Also in This Issue

Issue 581 June 2019

Newsletter from the National Steam Centre

Rex Gotch displaying his engines at MSTEC rally

Also in this Issue

Stationary Engines at MSTEC Museum C &S T.E. follow up Waterous Wheels MSTEC Loco Build June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 2

We left Jo Lloyd’s previous Waterous Portable Engine restoration bulletin concerning “ The Battle of The Tubes” ( Jan SS 2019 ) with the comment “ Next job will be to clean up the tube plates ready for the new tubes – surely fitting them will be a more straight-forward task.” Well how wrong can you be ? It has now turned into The Battle of the Boiler . So while they regroup for this challenge they have got on with the wheels with a very satisfying victory.

Last of the Tubes furnace elongates the slag particles. That this boiler was Jo Lloyd reports :- All was progressing well with getting wrought iron was demonstrated when trying to use a thickness the last of the tubes out of the Lloyd’s Waterous portable. gauge. The signal got reflected off slag incursions and it was Ross had cut nearly all the tubes off near the tube plate and not possible to get consistent thickness readings. removed them from the W e l d i n g boiler via one of the mud Wrought doors. Jo was making good Iron The progress knocking in the reason this is stubs left in the tube plates. ruled out is Then a very disappointing that during discovery was made. welding large Cracks in the Tube Plate slag The firebox end tubeplate is inclusions can poorly lit when you were form in the sitting in the firebox so Jo weld and at set up some extra lighting. the weld “Oh ….”. The extra light boundary. revealed five cracks in the This is known webs between the tubes in to lead to the centre of the firebox. failure, The cracks in th tube particularly if plate ligaments are the structure clearly visible once is subjected to high lighted with paint alternating marker. stresses. Welding is seen as a last resort in wrought iron in any application but is ruled out entirely In a boiler where This was disastrous as the boiler is made of wrought iron cyclical heating and cooling and pressure fluctuations mean ruling out welding repairs. The difficulty with wrought iron is the weld is subject substantial stress. that during manufacture slag layers get incorporated into the After researching possible alternative modern welding options structure. The rolling of the iron after it comes out of the and weighing up the implications of replacing the tube plate, June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 3 the boiler inspector was called in for his input. that has been proved by being in use before design registration Even if a suitable process could be found he strongly advised became mandatory. If you have a new design it has to against weld repairs on the grounds that the 5 existing cracks conform to today’s standards which rule out some things were an indication of the condition of the tube plate. His past which were acceptable historically. It would be cheaper to experience suggested that even if we successfully welded construct a new boiler with a welded fire box set on a these cracks others would inevitably follow. The prospect of foundation ring rather than reconstructing a “Z-ring” as putting in 170 tubes only to have the plate crack again made Waterous used but this and a change spacing out the firing us rule out this option. hole are enough for the boiler inspector to require new design A Replacement Tube Plate This meant removing the registration. The extra costs of new design registration must firebox which raised another set of problems in the inspector’s be balanced against the extra construction expenses of sticking opinion. He considered it would be extremely difficult to seal to the original design. Further research into costs is necessary along the rivet line at the junction of the old wrought iron and before this can be resolved. new steel. The old wrought iron was Meanwhile there much more malleable than modern are things to get steel and could be corked relatively on with. easily. His view was that it would leak The Front badly but we decided to further Wheels explore this option anyway. Surely of the Waterous leaks would eventually take up. had disappeared at The firebox had to be removed to get some stage in its at the tube plate but a new tube plate past and had been could be dished up and riveted into the replaced with old firebox before riveting it back into foreign wheels of the shell. Alternatively the whole much smaller firebox could be replaced with a new diameter welded steel one. Once it was riveted and back into the shell you would never totally different know and the junction between the style wrought iron and the steel would be more accessible if there Fortunately the original blacksmith forged front axle and were sealing problems. pivot remained Professional Help would be needed – this was beyond our After considering and rejecting several alternatives off vintage capability. We considered pulling the plug on attempting to agricultural machinery we decided that it would be an restore the boiler and running the engine off steam from interesting exercise to make new ones. another portable but decided that we would never be happy with that. We had already put a lot into it replacing the spark Basically the front wheels are smaller versions of the arrestor, cutting out all those tubes and on top of that our new existing rear wheels. Just how stylish the wheels are tubes had finally, after 7 months, landed in Australia. We were in it for the long haul. The next step was to contact Ken Ainsworth of Ainsworth Engineering, a company specialising in vintage steam restoration, to see what they could do. Rather to our surprise the answer was that they could do nothing. It was a condition of their insurance that they do not work on wrought iron boilers. Furthermore Ken felt that a repair like this was not advisable. He was not surprised about the cracking citing examples he had seen where the plate subject to extremes of heating and cooling showed signs of crystallisation. Our cracks were confined to the centre of the tube plate in the area subject to the most intense heat. Ken's advice was to make a totally new boiler to the old design. The amount of work involved in replacing the firebox is a substantial proportion of the cost of a full replacement boiler. With a new boiler the original boiler pressure would be became apparent once the rear ones were restored restored and the possibility of failure in the upper tube plate or The Hubs are quite complex but we found someone who shell eliminated. We had hoped to save as much as we could would make a CAD drawing of them relatively cheaply. We of the original boiler but practicalities won out. then intended getting them 3D printed to make a pattern for A New Boiler This can incur considerable expenses in casting. The foundry ruled out casting the spokes into the hubs getting a new design registered. This cost is eliminated if you and rim which was how they would have been manufactured use a “grandfathered” design. A grandfathered design is one originally so Ross would have to drill threaded holes into the June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 4

hubs to screw the spokes in. Our CAD man suggested having them CNC machined in China instead and got us a quote from a company he had used satisfactorily in the past. The advantage of CNC machining was that it eliminated the time-consuming job of setting up, drilling and threading the 48 spoke holes in the castings. While we were waiting for a quote from the foundry someone else suggested trying a machining company they had used near Bathurst. We were pleased to get back a quote that was cheaper than China. We gave them the job and were delighted with the result. The CNC ’d hubs from solid are certainly an impressive

piece of work

Now the Rims. We have had these cast to take the outer ends of the spokes. Ross is about to thread up the ends of rods for spokes. He will then put into practice skills learnt in his youth, replacing broken spokes on bicycle wheels. Once completed, tyres will be shrunk on over the rims. The centre of the hubs we had bored parallel, but the ends of the axle are tapered. The last step will be for Ross to machine a sleeve to fit the hub and reflect the cone shaped end of the axle. N e x t i t e m on the agenda will be replacing missing components of the feedwater pump. Plenty to fill retirement hours!

S S S S S S SS S S SS S S S S SS S S On Clayton and Shuttleworth Traction Engines. Some of our more recent members may not be fully familiar with our Steam Museum’s Clayton and Shuttleworth traction engine so before we get to Rohan Lamb’s article ( page 6 ) about solving the mystery of who owned it and where it came from here is a bit of background on its current status. The Clayton and Shuttleworth engine is the machine in a totally dismantled state until recently in the South end of the Museum building No 12 It is a 1910, 8 hp compound engine and was brought for preservation by early MSTEC president Allan Robert after Dave Mickle located it for him in 1967. Allan moved to Queensland to live in 1977 and choose not to take the engine with him so subsequently donated it to MSTEC. Actually Allan has maintained an interest in the engine ever since and was asking about it on a recent visit to our Melbourne Steam Museum. The engine was complete and together but in a very worn out state and not steam able when we got it . I remember towing it across our grounds, to a location it could be worked on, shortly after we moved to Scorseby so that would be around 1990. Some younger members at the time embarked on the project rather enthusiastically and most of the restoration to the tender was completed but on further dismantling it became obvious that the boiler was very sad and at the minimum required a new firebox. Despite the best of intentions this has never been got around to although it has always been not too far down the to- do list but the resources never extended that far. For a number of years the engine in a partially dismantled state has been on display first in Bay 4 then in Shed 12 With still no immediate outlook for a start on restoration the tender, boiler and smaller components have been recently moved to safer storage in our new containers. The great hope is that it will not be too long before a start can be made so any members interested put your hand up as it will be a great asset after all we are a “Traction Engine” Club. June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 5

Now while on the Clayton and Shuttleworth traction engine topic Phillip Randall and Warwick encountered a fine example in the UK during their 2017 tour. It is in the Shuttleworth Trusts Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome near Bigglesworth north of London. It is a 1914 5 hp compound called “Dorithy” after the Shuttleworth widow. Built as a roller for a council but was despatched to France in 1916 for war work . On return it served with a public works contractor until bought , by now without a front roll , by a restorer for spares. Actually being in such good condition it was fitted with a set of Clayton & Shuttlewirth front wheels and restored as a traction Engine. It was acquired by the Shuttlewrth Trust in 1991 . Now immaculate , restored fully and road registered it resides with it’s living van at Old Warden aerodrome .

The Old Warden deserves a mention in its own right being the estate of Joseph Shuttleworth bought with his earnings from the Clayton and Shuttleworth engineering works. With its Mansion and 4700 acre estate it is now the home of The Shuttleworth Collection comprising a grass air strip , restoration workshop and 6 hangers housing arguably the best collection of flying Edwardian aeroplanes in the UK along with rare vintage cars and an eclectic collection of Clayton and Shuttleworth artefacts and farm machinery . The emphasis is on operating displays with something going on nearly every day during the season.

Back to the Engineering works Nathan Clayton and his brother in law Joseph Shuttleworth started the business in 1845 and was soon a major manufacture of portable steam engines and threshing machines. Work expanded to cover armour and aeroplanes during WW1 shortly followed by tractors. 1935 Hofherr Shrantz ( Clayton and Shuttleworth K40 ) on display in the Shuttleworth collection at Old Warden According to the information board . “ Built under licence by the H.S.C.S. company Budapest Hungry a subsidiary of C&S England. The machine worked in Australia for most of it’s life until purchased by the Shuttleworth Trust in 1990. Restoration to working order was completed in 2000 mostly carried out by volunteer Fred Harris.

With the family being well heeled Richard , Joe’s grandson became a motorist and aviator of some note and started a collection of aeroplanes and cars at Old Warden . A glimpse of just a couple of cars and planes in the collection After his untimely death during WW2 his mother Dorothy set up a Trust that became the basis of the Shuttlewortn Collection today. Well worth putting in your bucket list ! Now over to the main story Warwick —— > June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 6

Clayton & Shuttleworth Traction Engine at Browns Creek, NSW

Rohan Lamb Since the publication of the history of MSTEC’s Clayton & Shuttleworth traction engine, no.42129 in Steam Supreme, September 2011, new information has come to light. When the original article was written, only the general location of where the traction engine came from was known. At the time, the last known owner was Paddy South, but this did not explain why the engine was at Browns Creek, NSW. While sorting through some paperwork from Dave Mickle, a letter was found written by the owner, Frank Ewin, to Dave in March 1966 accepting the offer to purchase the engine for 20 pounds. The letter was significant as it identified the owner at Browns Creek, and narrowed down the location to the property the engine was located. Frank’s son, Allan still lives at the property, and was able to fill in more details about the engine and confirmed it was jointly owned by Frank Ewin of “Weston”, Browns Creek, and Wattie Baker of “Fairbanks” next door. Allan recommended contacting Bruce Baker. Bruce, now in his 80s, worked with the engine cutting chaff when he was around 16. He recalled Frank and Wattie purchased the engine and chaff cutter from Paddy South for use by four families

Above: Clayton & Shuttleworth traction engine as found (Dave Mickle, 29 February 1967)

the trees at Fairbanks until purchased by Alan Robert and brought back to Melbourne. More photos of the engine have also come to light from Dave’s slide collection.

References Letter, Frank Ewin to Dave Mickle, 16 March 1966 Interview with Allan Ewin, 16 July 2018 Interview with Bruce Baker, 19 July 2018 Photographs, Dave Mickle Left & Below: Loading the engine, 1967 (Dave Mickle) in the area for chaff cutting. It was purchased either near the end of the Second World War or just after. Paddy had chosen to retire from chaff cutting to work for an International tractor dealer in Blayney after contract chaff cutting in the area around Millthorpe and Blayney for a number of years. According to Bruce, Paddy had purchased the outfit from the Wiley’s of Millthorpe, the two brothers, George and Harry were known for chaff cutting in the region. Frank Ewin’s letter mentioned the engine was last used five years earlier in 1961 and was functioning well at the time suggesting it was used for around 15 years. The engine was kept and used only for chaff cutting as the steam fed into the cutter made better chaff. After falling out of use, the engine sat amongst June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 7

VALE - A Tribute to Rex Gotch

With the passing of Rex Neville Gotch at age 85 from a long battle with smoking related emphysema it is now appropriate to tell about Rex and his involvement in our Club and Museum.

It was a well attended funeral with MSTEC represented by 9 members. Rex was a quiet unassuming type of person who was not one to go around promoting himself which made it hard to piece together the story of this most remarkable man. What I have been able to gather is from those associated with him and chats down at the museum where he was surrounded by the engine collection he Rohan Lamb photo loved so it is by no means the full story.

First a bit of General Background . He was an only son whose father went on to operate an early motor garage. Rex himself had 3 boys and a girl followed by a number of grandchildren so despite loosing his wife, many years ago, has remained surrounded by family. From our perspective at MSTEC it was obvious that he had a passion for engine collecting but I gather his interests also extended to his family, sailing , mentoring young people , dogs and his lady friend Joan. Music was another love of Rex’s and he regularly visited old folks home with his keyboard and steel guitar with him He commenting to me not so long ago that it was ironic he is older than some of the residents he is playing to. Professionally he was an Engineer in the truest sense of the word and it is worth following his career at Swinborne , kindly prepared by Rohan Lamb, as it gives a window into the type of man he was. Memorial Video from the internet. Rex was student at Swinburne Technical College He by Meeting House Media. started in 1950 and studied for two years full time, followed by part time study and was awarded a mechanical engineering diploma in 1957. Rex worked in several jobs elsewhere and was a senior demonstrator in statics at Melbourne University in the year before returning to Swinburne in 1958 as a lecturer in Thermodynamics in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Swinburne offered an engineering degree for the first time in 1971, and Rex studied part time for his degree. It was around this time Rex spent a year away from Swinburne at teachers college. Rex spent the rest of his career at Swinburne teaching thermodynamics and became a senior lecturer. Rex was the team manager for the Shell Mileage marathon car project during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He designed the engine for the car, and was given it after the project finished. He retired in the late 1990s, and around this time joined MSTEC. In retirement Rex maintained an association with Swinburne University, and sponsored the Rex Gotch prize for the best final year mechanical engineering group project. Rohan Lamb . Involvement with MSTEC Reading between the lines the Swinburne university thermodynamic laboratory went through a major reorganization around the turn of the century and the traditional engines he had used to teach his many students became redundant and with department head Bill Fricker’s blessing Rex which was able to obtain many of these. Consequently his involvement with MSTEC intensified with the opportunity to gain tenure of 2 bays in building 9 and set up his engines as a display.

His Engines Display . Much of his collection are rare and unusual engines many having been set up for experiments either by industry or teaching . For example there is the Watkyns with special piston thermocouples for lubrication investigation . This engine is housed at Scorseby and described in SS # 568 May 2018 by Rohan lamb. Another is the virtually unique variable compression ratio sleave valve engine made for experiments by Ricardo. Even his ordinary engines were superbly restored and finely tunned and set to driving some sort of equipment to complement their display. June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 8

His Gippsland & Northern 5 hp stationary engine recently attracted the attention of UK visitor Andy Milestone who featured it in Stationary Engine the premier UK magazine. A priceless item and family heirloom in Rex’s collection is a T model Ford engine cut down to work as an air compressor . This was cobbled together in hard times by his grandfather for his workshop. This was subsequently used by Rex’s father in his garage until forced to close during the depression . It is currently in Rex’s collection at our Steam Museum being described in SS # 558 July 2017 by Warwick Bryce

Representing the Movement Rex was always keen to get his engines out on display not only at our rally but at other clubs rallies in particular Geelong where he always had a couple of engines set up driving something while staying on hand to share his engine knowledge with visitors and hand out flyers promoting our National Steam Museum. What can we make out about Rex .With all that said he was a most incredible person being exceptionally knowledgeable on the theory of heat engines and a rare combination of being hands on at the same time. This made him an excellent teacher able to lead many student projects such as the Shell mileage Marathon cars.

Talking to a number of his former students many commented on his excellent people skills always willing to mentor students while being approachable to provide support on personal matters, all this while never blowing his own trumpet All I can say I consider it a privilege to regard Rex as my friend and will miss him and the opportunity for in-depth discussions on many aspects of internal combustion heritage. A true gentleman indeed and ambassador for our hobby.

S S S S S S SS S S SS S S S S

Will after a day driving the roller

Little Mac Rolls Again ourselves. After a couple of years of At the last Run Day the big news keeping an eye out around the club was that our McDonald Warwick was able 3 ton footpath roller is back in action to obtain, for free, after what must be close to 15 years a billet of high thanks to Will Boothey. tensile steel 4 “in It all started ( or finished ) on a visit dia and 30 “ long to a Museum Action Day at Science for the job . Works were it was hydraulic locked by a Another 2 years cylinder of fuel. On attempting to start then passed before the connecting rod bent and jammed it was machined against the side of the bore locking the from the solid by our friends on the other side of the West engine. Not much was said about it at the time but when it Gate bridge. Eventually Frank Gough and the Diesel team was eventually stripped down, luckily everything else looked fitted it to the engine but despite endless advice and much serviceable apart from needing a new connecting rod,. It soon tinkering they could never get it to run. Over the ages other became obvious we would have to make a replacement groups got enthusiast about it but without success. June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 9

The trouble seemed to revolve around it’s Hvid fuel system which dribbles fuel into a small cup in the cylinder head during the intake stroke . Some how during compression the fuel comes out or the hot air gets into the cup through the tiny holes and ignition occurs. There does not seem to be a satisfactory explanation of just what goes on but it depends on compression ratio to the extent that the connecting rod is fitted with spacers that are individually set for each engine at the factory and need changing if different fuel is used. Diagram of Fuel system based on McDonald Instruction book . Only because I have seen one that starts and runs easily am I convinced that it actually works. Tiny Hole My branch also has a local picture but only of a tree. I guess they are trying to generate a sense of being part of the local community by displaying recognizable views. Anyhow it is great to see our Traction engine has become a local landmark thanks to the good work Piston Adrian Anderson put into it’s presentation. Another Lighting plant Long standing member Don Whaley has generously donated the Museum his Delco Lighting plant . It is complete Anyway Will took on the challenge and after months of with switch board , batteries and trolley , in full going order fiddling with the fuel system without any luck he added a few and self starting at the touch of a button. Once set up in bay 4 extra spacers to raise the compression ratio and away she went it will make a great exhibit and compliment the superbly amid much jubilation. In fact on the run day you could not get presented him off it , he just went round and round the arena beaming lighting sets of from ear to ear. Ken Cumin A great result but these engines are very prone to damage giving our from hydraulic locks and require special precautions when Melbourne starting so we need to restrict operation to those that know the Steam Museum procedure. It is basically :- one of the best - Stop the engine by turning off the fuel tap. This is the displays of only safe way . home lighting - Never leave the tap open when the engine is not running . plants to be Since the fuel delivery needle valve is open during part of the found. inlet stroke the cylinder will slowly fill up with fuel . Since it Ian Malcolm is incompressible bang will go the conrod or crankacse . and Len - When not running always leave the exhaust valve blocked Brighton open by the decompression leaver . This will allow any fuel exploring the that drips into the cylinder to drain out through the exhaust. peculiarities of - Keep the Lubricator full . It is a total oil loss system the Delco set.

Something Familiar About this Engine ? A Great International Write Up Rohan Lamb thought there was something familiar about this It was a bit of a thrill to find our ”Melbourne Steam giant photograph of a traction engine adorning the wall of an Museum” featured in “Stationary Engine” , the leading office he was passing. magazine from the UK. It would seem contributor Andy What a wonderful picture to have on your wall at home I Milestone had been on a trip out here as he has done several hope the occupier of this office appreciates it as much as we other stories on the Australian engine scene recently. He was do . Have you got it yet ? Yes it is the Buffalo Pitts traction very impressed with our diverse collection mentioning road engine on display out the front of our Steam Museum. And the and stationary steam , miniature railway and earthmoving but office ? The Commonwealth bank at Brandon Park shopping for the magazine concentrated on internal combustion giving center. us 3 full pages with plenty of photographs . He was June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 10 particularly impressed mentioning our Run Days when most engines can be run . He makes the observation “ One engine in particular sums up the level of perseverance that people ( our members) will go to , to see that an engine not only gets restored but to running condition despite what appears to be massive problems along the way “ …. Of course the Willans . Andy then gives most of a colum to it’s background and recommends our website for more information. Included are a number of photos of our engines mainly concentrating on Australian made machines. Reading between the lines I draw a number of impressive exhibit is the MSTEC walking dragline” I wonder conclusions from his story. if we need to give a bit more recognition to the contribution of Andy was extremely impressed with our Museum particularly our people after all they are all volunteers. that we make an effort to preserve and display locally That said another point came up our awkward name . The first produced items but he also was pleased to see the British paragraph was trying to get readers attention that something engines. Obviously he found the information boards and web called “ Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club— site extremely useful as he drew on the information for his National Steam Museum “ could be of interest to people who story and captions, I hope he got a copy of our Museum like Stationary engines , Tractors. Trucks and Earthmoving as Guide book . Let’s see if we can get a few more signs up well . To the Editor's credit they settled for posting us as especially on members exhibits. “Melbourne Steam Museum” on the front cover of what is a He gives credit to our members skills and dedication as ….. Stationary Engine Magazine!!!!! . Patrick must have felt evidenced by comments such as “ The largest and most we certainly made a worthy story despite the name. Even Rex’s Engine gets a Mention The picture of Rex’s engine and plea for help as it appears in Stationary Engine magazine . Since this issue has been focusing on Rex I think it is not out of order to include the background of this engine that I provided to Stationary Engine magazine. Hello Patrick, I can help a bit about the C & N engine referred to by Andy Milestone in S.E. 543 as I am involved with the MSTEC. Museum and have personally inspected the engine which is owned by Rex Gotch.. Actually Andy misread the cast iron name plate and it is G & N which stands for Gippsland and Northern Co Operative Society which are known in Australia as a Stock and Station Agency . These were businesses set up by a co operatives of locals to assist farmers, in remote areas of Australia, with the buying and selling of farm produce, live stock , properties and equipment. The” Gippsland Co operative” started in 1905 at Heyfield a farming community in Gippsland, the region East of Melbourne. It took over the North Eastern Victorian equivalent in 1911 to become Gippsland and Northern and established a head office in Melbourne. Serving strong dairying areas G & N marketed a line of equipment under it’s own brand that included milking machines , separators and stationary engines. How much of this it made it’s self is debatable but stationary engines were definitely bought in and rebadged. June 2019 STEAM SUPREME 11

Actually Rex’s engine is a rebadged Kelly and Lewis which is supported by the fact that the G & N badge is cast into the removable crankcase cover a common practice with rebadging. On Kelly and Lewis, they were a Melbourne company that started as a pump designer and manufacturer at the turn of the last century quickly establishing blacksmithing , boiler making and machining departments. Operations extended over the years to include steam locomotive cylinder castings and petrol and Diesel stationary engines and Australian copies of the iconic Lanz Bulldog tractor while going on to specialize in pumps ranging from irrigation to gigantic ones for power stations. In more recent years difficult financial situations coupled with reduced tariff protection saw K & L. subject to a number of take overs and mergers to become part of the USA company Flowservce Pumps. So this engine that took Andy’s interest has quite a provenance but there is a bit more! For many years this superbly restored engine was the show piece in the foyer of Dandy Rebores an engine reconditioning business in Dandenong Melbourne . It was the very reason I got interested in stationary engine collecting after going there in the mid 1970’s to have the big end remetalled of my Cooper / Stover stationary engine. Warwick Bryce

Left Geelong Rally Feb 2018 O u r R e x G o t c h w i t h his Wolsley tank cooled petrol engine driving a water pump via a truck generator which is powering his spot light Rex was a bit releaved that the weather was cool in contrast to the previous years sweltering conditions.

New Locomotive for MSTEC Railway.

At the May Committee meeting approval was granted for the construction of a new diesel-hydraulic locomotive to provide additional reliability and variety for our railway as currently , with the steamer out of action due to failed boiler, at the moment we only have Joy to rely on . Peter Lynch has been appointed to lead this project whilst Railways Manager Rob Worland remains in charge of day-to-day operations, routine maintenance and the new Western track extension.

Current planning is for a scaled down version of the V/Line four-axle P class locomotive capable of hauling at least four carriages. Priorities are simple operation, reliability and ease of maintenance. Many components such as a Kubota Diesel engine, hydraulic pump, motors, drivers seat and radiator have already been donated and space set aside in bay 5 for assembly. It is hoped to outsource construction of the bogies then commence the main chassis and sheetmetal work in July.

Members are invited to suggest a name for our new loco and pass these suggestions to Committee.