News June - Aug 09
|
News June - Aug 09
|
  |
22/08/09 Friday night 21/08/09 saw a 18 members at the workshops for the regular get together - although the intention for the night was to have a little more fun than usual. Still some work got done with progress being made by Alan & James on the QBB overhaul and Derek and Greg spent the evening reassembling the smokebox furniture (Baffles and Spark Arrestors) in NG123, which should see it back in service soon. The fun part of the night for some was the night running of BT1 for a bit of crew training. At about 6pm BT1 left the shed onto the three coach train at Mussel Pool.
With Bob at the regulator and Michael learning how to use the shovel under instruction from Neil, the train headed into the dark night up to Whiteman Village Junction and then did two loop journeys before returning to Mussel Pool for some dinner. Michael did pretty well for his first time on the shovel - and even better given it was done in darkness. After some dinner was had and the tanks & coal bunker had been filled, BT1 ventured out again this time with Peter learning the shovel in BT1's confined cab. Although only 1 full journey was made - Peter got a good taste of how hard the little Perry can make you work, doing quite well also. Of course the remaining members made themselves comfortable in the coaches and enjoyed a little fresh night air, the smell of hot oil & steam, the glow from an open firebox door, and sparks from the chimney, which can only be experienced when being hauled by steam at night. A good night was had by all.
9/08/09
5/08/09 Much continues to occur on the BBR - The Friday night crews continue to have a good turn out of members to help out with the necessary maintenance work on Derek's long list. After working everyday during the school holiday period Ng123 has been taken out of service for maintenance requirements due to a superheater which had a small hole develop, there is also thought to be a slight leak on a fire tube which is also being dealt with. Meanwhile BT1 has been out of service with minor issues which have now been sorted out an should see the little Perry return to service this weekend.
The restoration / overhaul of the QBB flat wagon is coming along with the guys doing a first rate job cleaning and prepping and painting the frames as well as inserting some new support timbers. It should be almost as good as new soon - not doing to bad for a wagon of it's age - originally built as an "R" wagon for WAGR in 1897 and converted to Q class in 1955, then to QBB in 1963. It was written off by Westrail in 1990 before finding a home at BBR where it had bogies converted to 610mm gauge (2ft).
Some work has commenced on the restoration of the new Big Perry with the first stage of removing the cab taking place on Friday 31/07/09. Some work has also been taking place on the Tamper with it being fired up again - though sounding a little off colour. The mid week crew as usual are always beavering away at different projects with much cleaning up around the depot being done as well as some restoration work on the 2 new carriages that came with the Big Perry from NSW. Well Done Everyone
25/07/09 During the July school holidays the "Ye Olde Geysers Rattler" ran regular services over the Bushland Loop every day of the holidays. NG 123 ran every weekday between 11am and 3pm crewed by Bob, Paul (down especially from Singapore), and Jamie. Their average age is 68 years. They were ably assisted by Terry, Barry and Elsie, also seniors, who manned the ticket office. Cadet Brayden came out on some days and assisted by shovelling the coal in the tender forward but we can't count him as he would lower our average age too much. We cannot forget the mid-week crew who spent a day chopping up old sleepers to light up NG 123. In fact the youngest thing working the railway was NG 123, a mere chicken at 58 years of age.
NG 123 ran faultlessly every day for 16 days, including weekends, and this would be the longest period in which it has operated continuously since it arrived at BBR in 1984 - testament to the skill and dedication of Loco Manager Derek and the Friday night crew. Some days we had good patronage, 270 passengers, some days the weather was against us, 12 passengers. In total 1132 passengers were carried over the weekdays of the holidays creating valuable revenue for the Railway.
24/06/09 Today BBR took delivery of a New Locomotive - 1951 built Perry 0-6-2T ex Marian Mill Queensland - most recently used at "Melaleuca Station" near Tweed Heads NSW, on a tourist park development which recently closed. After the arrival of 0-4-2T Perry Betty Thompson on the railway in 1996, it had always been considered by most of the steam crews that a slightly larger 0-6-2T size loco would be a welcome addition to our loco fleet and thus when this Perry became available - naturally we were interested.
So after much research to determine its condition and suitability for our railway, BBR purchased the Locomotive and its 2 passenger carriages
The locomotive and carriages left NSW last week and arrived in Whiteman Park around 9.30am on the 24/06/09, the locomotive touching down on BBR rails around 10.30am. It was a very wet morning but the arrival naturally attracted a good number of BBR members and others who braved the bleak weather to see the equipment unloaded.
When all the equipment had been unloaded the opportunity was taken to compare our new Perry with our smaller one BT1.
By Midday the cranes had gone, the locomotives put away - a load of coal had also been delivered and the front of the shed had been cleaned up. All in all a busy morning on the BBR. Thanks to S.Mead and T. Blinco for taking a few pictures.
23/06/09 Friday Night report by J. Waterhouse The night started with Planet pushing the NG15 123 out of the pit, but the Planet made an unusual rattling noise and so was seen to by Trevor. A project was started by Alan and James. The QBB 2889 flat wagon is now getting re-decked and on Friday the old boards were taken out. This project should not take too long and soon it will be back in service for track maintenance.
The coach shed is clean! The mid week crew has done a fantastic job of cleaning out the shed. It is amazing what some cleaning can do. So, the Friday night crew would like to thank them for doing a great job. NG15 118 had its fire grates taken out. These newer grates will be put in it's sister, NG15 123, as hers are playing up. Simon had the role of going into the fire box and passing them out to the others. You could only see Simon when he smiled! BBR has a new member often found round the depot during Midweek & Fri night Crew Meetings - One of the Whiteman park bandicoot population has become rather docile and sometimes under foot!
14/06/09 Steam Returns to BBR After a successful start to the steam season at BBR with the Friends of Thomas day, BBR is now operating steam on all weekend services where possible. Ng123 is now able to be used over the entire railway due to recent track upgrades and is seen here below at the head of the service train on Sun 14th of June 2009 Perry 0-6-2T may also be found in use on service trains during the season.
9/06/09 On Friday 5th the crew of 10 did some little jobs around the workshops. The pit shed was cleaned up by getting rid of old cabinets and cleaning the work benches. The loco shed was also cleaned up a bit. A door on the corridor set was wedged and was quickly fixed, and a new lock was put on to stop it happening again. The loco, Maylands, got its new motor, new gear box and a radiator put back in using the crane.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bennett Brook Railway Webmaster N. Blinco
|
