Alexandra Timber Tramway
The railway has submitted its
proposal for an extension to the tramway to the Shire of
Murrindindi. The railway has installed a LeBlond lathe
in their workshop. The lathe was originally at the
Department of Defense in the 1040's and was purchased by
the railway in 1990 and is in near new
condition. It has been stored off site for a number
of years.
Easter was very busy for the railway
with many activities in addition to the usual running and the
railway's former Secretary, Rowan Millard and his fiancé
Kat Sutton, were able to visit from the UK. Rowan operated the
Marshall boiler and the Bartram vertical boiler
The market on the station grounds has been
successful and has been attracting people to the area.
Hudswell Clarke 1098 has had its boiler
lifted clear of the engine's frames to provide access to the
suspension bushes. New pins and springs hangers are being made. The
4wPM Cheetham No 1 has had new tin ware fabricated for its engine
bay. A new engine muffler has been ordered and other work
done.
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- Picture Alexandra Railway
- Australian Railway Historical Society - Victorian
Division.
The February Great Railway Swap meeting broke the record set in
August 2005. The next swap meet is to be held on 19 August.
The Division is planning a tour to Portland using modern N carriages
as far as Ararat. Standard gauge carriages are hoped to be sourced
from NSW.
Former VR tram No 53 which is in the Museum has been
transferred to Bendigo for refurbishment to help celebrate the 100
year of permanent electric tramway traction in Melbourne. On
completion of the refurbishment, the tram is to be exhibited in the
Tramway Museum at Hawthorn Tram Depot.
At the Museum, the large station clock has been repaired and other
historic station clocks are receiving attention.
The Norman carriage has had some upholstery work done to
the seating.
The Association's monthly meetings have continued with a number
of interesting topics and recent talks have been
on the St Kilda to Brighton Electric Street Railway,
Steam engines arriving in Victoria and a film evening in
June with the Stan Flattely Film Festival to be held in
October.
Ballarat Tramway Museum
Tram No 671 carried the Queen's Baton as part of the relay
for the Commonwealth Games which were held in Melbourne.
During the Begonia Festival, the trams carried 1736 passengers and
twenty four members volunteered over the period to run
the trams.
The Museum has won a Museum Industry Recognition
Award for their work in the restoration of the power
supply to the tramway after the transformer was
struck by lightning and destroyed.
The museum is the recipient of a very significant
donation in the form of the Wages book from August
1919 to December 1924 used by the Electric Supply Company
of Victoria for traffic employees. The Museum has now
turned 35 years of age. The impetus came from the
late Bill Jessup in Melbourne and at the same time in
Ballarat from the late Melton Foo. A joint meeting of
the two groups took place in Ballarat on the 30 May 1971
and the Society was founded.
Work on bogie tram No 40 is almost complete and
should be operational later in the year.
Bellarine Peninsula Railway
Since December 2004, when the railway adopted a
business plan setting objectives and aims, the railway has been
steadily working forward to complete these. At the end of
March 2006 a total of 47 of these initiatives have been
commenced and many have been completed. This has
resulted in many obvious improvements to the railway and
has demonstrated that the railway has a demonstrable future and
sustainability.
Restoration of "Evandale"
This is a historic 1888 carriage built for the former
Tasmanian Main Line Railway company of Tasmania and
is a 6 wheel design. The carriage is privately owned and work
is steadily progressing on its restoration with the western
side and end platform walls completed. The eastern side is
receiving attention and it is hoped that the carriage
will be available for a ride by the end of the year.
Diesel Electric X3 has been repainted and X20 is
having new brush holders manufactured for the blower motor.
Rail motor DP29 has had a new exhaust flex fitted and
all engine and gearbox mounting bolts tightened. DP28 is
to be the subject of a major overhaul over the next six
months.
Work on the track has continued with the objective of
improving rail joints and replacing bolts at the joints.
There are 2360 joints between Queenscliff and Drysdale. The
platform at Suma Park has been resurfaced
The railway is proposes to hold a Friends of Thomas
in October at Drysdale. A very successful Bellarine Rail Trail Day
was held in April with 100 families carried on the
normal service and 350 people on a special 10 vehicle train to
Drysdale.
Friends of the North Australian Railway at
Adelaide River
The Committee held a very successful Works
in Progress exhibition in May. The exhibition was a chance to
show off the work on the Cowans Sheldon Crane, Railcar NDB330,
a cattle wagon used for the conveyance of troops
in WW2, an oil tanker and several other items. The Chief
Minister Clare Martin was among the people attending.
The Cowan Sheldon traveling crane was built
in 1885 for the South Australian Railways and was used in the
construction of the North Australian railway. It was recovered
by the NT Museums and Art Galleries and was gifted by them to
the FNAR. The unit was hand operated and requires a
considerable amount of restoration.
The 2006 Wet season was one of
the biggest for many years but did not damage
the railway infrastructure.
Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board
Work is steadily proceeding at Menzies Creek on the
re-signaling of this station. It is a long
project and the wiring required is most
substantial. All points and signals will be controlled from the
signal box in the station. Signal works are also taking
place at Lakeside.
The railway has been fortunate in having
Greencorps doing landscaping and works around the Packing shed
and installing as new watering system.
The boiler of the Climax Engine has returned from the USA. The
boiler was tested in the USA before being returned to
Australia. Work is progressing on the mechanical
side of the engine.
Engine 8NA is being rebuilt and is progressing well.
it may see service later this year. Engine
12NA is now out of service for its ten
year overhaul and a work team from HMAS Cerberus
is working on this engine. Plans are being examined
to provide accommodation adjoining the existing workshop
at Belgrave for carriage repairs.
Mornington Railway Preservation Society
The restoration of both T class engines
continues. The numbers on train have been satisfactory
and the railway is planning on the possibility of
restoring trains back to Baxter. Maintenance is
being carried out to the rolling stock and the train set
looks very smart in the livery used by the
railway.
K163 at Moorooduc
Photo J. Frost
Steamrail
Steamrail has run the first steam train on the
new deviation of the line from Melbourne to
Ballarat on the 6 May 2006. The train was also the 40th Anniversary
of the Vintage train in Victoria.
A successful open day was held at the
Newport Depot in March and it is hoped that
this will become an annual event.
Steamrail has been engaged in the training
of new steam engine crews and several training runs have been
undertaken. K153 was in steam at the depot in April for
this purpose. As the autumn was so dry steam was
unable to operate over the Easter period and
diesels had to be used for the usual run to Bendigo
for the Easter Monday outing.
To assist repairs, an airline from the main
West Block building has been laid to the weighbridge.
Locomotive A2986 is still being worked on and action is
being concentrated on the setting up of the smoke box. Pins
and bushes are being machined as the locomotive had great
wear in these while it was in VR service. It was given only
basic maintenance due to the end of steam traction. When
all the work is completed it is anticipated that the
engine will ride like it did when it was manufactured in
1915.
Y164 remains on hire at Newport
Workshops to E. D. I. and T342 is available for
hire with T356, T364 and T395 at South Dynon Loco Depot.
S313 is undergoing further testing to the
bolster/trunion area. B72 is still being worked on and the
sound wall/barrier for the No 2 end has been fabricated.
Repairs to 25BE have been completed and roof repairs
to 1BCE done. 46 BE is receiving roof and gutter repairs
and a large number of wooden bodied carriages have had safety
film applied to the inside of the outside
windows. The remaining cars will be completed in the near
future.
Steam Engine R766 which is being rebuilt
for use on the standard gauge is proceeding and
the driving wheels have been assembled on the standard gauge
axles. New tyres have been fitted. Now that the
driving wheels are nearing completion, progress can be made on
the remaining wheel sets and their alteration to standard gauge.
R761 at Echuca
Photo Paul Pavlinovich
The truck driver who was involved in the
accident with a chartered steam train near Benella in 2002 was
found not guilty in the Wangaratta County Court. The case
lasted 2 weeks.
Electrail has been working on 137M and 470 M
and one swing door car and two Tait cars were
moved under the wires for the Open Day.
South Gippsland Railway
The railway has run two "Murder Mystery
Tours".
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria
The tramway has advised that the tram
service at Bylands is suspended for further
notice. The overhead is giving some concern and as patronage
is low over the winter, the line has been
closed for rectification. The museum will remain open
though for static display only. It is hoped that
tram operation will resume in the spring.
The Museum has taken delivery of
Adelaide H Class Tram No 373. The twilight night display
was a success and will be repeated in 2007. The present year
2006 is the centenary of the permanent introduction
of electric trams to Melbourne. To celebrate the
opening of the St Kilda street railway, as the VR called the
line, the Museum ran SW2 644 on Sunday 7 May as a
tribute to this closed line.
It is understood
that Essendon tram depot may be holding an open day later in the
year. Also VR tram No 53 from the former St Kilda tramway has gone
from the Newport Museum to the Bendigo Trust Tramway workshop to be
refurbished for the celebration. The former railway tramway from St
Kilda to Brighton commenced running on 7 May 1906. The former North
Melbourne and Electric Lighting company tramway
started running form North Essendon and the Saltwater
River ( Maribyrnong) on 11 October 1906. This route
is still in operation.
Tram Y1 612 is fully operational
and only a few minor things now have to be done to
complete the car's return to revenue service. These include
bell cords and wipers. X2 680 is receiving attention and the
ceiling has been stripped and ready to receive two coats
of lacquer. The seating has been removed and these will be
re-polished and placed back in the tram. All the doors and
lower windows have been removed as well to be stripped, repaired and
repainted for re-installation.
Yarra Valley Tourist Railway
The restoration of the station at Yarra Glen is almost
complete with new flooring being placed in part of the
building. The Organic Market at Healesville has
celebrated its second year of operation and has been
attracting a good number of people.
At Healesville the goods wagons have been shunted in to
No 2 Road. The interior of the Healesville
station looks very good with the walls painted
and the floor sanded and sealed.
Slashing has been done to keep the line clear of
encroaching herbage between Tarrawarra and Yarra Glen.
