News from our Members

The Bellarine Railway 

 

The railway  reports that  it  is  now the second most successful Heritage railway in  Victoria after  Puffing Billy. it  is  now  one  of the largest  tourist attractions  in the  Geelong Region  and contributes  some $14.7M and 60 jobs to  the region.

The railway  runs two  shops one at  the headquarters at  Queenscliff station and the  other  at  Drysdale.. The  marketing Manager, Emma Everett, is  leaving to  go overseas to  the UK  for 12 months. During the time Emma  has been  at  Queenscliff the Seaside Explorer has  started,  turnover increased by  400% and  relationships developed with  the town  and  businesses.

The  new large shed at  Point Lonsdale  (Lakers Siding) has  been officially  opened on the 13 November 2010.

Stations

At  Drysdale  the Cart Dock  has  been  repaired and talks  have taken place with  the  local Rotary Club to  see if the  Drysdale Weighbridge can be re-constructed. The  weighbridge  is  council owned and  is  on railway  land  but always served the railway. it  is  hoped that  it  can be restored.

At Summa  Park  painting  is  being done and Lakers Siding has had repairs carried out and weed spraying done.

At  Queenscliff the  old  crane  base has  been fenced and a replica railway  gate  is to be installed to  replace  the semi  fixed fencing at  the  west  end  of the  platform near  the coal  dump. The Queenscliff boat  crossing has  received attention and a sign  "3 tracks" has  been  made. The  next  project  for Queenscliff  is a gang  shed to  store the trolleys.

The railway  ran  a very  effective emergency  exercise with  the SES, CFA,  at  the  MAAFRI level crossing and resulted in calls being  made to  the authorities  worried that  a real  incident  had taken place.

Working with Children
The railway has  decided that  all volunteers who  work on the railway should  obtain  a police check.

 

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Bendigo  Tramways

 

The  work of rebuilding the depot  is  proceeding well.

 

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Daylesford Spa Country Railway

Re-Opening  of the Railway  to Musk

On the 29th of August 2010 trains returned to  Musk  Station. This was after  the reconstruction  of the  section of 2km of track  destroyed  by the bushfires of 2009 by  Puffing Billy, and funded by  the Bendigo Bank Community Enterprise Foundation and the State Government. The railway's  own volunteers  put  in a great  amount  of additional  work doing things such  as boxing up and  over 1,000 hours  of work  was recorded. A celebration was held at  Musk  Station platform. It was hoped that  additional  funding could be forthcoming for works on the section from Musk to Bullarto,. but alas this was not given.

The  official  train  was 91 RM and speeches and refreshments were  held at  Musk platform.

With  the coming into operation of the new Act, the railway  hopes to convert its Order in Council  to  a formal lease which  will give  greater  security to  the railway.

New Shed

Reports  indicate that  that  the frame  of the shed  is  erected and all the  material is  now  on site. Due to  the  very  wet  weather  construction has  been  delayed. New  track is to be  laid  into  the  new shed. The site has been  referred to  as lake Daylesford, due to  the  heavy  rain.

ROLLING STOCK REPORT

The railway reports:

 74RM Dodge Passenger Mail motor
The inside of one of the doors of the dodge has been rebuilt completely.
Y159:
Ran some test trips to Musk back in August. Experienced starting issue with a dead battery cell being identified as the culprit. Needs a new battery when we can get around to it.
63RM
Happily, 63 has been given a chance to stretch its legs of late being able to once again climb the hill to Musk. Since the last report the only issue to report was the repair of a headlight.
91 RM:
Further to the last report the replacement of the body bolts on the power unit frame were completed. Part of the body frame was also repaired at the same time. As the official Musk re-opening train it was given a good external and internal scrub on the day before the re-opening. New batteries have now also been fitted to the No.1 engine. Unfortunately some very heavy rain lately has shown the roof still not to be 100% watertight on the economy car (still a vast improvement though). More repairs are planned now the weather is warming up.
DRC40
Once again nothing really to report with no problems being experienced on its monthly Silver Streak runs. It will have some replacement batteries fitted shortly ex. 91 RM.
32RM
Work is still slowly but surely pushing on in the rebuild of 32RM. A large amount of time has recently been spent on the sanding, priming and pointing of the various pieces of aluminium window framing. This was made a bit more difficult over the cold wet winter (even if this work was carried out inside). These windows are now ready to go back together. Work has finally been finished on the re-assembly of the drivers cab. Window re-fitting is now required before the controls can be re-fitted. Templates have also been cut to give to the glassmaker so new front windows can be made. Another task currently being undertaken is the sanding and filling of the front window cowls before the windows are refitted. The front triangular window sills have also been re-fitted.

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Friends  of the North Australia Railway  at  Adelaide River

The railway  reports:-

Leo Izod is beside himself with joy over what he might score at the Dump Shop over the next 5 days until it closes.  He took a large truck out there on Saturday afternoon.

Last week he sourced some excellent pieces for FNAR from the closure of Universal Engineering.  One piece is a large round steel table (600mm diameter) which holds the work piece during operation of the large radial arm drill that Alan Adams gave us last year.  Its being cleaned at the moment and should look "awesome".

On Saturday we repaired the winding leads on a large 1925 vintage 5 HP electric motor that drives the NILES wheel press.  Tom and Leo had found the motor full of sand after we sand blasted the press some years ago.  They cleaned it out perfectly.  The windings tested to 1000 volts OK and so we connected the motor to three phase (for the first time in decades).  It started instantly and quietly and then rolled for a long time after the power was switched off.  The bearings are fine.  We reinstalled the heavy motor back on to the press  (at Berrimah) but the gears are now binding and we will need to shim it.  Cannot wait to see it run the press.  See image attached with the motor on the top of the 200 ton press.

Niles Press
Photo Adelaide River. 

HISTORIC BULLDOZER

As mentioned previously, Katherine Historical Society has donated to FNAR the 1923 FORDSON bulldozer that it has (in many pieces) at the Katherine Museum.  This small bulldozer was used to build the railway from Katherine to Mataranka in 1927. Last week we learned that Katherine Town Council has made a modest grant towards the costs of cosmetic restoration.  Peter Cornell is making transport arrangements and Leo, Tom and Rohan are going to have a go at it. The tractor will eventually be displayed at Katherine 1926 Railway station.

WW2 POWER STATION PROGRESS

For sometime we have been looking at the concrete slab for the small power station at the precinct and thinking how good it would look if it was rebuilt. Our good friends at PDQ Builders (specialists in steel framed buildings) kindly designed and fabricated the framework for FNAR. But before we built the frame we realized that we needed to get "the generator" in there first.

"The generator" is a GM 2-71 engine which was kindly donated by Steve Pendle and his brother from Renmark SA.  This is a Detroit diesel engine with two cylinders, each with a cubic capacity of 71 cubic inches. The two stroke diesel has a rated horsepower of 68 hp. It seems to weigh about 600kg.  These engines were first built in 1938 but this one is much younger. Peter Cornell loaned us a suitable trailer today and so we slowly hauled the "Screaming Jimmy" (Jimmy being US trucker slang for GMC trucks) to the River this morning. Once the forklift was operational we placed the engine on the old concrete plinth.

Then we set about erecting walls. The attached image shows why the engine had to go in first.  (Note the ventilation strip around the floor-line).

Later:
Before the sun got up too far today we did a small additional task at the site of the WW2 Power Station.. This involved installation of the three prefabricated roof trusses.  Its starting to look serious. The object under wraps is a GM 2-71 engine donated by Steve Pendle. Next to go on are the eight steel purlins. During breaks in the rain on Saturday we managed to get the purlins on the roof of the WW2 power station.  Many thanks to caretaker Barry White and Judy Richardson for help in executing this work at height. When the rain was particularly heavy we kept wire-brushing the inside of Sid Williams #2.

The frame of the new power house at  Adelaide River.
Photo Adelaide River. 

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GreenTrail

The group  reports:

GTA/SBEMHP ANNUAL REPORT 2010

 Most activity has been either in the office or to do with the aftermath of the resumption of the northern section of the line by VicTrack per leasing to Indigo Shire Council, and the subsequent removal of the below track infrastructure (BTI) plus some preparatory works at both Rutherglen and Wahgunyah for the replacement projects. Consequently, GTA/SBEMHP operations have been largely in planning for both the Wahgunyah Beach Tramway and the Rutherglen Rambler projects.

Information boards were placed at both Wahgunyah and Rutherglen (GTA station)  As part of the removal of most BTI at Rutherglen, a small amount of work was carried out in re-aligning the remaining track with some rail placed for the reconstruction of the former carriage dock removed, probably the 1920's. Some construction for the (new) extended low-level platform was also placed. No works were carried out at Rutherglen, however, some clearing work has been carried out on "Line South" down to Withers Rd.

Wahgunyah

At Wahgunyah the reclaimed rail allowed to the Association and all steel sleepers and recovered timber units dumped by the contractors have been part-sorted, but largely remain in an unsatisfactory condition both as regards to their integrity and safe-keeping. The points material, contrary to the Agreement, brought from Rutherglen and placed in heaps remains as dumped with the situation far from satisfactory and remaining to be rectified. Several members have attended to the re-gauging of portion of the Wahgunyah BTI along the alignment of the new NG track from NG10 from All Saints Rd to near Salcombe Wash bridge.

 An application to the Commonwealth's Volunteer Assistance Program was successful with an amount of $5,000, received for equipment, basically for the use of volunteer workers and promotional-training exercises. Many of the items anticipate the construction and availability of the workshop/carriage and staff facility shed to be placed as part of Indigo Shire Council's reparation agreement with the Association

 Annual Report cont: The battle to maintain, refurbish and re-open the remaining track to Springhurst as a commuter and tourist service as a project is yet in its infancy, with the "Wahgunyah Beach Tramway" project being also important in providing a new regional tourism attraction to accompany the Rail Trail.

Again as of last year's report, "the apparent insufficiency of the funding to place the Rail Trail parallel with the railway, is yet to be adequately explained, as is the disposal of now scarce heritage rail to scrap when it was well-understood that it was to be retained for possible use by other groups such as those effected by losses in the February bushfires", remains un-addressed. Hopefully, in the making of a Victorian Tourist and Heritage Railway Act, the Regulations which will follow, may both protect and encourage existing railways and tramways and facilitate new and future rail conservation projects.

Asides: Inquiries are still received for trips and time-table information for "Lil Red" mostly by Email which indicates that interest in such an attraction continues and information regarding the WBT program has been sent out as a response.

Operations: As reported above, most activity was in relation to the part-dismantling of the line and conversion to 610mm. Work on NG-10, motor tram, was completed to a "cosmetic" stage which allowed it to be exhibited in the annual Federation Parade at Corowa in January. The tram which had passengers for the day rode on H-34's trailer towed behind the Hi-rail Cantor. An hydraulic drive and window "glasses" were purchased, however, have not yet been installed.

Possible New Name

Members are considering proposals for a new constitution and re-structured objectives for the group to operate under a new name, provisionally reserved as MURRAY COUNTRY RAIL Incorporated.

 

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 Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Association

The Association  has  only a small number  of carefully chosen  tram cars  in its collection, and with  the  smaller number  of trams to  maintain than other Tramway Museums, much of the present work is concentrated  on the tram fleet.

The group  reports;

Tram maintenance

W3 663  Is at  Bendigo all of the old plywood roof sheets have now been removed and the scraping and varnishing of the roof ribs completed. The replacement black wood ply sheets have been cut to size and have been French polished prior to fitting.  Extra funding has been raised through the  sale of surplus equipment and donations from members to allow additional restoration work to be undertaken, including scraping and varnishing all of the bulkheads and upper areas in the driver's cabs while the roof was removed. This work has been completed and work has now commenced on re-roofing the car with one side nearly complete. Lifeguards and the  brackets associated with  them have  been  kept at Haddon  and are  being restored there.

The drop centre quarter panels are now being attended to with replacement safety glass being installed. All the drop centre floor slats are to be replaced due to wear. We have been able to supply Bendigo with a full
set of new slats from our stock thus saving additional expense. All the holes drilled in the side panels for advertising have been welded closed and a number of minor rust areas in the drop centre attended to. Research into the various colour schemes used on both inside and outside of the car when initially built is now being undertaken to ensure accuracy of restoration. The finished result should be most impressive and will complement the other restored cars in our fleet. The first sheet of new plywood installed onW3 663. The newly varnished bulkhead is also visible. The car is  being restored to  original condition.

SW5 849 The fibre glass side marker light housings have been fitted to the replacement No. 2 end apron. A set of replacement timber drop centre seats have been removed from store and are to be refurbished for this tram.

Workshop activities

A replacement wheel set has been fitted to the spare set of No. 15 trucks to replace a wheel set that had worn tyres and flanges. The replacement wheel and axle set came from a recently dismantled truck obtained
with the other two trucks for this purpose. Work is now concentrating on replacing various worn or damaged brake components and also on replacing various worn or damaged brake components.

A  number of spare compressor/line breaker switches have been overhauled. These have now been completed and will undergo inspection and certification as per our procedures before entering the store system and eventual use as change out units for our fleet.

Trackwork and Buildings

Work has slowly progressed on the north-western curve with the check rail being welded at the joints. A spare guard rail from a set of points was cut in half to provide a lead in to the check; the other half being kept for the other end of the curve.  At  the  Northwest  curve all the rail joints have  been welded and ground  back. The  inside rail and the  checkrail have had all the holes drilled in the web and they have  been bolted together. The sleepers  have  been  drilled for the inner  rail and  check rail and all that  needs to be  done  is to drill the web of the  outer rail for the tie rods and the  sleepers for spiking the  outer  rail. Of course they  then have to be spiked.  Once this  is done, work will start on commencing the rebuilding  of  the south western curve before overhead works are  completed to  allow  operation to commence on this track.

 No 3 Road. A start was also made in bolting up the first few bolts and tie rods. Work is now well advanced in preparation to extend No. 3 road of the Car barn with all materials on hand. The timber framed wall for the rear extension area has been fabricated and truss brackets have been fabricated. The rear wall has  been removed and the new extension  framework erected.

Spare parts trams and storage

The dismantling of SW6 931 is now complete and the remains will shortly be disposed of. Whilst the crane is on site to load 931 it is proposed to lift SW6 919 which is situated near by and place it on stands to allow easier access to the under gear equipment. Work will then commence on the removal of parts from this tram. All of the spare traction motors have been removed from the Truck Shop and loaded into the motor/compressor storage container.  Resulting from the  demolition  of W class trams two  sets  of trucks  have  been donated to  the Ballarat  Tramway  Museum  and these  have  been  transported to  their  storage area at  Bungaree.

A number of GE 247 motors are still to be removed from condemned No. 15 trucks before this exercise is completed. In the meantime, heavy duty pallet racks have been acquired and set up in this container to store our spare air compressors. The spare DH 16 compressors have now been placed on pallets and loaded onto these racks. Additional shelving has been installed in the Overhead Store to better accommodate the spare overhead fittings and the parts rearranged accordingly.

With the removal of the traction motors, alterations to the Truck Shop have now commenced. The rear wall of the Substation has been strengthened and lined in preparation for shelving. This storage area will house the collection of brake components and bushes which currently remain unsorted in the B Van.

Working with Children

The  organisation is looking at  the  need for children checks in the future. A  decision will be  made shortly.

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Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board 

The railway  mourned the  death of Lon  Wymond on 29 October 2010 who  was President  of the PBPS from 1961 to 1989. He was Chairman of the ETRB on its foundation from 1977 to 1984 and remained as a Board member to 1998. Lon  received an OAM in in 1991 and was elected an Honorary  Life Member of the PBPS in 1990. He will be sorely  missed.

The railway  also noted the death of Keith Atkinson who  for  many  years has  printed the Edmonson tickets for Puffing Billy. These days the  Edmondson's  at  Belgrave are  only  used as  souvenir ticket but are still in  use at  lesser stations.

Open Day

The  Open Day in October 2010 was  most  successful and  it was a day  where all volunteers were asked  to  come onto  the railway  even though  most tasks were doubled and tripled up. It allowed the volunteers to  meet each other, often  at  different  locations to  which  they normally work and with  the special events  at  Belgrave, Menzies Creek  and Emerald and with  the running  of a mixed goods train to  Gembrook  both  volunteers and  passengers  had a great  day. In 2011 the railway  will be running a "Gala Weekend"  building  on the Open Day.

Funding

With  the change  in the State Government  the railway  has missed out  on the announced grant $10.3M to  do  major  works  on the railway. For  over 110 years the rolling stock has  had to  stand in the  open and this  has  added to  the  cost of restoration and leads to the deterioration  of  roofs and paint work of the carriage fleet. Alas  the line will still have to  wait.

Historic Carriages

The railway  has  purchased and transported to  Emerald two VR narrow gauge carriage bodies. Both  bodies are NB bodies. One  carriage  is an end platform carriage and the  other a swing door  one. One  is  believed to be 6NB. It  is  hope to ultimately restore both  carriages.

Locomotive  News

In 1911 the VR  built engine  No  11NA which  was scrapped  in 1953.

Climax Engine 1694  Work is  slowly  proceeding  on the Climax with  the side  frames being repaired a pattern for the crank shaft bearing brasses made and modifications to  the brake cylinders under way. The brakes are being converted from steam to  air. The crank shaft  housing has  been line  bored and the footplate brackets are being shot blasted and  painted.  the countershaft  preliminary machinery is  80% complete with  the engine  tie  bars being  installed. The committee  ran  the successful  mixed  goods  train  to  Gembrook  for the Open Day.

G42 Has  had  its  D examination completed. 7A is  now  undergoing  its D exam. 12A's rebuild  is  slowly  proceeding with two  crossheads machined and the  internal steam pipes machined.

Puffing Billy Santa Train at  Menzies Creek 2009

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Steamrail

The railway had a successful  season  in 2010.  With  the reduction  of the extent of the rail network,  trips to  far  distant  places are  not  feasible and  many  of the steam  trips are topped and tailed by  two  engines as many lines  that  are  left,  have  no  turntables  or  passing  loops. Consequently much of Steamrail's steam trips  are  often within the suburban  area. While  some  longer  trips  are still  undertaken these have to be  planned most  carefully. Also  the  "steam ban" comes into  play during the summer as  fire  restrictions preclude the  use  of steam and  it  is  only  possible to  run heritage diesel  trips. Looking at  he  programme  proposed for this  year  (2011) only  two  trips  go  beyond  the larger  rural  cities and  only  seven trips  to  those rural cities.

Nevertheless the  suburban trips have increased in  popularity and will play  a large  part in the trips  planned for 2011.

D3 639  was loaned  to  707 Operations to  run  a trip  for them  as this  engine  R707 needs  major boiler  work.  All steam  engines are currently stripped waiting on boiler inspections over the summer period. Engine  R711 has been  steamed and  it  is  hoped that  mainline testing can  take  place in 2011. A2 986 is having silver anti  corrosion  paint  applied to  the whole  boiler in preparation for the fitting of  sheet metal around the  boiler.

Carriage BS 207 is  being sanded down  preparatory to its  repainting.  8 AS is  in the workshop  and a large  rust  hole was found which is to be cut  out and a new piece welded in. To  do  this the seats , seat  backs, floor  heaters, insulation and wiring needs to be removed and  it  may  also  entail the removal of a window.

 

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Tramway Museum Society of Victoria

The group  has  held its annual General meeting and  elected Mal Rowe as Chairman. They have registered the trading  name  of Melbourne Tramway Museum which  causes confusion with  the "Melbourne Tram Museum@ Hawthorn Depot" registered by  Victrack for their  museum at  Hawthorn and the Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Association at  Haddon. The  publication "Running Journal " carries an article  about  a tram body  rescued  by the Bayside City  Council and the Birney  tram car being built  in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The Society has started a new e-newsletter for T.M.S.V members entitled "from the Chairman's desk" to keep members  in touch. It mentioned that  the T.M.S.V is assisting  in the restoration of the VR Pengelly toastrack  tram by  the Friends  of Black Rock  House. It also  mentioned that a  grant has been  received  by the Society  for improving facilities at Bylands for Volunteers.

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The  Victorian Goldfields Railway

The  new toilets and shop have  been opened  by  the  local Member of  Parliament. With all  the recent rain in the district  the local  streams  were flowing, and  it was instructive to  see why  the  VR  engineers built them so  high to  cope with  fast flowing rivers and creeks.  At  Muckleford the creek  was two metres  in depth rather  than the  normal  trickle.

Locomotive T333 is  now working  on the main lines for El Zorro and  is  producing welcome  income for the group.

Train at Maldon Station

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Yarra Valley Railway

The railway advises:

Bushfire Recovery Grant

The YVTR has been successful with a funding submission to the Bushfire Recovery Community Infrastructure Program through Regional Development Victoria, the funding grant is sponsored by the Bendigo Bank. The funding will be utilised for the reconstruction of the timber trestle bridges within the rail corridor which were destroyed in the Black Saturday Bushfires. Engineering assessments and the redesign process for these works has commenced.

Work for the Dole

The YVTR has recently achieved the status as a Host for a pilot Work for the Dole scheme. This program is brokered by Mission Australia and funded by the Department of Education Employment and Work Place Relations (DEEWR). This activity will focus on restoration works along the rail corridor, buildings and infrastructure, assisting the YVTR in achieving their restoration goals.

Reconstruction Plans

The receipt of the Bushfire Recovery Grant combined with the donation of materials from the Department of Transport and Metro, has enabled the YVTR to accelerate its reconstruction plans. The immediate goal of the YVTR is to commence passenger trolley services from Yarra Glen Station to Train Trak Winery, approximately 3km, with further plans to then extend the trolley service to Tarrawarra, approximately 4.5km from Yarra Glen. The restoration of this section of mainline will be completed to train standard in preparation of the full restoration of the Healesville to Yarra Glen rail corridor. Line side clearing is well progressed within the section between Yarra Glen and Train Trak Winery. Track restoration works have commenced at the Yarra Glen end of the rail corridor.

New track at  Simpson's Lane
Photo Yarra Valley  Tourist  railway

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Walhalla Goldfields Railway

The  centenary of the railway  resulted  in an increase of visitors to  the railway  and  it reports that Easter  2010 was the  most  successful yet  and broke all records  for  passengers carried. On  Easter  Eve the  line  carried 944 passengers and  on Easter  Day  948 people. The railway  carried 34,000 passengers  in  financial year  2009/2010.

The centenary  resulted  in excellent  publicity  with coverage  in the  RACV magazine and there was both  radio  and TV coverage  of the Centenary. On  the actual  centenary  day  the  Minister  for Tourism and Major  Events, the Hon. Tim Holding, travelled  on the  train and  unveiled a plaque to  celebrate the event.

While the actual  opening  of the railway is well known, there  is  some discussion  as to  the date  of the  last train on the railway which is recorded as being the Friday  25 June 1954 and run  by  7A instead of G42. It is recorded that  this train cleared the  line  of all rolling stock  yet  a report  has  been made that  a "final"  train  ran on Tuesday  29 June 1954.

The advent  of the Puffing Billy engine 7A in May  was a huge success even  though  the weather  was extremely wet. As  a result  of the  Centenary,  the financial  results were  excellent and will  allow  the replacing  of  piles  in  Bridge No 6 and the building of a verandah  at  Walhalla Station. The years events  have continued to  grow with "Murder on the  Walhalla Express" being  booked  out and it was enjoyed by  all who  took part in it. The railway has become the venue for a number  of weddings  and  reception

The railway  has  taken part  in a Model  Railway  event at  Sandown Racecourse  and the railway's stall  helped the exposure  of the  line to  the  public.

The railway  has  changed the springing on the  bogies  on the  passenger  carriages to  give  passengers a better ride. To  augment the  motive  power  on the railway  a DH engine  No 37 has  been  purchased and  has  been  delivered to  Walhalla. It will  require re-gauging as it  is 3'6" gauge.

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All photograph by John Frost unless otherwise attributed

 Updated December 2010