Most of our activities has been
taken up with the changes to Accreditation and the
need to upgrade our examination system. The ATR has not
been able to attract a Secretary and the
work of the Secretary has been farmed out
to the other members of the executive.
Alexandra Timber Tramway
The railway has found it harder
to generate interest in the Market held in the Station
grounds over the last few months. In
addition a rival market may be set up
elsewhere in the town.
The steam Locomotive Fowler 11885 has come
out of service and is to be retubed. New
tubes have been sourced in Brisbane and services
are being maintained by the railway's diesel
engines.
The planning for the proposed
extension is continuing and information is
being sought on the location of utilities
and they are seeking clarification on various matters. An interface
agreement with Vic Roads is to established as the
track will be on part of Vic Roads land. This is
required under the Rail Safety Act 2006.
- Australian Railway Historical Society - Victorian
Division.
Newsrail had a major article in
the July edition on the two Pullman sleeping cars,
imported from the USA in 1928, that were used on the
overnight train between Adelaide and Melbourne. The
August issue celebrated the 50 years of
the "Bulldog" diesels in Victoria. The September issue
commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Geelong railway
line and British Steam in Victoria.
At
the Museum the model railway has
received some attention and work is continuing on
the restoration of Torrens and it now
has a new floor of green linoleum. While there
is still a long way to go on the
restoration of this venerable carriage, the
exhibit is now looking much better
from the wreck of yesteryear. Electric Locomotive L 1150
has been sanded and is being repainted. The
Hitachi Motor car has been polished and has
gleaming stainless steel sides unlike when it was a
work-a-day suburban carriage.
A
new book Buffer stops and Baulks is being prepared by
the Victorian Division.
Ballarat Tramway Museum
In June the tram tracks immediately south
of the depot junction were lifted and replaced at short
notice. The Municipal Council gave a week's notice in
June that
the road was to be resurfaced at this
location in lieu of the previous notice for the work to be done in late 2007. As Puffing
Billy had a team working nearby on the
Daylesford Spa Country Railway they were
able to come and undertake the work of rebuilding the section
of track. This was the first time in the history
of the Museum that the track had been lifted and the
rails were cut and the track bed excavated. New ballast
was laid and new sleepers placed using the cut rails which
were in good condition. New road fill was delivered and the
councils road contractors then completed the surface
using bitumen.
The Museum has been re-accredited under
the Museums Australia accreditation programme.
The Museum has a residence at Bungaree Railway
Station and over the years this has been improved
and is now being made available to members who
wish to stay in the district.
The Ballarat Botanic Gardens has celebrated
its 150th year and the Museum provided a tram to
help celebrate this anniversary. The Museum operates
almost entirely within the gardens precinct.
Due to the drought none of the gardens famous
floral beds are presently laid.
Bellarine Peninsula Railway
The railway has its first Greencorps
project and work is going on at Suma Park Station and
Drysdale Station to design and construct
garden beds, to carry out carriage restoration
works, clear gorse and other weeds from the
line, to refurbish Queenscliff station and help in
the management of trees on the line. In
addition to these works, some restoration of the dune
system will be undertaken and indigenous plants
planted to help stabilise the area.
The railway has spent some time in upgrading
its mechanical plant and work has been done to
the Mazda truck, the scarifier, and other road
vehicles. The railway's operations have been
increasing and during the four months to September
2007 some 34 special trains have run.
At Swan Bay the new platform has been
completed and placed into service and the turntable
at Drysdale has been de-scaled and prepared for painting.
At Lakers Siding the new turnout has been installed
to access the rear of the platform preparatory to
the laying of track.
The railway is working on the review of
its Order in Council so that an y new
order can reflect current Acts of
Parliament and operational needs.
Locomotive V8 has fractured leaves in two
springs and needs replacement part. Work is continuing
on the fitting of roller bearings QR bogies under
the Evans cars and to fit these cars with
composition brake blocks.
The oil cooler on X3 has been repaired and
both X class engines regularly multiple unit.
The railway is one of the few places where
these English Electric engines can be seen
operating.
Photo Bellarine Railway - Chris Schultz
Coal Creek Heritage Village
The Museum is currently not open
and is undergoing restoration.
Diamond Valley Railway
A group from the railway visited the Police
Air Wing at Essendon Airport. The Annual Steam
Gala Weekend was held and proved to be a great
event.
Improvement works on the site continued and the
Sanctuary Carriage Storage area has come into
use for the storage of passenger carriages. One
unlooked for "improvement" was the
installation of steel boxes over the padlocks to
deter vandals. With the development of the new
carriage shed ideas are being sought for the
re-development of the old carriage shed.
A number of unsafe trees have been
removed by the Shire Council and the roof of
the W. G. Pert building was repaired by contractors. Track
work has continued and the old 14lb/yd points and a
diamond crossing have been refurbished to
install in the scissors crossover between the Inner Circle
and the Outer Circle lines. The track is being
upgraded to 6 kg/m rail and the lighter
14lb/yd rail and points cascaded to
sidings and yards.
Following the annual engineering inspection the Willcox
Bridge is to be painted, the concrete
platform at Pine Creek needs attention and an arborist
needs to be engaged at specific intervals to
assess trees for their safety.
The railway proposes to have the 1st Sunday of
the month as a steam running day. This does
not inhibit the running of steam on
other days but is to encourage owners
and others to attend and steam their
engines on a specific day.
Daylesford Spa Country Railway
7 RM has arrived at the railway from Maldon. This
rail Motor is a Walker 102 hp unit and fills a missing
area in the collection policy of the railway. The unit
has been stored pending restoration.
53 RM is at Bendigo Tramway
Workshop where the roof is being heavily restored. A
study on the Railmotor Collection Significance has
been made by a consultant on behalf of
Heritage Victoria.
Puffing Billy railway has completed a contract
to reconstruct Musk Platform. 200 sleepers
have been replaced in the track and a total of
78 points timbers are to be replaced at
Daylesford. The W&W team has been short
of workers and the railway is appealing for more
helpers.
GreenTrail
This group is seeking ideas from the community on
the possible establishment of a short lines
industry similar to that in Canada.
Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society
Like all other Heritage groups the Tramway's
accreditation is being reviewed by Safety Action
and a gap analysis has been done. The
tramway is 60% through the work in
completing the new paperwork for the revised system.
L 103 has had refurbished drop centre seats
installed. The drivers cabins have been completed with
the fitting of polished controller handles and new
"General Electric" makers plates fitted to the
controllers top plates.
SW5 843 is being prepared for testing prior to
accreditation and new trolley bases and poles have
been fitted
to replace the original ones which were
in poor condition. The air system has a "Knock" and this
will be remedied. As well the tram has a pronounced lean
to the right and work is needed on
the bolster springs as they have lost
their set. It has moved under its own power
for testing.
SW6 890 and W7 1008 have been obtained
for spare parts and both trams have been
dismantled and parts made available to other tramway
groups. A front door has been fitted to the
shed holding the tower wagon and it is
hoped to install shelving in the shed for the
overhead parts and to provide a concrete floor.
>
MMTB SW5 843 and VR 41 at the depot at
Haddon
Photo Melbourne Tramcar Preservation Society
Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board
Puffing Billy has announced the appointment of a new
CEO. He is Eamonn Seddon from the West Coast
Wilderness Railway in Tasmania.
To help ease parking problems for
Puffing Billy patrons, the railway is leasing a
portion of the US Bus lines property for last minute
arrivals. An application has been made for a
grant from the State Government for asbestos removal from the
Museum Locomotives and the Workshop roof.
J541 has been completed at Menzies Creek and
has been transferred by road to
Maldon where it has been accredited and
placed into service. Other works carried out
by Puffing Billy include the rebuilding of
Musk Platform for the Daylesford Spa Country
Railway, trackwork for the Ballarat Tramway Museum,
bridge works at Clyde, work on the MCG footbridge in
Melbourne, the removal of the Somerton Signal box for the
Mornington Railway and work on the historic Curdies
River bridge.
The annual fun run with Thomas has been
held at Gembrook and Thomas the Tank Engine is
playing to very good houses at Emerald
A new innovation was the Wizards and Witches
Express held in the September School holidays.
The railway took part in the annual Winterfest
at Emerald and had one of the little engines
in steam giving rides within the station yard.
The Keep G42 Going Committee is continuing to
open its shop at Emerald on the first Saturday
in Month selling pre-loved books, magazines
and recordings.
The PBPS Volunteer Guest Speakers panel
has been kept busy with talks to Probus
Clubs, Community organisations and similar bodies.
At Belgrave the rebuilding of the Climax engine is
continuing and a full time fitter has been
employed to further the work on the engine.
Locomotive 7A is out of traffic and is
having major work performed on the unit.
12A is being stripped and the frame is being cleaned
,crack tested and painted. Boiler stays are being
welded in place and tubes have been swaged.
Steamrail
The 150th anniversary of the Geelong
railway was celebrated in style on the 24th June
2007. A number of steam hauled trains ran between
the two cities of Melbourne and Geelong hauled by R761, R707, and D3
658 with T 356 banking its train. At Little
River the stone station building was open and filled
with displays and rooms at Geelong Station were
used for more displays and sales. In addition a number
of venues in Geelong had historical displays.
Steamrail reports that its web site has had
a revamp and you may check it at
www.steamrail.com.au
On the locomotive front Y112 has been
reassembled but requires replacement wheels and tyres.
The engine is at Ballarat. R711 is
being certified for running and should be soon on the
main line. A2 986 is having repairs made to
the cylinder stretcher casting where it has corroded
away. Piston valves are having new bull rings and
valve rings manufactured. Fabrication of other
parts is also going forward.
The rebuilding of R 766 for re-gauging to
4'8½" is continuing and much work has been
done in the last few months. New axle box liners
have arrived and been fitted to the engine bogie
boxes. New liners for the horns on the bogie frame are
being fitted and welded. Once all these and other jobs
are completed the stage will be reached where the engine
can be reassembled to allow the standard gauge
wheel to go under it to allow final reassembly. In
the near future the tender and engine bogies will be
reassembled and painted for them to be
placed under the engine.
The suburban steam shuttles proved to
be most successful with the public
really turning up and patronising the trips. These
included shuttles to Glen Waverley, Hurstbridge and Mitcham
all of which were very heavily patronised with the trains
full. The trip to the Snow was a sell out and the trip
to Bairnsdale for the weekend is well booked.
Suburban Shuttle at Glen Waverley
Photo J. Frost
On the Electrail front 341T, a Tait trailer
carriage is well under way and all the drop windows are
complete. Work is going on the restoration of the door
windows internal panel and the exterior of the car.
It is hoped that this carriage will be able to
run on the suburban lines one day once the Commercial
Operator, the Department of Infrastructure and
Victrack agree on heritage electric trains operating on
the system. It is many years (2004 last run)
now since Electrail has been able to run its historic
carriages. The help of the Minister for Transport
has been sought to break the impasse.
Carriage work for mainline
operation is continuing and work has been completed on
Moorabool. The carriage had a complete external repaint.
2BS has had its electrical faults repaired. It
also had
a roof repaint and a polish of the cars sides.
The passing of Frank Birch, who
worked very hard to assist in the continuing operation
of the Steamrail trains and the maintenance of the
wooden carriages, is a great loss to Heritage Rail. Frank also was a
volunteer in earlier times at Puffing Billy before
assisting Steamrail from 1982 with the restoration of
carriages and other activities.
The Victorian Goldfields Railway
The Railway has just appointed
Tony Llewellyn the former president of the Railway
and a former President of the ATR as an honorary
life member.
J541 has arrived at the railway and
following extensive testing has now been
accredited and is in service on the railway.. In
addition to the locomotive a new high
rail has arrived and it also is now in
use.
The railway has received a Green Corps project
and this group will concentrate on the area between
Castlemaine Creek and Castlemaine Platform 3. Other
minor projects are works at Maldon Station and the
restoration of carriage AE 18.
J 515, which is owned by the Seymour
Railway Heritage Centre, is receiving attention to some
broken stays and is to remain on the railway for
an indefinite period. T 333 is to be upgraded at
Seymour and will be available for main line work.
Re-sleepering is being done on the section between 86
and 86 1/2 mile posts.
J541 in service
Photo J. Newton
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria
.The tramway has posed the question as to
whether it can continue to survive with the small number
of members and even smaller number of volunteers
to do the work. Finance is a real problem
as a number of urgent works are needed and are
unable to be carried out due to a lack of funds.
These works are necessary to allow the
museum to remain open. With the lack of sufficient
people, it has been necessary to close
the museum on some Sundays.
Some restoration work is
continuing and seven trams are available for traffic. 100
sleepers have been obtained for the track to
the Exhibition Shed and other sleepers are being placed
in the track near One-Tree Hill.
Cable tram Grip car No 593 and
trailer 586 have been transferred to the
Exhibition shed from Kilmore.
Walhalla Goldfields Railway
The railway during the course of the year has
moved from bush fire to floods and
some scouring has occurred at the foot of
several bridges.
The railway has recovered well from the fires and the
recent flooding of Stringer's Creek has cleaned
up a lot of the debris from the bush fires.
The Fowler locomotive has been withdrawn from
service with torque-converter problems.. New parts have
been ordered and an auxiliary transmission oil-cooler has been
fitted. The locomotive was returned to service in early
July but needs to have its tyres replaced in the
next few months. Nine new people started basic
Safeworking Courses.
