WVJ Water Tank

WVJ Water Tank

The Whiteman Village Junction Water Tank is now completed with water finally flowing from the tank mounted arm from the former "Formby Siding" watering stop on Wednesday 30th of November - nearly 20 years after the railway acquired it.

In early 2008 long standing BBR member Ross Parker took on the task to bring this long term water tank project to reality. It has has taken a little over three years in the execution, requiring substantial modifications to the original tank and working in difficult outdoor conditions. As with all of his projects, Ross ensured that all aspects of the project were carefully thought through to enable all the pieces to come together.

With respect to watering steam locomotives, quite early on it had been deemed by the organisation that procurement of a WAGR water tank from a country town would not be practical due to sheer size and weight. Likewise a WAGR tank stand was also in the too hard basket.

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Water Column and Stand at Gnowangerup

The water column from Gnowangerup was acquired by the BBR and so on a weekend in May 1992, a small team of BBR members travelled to Gnowangerup to dismantle the water column and tank there. The tank was too badly rusted to save but the rail stand and associated column parts were dismantled.

This temporary installation was put in by the WAGR after the line had been closed beyond Gnowangerup in October 1957. Diesels were in use on the line but due to a bumper grain season, it was deemed necessary to run steam on the line once again and so watering facilities were required at the end of the line, hence a very small tank and flimsy looking stand were installed.

Gnowangerup Station from the top of the tank stand at Gnowangerup

Whilst in the area a short drive was made out to the former WAGR "Formby Siding" watering stop where there was 2 water tanks remaining insitu. BBR sought permission from the farmer whose property the siding then resided on, to remove the cast iron arm from the Eastern Tank at Formby for preservation and use on the BBR .

Formby Siding - Western tank with somewhat modified arm

Formby Siding in August 2003 - thanks to D. Copley for use of this picture.

Formby Siding - Eastern Tank with arm recovered for preservation by BBR

The water tank which has now been used at Whiteman Village Junction, had been in storage at the Mussel Pool depot for some time after being sourced from a salvage yard in Hazlemere - thought to have been used at the Midland Abattoir. It was purchased due it looking not too dissimilar to a railway style tank, but being not too big to handle.

For some years all of these items were stored at the BBR's Mussel Pool depot awaiting the day they could be restored to be used again for the purpose they were built.

In early 2008 BBR member Ross Parker agreed to manage the restoration project. June 2008 saw the start of some action occurring on the construction of the Tank stand, with the steel legs intended for use being dug out of the storage compound and preparation work commencing. The footings for the stand were marked out and the concrete poured at the location at WVJ station.

Tank stand footings and one of the steel supports at WVJ

November 2008 and Greg started beavering away at construction of the stand and work on the tank itself. The tank was moved to a location near the workshops for ease of access and the top removed for internal access.. Thanks to PETS for use of their mobile crane. By December the Tank was ready for sandblasting and primer

By January 2009 most of the column parts had been relocated from the storage compound, some repairs were effected to damaged parts and then they were primed and painted. In December 2009 the Tank was ready and painted - the stand parts were loaded onto a QBB flat wagon and relocated to WVJ where it was later erected.The Tank also was transported by rail to the WVJ site.

After some delays with construction of a new roof, it was during August/September of 2011 that the new tank roof was fitted and then placement of the Water tank on its stand at Whiteman Village Junction took place, enabling the erection of the associated tank mounted and free standing water columns to commence.

After several months of installation work of the tank mounted column, plumbing and fittings, on Wednesday 30th of November 2011 water flowed from the tank mounted column once again. It is hoped to soon be able to install the free standing column from Gnowangerup, for use on 1 road across the tracks.

New tank in location at WVJ station

Tank Mounted Column in place on the tank

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Water flows for the first time

The water tank will be a great asset to the railway in future steam seasons, as it will enable our steam locomotives to be filled with rain water (rather than bore water). It has a back up storage and pumping system in place to keep the tank supplied with water harvested from the Revolutions Museum roofing. The use of rain water should require less chemical additive to the water with financial & environmental benefits. Apart from a slight leak at the outlet (which will be fixed) for the future 1 road water column, everything works well. A "shroud" or metal cover for the chain wheel is yet to be fabricated - this will prevent the chain from coming off the wheel, which if it should occur when the valve is open, could pose quite a damp problem. A separate chain has been provided for swinging the crane arm in and out.

This structure adds another interesting heritage aspect to the already impressive rail precinct at Whiteman Village Junction. Ross related "When I tested this with the Perry (Betty Thompson), it filled the Right Hand Side tank to overflowing in 43 seconds! The transfer pipe (between the 2 tanks) just isn't big enough to transfer the water to the offside tank quickly enough! This will of course also provide another interesting operational aspect for members and visitors to the railway

Ross would like to thank Greg Harris, who put in many hours of laser cutting and welding in trying conditions. Thanks also go to Brian Rourke, Kim Parker, Tony Gauci, Richard and Ken Cheeseman, John Johnstone and Simon Mead for their assistance. A special thanks goes to Bob Davies and his company BG&E as the structural engineer for his guidance and oversight on the modifications and erection.

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