The Association proposes to run a seminar
on Saturday 30 June 2007 at Hawthorn tram museum.
Alexandra Timber Tramway
The tramway has received a response from
the local council, the Shire of Murrindindi which gives approval in
principle to the tramway extension project subject to
formal support being obtained from all identified stakeholders. This
now allows the tramway to approach owners of land
abutting the proposed right of way and VicRoads
itself to use a portion of Goulburn Valley
Highway road reserve. This
is the first step in a long and complicated
investigation. Once such agreements are obtained the next
phase such as funding applications can then start in late
2007.
The railway was host to the
wedding of its former secretary Rowan Millard to Katherine
Sutton who both came out from England for the
re-affirmation of their wedding vows.
The local council has acknowledged the
tramway's interest in the proposed rail trail on the former line from
Yea to Homewood. An application from the Great Southern Railway Inc
was also received by the council to run an operational
tourist railway but it has had no recent
correspondence with them.
To add to the tramways display of
machinery a Boving Turbine Actuator Model F10 has arrived at
Alexandra together with spare parts for the Ruston class VEB diesel
engine. The small carriage has had its bogies repaired and is
now ready for them to be re-assembled. It is expected
that this carriage will return to service in the new
year.
- Australian Railway Historical Society - Victorian
Division.
At the Museum Y137 is receiving a repaint
in V/Line Grey and Orange. Work continues on Wimmera and
Torrens and a new steel floor is required to be
inserted into Tank Loco E 369. The next Great Railway
Swap meet is to be held on 17 February 2007.
The December 2006 issue of Newsrail has a
major article on the history of Spencer Street Station
and its metamorphosis into the present station.
R704 at Newport Railway Museum
Photo John Frost
Ballarat Tramway Museum
The Ballarat City Council has
set up a Ballarat Treasures Register and the tramway
has nominated a number of its historic trams for inclusion as
well as the track and overhead structures in the
gardens and a short remnant section of tramway
track and the railway crossing it to the Phoenix Foundry
in the centre median of Sturt Street at Armstrong Street. The
"Courier" newspaper reported that the first artefacts to
be placed on the register included the tramway museum
and the trams.
The tramway has established a Substation Fund
Donor board and this is located on the wall of the
substation.
Tram No 40 which is a maximum traction tram
has been comprehensively restored. The body work
and trucks all received attention and it now is in
service after an overhaul starting in 2003. The car re-entered
service on 5 November 2006. The decision was made to
retain the style of the tram when it finished service with
the SEC in 1971. The tram has previously been owned by
the Prahran and Malvern Tramway Trust, the MMTB, and the SEC
and arrived in Ballarat in June 1951. It was the last
tram to run in service in Ballarat. The Museum has
now had No 40 in its care longer than any of
the three previous owners (35 years).
In November the Museum hosted a visit from
the delegates from the COTMA conference in November 2006 and
this coincided with the annual Springfest which
brought a large number of visitors to the gardens.
Tram No 14 is receiving an overhaul and it
is expected that this will be relatively swift as the
tram is in good condition.
Daylesford Spa Country Railway
The railway has been the recipient of two funding
grants from the State Government. The first is a grant of
$20,000 to do external restoration on Leyland 53RM from Heritage
Victoria. This is the first grant from
Heritage Victoria to restore a moveable
object. This was achieved as the railway has been accredited as
a member of MAP. ( Museum Accreditation Programme)
The second grant is through the Shire of Hepburn
for $68,000 from the Regional Infrastructure Development
Fund for an upgrade of the Daylesford Station toilets and
associated works. With funding from the railway as well as
the shire, the cost of the works will be $102,000.
The railway has celebrated the 25th year of the Sunday
market and this has become a major tourist
attraction in its own right and is a
major source of income for the railway.
The railway has obtained a new rail motor and has
purchased the 105hp Walker Railmotor from the Victorian
Goldfields Railway. This completes the series of the
Walker rail motors in the collection. 7RM will be
taken by road to the railway in the new year. Until
now the lack of a 105hp railmotor meant that the
collection was not complete. All that is needed
now to complete the collection is for a "Sprinter" and
a "Velocity" to
become part of the collection in the many years to come.
The railway has suffered a number of vandalism attacks and
rail motors, trolleys have had windows broken and
other damage has been done.
A four wheel water tanker has arrived on the railway
as well as former VR B van.
The work on the track is continuing and a further 200
sleepers have been replaced. The railway needs
to replace approximately 800 sleepers a year. Most of the
passenger services have been operated by 91RM with only
minor operating problems.
Motor No 63 is expected to return to service later in 2007. Most
attention lately has been to the interior and
new window sills have been made. With this
completed the windows can be refitted. New luggage racks have
been made as when the railmotor was received, there were
no luggage racks. The engine has been run and
voltage obtained from the generator and a faulty major resistor
found. Once this is replaced a test run can be made.
Friends of the North Australian Railway at
Adelaide River
EVENTS. We had a number of significant
events during the year. It started with several busloads of
visitors for the Bombing of Darwin commemorations in February. A
special event in February was the Adelaide River premier of the film
"Letters to the Editor" which we showed in the Sidney Williams
Exhibition Hall.
· Early in March we did our bit to Clean Up
Australia by tidying up the NAR remnant at the narrows and
also cleaning up the Stella Maris property (only NAR House left in
Darwin). ANZAC Day was washed out by Cyclone Monica.· In May we
held a Works in Progress “exhibition” at Peter Cornell’s yard at
Berrimah which was specifically to show our many generous sponsors
and stakeholders what we are up to. In June we conducted the first
Rail Trail walk from Stapleton to Adelaide River which was well
attended. Early in August we hosted a lunch for the Rejex Rally
(120 intrepid motorists) and followed it with the traditional
Railway Picnic on “Picnic Day”.
On the weekend of 2-3 September we conducted
the annual expedition to Birdum where Ann Kanters and Barry Sharp
were our hosts. This year we were privileged to meet with the
members of the Jacobsen extended family who travelled from as far as
NZ. On the last Sunday of the month in the Dry Season Nola Smith and
Estelle Harris prepared Devonshire Teas (a real winner)
PROJECTS.
Owen Peake undertook restoration work on
the SMITH & COVENTRY wheel lathe. Alan Spargo went to
Manchester Museum and sifted through their material on Smith and
Coventry. We constructed a large shelter for our caretaker's site
and connected power and water to the site. Nola Smith's gardening
crew made considerable improvements to the garden and grounds which
are now at their largest extent ever. We completed the interior of carriage BC329 which is decked out in
veneered timber. We progressed the installation of the steel roof
on carriage BC330. More than 1,000 hours has been spent on this
carriage so far. Peter Cornell collected the 1885 COWAN SHELDON
crane from Larrimah and it has been dismantled and partly
sandblasted and primed. Tom Bertenshaw has skillfully welded cracks
in the cast iron axle boxes.
PDQ Builders fabricated the frame for
the Disabled Toilet block and it has been installed on the concrete
pad at the precinct.· Mike Bowman did a full restoration job on the Monkey Tail pump
adjacent to the 5,000 gallon underground tank from 1889. New
interpretive signage has been installed at the entrance to the
precinct and within.· The displays in Sidney Williams Exhibition
Hall were updated and improved substantially. We now have a fully
interpreted display of the eight different types of sleepers used on
the NAR (thanks to Mick) Chri Renehan supplied some great wall
displays.
The Heritage Department funded Dept of Infrastructure to place
rocks around the pier of the 1888 wrought iron heritage bride to
protect it from further scouring. A major gate was installed on
the access road (formerly the gate to East Point Reserve) A proper
flagpole was installed near the 1888 heritage earth loading ramp.
(courtesy Ron Strahan)
ACQUISITIONS
The NILES TOOL WORKS railway wheel press
arrived from Bendigo Tramway Museum. Mario Skapin donated the large
ASQUITH radial arm drill press. Our second "Short Tom" carriage #86
arrived from Victoria along with a fabulous "caboose" #GB5588. Ghan
Preservation Society provided a cowcatcher, a front coupling and a
950 gallon fuel tank for the NSU63 locomotive.
NT government (Justice Department) donated a two drawer safe and
several cupboards which have assisted storage in the kitchen
department.· Peter Poole donated fettlers tools and signs. Advance
Civil Engineering donated 100 steel sleepers.· Power and Water
donated two ATCO toilet demountables.
MEMBERS
Membership exceeded 80 for the first time. We joined the National
Trust as an Associate Member.· During the year we published four
newsletters and distributed them locally and internationally. Sadly
we lost three of our long term members during the year - Kevin
Gould, Reg McGrath and Nan Bell. Our Vice President Mick Kent had a
trying year as he battled myeloma. At years end Mick is looking a
lot better.
· During the year members contributed more than 10,000 hours of
volunteer effort.
ADMINISTRATION
We amended our constitution to include clauses
required by the Tax Department to enable us to become a Deductible
Gift Recipient. We opened a Gifting Account so that benefactors can
make tax deductible gifts to us.· Robyn Smith prepared a nomination
for the prestigious Brolga Tourism Awards and we were a finalist in
the heritage Tourism category.
Puffing Billy - Emerald Tourist Railway Board
The great train race is to be held on Sunday 6
May 2007. The kiosk at Belgrave is receiving a
make over and number of new DVD's have been
received.
Work has been continuing on the Climax engine and the boiler's
firebox is having some stays replaced. The driver
experience days are proving to be most popular and
bookings are coming in for 2007. 12A has been
stripped for its boiler examination and the boiler tubes
have been removed by the RAN trainees from HMAS Cerberus.
The Social Committee continues to set out a varied
programme of events for members and volunteers and plans to have
a winery trip a visit to the Healesville Railway and a
number of film evenings during 2007.
At Menzies Creek Station the upgrading of the
signaling arrangements has been almost
completed and all signals and points are now
operated from the signal box within the station building.
Emerald Station is to have a facelift including the
painting of the original station buildings and the
rebuilding of the original toilets.
At Gembrook the Government display celebrating the 150
years of railways has been set up
until the 3rd February 2007. In addition in JAC Russell
Park a number of permanent display panels
commemorating the pioneers of the area have
been set up.
Three father and son Crews at Belgrave
Steamrail
The earlier than normal imposition of steam bans on the
main lines in Victoria meant that diesel traction has
had to be substituted earlier than in previous years. As
well as the early imposition of fire bans the
continuing drought has also placed a strain on the use
of country water resources.
With all steam engines laid up for
the summer their main use before the fire bans came in was the
operation of shuttle trips within the metropolitan area of
Melbourne. With the engines laid up the
opportunity is being taken to carry out maintenance on them.
Y112 is to undergo a boiler exam in
early 2007 and planning has started to source the material for
the engine's
eventual re-wheeling/retyring.
K153 is to have a smoke box rebuild and
materials have been obtained for this. K190 is to
receive a new brick arch and this material has been
ordered in conjunction with the Victorian Goldfields railway
to reduce costs. The engine is to be repainted as well.
R711 is steadily being rebuilt and the drivers
side air compressor has been repaired and the hydrostatic
lubricator has been refitted. Preparation for the repainting
of the engine has started.
A˛986 has seen its tender placed back on its
bogies and boring out of the of the fireman's side cylinder
has started. The casting is about 90 years of age
and some problems have been found in doing the
boring as the casting has some hard spots.
Much of the diesel fleet is at South
Dynon depot and is available for hire to the mainline
operators. With a reduced grain crop work may be hard to
come by this season. T342 is receiving some
soundproofing. T364 is receiving a new short end
coupler as the original one was cracked. B72 is under
heavy repair. S313 which is on hire to Pacific National
has been returned to Newport to have some
repairs carried out. A wheel change at a cost of $30,000
is to be carried out in the new year.
Carriage 60BW has been overhauled and
repainted and this was achieved in four weeks. 8AS (206BS) is
subject to a full overhaul and most of the window frames
have been removed to treat the heavy corrosion behind
them. 2006 has seen a magnificent effort by the carriage
repair team as five carriages have been overhauled and
repainted during the year. A total of 342 carriage windows have had
safety film applied to them to meet the new operating conditions.
Electrail is working on the double ended
Tait Carriage 470M and work on 12BT continues. Original lamp
shades have been cleaned and reinstalled in 208T.
With the use of TPWS on the country
rail network, the need has arisen to fit the Steamrail Locomotive
fleet with this equipment. The wooden carriage
fleet is restricted to 80 kmph but the more modern
steel carriages can operate at line speed for locomotive hauled
carriages. But with not having the money to
place this equipment in the heritage engines Steamrail is
facing the delima of having its services
restricted as paths for slower speed trains is
limited yet it could meet the times if this equipment was
fitted. The problem is the money to fit it!
Tramway Museum Society of Victoria
With the completion of the infrastructure
rehabilitation, the tramway is again carrying passengers. Before
services recommended scrubber 10W ran up the line to
clean up scale. Work was done on the overhead and 70 metres of
the main line track adjacent to No 2 tram shed was
re-laid. Other trackwork has received attention and further
supplies of sleepers have been ordered.
U class tram No 205 has returned to Bylands and has
been placed in the Exhibition Shed. This vehicle has
been under restoration for some time at Bendigo but funds ran
out before it could be completed. The AETM in
Adelaide was able to sell some doors which will help
complete the restoration.
Work on H class 373 has continued and a
inverter which supplies 24V for the trams battery system
failed and has been repaired. The documentation for the
operation of the tram has been forwarded to the DOI for approval.
Yarra Valley Tourist Railway
The Shire of Yarra Ranges has agreed to support the
recommendations contained in the feasibility study on
the Lilydale to Healesville Rail Corridor. This sets out
the reinstatement of tourist railway operations between
Yarra Glen and Healesville, then between Lilydale and Yarra
Glen, and the establishment of rail trails on the
right of way.
The railway ran a very successful Ghost Train
night on Halloween. As a thank you to sponsors of the
railway, a sponsors night was held at Healesville Station
and a meal served to the sponsors. The guests were shown
over the mechanical shed and engines were started to
show the way the railway is developing.
The railway is now accredited to shunt its stock
within the station yard and has completed the restoration of
W250. Recently the platform coping at Healesville station has
been replaced. The entire line has been slashed for the
first time in many years and weed spraying has started to
capitalise on this work. This has improved the
appearance of the railway and the locals can see at last
that some progress is being made at the Yarra Glen
end of the railway. As part of the improvements each week a
works trolley is traverse the entire line and all safety
equipment at level crossings will be used and tested.
The line has taken delivery of a GY wagon from 707
Operations. GY17001 has arrived and is at Healesville. A
new water main has been installed and fire hydrants
placed at strategic locations.
To bring the track up to train standard work is required
on the four bridges between Healesville and the tunnel. Timber has
been ordered and work on these will start in March 2007. RM22
has had its roof patched and painted and work has
now turned to the interior. One of the GY wagons
has had its triple valve refitted and this unit
is now operational again. Work has started on the
VHNA wagons to ready them for ballast duty.
Walhalla Goldfields Railway
The railway has been affected
by the recent bushfires and has had to suspend services
from Thompson to Walhalla.
At Happy Creek Station (2km from Walhalla), the fire burnt to the platform
itself and a stack of 150 new sleepers was saved following application of fire
retardant. WGR was directed by DSE not to return to Walhalla due to the intense
heat and risk of falling trees, and proceeded to Thomson. The fire continued
throughout Thursday night and Friday and has burnt the eastern side of the line
in the Stringers Creek gorge through to the down end of the Thomson River
railway bridge. Following rain on Friday night, the fire risk has been
downgraded for the immediate future.
As a result of the fires the confirmed asset damage is as follows:
+ Bridge No. 7 ("Three Span" or also known as "Cascade Bridge", 600m from Happy
Creek Station has been severely damaged and will require a complete rebuild at
an initial estimated commercial cost of $250-300,000.
+Approximately 200 sleepers destroyed between Happy Creek and Thomson destroyed
+At ground internal telephone cable destroyed
All fallen trees and rubble have now been removed and DSE personnel are
continuing to remove trees above the rail which are regarded as potential
hazardous. Geo-technical advice is also been sought about soil and rock
stability above the line.
Replacement construction options for Bridge No.7 are underway and WGR
gratefully acknowledges the support offered by the Puffing Billy Railway in
addressing some of the immediate recovery issues.
Subject to the confirmation of the safe condition of the railway
infrastructure between Walhalla and Happy Creek, it is proposed to commence a
shuttle service over that section of line from 31 December.
The railway has since commenced shuttle trips from Walhalla to
Happy Creek.
Walhalla Station
Photo J. Frost
