CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAY (INC)

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1 CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAY (INC) castledare.com.au Issue No: July 2018 Tinkerbell through the gardens Photo by Rod Bradley P.O Box 337 Bentley, WA

2 Contact listing for CMR Roles and Management: Patron: Dr. M. Lekias Name Phone President Mike Crean Vice President Luke Prindiville Secretary Les Smith Minute Secretary Rod Bradley Treasurer Roger Matthews Committee Members Eno Gruszecki Terry Skinner Craig Belcher Richard Stuart Dylan Audrain Membership & Licenses Sue Belcher Bookings Ken Belcher Boiler Inspectors Richard Stuart Keith Watson Track Master Vacant Canteen Manager Tania Watson Senior Janitor Keith Price First Aiders Tania Watson Luke Prindiville Editor of Cinders & Soot Heidi Prindiville No personal letters will be printed without committee approval Qualification Examiners Steam Locomotives Roger Matthews Luke Prindiville Diesel Locomotives Craig Belcher John Watson Vic Jones Eno Gruszecki Roger Matthews Guards & Safe working Trish Stuart John Watson Vic Jones Eno Gruszecki Signals Mike Crean Ric Edwards 2

3 From the Editors Desk By Heidi Prindiville Welcome to the July Issue of Cinders and Soot. Just a reminder to all that the date for submissions is in the calendar below and without your input we end up with a very thin magazine. Some Sad News For July we have been saddened by the notification of the deaths of two previous members, Cliff Pole and Barry Pearce. Both had been around for many years. CLIFF was an Electrical Engineer and did a lot of electric work for CMR. He was an Englishman with a great love of trains, as evidenced in another piece in this edition, and he had a reasonable sense of humour.for an Englishman! Cliff s work lives on in the club with his 5inch gauge 42-2 Class for children s use. His Black 5 steamer was completed and was on show at Port Macquarie AALS recent Convention. His daughter, Wendy Brockhurst, sent this .how fantastic his loco is still giving such joy, how he loved building it. At present dad has donated his body to science, to the University of Western Australia. He was never one for a lot of pomp and ceremony and always one to give wherever possible. He said he would not need his body in the next world and if it could help anyone in the present world then he was happy to let them have it. We will have a memorial service later in the year when all of his immediate family are gathered in Australia. I suspect we will be looking at November but I will contact you when we have a plan. BARRY had moved to Victoria as a result from the death of his wife to be near his children and had joined Box Bill. Unfortunately, his wife had passed away before a gift she purchased for him, a locomotive from the UK arrived. Barry was also a member of Northern Districts and with his wife, helped form the Toodyay Club (they lived in the area) and Barry was their first President. Barry had previously owned a couple of locomotives (Jamie and C Y O Connor) and a fire-engine! He is remembered at Toodyay not just for his sociability but for the initial training of guards, drivers etc which he is said to have learnt from us. He is sadly missed. 3

The President s Prattle By Mike Crean Again I am putting a call out for trainee Signallers. We need your help. We need more people to qualify as signallers, especially for Canning Junction.

Cliff was a very active member of CMR for many years and the builder of the 5 422 class NSW Government Railways locomotive now owned, maintained and operated by our club secretary Les Smith.

4 The President s Prattle By Mike Crean Again I am putting a call out for trainee Signallers. We need your help. We need more people to qualify as signallers, especially for Canning Junction. Please contact myself for more information. Look forward to an influx of new signal people in the near future. It was sad to hear of the passing of Cliff Pole. Cliff was a very active member of CMR for many years and the builder of the class NSW Government Railways locomotive now owned, maintained and operated by our club secretary Les Smith. Our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. I had more sad news over the past two weeks from BHMSR of the passing of Barry Pierce who was a longtime member of CMR, NDMES and Toodyay Miniature Railway. Barry moved from Perth to Melbourne after the passing of his wife to be close to his family. While in Melbourne Barry joined BHMSR and made it his new home club. Our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Rod and Roger are still busy with the construction and installation of services for our new Ticket Box. It was great to see Luke running his new steam locomotive in passenger service on the last Niana running day. It was also good to hear Craig had a test steam up and run with his new Steam locomotive. Great stuff boys, hope you have many hours of enjoyment with your locomotives. Congratulations to John and Sean upon the arrival of their new UP X class locomotive at our club. I hope you have many hours of enjoyment with your new toy. PLEASE MAKE SURE ALL THE DOORS ARE SHUT AND SECURE. 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 girls, keep up the great work. Until next time please visit your club and its facilities. They are there for all of us to enjoy. Private Booking The Military Vehicle group have booked the railway for a private run to conclude their rally from Blackboy Hill to Perth. The run is on September 23 rd from 12 3pm. The request is for a couple of steam locos which would enhance the experience of this journey which originally took place during WW1. If you are able to assist on the day, please let me know so I am able to confirm sufficient members on hand to run the day. Thanks, Ken Belcher 4

Secretaries Scribblings By Les Smith Members will note the adverts for Sunday 19th August in regard to the COMMUNITY SCIENCE EXPO to be held at Wilson Park.

5 Secretaries Scribblings By Les Smith Members will note the adverts for Sunday 19th August in regard to the COMMUNITY SCIENCE EXPO to be held at Wilson Park. This is expected to be a very busy run-day and members are requested to do their bit and help. It should be continuous traffic so be prepared to graze on the run as breaks or tapering-off is not expected to happen. As for riders this year, we have hit the 20,000 passengers mark with 4months to go. As we have previously indicated, the good weather is one reason but so is our advertising and Facebook. It is pleasing to note that following conversations with other like clubs, we are not alone in having increased patronage. The club is also being blessed with new or more or less new, locomotives and this is a nice situation. We welcome back the eye watering model based on a Union Pacific gas turbine that once graced our rails and will surely catch the attention of our riders. The Smiths have named the machine Edweena Rae after their late wife and mother, a very nice gesture. Further comment on the Union Pacific gas turbines follows. We have submitted the paper-work to the Swan River Trust which is necessary to re-new our work / maintenance permit. There are many restrictions on what we can do on the ground that we operate as it forms part of the Canning River flood area. We also have obligations to be followed, and one is weeding. From the recent rains it is not hard to see the green results which includes weeds. There are some noxious weeds that MUST be removed. There is a document for all to read about this on the safety notice board. All members and especially those who like to only play trains are invited to spend 15minutes of each visit to go out and around to pull out a bucket or two of weeds. Perhaps we can get a volunteer to over-see this vital job. Members should note the coupled pair of RED timber wagons that form a part of our heritage fleet. Numbers are 101 & 135. These wagons have dual braking, that is, either steam or air. There is an isolation cock at the B-end for steam only use and a bleed valve to remove water when moving back to air braking. After steam use this cock should be left isolated so that water can be blown out by an air brake application before reconnecting to be used as air- braked. It should also be noted that apart from re-springing and body mounted couplers, the seats have been professionally re-upholstered by AUTOTRIM (Osborne Park) which does raise our standard a little!...and they have been set to AALS recommended height off rail. Another pair will follow in due time. Mean-while, there is a concerted effort to make finishing touches to Ken s rebody project wagons. The seat boards have been delivered to AUTOTRIM to continue our new quality standard. Whilst trying to keep out of the recent heavy rain, Adrian and Julian got stuck into.. or press-ganged, is a better description, and made-up the fixed draw-bar assembly for the last two wagons. Carmel Photo by Rod Bradley 5

Big Yellow Locos Turned Green By Les Smith Our latest private yellow locomotive, the Union Pacific gas turbine being run by Sean and John Smith was a member of a family of units that should have made

6 Big Yellow Locos Turned Green By Les Smith Our latest private yellow locomotive, the Union Pacific gas turbine being run by Sean and John Smith was a member of a family of units that should have made the environmentalists / greenies happy..or at least part happy. These huge machines were noisy and guzzled fuel and thus did not get good credit points, but, to all accounts, they were great train handlers moving large tonnages in the footsteps of their late brothers, the famed Union Pacific Big Boys. As explained to me by an ALCO employee back in 1974, the UP Railroaders of religious background from Salt Lake City, were not out to play with big trains and waste their money they wanted to make money! Evidently UP had some 3million tons of Bunker C fuel in the ground in California and at a cost of 3cents per gallon, they sought ways of getting rid of this exceptionally cheap fuel. As my ALCO man said, the day that fuel ran out, that was the day they shut the turbines down. Now it came to getting rid of them. The fuel tenders used with these machines had come from the UP steam fleet, and guess what, many of them are back with the historic steamers maintained by UP as auxiliary tenders. The turbines and alternators were sold off to oil drilling rigs and platforms and may still be running today. The underframes and Co Co bogies of the small machines went back to General Electric to emerge as the twin engined U50C. These 5000hp ugly locomotives went into high speed freight service but were not a huge success as they suffered engine problems. It took GE some years to overcome the water leaks between the cylinder head and liners. They overcame the problem by laser welding the head to the liner! The old Cooper Bessemer design is now a remarkably reliable traction engine. And so we have it, recycling completed, nothing wasted, that should have got some credit points from the environmentalists / greenies..if that is possible. Sean / John.please do not get any ideas for a while! John Smith in the UP exiting the yard for testing Photo Sean Smith 6

Duty Roster Niana Wilson Duty Officer Ticket Box Sunday, 5 August 2018 Sunday, 19 August 2018 Sunday, 2 September 2018 Sunday, 16 September 2018 Wednesday, 26 September 2018 Wednesday, 3 October 2018

7 Duty Roster Niana Wilson Duty Officer Ticket Box Sunday, 5 August 2018 Sunday, 19 August 2018 Sunday, 2 September 2018 Sunday, 16 September 2018 Wednesday, 26 September 2018 Wednesday, 3 October 2018 Sunday, 7 October 2018 Sunday, 21 October 2018 Sunday, 4 November 2018 Sunday, 18 November 2018 Sunday, 2 December 2018 Sunday, 16 December 2018 Les Smith Les Smith Signal Box [No. Required] Canteen Tania Watson Damelsa [N] [3] Jeanette & Julie Sue Belcher [1] N/A Eddie Smith Jeanette Lawrence Damelsa [N] Craig/Tania [C] [3] Judy Bowyer & Sue Belcher [1] N/A [1] N/A Les Smith Eddie Smith [1] N/A Rod Bradley Sue Belcher Damelsa [N] Craig/Tania [C] [3] Judy Bowyer & Kathy Watson Trish Stuart Tania Watson [1] N/A Craig Belcher Sue Belcher Damelsa [N] [3] Sue Belcher Damelsa [N] Craig/Tania [C] Judy Bowyer & Kathy Watson [1] N/A [3] Jeanette & Julie Tania Watson [1] N/A Terry on John Millman Photo by Rob Bradley 7

8 July Run Day by Rod Bradley Thanks to all members who made their time available for the July Niana run day. The day kicked off 20 minutes early and grew from there. Solid numbers from 10:40 though to 14:00 then slowly declining by the days end. Similar to other runs days this year the public are turning up in big numbers and seem to be enjoying their day out. Combustion engines were represented by Vic and John / Sean Smiths locomotives. Dependable came into operation later in the day to replace Carmel. Comet Vale was going to provide some of our motive power for the day however an issue with the new drive train put an end to those aspirations before the run day commenced. Steamers, for the third month in a row, provided the bulk of locomotives for the day. Sheree came into service early in the day and ran strong all day. The Richard and Trish Stuart locomotives again proved their reliability and pulling power. Both Sumo and Tinkerbell ran all day without fault. An early air compressor issue with Tinkerbell was looking ominous however a quick squirt of tap water and away we go Carmel ran strong for well over 3 hrs. I think Don was please for a rest by days end. A loss of Carmel power on the Fern Rd assent meant that our patrons on other trains had an excursion out to Wilson for half an hour while Carmel was sorted. Carmel s return to service was only minutes in the making and Fern Rd returned to operation. A few lucky patrons had a ride to Wilson. This is a little unusual for Niana run days. John Millman started the morning well and ran for the majority of the day. An unusual lead pony pin failure, possibly fatigue, brought John Millman s day to an end just after lunch. John Millman retired to a branch line for the rest of the day. Terry s on-site locomotive engineer ( ) will have this locomotive back running before this report is even published. As usual the unseen members worked hard across the railway, Eddie had tickets well under control, Judi and Sue kept our food hot and available, Keith sorted out the bins, tables, seats, Adrian Pope and Sean Smith kept our tickets punched, Sarah and Mike aided Les and Craig on the station, Ethan and Damelsa controlled the show with patients and tact, whilst Curtis and Roger ran Canning without fault. My apologies if I have neglected to mention someone. Visit from the Joondalup Library Photographic Club well received. Sean Elliot was their guide for the day. For all reports they enjoyed their day with freedom to visit all areas of our railway. One unfortunate issue for the day was the intermittent nature of the signals and point controls. Luckily the manual backup process came into operation and permitted the day to continue with a minimum of impact. The radios got a work out as we sorted trains with manual controls and flags for quite some time. The number of riders topped 1260 for the day for what returned out to be a pleasant cool winters day. My thanks to everyone who put so much effort into the day. A largely enjoyable day interspersed with some scrambling efforts to keep the trains running. 8

9 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER CALENDAR 2018 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Wednesday Run Prep NIANA Work Day Work Day Run Day Wednesday Committee General Members Work Day Meeting Work Day Day Wednesday Run Prep WILSON Work Day Work Day Run Day Work Day Wednesday General Work Day Submissions For Work Day General Cinders & Wednesday Work Day Soot Work Day Run Prep NIANA Wednesday Work Day Run Day Work Day Committee General Members Wednesday Meeting Work Day Day Work Day Run Prep WILSON Wednesday Work Day Run Day 9

10 Puzzle A W H I S T L E E L B A T N R U T D B O C K L M S R E G N E S S A P F T I P H S A T L A O C C H R M P O D S E J N O A A E B D D I Q L O G F T E K C I T E F E G R K J N C W H N G I E P I V D U P T A S R A H S I D I N G O X Y R Z E A U B R O R O S R G Q N I F E I D R C G R Q E P L P I T M J L K S V M S N I S V S A E N S A P T M E U E X Y A V E T N T E A S R O Z A E B R C G F L A G R E L T K F H J M G K N E E W D I O R L E B A R B E C U E S G I L S L I A R E L T T E F O A P Q S W A B D B W B M O A X F H O G Fettler Hoist Coal Petrol Smoke Rails Sleepers Points Levers Curve Siding Driver Guard Barbecues Flag Stationmaster Ticket Whistle Signals Passengers Carriages Ashpit Turntable Gauge Engineer Ballast Luke on Sheree in first passenger service Photo by Rod Bradley 10

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12 We would like to thank the support from the below Local Businesses: 204 Collier Road, Bayswater WA 6053 Possibly the Most Awesome Hose and Fittings Shop in the Entire World! U8/2 Carson Road, Malaga WA 6090 S.O.S Steinmeier Oxy Services 92a Beechboro Rd S, Bayswater, WA, Baile Road, Canning Vale, WA 6155 Carlisle WA

CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAY (INC)

CASTLEDARE MINIATURE RAILWAY (INC) castledare.com.au Issue No: 381 - November 2018 Ceremony of Cubs moving to Scouts Photo by John Bollans P.O Box 337 Bentley, WA 6982 - www.castledare.com.au Contact listing