Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society
Tramcars
W3 663
This tram has been transported by road to Bendigo.
The Association has engaged the services of the Bendigo Tramway
to carry out the rebuilding of the roof and other works as funds
permit. The cartage of 663 was contracted to Arthur's Transport
utilising their special trailer which is fitted with rails for
this designated purpose. This meant that although mobile cranes
had to be used at Haddon to lift 663 onto the trailer we were
able to unload it in Bendigo utilising their loading ramp which
is located at the Gasworks Depot. The trip across to Bendigo was
uneventful and the unloading process went smoothly.
Once 663 had been towed clear of the loading ramp, the Bendigo
staff performed the required checks to enable them to confirm to
PTSV that they had tested and checked the tram in accordance
with their safety management system. Bendigo Tramway staff were
then able to move 663 under its own power to the main depot at
Tramways Avenue, escorted en route by their emergency vehicles.
The operation along the streets of Bendigo went without problems
and 663 is now stored in the main shed whilst a detailed study
of the roof structure is performed to ascertain the best method
of repair. The Association acknowledges the support VicTrack,
through Mike Ryan, has given this project by sponsoring the
transport of 663 to Bendigo.
SW5 849
Work is steadily progressing on the restoration of 849. During
November, the four defective door pistons were replaced with
units (from 843, and from tram bodies at Newport) that have been
overhauled previously by Anthony Smith. Whilst this was being
done the opportunity was taken to replace most of the steel
piping along with numerous barrel unions with high pressure
nylon air line. Individual door isolation taps have also been
fitted to facilitate fault finding and adjustment.
In November the creased No. 2 end apron was removed from 849.
This had been damaged whist it was being moved off track by
forklifts during its storage period at Preston Workshops. A near
new apron ex SW5 809 was selected from store as its replacement,
and the holes that had been drilled to secure ad panels were
welded closed. It was then grit blasted, primed and has been re
rolled to ensure correct curvature.
In addition, three sliding doors were replaced due to
deterioration with others from store. This was not as straight
forward as it would seem, due to the fact that they vary in size
from tram to tram and there are a number of other minor
differences between classes. The three selected doors required
planing to reduce height and in two cases the top roller
brackets were countersunk to ensure adequate clearance within
the door cavities.
Other Works
Level Crossing Lights
With the decision to remove the indicator lantern [signalling]
system in the depot area, it has been necessary to redesign the
control circuitry to retain use of the level crossing lights.
This redesign is due to the fact that the crossing's operation
was interlocked with the now redundant signal relays.
During November, John Withers completed the design work and has
made the required alterations within the relay box. The
contactor dropping resistor boxes have now been installed and
only the mounting of the line skates and wiring is required to
complete this project. The system will then be tested to ensure
correct operation and alterations made to our operating
procedures as part of the change management process.
Entertainment Area
The cladding of the end walls with colour bond sheeting is now
complete and the two drop centre sections removed from the body
of SW5 809 are now incorporated into the longitudinal walls. As
part of the redesign, the brick hotplate enclosure was removed
and in December the floor was paved with ceramic tiles. The
repainting of 809's former panels has commenced and they are to
retain their former "Metropolitan Transit" livery with new logos
and numbers applied. Only minor trim work is now required to
complete this project which will give us a good undercover
barbecue facility with a unique tramway flavour for members and
guests to enjoy.
Track work
In preparation for re-laying the Car barn (north western) Curve,
the south western curve has also been lifted to allow both
curves to be aligned correctly when the work undertaken. The
removal has also allowed water and services to be installed
easily under the formation to service the vegetable garden area
beyond the curve. A contractor was engaged to remove top
layers of rubble to expose the sleepers. The rolled rail for the
Car barn curve was returned to Haddon from Yarra Trams on
Wednesday 4 November 2009, and has been stacked near the Lower
Terminus until after summer when work gangs can be arranged to
lay it. The rail looks fantastic and is a great improvement over
what was removed, and we thank the team at Yarra Trams,
particularly Massoud Majidi and Gary Tillotson and their teams
for doing this work for us, and to Dennis Cliche for approving
the project.
New Website
The new MTPA website www.mtpa.com.au has now gone live and is a
major upgrade of the previous site. The site is the result of
many hours of work by Warren Doubleday and Kym Smith to prepare
and upload the relevant material.
Mornington Railway
The railway has been heavily involved
in debris removal from the right of way to assist in the
present fire season. The railway is involved
in developing a new strategic review of the railway.
Re-sleepering is being conducted in the
vicinity of the Horse Crossing. The level crossing at
Wooralla Drive has been resurfaced by the
contractors for the Shire Council and any necessary
sleepers replaced. Replaced sleepers have been
used to box in a crossing place used by
walkers and cyclists who cross the formation near
the Horse Crossing.
The railway has an arrangement with Richie's
Supermarket whereby the railway is the recipient of
donations from the company who use their card at
the store.
Diesel Locomotive T334 is now in service again
and has been repainted. T 411 has been out of
service since it was derailed but following repairs
is now operating again. Steam Locomotive K163 will
come out of service in February 2010 for six
months for maintenance. The railway had hoped
to hire in another steam engine but the cost
of transferring an engine proved to be too
much.
Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway
Board
Museum
The remaining 3'6" gauge engines have been
transported from the Museum to the Bellarine
Railway. All the remaining 2 foot gauge engines have
had their asbestos removed. This will mean that
the few remaining exhibits in the museum will be able to
be viewed by the public once again.
Other News
The railway is revamping its
membership/volunteer data base. The new product "Murder
on the Puffing Billy Express " and the Jazz Train evening
were sell outs and the demand for a Day out with Thomas
the Tank Engine has exceeded expectations.
Following the State Government's policy the ETRB
has set up a "Green team" to ensure that the
railway has in place policies and procedures to reduce its
environmental impact and for these strategies to be
in place by June 2010.
Workshops
Locomotive 8A is undergoing a B
examination and D21 while in traffic is also due for
one.G42 is out of traffic and stored and is waiting
on a D examination. 12A is under heavy overhaul. DH31 is
undergoing a D exam and DH05 is being prepared to
run as soon as possible. The bogies are nearing
completion electrics are being worked on draft gear
installed and it is being prepared for a repaint.
Climax 1694 boiler is being fitted out
in preparation of a steam test. Garratt NGG16 129 is
having its boiler cradle stretchers worked on
The front pivot casting has been machined and is being
fitted back in the cradle including the reaming of the bolt
holes and the manufacture of fitted bolts.

14A approaching Belgrave
Photo J. Frost
Redcliffs Historical Steam Railway
The PTSV audit of their SMS was conducted
in April 2009 and was successful.
In May they completed the installation of 2
x 9000 litre and 1 x 14000 litre rain water tanks - thanks to
the Governments Community Water Grants. The tanks will
greatly reduce their reliance on irrigation water for the
operation of their steam loco and will no doubt help
extend the boiler life..
In September two special days were
run for the local kindergartens - carrying around 900
passengers.
In October the station and train were hired
for a wedding. The wedding ceremony took place on the platform
and then the bride and groom and guests went for a train ride -
which had to be diesel hauled due to weather conditions.
The railway is also building a new 3 bay
carriage storage shed.
Finally they are installing some ex
Victorian Railways signals - the signals are mainly for display
but we will incorporate them into our operation.
Steamrail
Excursion trains have been successful
with the Fathers Day tour to Seymour. Other trips
included shuttles from Mitcham to Mooroolbark together
with steam crew training runs.
A major and successful
trip was run to Mildura over a weekend at
Melbourne Cup time. The train was one of
the longest that Steamrail has
been run in recent years with three diesel engines
in the consist, a power car, 7 sleeping cars, a BRS, and
5 sittings cars. A total consist of 17 units including
engines. The train was so long that it was necessary
to go to Westall Yard to allow the three
engines to run around the train and then return to
Spencer Street Station to pick up passengers. On
the train's return from Mildura steam engine R761 was
added to the train and two of the diesels were
shut down. Again it had to proceed to
Westall after the passengers had
disembarked to run around before it could
return to Newport.
The group spent many hours of work in
getting the sleeping carriages ready to run to Mildura as it
is many years since a sleeping train ran in Victoria.
Sleeping car "Indi" had its roof repainted and the body cleaned. The water
system was repaired and all the other cars needed similar checks.
18CE has been overhauled and repainted. 25BE
is being repainted and overhauled and 50AK is receiving attention to
roof leaks
Electrail
12BT is continuing its restoration to as new.
The seats are being reupholstered with padded
armrests and door pads being reinstated. Four
of the nine compartments have been so
treated. Door mechanisms and locks have been repaired. Internal
deck-light mirrors have been reinstated in all but two
compartments. Around half of the revarnished interior timber
panels have been reinstated and all carriage windows have now
been restored. Other internal revarnishing has occurred. Twelve
photos, two adverts and four internal partition mirrors have so
far been reinstated. Carriage lamps have also been returned to
six of the nine compartments (with the silver paint removed from
the lights to reveal the original nickel plating). The completed
work looks fabulous.
The luggage racks are all being restored. With brackets
receiving fresh nickel plating and the wire mesh being
meticulously cleaned down and repainted, the luggage racks now
look as "good as new". There's only one luggage rack to finish
off.
The carriage underframe has been painstakingly cleaned down
Tait car 341T - The restoration of this Tait car is now
well advanced. A piece of the main beam at the corner of the car
has been replaced with new coach bolts installed. Steel gussets
have also been repaired. Deck-light windows have been exposed
and painted externally. Beading has been installed (internally)
around the deck-light windows. Carriage windows have also been
restored. Revarnishing and repainting of the interior of the car
is now well advanced. The fresh varnish work and paint looks
wonderful.
E1109 - Work has resumed on this loco. Indeed there has
been
lots of activity in recent months. This includes the polishing
of internal brass fittings, initial work on rewiring, installing
a new door at Number 2 end, painting external grills (which have
now received their first coat of black), the cleaning down of
window brackets and the priming of the roof hatch, air tanks and
brackets.
Dynamotor Project - The dynamotor project which has
involved the overhaul of dynamotors at Ironcore Transformers for
future use has continued. Having operable spares is considered
essential. The project is well advanced.
The Big Move & Vehicle Scrapping - As part of the
move from the Tarp Shop area to West block, Swing Door car, 32D
and Yellow Tait Greaser car, 447M were scrapped. Prior to
scrapping of these cars, they were stripped for spare parts. The
movement of spares took considerable time. Thanks to everyone
who assisted with this mammoth task.
Status with Operations (or lack thereof) - A lot
of effort has gone into positioning ourselves to operate again.
We have developed a range of paperwork including a risk
register, maintenance procedure, safety instructions, testing
procedure and a variety of forms. We have worked at mitigating
identified risks. This work is well advanced. We hope to meet
with representatives from the new Metro Trains Melbourne and
other relevant bodies in the not too distant future. Sincere
thanks are expressed to Adrian and Ruth from the Department of
Transport for their support and help to steer us in the right
direction. We are hopeful that there shall be positive
developments in 2010. Particular thanks to Stuart, Allan, Cliff
and Kevin for their extensive input into this process,
particularly with form and procedure development.
The Victorian Goldfields Railway
The railway has put a large
amount of time and energy into preparing for the
2009/10 fire season and has been involved in
removing debris and spraying where needed. Also
as much of the line as practically possible has
been whipper snippered to make it safe for
passengers and the community.
The railway reported the untimely death
of its Vice President, George Young.
The railway has been hard hit
by the burning of the Maldon Station building on the
20 October 2009. VicTrack the owners of the building
have appointed a Project Manager to make safe the
building and demolish the burnt roof. To help
the railway, Puffing Billy made available a portable
building from Cockatoo and this is being used to
house the "first class" operation as well as the office.
Ticket sales are being conducted from van 16ZLP. The
fire has resulted in the deferment of projects
already approved for works at Maldon. The fire
brings to light the need for railways to
insure the buildings that they occupy as the
building was uninsured. An insurable interest in a
building exists where you lease a building and use
it for your own purposes to earn income.
The railway has started work to
complete No 3 road at Muckleford. Loco J549 is currently
being repaired and future work includes the installation
of new superheater elements.. The DERM is out of
service waiting on repairs to its engine and
radiator.
Tramway Museum Society
At the recent AGM the Society
elected a new executive. As the museum is now a
static museum and has surrendered its accreditation
certificate, any new application to operate in
the future will require them to be treated as a new
operator. They will have to prove that they have
in place financial and management resources similar
to those of commercial operators.

Bylands in happier days W5 795 at the terminus
Photo J. Frost
Yarra Valley Railway
The railway reports that the cafe at
Healesville has been renovated with a fresh
coat of paint, polished floor boards and
air-conditioning. A first annual Heritage Festival
was held at Healesville over two days in
September. Rolling stock was displayed and steam
rollers and traction engines and oil engines brought to
the display. Large crowds attended both days and of course the
trolley service was operating.
Bridge and Track Work
The railway has been working
on bridge No 28 where the piles were replaced
in 2008 but still need to be finished and re-railed. Suitable
rail was obtained from South Australia and the rail
bent to shape for the location. In October 2009
the track was removed from the bridge and the crossheads
exposed. These were replaced and the sleepers re-laid with
the new rail following. Ballasting and packing
completed the repair. This means that the line
between Healesville and the tunnel is now in
serviceable condition to run passenger trains. On
the track scarifying out of the steam
locomotive ash used by the VR track gangs to support
sleepers is underway. New sleepers are being
installed and track bolts and fish plates cleaned and
greased. The railway has been the recipient of
a supply of free second-hand sleepers from the
Department of Transport.
The railway has a small road over rail
bridge at Donovan's Road and the road traffic on this road
is very small. A deviation has been created to
provide a level crossing and work has been
undertaken to improve the drainage and visibility.
Award
The restoration of RM 22 has won a
further ATHRA award and was awarded the plaque
for "ATHRA Passenger Vehicle Restoration Award 2009". With
the completion of restoration of this
unit a report has been prepared to PTSV
for accreditation to run the unit.
J516
Work is continuing on this engine
and the engine has been moved to the front of
the shed to allow the de-tubing of the boiler,
stripping of the entire right hand side valve
gear and starting on the left hand side. Overall the engine is
in good condition considering the time it has spent out
of doors and that it is almost 40
years since it was last steamed.
Other Works
Carriage 1BW is under heavy
restoration and has had some roof panels
refitted, new gutter mouldings being fitted and is
being prepared for internal and external painting.
Updated January 2010