- National News
ATHRA - Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia
The last meeting of ATHRA took take place at Belgrave Victoria
over the weekend of 12-13 March 2005.
The Association had a very full agenda and the meeting heard reports from
specialist committees and form the various state associations.
The new insurance measures are working well and at that stage over 25 Tourist and Heritage
operators have committed to the scheme.
ATHRA agreed to affiliate with the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia
( COTMA) and the Federation of Rail Organisations New Zealand (FRONZ).
The Association has joined the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) and
this link is already having benefit to our sector.
The next meeting of the Association is to take place in NSW in October 2005.
National rail safety worker data base (an ARA initiative)
With regard to the proposed National rail safety worker data base, the
Association is very concerned with the proposal which is being introduced with
little if any consultation with the Heritage centre and the lack of a business
case. This is being developed by the Rail Skills and Careers Council to
record all staff competency in a real time data base which is to stop
"moonlighting" and may lead to a prescriptive licensing regime
nationally.
Membership Fees
ATHRA has set the annual membership fees as $50.00 per member of each
of the State Associations and $100 for associates.
Constitution
The Constitution was accepted at the meeting and the Association is to be
incorporated in South Australia.
ATHRA Alerts
The Association has set up a system of "Alerts" to immediately draw
to members attention urgent changes which are taking place in the rail
industry. Alerts No 1, 2 and 3 have already been issued.
News from our Members
Alexandra Timber Tramway
The railway was audited by the DOI in January and was
requested to supply a boiler certificate for the new diesel engine.
The railway successfully passed the audit. The railway has carried
its 30,000th passenger since records were started in 1998 which is
not bad for a short line within a former mainline station precinct.
Easter 2005 was very satisfactory with good attendance from the
public. All boilers located in the Museum were in operation and all
oil engines were running. A new oil engine, a 1915 Richard Hornsby,
was shown in operation. This engine was originally used to provide
irrigation water and later shearing plant. Other new exhibits are a
rare Fourneyron-style water turbine and two vintage tractors. A
further new exhibit was a Mumford " Favourite"
donkey pump. Twelve new interpretive panels have been provided for
all the major static exhibits and locomotives.
A major worry is the cost of public liability insurance as a
commercial quotation received is 30% more than the existing dear
VMIA coverage from the State Government. Costs are unable to be cut
beyond the present level and income needs a major boost if the
Museum is to survive.
A new point was installed in the main line near the
locomotive shed.
- Australian Railway Historical Society - Victorian
Division.
Sd 308 is receiving attention and now looks much smarter. Due to the
weather as the exhibits are in the open it has not been conducive to carry out
much painting in February. Work is under way to repaint K165 and then J559 to
return them to their former glory. Electric locomotive L1150 has also
received attention. Work has started to clean up the gardens and make the
Museum more visually attractive.
The lack of covered space over the exhibits is disheartening for all
interested in the Heritage movement in Victoria as it means that the Museum's
staff have to continually repaint and repaint when they could be returning the
item to exhibition standard more readily.
The Great Railway Swap Meet was a great success in February and the next
one is to be held on the 20th August. A walking tour of the works at Spencer Street
Station and North Melbourne took place
-
Ballarat Tramway Museum
With the recommissioning of the tramways power supply in late
December 2004, patronage was very good over the Christmas holidays.
The first tam to run was tram No 27 which was the first tram
to run using the original sub station. The track was cleaned by the
scrubber car and all services resumed on the 26 December 2004. A
small band of musicians from the tramway played at the gardens
loop for that day.
Work on tram No 40 is continuing and the motor is being reassembled
and will be tested shortly. Once this is done the motor will be
placed back under No 40 and the tram can e made mobile again. Tram
No 33 has suffered controller problems and requires a detailed
examination to determine the fault.
- Bellarine Peninsula Railway
The railway has number of Way and Works projects to be carried
out in 2005 and these include sleeper replacement, ballasting
lifting/lining and tamping. In addition a platform is to be built at
the marine Discovery Centre and a set of points replaced in the Queenscliff
yard.
Sleeper replacement has taken place between Portarlington Road
and Laker's Siding.
Steam engine T251 is under heavy restoration and the engines frame has
been stripped down except for the guide bars and cylinders. New
spring components are being manufactured and bolts and studs
are being replaced where necessary. The boiler has had a
considerable amount of work carried out on it and is soon to be
inspected. The smoke box floor is to be removed as it is in a very
poor condition.
A publication " Trains, Troops & Tourists" has been
written on the history of the railway
Bendigo Tramway
The Bendigo City Council has decided to refuse
permission for the Trust to construct a new loop line around Lake
Weeroona, an artificial lake to the north east of the city
centre. With the falling of tourist
numbers to the district, a change in the policy of carrying out
tramcar restoration for other bodies, and the need to make
economies, the full time work force has been restructured and
several staff made redundant.
Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board
The autumn Thomas shows have been completed with very good
attendance at all shows.
Work in continuing at Menzies Creek on completing the signalling
at that location to be fully controlled from the signal box and
frame built into the station building. The kiosk in the station has-opened.
Work has started on the long task of restoring the Climax
engine and the original boiler has been removed from the frame
and sand blasted. The boiler is to go to the use for
restoration. For such an old boiler it is in excellent
condition. At
Belgrave planning is going ahead for the construction of a
refreshment room which it is hoped will be completed and in
operation by Christmas 2005. As part of the recreation of the
heritage atmosphere on the railway all contempory rubbish bins have
been replaced with heritage style bins. Work is continuing on the
rebuilding of the first narrow gauge carriage 1NB at Emerald. The
restoration of this vehicle is meticulous and the original kerosene
carriage lights are to be manufactured. This has a saga as no one
knew what the dimensions etc of the lights were but with the
restoration of the good shed at Daylesford by the Spa Country
railway a sample was unearthed.
In the early days of the Society as both the Society and the railway had no means of storing its artefacts
safely, various items were kept at home by volunteers to restore and
store for the railway. With the passage of time the location of these items have
been forgotten and mislaid. With the advent of the Society's
jubilee an appeal is being made for the return of those items. The
24th great Train race was run against Puffing Billy with
G42 hauling the first race train. 2478 people entered to race
Puffing Billy The first runner to cross the final tape took
41minutes12 sec for the course. 50
Years
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Puffing Billy
Preservation Society and a number of events are being held to
commemorate the establishment of the Society in 1955. Puffing Billy
is the first of all the Heritage Railways in Australia to be
established and in that fifty years we have seen many generations of
people involved starting from those of the 1st world war generation
to those of generation x today. As a tribute to the early days, a
set of carriages is to have the yellow stripe repainted and a black
engine is to be lined out in the PBPS red livery.
Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society
The Bendigo Trust has completed the restoration of VR41 for the
Society and it has done a number of test runs on the Bendigo
Lines before being returned to Haddon. The work is superb and no
detail has been missed. I t is one of the finest examples of restoration
this editor has seen in Australia of tramcar restoration.
VR41 at Bendigo Photo J.
Frost
Mornington Railway
The railway reports that re-sleepering took place near the
home signal. A number of ballast trains have been run.
This year is the railways 21st anniversary. T334 is being
repainted and most of the butterfly door on the roof
are to be replaced.
A new product the "Wine Train" is to
start in May and will run on the second Sunday of
every month. A feasibility study for the restoration of the
track to Baxter is being prepared and will be discussed at
Members meeting .
A book "Mornington Peninsula Railways and their
Communities" has been written on the railway.
Steamrail
The railway has upgraded its website and now conveys more
information. A tour to Maryborough took place in February and
was hauled by three T class diesels. As the trip took
place in the steam ban period the only work on heritage steam
engines has been some testing at Newport Depot.
R711 has received attention and boiler fittings have been
removed to allow the boiler inspection to take place. A new
superheater is required for this engine. R 761 has had some stay
cups welded over during the summer period.
T342 has been repainted and operated on the Maryborough tour.
and this was its first run on the mainline in over 20 years.
T364 has had some body repairs and a slight paint touch up. B72
work is continuing and S313 is receiving bolster /trunnion
repairs.
Carriage works have also continued and 63BW is back in
service. 229BRS bought from Westcoast Rail has had some minor
work done to it and is to be painted red to match the livery of
the wooden cars. It will enter traffic as 9BRS.
Electrail have been unable to operate over the suburban
electrified network and the last trip was on 24 January 2004.
This has disheartened the Electrail volunteers although restoration
is still continuing. 12Bt is being worked upon and great
progress has been made to 470M a double ended Tait motor
coach. and it should be available for traffic in a few months.
The Central Highlands Tourist Railway
91Rm is running the Sunday services and has had only a few minor
problems in running the unit.
RM63 is having major work done to this car . The roof is almost
finished and is waiting on the fitting of new canvas. Work is also
proceeding on the engine front end and steel work is being
renewed and repaired where necessary. Inside the car the
ceiling panels have been repainted and are refitted the ceiling now
looks most impressive. The next major work is the re-canvassing and
the removal of the engine/generator set for the overhaul of the
gearbox.
The trolley fleet has received some preventative maintenance and
there is discussion on the possible setting up of a trolley museum
at Daylesford.
The railway runs a "sleeperfest" to maintain the track
and has had some very cold weather to deal with in the last one held
in November 2004.
- Victorian Goldfields Railway
The extension of the railway from Muckleford to Castlemaine was
officially opened on Sunday 20 March 2005. A large gathering of
invited guests and travelled on the official train to Castlemaine
where the opening speeches took place. One irony is that for the
next twelve months all rail traffic from Bendigo and Melbourne is
suspended while the track is upgraded leaving Heritage rail the only
transport medium to use the station.
Town Crier at the Opening at Castlemaine
Photo J. Frost
Yarra Valley Tourist Railway
The railway had a special effort on Australia Day 2005 to raise
money for the Tsunami relief in South East Asia. W250
is again running its motor after being out of use for 12 years. A
great deal of work was spent in ensuring that when the engine
started that it would not do itself any damage and the railway was
helped by advice from the Seymour Heritage Railway Centre. Once
certain safety inspections and brake repairs are done the engine
will be in a position to again enter service. Unlike some of the
other W class engines the VR had fitted this unit with a GM
diesel. RM22 is to be transferred from the ARHS
Museum at Williamstown to the new shed at Healesville where it will be
readied to run on the railway. RM62 components are
all at Healesville now with the delivery of the Generator in
January. The only part to be purchased is the GM 671's which are
presently being sourced. The workshops shed has had
more concrete poured and machine tool relocated. Work at Healesville
has included the removal of tree stumps and the station building
has been repaired and is being repainted. Work is also going ahead
at Yarra Glen on the station building repairs.
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