Members Newsletter. Volunteers - The People Who Keep The Railway Moving

Transcription

1 Members Newsletter Castlemaine and Maldon Railway Preservation Society April 2011 Volunteers - The People Who Keep The Railway Moving Wayne O'Toole holds everyone's attention as he explains the functions of the Volunteer Committee at the recent pizza night. Volunteers Update Two Morning Coffees were held at 10am on the 19th & 26th March at Castlemaine Station. A great sense of enthusiasm was shown by all in learning the art of the Coffee Machine. Thanks to Pam Connell's expertise, we were all shown how to put a good "frothy" on a coffee!! Training is being offered in this area to enable volunteers also to help share roles working in both Maldon & Castlemaine shops. Please contact volunteers@vgr.com.au for more information on how you can also enjoy areas such as this one. Pizza Night Monday 11th April at 6pm was "PIZZA NIGHT" at Castlemaine Station which attracted over 30 people. The evening was great fun, not only socializing but for everyone to express some concerns and put forward ideas for the future running of our great tourist train service. Ideas were duly noted and it was unanimous that more social evenings be held. A Quiz Night at Muckleford is planned for a Saturday night in June. More information will be in the next newsletter. To round off such an enjoyable evening Mick Compagnoni and Brendan Barry serenaded us farewell till next time on Mick's 12 string guitar. Volunteers Wanted If you have not already considered being a volunteer on our great tourist railway please do consider this as there is still many areas we need assistance in. If you can help please contact us on or drop us an at volunteers@vgr.com.au Thank You Thank you again to all our wonderful and enthusiastic volunteers in all areas, you are very special people and greatly valued.

2 Page 2 It is pleasing to report this month on a big couple of months for the Railway. Firstly, in March the railway saw the benefit of having T333 out working, as the first payment of earnings from the locomotive were received and with this likely to be on-going for some time this will certainly assist the financial position of the Society. There have been numerous photos of the loco in several of the rail magazines as well as on the internet sites that are regularly visited and as the State enjoyed its best grain harvest since 1983 there looks, at this stage, to be plenty of work ahead for T333. Thanks are due to the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre and their team who did such a wonderful job to have the loco in main line condition. Meanwhile April has seen a significant increase in the group bookings sufficiently significant to warrant 6 car trains on the first two Wednesdays and what looks like being 7 cars on the last two! This helps the financial position and really stretches our crews especially when some of the groups order lunches as well! The good news is that we have managed to cope so far without major hassles. The progress of the re-building of Maldon station has slowed somewhat due to the onset of cooler weather. The Booking and Station Master s offices have now had the solid render applied (2 coats) and the cool nights and days mean it needs more time to set and cure properly before the renderer moves on to the other rooms and the plasterer then fixes the cornices and finishes the plaster ceilings. The difference in the first 2 rooms completed is staggering and the real difference will be seen when the new doors are received from the joinery in Bendigo and fitted hopefully in the next week or two. Regular meetings are held on site with representatives of the builder, Vic Restorations, VicTrack, the architect Fraser Brown, the railway, and at the last of these President s Column with Paul McDonald the builder confirmed their intention to have the building completed by around mid-june. The Board of Management has recently taken a decision that, since the Castlemaine to Maldon Junction section of the track has been placed under our control by virtue of an interim licence from Victrack granted with effect from January, 2011 there is no longer a mandatory requirement for train crews to have Category 1 medical assessments, and that from 1 April, 2011 that category 2 will be sufficient for our requirements. If there are any of our train crews who require Category 1 for other railways these will still be recognised and all crews should note that future needs or altered train running arrangements may mean we have to revert to category 1. If this situation arises we will give adequate notice of this requirement. I commend all members to the notice appearing in this issue relating to the Civil work days which have been established and which, from now on, will be on a monthly basis. This has occurred due to the Ganger, Keith Meagher, leaving the Railway for health reasons and also the imminent likely demise of the Work for the Dole Scheme both of which have combined to leave a large gap in the regular track maintenance program and the project work needed to be done. It will be good to have as many members as are able to give some time to help out in this important area and this presents a good opportunity to catch up with others and meet new people with a similar interest not to mention getting some work done! As some of you may know, the monthly financial reports to the Board and the other reporting requirements of the business have been prepared by Faye Conn. Faye has decided to move on and consequently the reports for the year ended 31 st. March this year were the last to be done by Faye. We wish both Faye and her husband every good wish and since we understand they intend to travel we hope they enjoy every place they visit and every kilometre that passes by while on the road. Thank you, Faye, for all the work you have done for the Society in the last few years. A very successful volunteers information evening was held at Castlemaine on the 11 th. of April at which 34 members enjoyed a pleasant social occasion as well as the opportunity to discuss some aspects of the operation of the Railway which need to be improved. The results of the evening s recommendations will start to become apparent in the near future and those present agreed that more such social occasions need to be held on a more regular basis. Alternative venues such as Muckleford and perhaps later, Maldon were suggested. Watch this space for the next occasion we will look (Continued on page 3)

3 Page 3 (Continued from page 2) forward to seeing you there!! Among other suggestions put forward was the need to have more interpretive information for passengers and that this could include lineside signage for different types of native vegetation and the remnants of the line to Shelbourne, for instance. The possibility of on-train public address systems was also considered and further work will need to be undertaken on this. Planning is under way for a revised event at Muckleford to be held on Sunday (note Sunday) 23rd October and which will concentrate more on a Heritage Festival event rather than the Market type of event that has been conducted previously. A number of organisations have been contacted and the level of support is excellent so keep the date free and watch out for details as they become available. The Carriage Shed Update Pre work payments have been made to the contractor and construction is scheduled to start in the next few weeks. Additional costs including framing steel for the doors, site and foundation preparation will generate the need for at least $25,000 in the very near future. To date our Shed Appeal has raised over $12,000 with contributions from 50 generous members. With a target of $50,000 we still have a long way to go, so please give generously. Don t forget that as with all donations to the railway, donations to the Shed Appeal are tax deductible. Of course we re now at a point where construction is about to start and hence we ll be holding a number of workdays over the next few months. Details of coming workdays are listed on page 8 of this newsletter. I wish to donate A recent Coffee Morning was well attended, however this wasn t just a morning tea where members enjoyed a social occasion, this was a barista training session with lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos and long blacks being made. Here we see Faye McColl, Pam Gale, Wilma Moon, Pam Connell Micahela Ord and Marie Bell enjoying the results of their training session! The Shed Appeal All donations over $2.00 are tax deductible $ 200 and have my name inscribed on a donor board $ for a general donation $ TOTAL I enclose a cheque / money order for $ _payable to CMRPS Or Please debit my VISA / MasterCard for $ _ Expiry / 20 Signature Name Address..

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5 Page 5 The Welcome Back DERM Tour Pakenham and Bacchus Marsh 9th April 2011 By Philip Leslie RM58 bound into platform 13 at Spinner, faster than a startled Gazelle, headlight beaming brightly towards Pakenham. They said in the notice be there 15 minutes ahead, as we only have 2 mins to load otherwise we will block a spark. The restored DERM number 58, was in fact better than the day she left the Newport factory in 1928, not a rattle or squeak in the coachwork, which had been built by craftsmen in its day. We would sit on the longitudal seat at the front of number 2 end chatting with Joe, and at Korong Vale he would say I m going to the RRR, don t you little buggers move, and we didn t, Imagine saying to a plastic train driver today, hey look after the gangers grandkids would you please. Then later in my Victorian Railways relieving staff career in the Bendigo District, I spent many miles travelling per motor as the re location memo from the DS s office would refer to these blue and gold boxes as. Arrival at Spinner platform 8, about 12.59, 14 down, the motor was supposed to shunt to the yard and then redock, however the good old train controller (where would we be without them) let us remain there until our departure time for the Marsh. Some spirited running brought the DERM into the Marsh precisely on time at For whatever reason they turned the DERM on the turntable, at one point in time it looked a little dubious, as it got stuck on the wooden structure on the Up end, also the guy pushing on the west side was pushing anti clock wise and the guy on the East side was pushing clockwise, and I thought this is not my train set I m keeping out of this. Tom Murray would have loved it, they all had their party frocks on and looked most splendid, and I don t know how the railway ran when I worked on it, as we didn t have one party frock. We were standing in the turntable road until 8138 UP plastic train went through; there were a few smart remarks about our motor during the run through, the DERM driver suggested to the plastic motorman if he gets stuck on the bank we are here to help. RM58 sits in the platform at Southern Cross after her trip to Pakenham and Bacchus Marsh. A group called D.E.R.M. Preservation Association of Victoria, (DERMPAV) consisting of some DERM fans, among them Colin Sharp, Colin Kelly and Brian Brooks made the day come to fruition. It was a year or two ago, I bookmarked the DERMPAV website on my computer, thinking a tour as envisaged will never happen, and I registered my address with them, only a few weeks ago, I received an to advise details of the first tour, a miracle I thought. DERM s bring back great memories to me, such as when I was about 9 or 10 years old, our Mother would take my younger brother and I to the Eaglehawk (my home town then) railway station, and when the Sea Lake Down DERM came in she would say to the Driver Joe Lawrence, can you look after the boys until Charlton. My grandfather was the Ganger at Charlton and known to Joe, I suppose Joe told him where the holes were in the section. Anyway, back to the tour, we departed Spinner 10.45, 4 down, and as it purred/ roared through Flinders St., many a head turned and you could read the expressions of the passenger at the station, what is that!!, it just sounded wonderful the noise of those twin 255 hp Detroit 6 71 s, as only they can do. We arrived at Pakenham about 11.45, everybody out for the Gunzel photo shoot, the Metro man looked out of his office door shook his head at the antics, and hurried back inside, I thought, he needs to get a life, he didn t even realise the significance of this wonderful piece of history before his eyes. Departure from Pakenham for Spinner about 11.59, 14 down, and the driver had her going at a good pace, the only thing missing was the clickety clack sound of the old days, as we were on CWR and concrete sleepers most of the way. The plastic train running late, delayed our departure until 15.16, 6 down, after the 1:50 climb out of the Marsh, we sped through Rockbank where 8123 Down was waiting in 1 road, finally we arrived at Spinner at 16.22, 12 down, not bad for an 83 year old machine, I wonder if the Plastic trains can do that when they are that old? In conclusion a special congratulations to the team at DERMPAV, the drivers on the day, who had as much a good time as us, also V/ Line Passenger, the Rail Tram and Bus Union, who without their special effort and interest, the day would not have come to fruition. I look forward to many tours to come, especially up north of Bendigo one of the places many of these old motors used to run. For further info about DERMPAV please refer to: PS. And my absolute due respect to plastic train motormen, (as I know a few). Philip Leslie RASM 23632

6 Page 6 A New Logo? John Cole who does some wonderful work restoring our carriages recently mocked up a new and contemporary logo for the Board s consideration. A photo of John s proposed logo is shown (left). The Board has decided that before a decision is taken member feedback should be sought. Therefore, if you have views on John s proposal or indeed you have an alternative proposal (maybe there is a graphic artist amongst our ranks), please or write to our editor Philip Ryan at either newsletter@vgr.com.au Or PO Box 51 CASTLEMAINE VIC 3450 Looking forward to your responses and a special Thank You to John for his proposal. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) As most members will be aware, the Board of Management was required to identify and adopt a number of key performance targets to monitor the safety performance of the railway. The Safety Policy presently in place lists these as: 1. No notifiable incidents per operating day; 2. No injuries; 3. No Incident or Defect reports (I.D.R.'s); 4. No faults; 5. No customer complaints 6. No late running. These targets are monitored monthly and reported to the Board for evaluation of the Safety Policy and it has been suggested that these are conveyed to the members to give them an idea of where the safety performance of the Railway stands. The figures for March of this year are set out below and if any members wish to offer comment upon these please feel free to do so either by ing cmr@vgr.com.au or by writing to the Society at PO Box 51 Castlemaine, KPIs for March 2011 Notifiable occurrences 1 (Sleeper fire) 1 Incident / Defect Reports lodged 2 Civil 2 Mechanical Faults Nil reported Number of operating days 11 (Includes Public Holiday 11/3 & Charter 26/3) Late running 2 (loco fault) Injuries Nil Total number of incidents 7 Number of incidents per operating day 0.64 Complaints 1 Group no show 1 Delay at booking window. Target in all categories Nil Membership Renewals Approximately half of our 412 members have sent in their renewals so far. Memberships expire at the end of March so we are really keen to get in as the remaining renewals as soon as possible. If you have a friend or relative, why not encourage them to join? They can be a part of Victoria s Premier Broad Gauge Railway and enjoy the benefits too!

7 Page 7 Management Changes Classic Victorian Double-Headed Steam Following a change of employment location, our Mechanical Manager, Brendan Barry is stepping down from this position. Brendan s new job involves spending a period of time interstate each month, however we re very fortunate to have Brendan s expertise and friendly company when he s not interstate. Thank you Brendan for all your efforts over the past twelve months - it s much appreciated. Returning to the role of Mechanical Manager is Stephen Lumsden. Members will be aware of Stephen s fantastic knowledge of all things railway and we re very lucky to have Stephen able to return to this position. Thanks Stephen. In other changes, responsibility for the support of the operation of the First Class Service has been picked up by a subcommittee that has a very strong passion for this service. The sub-committee will be looking after rostering as well as stock control. Full details about how the subcommittee will be operating will be outlined in the next newsletter. Finally, there are shortly to be some changes to the way rostering for non-safeworking staff is organised. Again, how this will work will be described in the next newsletter. We ve recently had some very busy Wednesdays with group bookings swelling our passenger numbers and increasing our train size to roughly double the number of carriages that we d normally haul. One of these Wednesdays had J541 and Y133 hauling the train. The second Wednesday had J541 and K160 working together to create the spectacular site of a doubleheaded steam on regular VGR services! Here we see J541 leading K160 as they prepare to haul the first train of the day to Castlemaine on Wednesday 20th April. Classic British Steam Clunes Booktown Express On Saturday 14th May 2011 our good friends at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre are running a heritage train from Melbourne, destination Clunes Booktown, where thousands of rare second-hand and collectable books are on sale. Free Writers' Talks, street theatre, the Australia Fair Grand Concert Street Organ, wine, food, live music. A special Children's Booktown section and great opportunities to engage with the guest writers in small groups. The train will depart from Southern Cross stopping at Newport to pick up passengers. The journey will be via North Shore, Meredith and Ballarat for an arrival in Creswick and then onto Clunes Booktown by bus. Member Peter James, who lives in the UK, photographed the magnificent A4, Sir Nigel Gresley when she was being transferred from Grosmont on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway to Newcastle. As you see, winter operations in the UK are very different to our own with heavy snow to deal with at times. The photo was taken at Glaisdale where the train sat for a couple of hours while a tree was removed from across the line in the section ahead. Members who are interested in the North Yorkshire Moors Railway can get further details at Bookings are available on or visit

8 Page 8 Civil Branch Workdays The task of keeping our track, signals, points, bridges, turntables and vegetation is one that is necessary to keep our trains running and our railway looking presentable. A series of workdays have been organised over the coming months. These workdays are a great chance to work in a friendly environment with fellow members who ll be more than happy to show you the ropes if you haven t taken part previously. Trackwork Workdays Saturday 14th May Major Projects Workdays Saturday 28th May You don t need to have any prior experience. All you ll need to bring are sturdy shoes or boots, a hat and a high-vis vest (these are available very cheaply at GoLo in Mostyn Street in Castlemaine). A full safety induction will be conducted at the start of the day. If you are planning on attending, please contact Art Lynch on (03) or to confirm start location and start time. Safety Update All volunteers are reminded of the requirement to sign-on when first arriving for work and sign-off at the end of the day. Guards, Signalmen, Drivers, Firemen and Trainees are reminded that they should check the safety noticeboard before commencing work. There are current safety notices posted relating to: Fuel recording for coal-burning locomotives Train speeds in yards The use of Scotch-blocks at Maldon Saturday 11th June Saturday 9th July Saturday 25th June Saturday 23rd July Congratulations Two of our younger members have recently passed as mainline drivers for Pacific National. Congratulations to Jeremy Lavery and Clint Hickson. Well done on your efforts boys and enjoy your careers on The Big Railway. Congratulations also go to member Wilma Moon who recently celebrated her 80th birthday. Happy Birthday Wilma! Congratulations also go to member Peter James who celebrated his 60th birthday on 1st April this year. Happy Birthday Peter! Victorian Goldfields Railway General Office and Marketing P.O. Box 51, CASTLEMAINE VIC 3450 Phone: (03) or Facsimile: (03) marketing@vgr.com.au for bookings, Train Times & Fares information or cmr@vgr.com.au for all other enquiries Castlemaine Railway Station, Kennedy Street, Castlemaine Phone: (03) Facsimile: (03) Maldon Railway Station, Hornsby Street, Maldon Telephone: (03) Member Tony Marsden captured this photo of an All-Blue VR line-up with B74, X31, our own T333, T356 and T395 hauling a grain train recently. Our good friends at the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre have just finished restoring X31and she looks magnificent! Railway Newsletters Did you realise that you re reading one of three different newsletters that the railway produces? Yes, that s right - three separate newsletters! The three different newsletters are: 1. Members Newsletter - produced for members of the Castlemaine and Maldon Railway Preservations Society and also distributed as a courtesy to other kindred organisations, our sponsors, Mt Alexander Shire Council and local MPs. Approximately 10 issues are produced per year. 2. Full Steam Ahead - produced for local businesses to let them know our running days, as well as letting them know about new services we re offering as well as opportunities for them to get involved in our special events. Editions are published and distributed quarterly and are distributed to approx 140 local businesses. 3. Welcome Aboard - produced for our passengers and includes safety notes, timetables, details of on-board catering plus details of our upcoming special events. One copy is given to each person purchasing a ticket and it is updated every 2 months. If you would like to contribute a photo, an article or an announcement, they can be ed to newsletter@vgr.com.au 17th September Sir Francis Chichester was born Sir Malcolm Campbell set a world speed record of mp/h Television starts broadcasting in Australia MASH premiered on American television Hong Kong s last elections were held before the handover to China VGR Members will get to enjoy..? Needless to say, this date will include a very special event for VGR members. Details are being worked out and will be announced in the next newsletter. Keep this date free in your diary!