placed at Southern Cross Station (Spencer Street)  and attracted  good crowds during the day. $1,625 was donated to for the Royal Children's Hospital appeal.

Because  of the dry  state  of  Victoria in 2009  the fire season was extended until May when the first steam specials  were able to operate  beyond the suburban area. The first  trip  ran to  Ballarat.

Locomotives

Maintenance  on the group's rolling stock  has  continued and T364 is continuing  its  overhaul  and repainting. S301 is waiting  on the delivery  of crank shaft  from  the USA. B72  is still being restored. The steam engines are all serviceable.

Carriages

3ABE was  overhauled in time for the  125th anniversary  trip  to Maldon. 7ABE has  had treatment  of its roof  and clerestory side the same as the  other BE cars. 61BW has  had  its batteries checked and had  it roof repainted.

Other Works

The group has  completed  its  move from  the  old tarp Shop to  West Block. A new temporary  coal loading ramp has  been built and the  old Bond Store  for many years  the home  of the group  is cleared ready  for demolition. The entire  area will be  used by  the State government for a suburban train  depot. Unfortunately  not all  the  operational  fleet  of carriages will now  be under shelter and  more carriages will have to  be repainted at  a more frequent interval  to  maintain the  rolling stock.

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The  Victorian Goldfields Railway

J 541 leading J515  at Maldon 13 June 2009

Events

The railway  had a most  successful Steam Train  day  for Kids. With  the new rules for running Thomas events the railway  abandoned the  previous format  and developed  its  own April Steam Trains for  kids event. A further  Steam Train  for  Kids was held in July.

The next  successful event was the Muckleford Music day  on the 17 May and this was held  in the goods shed at  Muckleford.

The railway  celebrated  its 125th anniversary on the 13 June and a special  train  was run by  Steamrail and Operation 707 to  Castlemaine and then on to  Bendigo. The train  was  hauled  by R761 and R707. At  Castlemaine  a band was  playing, a choir sang and speeches  made to  note the event. Then  passengers were taken by a train hauled by double headed J class engines to  Maldon. Here the train  was met  by another band on the  platform. J541 and J515 hauled the  C&MR train. At  Maldon  a celebration parade  headed by a steam roller ran  down into  the town centre. At the event the announcement was  made that  the railway  was successful in attracting funding  for new toilets at  Maldon, an  expanded retail  area,  a carriage shed and the  Muckleford Shed  loop.

Also on the day  the  railway officially  launched its  new  guide book.

The day  from  a rail fans point  of  view, had a final  highlight when  the  Melbourne bound train  departed from Castlemaine simultaneously with  the  train  returning to  Maldon. The trains were departing  in the twilight   and the steam vapour made an evocative picture as both  trains departed.

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Tramway Museum Society

Owing to the few volunteers that  are available  to regularly  open the  museum, commencing on the 1 January  2009  it has been decided to  only  open  the  museum  on the 1st  and 3rd Sundays  in the  month from 11.00am to 4.30pm. As the  Museum was unable to  complete the new Accreditation requirements for the time  being  it has  become a static  Museum.

The open  day  for  members  of the Mitchell Shire was most  successful with  many visitors from  the municipality. There was great interest in  South Australian tram H 373. The tramway  ran  a most  successful  "Trams at  Twilight" event on 4 April 2009 and five different trams were  used.

Tram at  the terminus at Bylands 4 April 2009

To improve the electrical  efficiency of the tramway  the Bendigo Tramways have installed additional earth returns and  pole bonds and repaired broken welded track joints. After  this work  was completed further electrical  problems have  occurred and  it has been  difficult to  find the cause  of the  problems being experienced.

The fencing  of the right  of way  has been replaced on the  Northern side. A deliberate vandalism attack  affected the  museums water supply and  most  water was lost. After  repairs were completed water  had  to  be  purchased to  provide a supply.

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Yarra Valley  Railway

On Saturday the 7^th February the bushfires caused significant damage to the Lilydale - Healesville corridor and surrounding areas. 7 bridges were lost with 2 lost between Tarrawarra and Yarra Glen. The remaining 5 bridges were lost  on the South side of the Yarra Glen Station in the section reserved for tourist  railway  use. Damage was also  sustained to the track between Yarra Glen  and Healesville  with  1.6km of track destroyed with all the sleepers completely burnt to ashes. Track at  Yarra Glen  Station was  also  destroyed.

The damage  is a great  blow to  the railway but  while the whole town of Healesville was threatened  by  the fires the  operational  section of the railway  was spared. Over the Labour Day  weekend a  model  railway  show was run in Healesville and the  normal  trolley  trips were run. The  people  of  Melbourne responded magnificently and  the town  was flooded  with  people coming  out to assist  the businesses in the district. The railway  put  equipment  on display  at  Healesville station and J 516 had a fire  put  in to  boil water  for cleaning purposes  preparatory  to removing the tubes. The event  brought  many  hundreds of  people to  Healesville which  was suffering a down turn from  the fires.

In  the  meantime work is  continuing  on the  preparation of  opening the existing trolley  section for full scale rail operation and  using the restored rail motor. In  the workshop  the first  of the carriages are  being rebuilt.

The railway  has purchased a share  of Steam locomotive J54. It is anticipated that  this engine will be  available to operate on the railway by mid 2010.

Considerable effort is  being made to complete the track work to  allow the railway  to  commence train operation on the running section. An additional GY  wagon No 5651 has  been obtained from  the South Gippsland Tourist  Railway. The  line  now  has four GY  wagons.

 Updated July 2009

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