CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAYS (INC) Sept. 2016

Transcription

1 CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAYS (INC) Sept Celebrating 40years Some of our members went down to Dwellingup for the big event. Congratulations to HVR to have reached another mile-stone. ISSUE NO: 355

2 Castledare Miniature Railway (CMR) P.O Box 337 Bentley, WA 6982 Patron: Dr. M. Lekias Contact listing for CMR Management Committee members. All information on this page ratified by Management Committee June President: Mike Crean Vice President: Luke Prindiville Mob: Secretary: Les Smith Ph: Alternatively Minute Secretary: Tania Mackellar - Mob: maykae@live.com.au Treasurer: Roger Matthews Mob: O treasurer@castledare.com.au Committee: Eno Gruszecki - Mob: Ken Belcher - Ph: kencmr2016@tpg.com.au Craig Belcher Ph craig.belcher@bigpond.com Rod Bradley Ph Membership + Licenses: Sue Belcher Bookings: Ken Belcher See above. Bookings/Events Boiler Inspectors: Richard Stuart - Ph: , Keith Watson - Ph: Qualification Examiners: Steam Locomotives Keith Watson, Roger Matthews, Luke Prindiville, Diesel Locomotives - Craig Belcher, John Watson, Vic Jones, Eno Gruszecki Guards & Safe working Trish Stuart, John Watson, Vic Jones, Eno Gruszecki Signals Mike Crean, Ric Edwards Track Master: Vacant First Aid Officers: Tania Watson Senior Janitor Keith Price Editor of Cinders and Soot: Les Smith. No personal letters will be printed without committee approval 2

3 The President s PRATTLE Hotham Valley Railway celebrated its 40 th birthday at Dwellingup on Sunday the 11 th of September Congratulations to the HVR, President Vince and members for a wonderful day riding the train and a very tasty lunch. I was invited as a VIP guest and my wife and I really enjoyed the day. Thank you all at HVR. May there be many more birthdays to come. At last we have access to the club rooms from the member s car park. The contractors have laid a lime stone drive from the corner of the new car park at the foot bridge along the side of the railway into the member s car park using the original rail way cross over and gate way. A new fence has been erected along the side of the main car park down to the member s access road and back up to Bywater Drive. The fence has been moved back from the member s entry to allow large vehicle and trailer access to our loading facilities. The area between the new car park and Niana Station has been finished in lime stone. Members and the public are asked not to park in this area as it is used as walk ways between the foot bridge and the ticket box. PLEASE PARK ON THE ROAD BASE CAR PARK AREA ONLY. A contractor has been engaged to remove the paving slabs between the flag pole and the Toilet block and Canteen It will be levelled and a lime stone path will be placed in this area as well as the viewing area next to the ticket box. The Wednesday team have all but completed the Canning area track re-lay. Two large truck loads of road base were delivered to the main car park near the foot bridge on Friday. Ken has started moving it from there to the track. The Wednesday team have started using it to ballast the re-laid track work. Again a great effort by John, Ken and the team. Many, many thanks to you all. ANY MEMBERS THAT CAN SPARE SOME TIME TO HELP WITH BELASTING PLEASE CONTACT. John Watson at the club on Wednesday s and Friday s or other involved member s on Saturday s. All the help we can get will be much appreciated as we have the club s 53 third birthday and Wilson 30 year extension calibrations over the second weekend of October. IT IS NOT JUST BALLASTING THAT REQUIRES HELP. PLEASE COME ALONG AND HELP US ALL TO BE READY FOR OUR OCTOBER RUNS. Canning Junction signals and points were fully tested last Saturday and all worked as expected with the exception of signals CJ9 and CJ11. They were off site for some extensive re-programming. Thanks to Morris and John for all the help on the day. As always we must encourage and congratulate our junior members on their great enthusiasm and their dedication to the club and its members. Thanks boys and keep up the great work. I see you were all a little scarce around the club over the last month. There is a lot going on around our city to entertain you all in spring. We missed you and hope to see more of you in the coming months. Until next time please visit your club and its facilities. They are there for all of us to enjoy. Mike Crean 3

4 FROM THE TREASURER (his ramblings ) Weeds and weeding As everyone would be aware we are now in spring even if temps are still like winter. Due to a wetter winter than most recently and the fact we have not been running from Niana weeds have got the better of the railway in most places. Some of this has been due to not having access. Weeding if done regularly need not be hard work especially if done by many rather than just a few. There are two whipper snipers also that can be used to keep long grass in check. Weed Spray and spraying equipment is on site. Members who have helped are Sue Belcher, Bernie Courtney, Les Smith, Stork and myself. There is now a very large pile of mulch which can be used to suppress weeds in and around the gardens and trees. So next time you are at the railway instead of walking past the weed clump just stop and pull it out. Rubbish and bins. Members would be aware that the large waste bin is now close to the Toilet block and is kept locked with a standard CMR lock. It is very unfair to leave the emptying of bins to others when everyone contributes to filling them one way or another. Generally, it is good old Stork who does this on a regular basis. The club was asked some time ago to provide bins for mostly people fishing on the river banks and these bins are our responsibility to empty. This in the past has been done by the same regular few. I would remind all members that it is our environmental responsibility to keep the land the railway runs on in a clean and tidy manner. It is also in the club s interest to make the railway as attractive as possible for our patrons. Security Once again the Car park gate was left open. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the last person leaving the railway by car locks the gate. The last thing we need is hoons using the new road base surface car park as a Friday Night Burnout event. Air Compressor The Air Compressor is now in the power room and is turned on at a switch next to the security pad. We now have compressor, water pump, hot water heater and hot water urn switches with tell tail lights in the one location, so there should be no excuses for them being left on when members lock and leave the premises. Keys Members who are offered a club key at the discretion of the committee are loco owners if they ask for one. Committee members if they also ask for one and members who are actively involved on a regular basis and also ask for one. Unfortunately, we have recently had two past committee members who after several requests have not returned their keys, one who is no longer a club member. Their reason for not having returned them is that they have misplaced them! The club has a large number of locks that are all keyed alike and are numbered and registered. Keys are also numbered and all members who request a key sign for them. The last time the club replaced all its locks and keys cost around $2500. Members who have keys are reminded of their responsibility and to take every care with them. School Holiday Runs The school holiday runs are now an important part of club revenue and also an expectation of the City of Canning that the Wilson Station is used. We try to run three trains and often have large groups that are well organised and cause no extra work on CMR members. I realise that many members work during the week but if you are free from say 9 30 until 2 pm your assistance will be greatly appreciated. 4

5 FROM THE SECRETARY Congratulations to Mitchell Knyn who passed his Safe Working exam on Sunday 18 th. Also congratulations are in order to Mitch who has been selected to enter the Army for a special course with the sad news that we will lose his attendance...soon. Roger has mentioned locks and keys. We have a number of restricted keys missing that have probably been loaned to contractors etc and not returned. If you know of somebody with one of our restricted keys, please seek return. We successfully grow weeds! As Roger has said, please pull a few out each time you attend the premises. Remember that a tidy well maintained appearance goes a long-way to impress others and not just our clients, we also have our land-lords such as Christian Brothers, City of Canning and a couple of Gov t bodies that take an interest. Check-out the photos below! We have had a break-in to the lady s toilet by some person smashing the lock. It is a little out-ofsight, but when you are down around this area, please take a check that every-thing appears OK. Fortunately, no damage was done internally. Our rider-ship has now exceeded 18,000 for the year to date. This is pretty good considering the drizzle and one of our coldest winters. Please note the private booking dates that follow. These runs are a part of our income and Ken Belcher requires a few persons to help. BEFORE AFTER 5

6 Dion snapped a misty C-1703 at the HVR 40 th Year celebrations. In 1962 there were 3 for trial against the Clyde EMD A Classes. These very attractive more powerful units from English Electric lost out in the short term but survived for 30years. They were developed from the Queensland (QR) 1250Class with the same traction motors as the Midland G Class. In 1966 the WAGR placed the K Class of 1795hp into std gauge service. QR followed with their 1300s (based on the K) on ng for Moura coal, then the WAGR R &RAs with the Tassie Z to follow. A further up-rated version followed in 1973 for the QR and Tassie.2350 & ZAs of 2350hp. They were eventually de-rated back to 1795hp. The QR units went to Tassie as the ZB and ZCs and eventually some ZBs to Western Australia. The C Class is the basis of the Doug Skewes COMET VALE at CMR. TRIVIA. The English Electric locomotive manufacture has died. They were a bit of a nuisance as with 110v controls and air engine speed control they could not mu with the locomotives developed from the USA. How-ever, as a four-cycle engine they would have been 4% better in terms of fuel consumption over the 2-stroke engined A Class. The engine is a good solid beast and still sees use in marine and generating applications around the world. The engine can take some lack of attention with a tolerance to dilution of fuel in the lubrication oil in the order of 4 to 5% where-as for EMD it is a limit at 1%. Re-assembly of an engine at workshops during over-haul could take three weeks where-as for EMD it was two weeks. Queensland Rail engineers suggested to EE that a gear driven camshaft system could be fitted in lieu of the chain system and such was adopted. This was a significant improvement. Late in their lives, a black box was used in New Zealand and Tassie to mu with EMDs. The EE locomotives also had minimum field start where-as the EMD / GE / ALCO practice was maximum field. This meant that when driving it was a good idea to leave the locomotive in notch 1 when rolling down a grade and not in idle so that when notching-up for the next up-grade there would not be a lag in getting to power. They were good traction machines and used a light rapid locomotive brake application to control wheel-slip which did not require a power reduction and loss of momentum. In Tassie, four long wheel-based ZCs in multiple up the Kimberly Bank was quite a ride. Curves in Tassie were originally just a 5chain radius and in the days of ANR the curves had transition applied and the actual curved part reduced to 4 1/2chain radius. Riding in the rear cab, one could see into the cab of the lead unit as they ground and weaved up-hill! 6

7 How-ever, it is the legacy of the turbo-charger that lives on. It was difficult in the early 70s to tell an ALCO t charger apart from the EE as their designer went to the USA. Alco also manufactured for General Electric back then. It was GE that in my view finally killed-off EE locomotives. But, we have Comet Vale! October CALENDAR 2016 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 28Sept 1 2 General Clean-up NIANA Work Day Run School Hols Running Day WILSON General Committee General Work Day School Hols Running Meeting Work & WILSON Track Birthday Run See detail in this edition. Meeting re Junior Project 11-00am General Nite W'shop General WILSON Work Day Fish & Chips Work Run Day Day General Work Day General Work Day General Work Day 7

8 Just a reminder to all members: If you are planning on joining in the birthday weekend, 7 th, 8 th 9 th October 2016, you must complete and return the form included with this newsletter. This will facilitate catering arrangements for the weekend. There are a few spare forms on the table in the clubrooms. Private bookings to date: Friday 23 rd September Small group for a couple of rides from 11.30am Sunday 29 th September Birthday Party Wilson 10am thru to 12noon Sunday 29 th September Birthday Party Wilson - 1pm thru to 3pm Sunday 27 th November Wilson Parish members 11am thru to 1pm - Niana Sunday 11 th December Lyon Nathan Dairy Dept times to be confirmed In addition to the above, there is a tentative booking for Saturday 26 th November for one of the Silver Chain groups. More information as it becomes available will be published. Apart from bringing in some additional revenue to the club, more importantly, these private bookings also serve to keep our club in the public eye and so contribute to an increase in patronage on our normal public run days. Any members who are able to assist with any or all of the above private bookings, please advise Ken Belcher. The 29 th September runs from Wilson are two completely separate groups and will, in all probability, require a couple of members in addition to the train crews, to ensure that members of the general public don t encroach on these bookings. Many thanks, in anticipationken - kencmr2016@tpg.com.au Junior Project Luke Prindiville As most of the juniors know I will be undertaking their supervision for the rebuild of the club s traditionally known Junior Loco, Odo. With the re-establishment of the Canning loop progressing so well, we will soon have access to the workshop that will allow us to move the engine over and start work. This also has coincided well with the completion of the Hockey season and my eldest getting his licence, therefore my commitment to driving my own kids around will be reduced giving me more free time to concentrate on this and other projects. This being the case I would like to schedule a catch up with both the juniors and their parents on Sunday the 9 th of October at 11am. I would like to discuss who is interested in being involved with the project and what days we will meet to work on it. I would also like to discuss plans for a run day schedule for the juniors this would be an ongoing program that will help to have the juniors actively involved in all aspects of the run day. The meeting should not take longer than about 30mins. Look forward to seeing you all there. 8

9 THE 53 RD BIRTHDAY RUN ALSO CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF THE WETLANDS EXTENSION! FRIDAY OCT 7 TH (ON DEMAND) NIGHT RUN! SATURDAY OCT. 8th 12 noon TILL LATE SUNDAY OCT. 9th 9 AM TO 3:30PM - 7 ¼ ONLY. 5km 7 ¼ gauge Coal, Fuel and Oils supplied Road Vehicles and Model Engineering displays welcome TEA/COFFEE & LIGHT REFRESHMENTS ALL WEEKEND, BBQ DINNER SATURDAY NIGHT CANTEEN OPEN SATURDAY FOR LUNCHES/DRINKS AT COST. Public running Sunday 2 nd and 16 th October. Limited storage space available on shed. NO BOILER CERTIFICATE, NO RUN! Spark arrestors and secure ash pans are a must For catering purposes, please return this slip if you are going to join us for any part of the weekend, by Sept. 23 RD 2016 via to: kencmr2016@tpg.com.au given to Sue or Ken Belcher at the railway Name: Club / Group I/We will / will not be bringing an engine (if yes please provide an idea of size if storage is required no guarantees are made) I/We will / will not require evening meal on Saturday If yes, please indicate number of persons requiring meals 9

10 Father s Day 2016 Top Left John Watson brings SUMO off Stanbridge and around the picnic ground. Top Right Roger with City of Canning follows John. Left Vic Jones and his work-horse pass the Canteen leaving NIANA back to WILSON. Guard Cooper is actually on another train. The G is a good strong loco but it can-not pull a train that long! Left Les Millman with Phoenix leads Craig Belcher with John Millman built by Roger. This was a real steam day with a large attendance. Photos taken by Dion (again!) and Sean Smith. 10

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