A planned rolling stock shuffle at Valley

Heights involves in part, moving the derelict rail

car set down to the Ash Boards to enable them

to be taken away on a low-loader. Our locomo-

tive “Stepho” is to provide the motive power

for the shunt with the “S” truck ‘4360’ being

used as the ‘match truck’. A lot of work has

been done and is ongoing to bring this vehicle

up to standard. This has mostly entailed re-

conditioning the axle housings.

“Stepho” has not been operated since its

boiler was inspected about this time last year.

As a result, Craig thought it prudent to give the

engine a steam test some weeks ago. The test,

undertaken on August 14, indicated two weep-

ing boiler plugs in the smoke box. The fire was

dropped with the intention to thread clean and re-

seat the plugs when the engine was cold. This was

subsequently done and the boiler given a ‘cold water

squeeze”. The boiler plugs were fine however a leak

had developed in one of the boiler tubes. Needless

to say, this was extremely disappointing. Initially it

was thought that “Stepho’s” boiler tubes were cop-

per but this proved to not be the case. The original

boiler had been replaced in 1942 at Mort’s Dock by

an all-steel job however, it still retains the copper

firebox.

Sunday August 28, which was an operating

day, saw work commence on what should have

been the relatively easy job of removing one

boiler. It couldn’t have been further from the

truth. The tube was stubborn and reluctantly

yielded centimeter by centimeter. It fought

tooth and nail to stay where it had been for

half a century probably. Its final extraction was

thwarted by the close presence of the double-

deck car, so the job was postponed to the next

work-day.

Stepho was turned in the meantime to make

the tube extraction more accessible. With more

room being available the leaking tube was removed

with minimal difficulty.

Fortunately the tubes for Stepho are the same

diameter as those for the motor. With some spare

uncut lengths of tube on hand, one was selected,

tailored to length, fitted and annealed into place.

With one tube developing a leak, it stands to rea-

son that there are probably others not far behind.

Accordingly, a programme of tube replacement will

be developed and when tubes are available, supplies

obtained.

Craig and his assistants, Steve Tolhurst, Ted Dick-

son, John Webb and others, are to be congratulated

on a job that should have been relatively simple but

turned out to be more complex and difficult than

expected. Craig especially is to be congratulated for

his tenacity, ‘can-do’ approach and leadership in

executing and heading the project. As always, much

was learnt about Stepho’s ‘idiosyncrasies’ in the

tube department.

Replacement Bogies

When our end-platform car CBI 1073 was received

some years ago, it was without bogies. Those that

are presently underneath it are from Parramatta

Park and not in the best of condition. Two superior

sets as replacements, have recently been received

at the Valley, compliments of “State Mine.” Cartage

was arranged by member Andrew Coble.

We’re On Track

On Saturday 24-9-2011, a museum team accompa-

nied by some STARPS members, set up a demar-

cation fence down at the Signal Box. Advantage

was taken of a local ‘total possession’ situation

on the adjacent main running line. The line is

now complete and only requires a formal

‘turnover’ and interface agreement to be entered

into. Residual risk management issues will be

taken up with ITSR with every likelihood we

could be operating on the extension before

Christmas (this year!)

(See photo end page)

“Stepho” Gets a New Tube... - but not without a fight to keep the old one!

August / October 2011

“Preserving the past,

enriching the future” STEAM SCENE Newsletter of the Steam Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-Op) Society Ltd.

t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway. Proudly associated with the NSW Rail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountains Division).

Affiliated with the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia and Rail Heritage Australia (NSW).

Volume 8 Issue 4

(Above) The fire damaged

building at Ipswich.

FROM THE FROM THE FROM THE

EDITOREDITOREDITOR

Apologies for the lateness of this issue. Apologies for the lateness of this issue. Apologies for the lateness of this issue. It is so late, that it has had to be amal-It is so late, that it has had to be amal-It is so late, that it has had to be amal-gamated with the October issue due to gamated with the October issue due to gamated with the October issue due to extenuating circumstances. But on to extenuating circumstances. But on to extenuating circumstances. But on to

another matter of importance.another matter of importance.another matter of importance.

The recent fire at the Ipswich Rail-The recent fire at the Ipswich Rail-The recent fire at the Ipswich Rail-way Museum was very concerning. way Museum was very concerning. way Museum was very concerning. Although the fire was contained to Although the fire was contained to Although the fire was contained to disused buildings, it could have been disused buildings, it could have been disused buildings, it could have been far more serious. Police have since far more serious. Police have since far more serious. Police have since charged a 17 year old youth with charged a 17 year old youth with charged a 17 year old youth with arson. The museum is again open arson. The museum is again open arson. The museum is again open for business. This fire resonated for business. This fire resonated for business. This fire resonated deeply with our society members as deeply with our society members as deeply with our society members as has fires occurring locally and in has fires occurring locally and in has fires occurring locally and in overseas rail museums. At least overseas rail museums. At least overseas rail museums. At least someone has been charged with the someone has been charged with the someone has been charged with the Ipswich fire, unlike the arson attack Ipswich fire, unlike the arson attack Ipswich fire, unlike the arson attack on our Museum in Parramatta Park on our Museum in Parramatta Park on our Museum in Parramatta Park in June 1993. That perpetrator is in June 1993. That perpetrator is in June 1993. That perpetrator is

still at large.still at large.still at large.

This latest fire brings home yet again This latest fire brings home yet again This latest fire brings home yet again the fact that most rail museums in the fact that most rail museums in the fact that most rail museums in NSW at least, have minimal fire NSW at least, have minimal fire NSW at least, have minimal fire protection. What is even more con-protection. What is even more con-protection. What is even more con-cerning is that most don't have any cerning is that most don't have any cerning is that most don't have any fire insurance because it is too ex-fire insurance because it is too ex-fire insurance because it is too ex-

pensive.pensive.pensive.

With the Ipswich fire fresh in our With the Ipswich fire fresh in our With the Ipswich fire fresh in our minds, it is again timely that the rail minds, it is again timely that the rail minds, it is again timely that the rail heritage industry through agencies heritage industry through agencies heritage industry through agencies such as ATHRA, ORH and COTMA, such as ATHRA, ORH and COTMA, such as ATHRA, ORH and COTMA, get something positive rolling in get something positive rolling in get something positive rolling in regards to getting fire coverage at regards to getting fire coverage at regards to getting fire coverage at reasonable expense, for rail muse-reasonable expense, for rail muse-reasonable expense, for rail muse-ums. Sooner or later another mu-ums. Sooner or later another mu-ums. Sooner or later another mu-seum will be tragically, the victim of seum will be tragically, the victim of seum will be tragically, the victim of arson and items irreplaceable de-arson and items irreplaceable de-arson and items irreplaceable de-stroyed. Will we be leaving the mat-stroyed. Will we be leaving the mat-stroyed. Will we be leaving the mat-ter of fire protection and insurance ter of fire protection and insurance ter of fire protection and insurance

yet again, in the ‘too hard basket’ ?yet again, in the ‘too hard basket’ ?yet again, in the ‘too hard basket’ ?

Bruce Irwin, EditorBruce Irwin, EditorBruce Irwin, Editor

(Above) At work replacing the recalcitrant

boiler tube in Stepho.

(Above) The bogies received from State Mine.

The Things We Say… We use ‘figures of speech’ everyday and many if not most, without realizing where they came from. I came across

the following origins of two sayings, in two very old newspapers.

“ Hobson’s Choice”

Strangely enough, this saying preserves the memory

of a very good and useful man.

Thomas Hobson was born in 1544. He was for sixty

years, a carrier between London and Cambridge, con-

veying to and from the university, letters, packages and

passengers. In addition to this business, he had a livery

stable and rented out horses to the university students.

He made it a rule that all the horses should have, ac-

cording to their ability, a proper division of work and

rest. They were taken out in regular order, as they

stood, beginning with the one nearest the door. No

choice was allowed and if any man refused to take the

animal assigned to him, he might go without any. That

or none—hence the phrase “Hobson’s Choice.”

In the spring of 1630 another plague outbreak broke

out across England. The colleges of Cambridge were

closed and among the precautions taken by the au-

thorities to avoid infection, Hobson was forbidden to

go to London.

Hobson died in January 1631 partly it is said, from

anxiety and fretting at his enforced leisure. Hobson

was one of the wealthiest citizens of Cambridge. He

did much for the benefit of the city to which he left

several legacies. His death called forth many poems

from members, officers and students of the university.

Among them, two were by no less than the poet Mil-

ton, then a student at Christ College.

“I Don’t Give a Tinker’s Dam…”

This, and variations, is a well known saying though like

many, it seems to be dying out. Tinkers were travel-

ers who went about the countryside repairing kettles,

pans etc. The origins for the saying appears thus: In

Flanders (Belgium) during the Middle Ages, a ‘dam’

was the smallest coin of the currency. Tinkers in

those days were generally itinerant and little better

than vagrants. Their services were generally rewarded

by a ‘dam’ and as no other tradesman would take

such small remuneration for their services, it became

the custom to say that if anything was of very small

value, it was not worth a ‘tinker’s dam’. So the ‘dam’

has nothing to do with ponding water or cussing but

an obsolete unit of coinage. Come to mention it,

“cussing” or more correctly “cuss” does come into it.

An alternative saying, “I don’t give a tinker’s cuss..” is

generally thought by many people to mean a cuss as

in an expletive. In the instance of the tinker, it refers

to the piece of clay that was used by the tinker to

hold whatever he was repairing in place.

So there you are, if you want to flash around a bit

of erudition at your next dinner party, these are two

examples that will make you appear very well read

indeed. The tinker’s trade may long have passed into

redundancy but two small relics continue to linger but

how much longer who knows.

References: The Maitland Mercury etc. Sat, 7-4-1884

The Argus (Melbourne) Friday, 15-1-1892

Page 2 STEAM SCENE

Play Toys for Boys In this article, Secretary Peter Stock takes an in-depth look at the working tram crew. Are they indeed just ‘playing’

with an outsized train set? And what about some of the psychology behind their various actions and functions?

Peter puts forward some interesting (perhaps tongue-in-cheek) theories.

Play value is a term that child

psychologists use to evaluate

the effectiveness of toys. That

science is a study of what

keeps a child constructively

occupied and extends into a

child’s adult life. All of us

involved with the play value of

our tramway heritage know

that the term is self-

explanatory. It keeps us hap-

pily amused for indecent

lengths of time engrossed in an

activity or pursuit that fasci-

nates, but on occasions infuri-

ates, family and friends as to

our motives.

Steam tram drivers are a good

example. The driver’s play,

like most, has really never been analytically investi-

gated. Just check the look into the face of a Valley

Heights steam tram driver posed, yes posed, in front

of his motor, then check out the face of one of his

young passengers about to carry his/her teddy on

board. The child is smiling whilst the driver is

attempting to appear macho.

But beyond that look what is the difference between

their attitudes to the big tram toy? The child won’t

let anyone mess about with his teddy bear nor play

with it and the tram driver, too, wants to keep all his

play for himself! The driver can, and does, play act on

the footplate directed at the passengers seated in the

front carriage compartment.

The driver’s toy has to be fed with fossil fuel and

pieces of scrap dead trees and he enjoys playing in the

coal and wood heap with his fireman who has the

final play loading the driver’s play things into the bun-

ker. But the fireman has learned that playing in the

coal heap with the driver can lead to him transferring

heavy weights onto the driver’s toy alone.

Other toys that is the fireman’s exclusive domain is to

play with the water tank filling chain that will, in the

twinkling of an eye, unleash a cascade of water over

them. He also has access to metal toys with a spout

so that more fossil-based substances can be played

over wheels, axle boxes, the ground and whatever is

nearby. (Continued page 3)

(

Remember he cannot couple his priceless toy onto a

carriage without a signal from the delegated conductor

playing with hand signals and blowing a pea-whistle.

But he can play tunes on a rather unique toy, the whis-

tle and the gong in response. When driver arranges

coupling-up, the conductor can play with yet another

toy.

This time play is spinning a large and heavy toy bridge

around a dry pond with driver and fireman’s toy on

top. This manoeuvre attracts all and sundry to join in

playing with this toy but again the driver does not join

in.

The fireman do not have to worry about the driver

playing with their toys. All fireman’s energy goes into

his own toy, namely the coal shovel and playing with

bits of rag and the many levers, knobs and fire-doors.

And for good measure they play with the quirky injec-

tors for hours on end knowing the driver will avoid

taking that toy and play away from them.

When driver feels benevolent he allows the fireman to

join in with play acting on the footplate of his toy to

delight the passengers.

On other occasions the driver will allow the fireman

to play with their toy and manipulate some of his levers

and handles. But the driver and the fireman will never,

never allow a conductor into their domain to play with

their toys.

But the conductors have a play room and toys too.

They don’t have to clamber up into the driver’s toy to

get the benefit of play value. Their play with their toy

is initially concerned with sweeping out of the car-

riage compartments, the removal of grubby finger-

prints from the windows and removing the oily, soot-

laden smuts that spew from the funnel of the driver’s

toy. Even toys like metal cleaner tins, polishing rags, a

back-mounted vacuum cleaner and brooms can pro-

vide a certain satisfaction in play.

Conductors are often politely requested by driver to

assist them to couple-up their toy to the conductor’s

toy. Without the affable and courteous conductor

assisting and playing his part the driver would not have

a complete toy to play with for the rest of the day.

Conductors also get to play by smiling at the visitors,

helping passengers to gain entry up and down into

their toy that they just cleaned, talk to children who

have never before ridden in a rail-mounted toy. Other

play is diverting their fears away from this new experi-

ence by playing with a snake-in-a-box or rabbits-in-

hats, playacting by measuring up visitors for a funeral

“box” and spruiking the availability of “rat’s coffins”,

“doggies” and caffeine fixes. But their best play is

pulling tickets for the ride on their toy and playing with

another toy that rings a bell when it pokes holes in the

ticket.

Finally the conductor has an exclusive play with an-

other of his toys when he unclips, throws and re-clips

the points. There seems to be a reticence on the

driver and fireman to dismount from their toy and play

with the points. Perhaps playing with this particular toy

is literally beneath them. But having said that some

firemen occasionally seek permission to get down

from driver’s toy to join with the conductor and play

with this toy.

Pity the poor designated Operations Manager of the

day. They do not get to play with many toys other

people enjoy.

They have a

separate toy to

play with. Their

toy is reams of

paper, biro

pens, springback

folders, lever-

arch folders and

the like, allow-

ing the toys and

play to be lik-

ened to a game

of “number

d ummy i n g ” .

With those toys

he plays at not-

ing numbers

and words in longhand.

This play must be secreted in an ever-expanding col-

lection of folders kept in the O.M.’s play room. These

toys are then kept in trust for “other people” to make

an appointment to come into the play room. They use

their fancy auditing toys to have a cursory play with the

folders, etc.

When the toys of the O.M. become old the next part

of play is bundling them into parcels to store in case

different “other people” want to come with their

newer toys and change and alter how the play was

previously enjoyed. This further action by “other

people” might account for the irritability generated by

their actions. They do not get to play with the real

toys others enjoy. This then is a brief description

of the tram crews’ daily play with toys. But once these

activities take hold the players and the toys become the

norm. Just the experience of running a steam tram

twice a month is enough to answer the call “bring out

your toys and play”.

And still the psychologist is hard pressed to work it all

out.

Page 3 Volume 8 Issue 4

(Continued on page 6)

An example of a boy

looking after his toy

Memoirs of a Mangler (Part 1) No, not the ‘Boston Strangler’ but the infamous steam tram mangler. When steam trams were first introduced in

Sydney, such was their turn of speed, they frequently caught people off-guard resulting in unfortunate accidents

and indeed, fatalities. The press subsequently labelled them ‘manglers’ This is the first in a small series of articles

recalling some of accidents that happened during the early days of the steam trams.

“An accident of a character extremely rare on the

Sydney tramways, occurred at Moore Park on the 1st

instant (1-4-1899) when a collision took place be-

tween a Randwick race special tram and a Coogee

ordinary tram, The latter, which was heavily laden,

had stopped to set down a number of passengers for

the Zoological Gardens when the race special ran

into it. The motor of the colliding tram and cars of the

standing tram received some damage and unfortu-

nately a number of passengers received injuries. Five

were so severely hurt, they were conveyed to the

hospital and received treatment there, while some six

or seven others received injuries of a less severe na-

ture and were able to proceed to their homes.

“I tell you it was a steam train”, I protested to

Margot, my wife. “It woke me up last night.” Again she

gave me the “yeah, right” look. “Steam went out years

ago. It is all diesel power now or haven’t you noticed”,

she went on.

We were holidaying in Echuca in a caravan park. I

finished my breakfast and headed out to the car. The

car needed petrol so I pulled into the service station.

As I was filling up, I noticed a wrinkled old man sitting

on a bench outside the office. I went and paid my

money and while I was there, I asked the cashier if any

steam trains ran through here.

“Not for the past 40 years”, he grinned. I mentioned

that I had heard one during the night. He gave me a

funny look and assured me I had been dreaming. As I

walked back to the car, I heard someone call out to

me. I turned to see the old man on the bench beckon-

ing me back. I moved my car and went to see what he

wanted.

“I heard what you said in there”, he grunted.

“Yeah, everyone thinks I’ve lost the plot. Even my

wife.”

The old-timer chuckled and invited me to sit down.

“Sure could do with a cup of coffee.”

I went back inside

and ordered two

cups and a couple

of donuts then

settled down be-

side him.

“Let me tell you a

story”, he began.

“Back in the ‘50’s,

when steam ruled

the rails, the

Mildura Express

used to come right

through here daily.

She was the pride of the railways, a magnificent “R”

class engine, the best ever made. They used to hook

her up to goods vans a mile long and she would haul

them through the night without a whimper. Old Jim

Barnes was the driver and a proud man he was. He

used to have her gleaming, shiny black with the red

stripe down the side. You could comb your hair in the

reflection of the brass work and many a time I did.

You see, I was the guard. I rode in the very last car-

riage.

“Well, they named big R107, Black Beauty and she

would set a cracking pace. Weren’t no other engine

that could do the times “old Black” could do. Folks

used to set their clocks by her. She was always right

on time. If she got away late, old Jim would give her a

bit more and she’d soon catch up.

“Well, as steam went out of vogue and diesel took

over, the time came when she was to make her final

run.

“That particular morning we were running late. I

hopped out of the guards van and started towards

the loco to see if everything was alright. Just as I did, I

Page 4

Steam Scene

Ghost Train ? Its not often Steam Scene publishes fiction however member John Withers thought this might be a novel read for

a change. Thanks John.

heard the air-brakes release and I knew Jim was

under way. I jumped back into the van as we rolled

out of Mildura. I checked my pocket watch. It was

2.08 a.m. We were eight minutes late. Old Black

would have to have a red-hot go this morning be-

cause I had seen the manifest. We had one heck of a

load to haul.

“She started to gather momentum and before long

we were in full swing. I watched the crossings flash

past one after another. At each, the whistle would

blow a warning. So many folk used to get out of bed

to start the day by that wonderful sound.

“I checked my watch again. Old Jim had her flying. As

we rounded a bend, I looked out the window. The

old girl was trailing a flame and cinders about 20 feet

long from her stack. We were beginning to make up

all the lost time. I could imagine him right now, coax-

ing and talking her into giving a bit more. The auto-

matic stoker would have been working overtime. It

wasn’t an engine to Jim, It was his best mate, his

baby. They had been together since she was deliv-

ered new to the marshalling yards. They had not

been apart ever since. If he went on leave, he would

put her in for service. Nobody was allowed to drive

her but Jim.

“I settled back and let the clickety-clack of the

wheels and the rocking to and fro, remind me of the

days gone by. Too bad it was all going to come to an

end in a couple of hours. The blast of the whistle

brought me back to reality. I checked my watch

again. 4.17 a.m. This would be Echuca and we were

dead on time. The blooming diesels would never

hold a candle to old Black Beauty. At this stage, I

felt a chill come over me. Funny how you check the

time when you wake up in the middle of the night.

The time was embedded in my memory already. It

had been 4.17 a.m.”

The old chap paused for a moment as if to collect

himself. He glanced at me briefly and I think I saw a

tear in those old eyes. He went on.

“Well, we made it to Spencer St. station exactly on

time (as usual). I collected my things and had a last

look around the van, my workplace for the last 30

years. It was a sad moment for me. I walked up to

the loco looking for Jim. The footplate was deserted.

The engine-driver’s special security key was not in its

place. Guessed he had gone for a coffee in the driv-

ers room.

Typical “R” class.

I found that empty too. Where was the old warrior? I

went in to see Alec, the Station Master and as I came

through the door, a quietness fell across the room.”

“Hello Bert”, Tom said, “Did you hear about Jim?”

“I stood there in silence.”

“His wife found him dead in his bed this morning. He

apparently suffered a heart attack during the night. I am

so sorry.”

“The news hit me like a ton of bricks.”

“Well who drove the train?” I asked,.

“Well that is a bit of a mystery. You see, we don’t

know. There is no record of anybody signing her out.

No driver signed on and there was no stand-by driver

available anyway. It appears to have goy here on its

own accord which of course, is ridiculous. Bu nobody

can explain what happened. The security key is still

hanging in the locked cupboard in Mildura.“

“I shuffled aimlessly out of the office and headed for the

train which would return me to Mildura. I could smell

the thing even before I reached it. It was a stinking

diesel. Well, I quit the railways as soon as I got back

home. I had had enough. It wouldn’t be the same with-

out Old Jim and Black Beauty. But you know son, I

reckon I still hear the old girl charging through here

from time to time but folks around here, tell me I’m

crazy.”

Page 5 Volume 8 Issue 4

I said goodbye to the old timer and headed back to

the caravan park. I had to pass the level crossing

where the train used to run. I parked the car and

walked along the rusty old track. It was quite obvi-

ous they hadn’t been used for years. As I turned to

go back again, something glinting in the sun caught

my eye. I made a closer inspection. It was black

engine oil that had rubbed off on the long grass.

Then there was more and yet another patch.

Something had travelled these tracks as recently as

last night. Could it have been Black Beauty?

I raced back to the servo. The old man was still

there.

“When did all this happen” I asked, “you know, the

story you told me?”

He thought for a moment and then his reply stag-

gered me.

“Exactly twenty years ago, this very day.”

I walked into the caravan and my wife noticed a wry

smile on my face.

“What have you been up to?” she inquired.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you“ I replied.

(With thanks to Probus Magazine Feb/Mar 2011. Author

unknown.)

Heavy Overhaul for 100 The following report is reproduced from “The Controller”, Autumn 2011 edition. This is the house journal of the Mu-

seum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) Western Springs (Auckland) New Zealand

Just about everything that needed to be stripped off

Baldwin steam tram 100 has now been removed. Refur-

bishment is now underway on the parts that need doing

up. These include the wheels and axles which are at

respective contractors.

In the meantime, work is being done on stripping

paint and gunge off the various parts which have been

removed and re-painting them. This includes the chassis,

especially the hard-to-get areas behind the wheels.

Work has finished honing the cylinders and a quote

has been requested for refurbishment of the pistons.

Tony Messenger who has been overseeing the work,

said that despite the lapping technique, concentrating on

the middle of the bores, there is still some oversize at

each end. “This wear pattern would have been caused

by the extreme wear on the rod guide bushes which in

hind sight, should have been replaced at less that 100

year intervals, and slop in the cross head guide.” he said.

“However, it is relatively minor and not worth worrying

about.”

“Only boring of the cylinders would eliminate it but

removal from the engine to do this proved too difficult

with the resources available.” said Mr. Messenger.

The springs which had not been touched since the tram

was built in 1891, were found to be in a pretty bad way

and new springs are now being made. The wheels were

removed on February 27 and are now at A & G Price

awaiting work to correct a problem with the back-to-

back measurements and re-profile the tyres. The prob-

lem with the back-to-backs was caused when it received

railway profile tyres after being taken out of service on

the Sydney Tramways. This was because a lot of the

trams were sold to private

industry to work out the

rest of their lives in quarries

etc.

Project Leader, David

Robb, said removing the

wheels involved lifting the

tram with tram lifting jacks

in each corner, lifting on

cross bars under the

frames. Once the wheels

were out, the tram was

lowered onto stands, with

jacks supporting the middle

of the chassis rails. The axle

box keeper plates had pre-

viously been removed, to

allow the tram to be lifted

clear of its wheels.

(Top right) David

Robb (foreground)

and David Cawood

wind on the jack

handles as they lift

100 clear of its

wheels. (Right) The

wheels have rolled

clear and the tram is

ready to be lowered

onto stands.

PERSONAL

Life Member, Ron Mills is now

in nursing care at Avalon. Ron,

who is over 90, suffers from Park-

inson’s disease. On Friday August

12, Chairman Craig paid Ron a

visit. Ron was delighted to see

Craig and catch up on things at

the tramway. Ron still maintains a

keen interest in what is happen-

ing. His technological knowledge

remains as sharp as a tack.

ooo0ooo

Extremely sad to relate that

Daphne Millier , wife of late Life

Member, Frank Millier, passed

away suddenly on

August 12. Your Edi-

tor was privileged to

represent the society

at the funeral.

OTHER NEWS

Museum member Rod Hawkes

is a pretty handy sort of a bloke

as work on loco 3214 readily

bears testament to. Coming to

an enforced standstill on this

current project, Rod volunteered

to needle gun the under-frame of

our “S’ truck. This has put us in

front with this part of the pro-

ject. Our sincere thanks to you

Ron for your most excellent

work. Society members have

largely top coated Rod’s work.

ooo0ooo

Wheel Sets and Cylinder

Casting

Wheels and axles from one bo-

gey of 93B, together with the

cylinder casting of 1022, were

sent to DSL Engineering at

Wetherill Park quite some time

ago. The wheels were to be re-

pressed onto the axles whilst the

cylinder casting was to be ma-

chined.

These jobs were to be done at

‘mates rates’ but as so often

Steam Tram & Railway Preservation (Co-Op)

Society Ltd.

t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway

ABN 46 193 707 109

P.O. Box 571, Springwood NSW 2777

Web site:www.infobluemountains.net.au/

Chairman and Works Manager,

Craig Connelly

02 9729 3536

Secretary and P.E.O. Peter Stock

(02) 9587 9051

Treasurer and Editor “Steam Scene”

Bruce Irwin

(02) 9651 1707

Membership Secretary, David Lewis

(02) 9630 6304

The museum is located in Tusculum Road,

Valley Heights. Ample parking is available. A

train service is available to Springwood. Valley

Heights station is accessible for museum

visitors but you must walk around to the

Tusculum Road entrance and not attempt to

short-cut across the tracks.

The museum is open

between 10 and 4 on the

2nd and 4th Sundays of

the month. Steam

operations on both days.

“Preserving the past,

enriching the future”

Works Report: LFA 179: Progress on cleaning bogey and parts prior to crack

testing. S4360: Under-frame needle-gunned and painted. Further work on wheel

set re-conditioning. Dust plates and seals manufactured. Axle boxes, wheels, spring

gear re-installed. DD99: Transverse tie-rods set-up. Sanding-back continuing for

undercoating. ‘Lazy-back’ seat timbers purchased. Stepho: Boiler tube replaced.

Last but not least…..

Turn Off the Light!

Changing hats from

Editor to Treasurer, I

would remind workers

that electricity prices are

soaring. We have some big

power consumers in the way of

depot and shed lighting. Without

compromising OH & S please

don’t burn those big overhead

lights unnecessarily and do you

really need to turn on the water

boiler when a jug of hot water

would do for one or two cups of

tea? Think conservatively and

help us contain costs. Our in-

come isn’t growing but our costs

are.

the case, the firm was always just

that much too busy to fit the job

in. Our patience having expired,

we have now taken both jobs to

Ainsworth Engineering at Goul-

burn. We are expecting the cylin-

der casting to be done first within

a couple of weeks.

A Word of Thanks

Museum members Terry Match-

ett and Alan Stanley are two

further very handy blokes. Re-

cently they jacked up the ‘S” truck

and reinstalled its wheels, springs

and axle boxes. Thanks men. This

work is very much appreciated,

especially as it is a society project

and not the museum’s. Its just

another example of how the soci-

ety and museum work together

ooo0ooo

Bits and Pieces

The museum (VHLDHM) has

made a bid to obtain from Pacific

National, rail tractor, X 102.

No word yet from ORH re secu-

rity fencing for signal box com-

pound.

At the commission of the ORH, a

consultant has prepared a report

on the condition of the sig-

nal box building. Report avail-

able shortly.

ooo0ooo

(Clockwise) 1.Op’s

Manager Peter

Stock starts his

tram. 2 Steve

Tolhurst working

on axle boxes.. 3.

Craig modifying

LFA bogey part. 4.

Setting up control

fence at new

terminus. 5. The

Editor receives a

birthday cake.

Trammies at Work and

Play

(From page 3.) An official inquiry

was held, the examination of the

men being conducted by the

Locomotive Superintendent and

the Tramway Traffic Superinten-

dent, and it is understood that as

a result of the inquiry it was

found that collision was caused

by the driver and fireman of the

special tram not keeping a suffi-

cient look-out, and both have

been suitably dealt with. From

inquiries made it is satisfactory

to know that the injured persons

are progressing well towards

recovery.” NSW Budget 20-4-

1899

It is with sadness

that we record the

passing of Dorothy

Ball on Thursday

6th October 2011.

Dorothy was a very dear friend

of Steve Corrigan (Museum

Retail Manager) and we know

her passing will be a deep loss

to him. Our condolences to

Dorothy’s family and Steve.

R.I.P.