Newsletter of the Mornington Railway
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BETWEEN OUR LINES Edition 1 2015 Newsletter of the Mornington Railway FROM YOUR SECRETARY PRESIDENTS REPORT By Lindsay Carlier On July 1st membership renewals Pauline Wellard – A regular in the By Andrew Swaine volunteer recruitment drive, and through Way and Works department too, and the will again be due and all members will role of conductor with her step father Sid all that continued to run our regular new Saturday Way and Works gang have ere we are, half way through the year soon receive an invitation to renew. Howard ello everyone, and welcome to the Sunday trains and Driver experiences. plans to tackle several problem areas on and what a lot has occurred on our Please renew your membership promptly new and updated version of Between And there is more to come: many things our track over the coming months. railway.H Infrastructure developments, as these funds assist in helping our cash Ian McCaskill – An early carriage OurH Lines. This is a trial to determine underway have not yet reached fruition. track work, application for rolling stock flow and ongoing needs of our railway. Manager and volunteer on the Track gang whether this new format meets with your So it’s fair to say that there is a lot and a turntable, an updated yard plan, a approval, in addition to trying out some We were saddened last month going on! To support all this activity, we replacement diesel & locomotive shed, Of recent times our Committee of Our condolences and thoughts are of our new corporate branding concepts. to have lost Captain Ian McCaskill, also need to build better relationships with continual maintenance of our carriages, Management has reviewed our volunteer with their families and they will be sadly We will gradually be updating all our one of our long serving and dedicated the local community and Government at continuing work at Baxter, a new insurance and we have now been missed by the Mornington Railway documentation to newer, fresher formats, volunteers during the Crib Point and early all levels, to build our revenue base, and to Training and Education Manager, a wood successful in securing a better deal. This family. more in keeping with our image as a Moorooduc years. Ian was our Carriage increase the number of active volunteers. preparation group, and the imminent has been outlined in a recent edition of major tourist and heritage attraction on Manager and Treasurer for many years, The Human Resources side of our railway conversion of Wooralla Drive crossing to Down our Track. As you would all know, our Secretary the Mornington Peninsula. and left an indelible mark on the MRPS. is becoming increasingly important, and a fully automated basis, to mention some. Rowan Bravington resigned from the He had been unwell for quite some time, we must support this subcommittee in You will have noticed that the Down post early in 2015, and whilst I have To begin with I’d like to thank with a rare skin cancer finally claiming their endeavours. The Committee of Management our Track publication and the notice of taken on the position in the interim, we Graham Parrett, who has been our him on the 6th of May. Rest in Peace Ian. voted in at the AGM (Annual General works and activities publication has now are still seeking a person to take on this Newsletter editor since 2003 and has Finally, we need to revisit our Meeting) in October has been working been merged into one document. This has role on a permanent basis. Should any persisted with producing Between Our The next few months show no sign proposal to start running every Sunday. very hard to address issues that have proved to be a highly useful publication member or acquaintance of our members Lines through good times and bad. It is an of being any quieter! The Deniliquin We are out of step with all the other developed and those that required to disseminate information and advertise be interested in the role, I would welcome often thankless task, but an essential one turntable must be removed from its major Tourist railways and other tourism attention. This committee with the support upcoming events around the railway. the opportunity to discuss it with them. to keep our membership and stakeholders present location by the 31st of July, and operators in the region by operating the of Subcommittees of Human Resources, informed about what we are doing. we are also taking the track and other way we do, but in making this change we Marketing, and Rail & General Safety It was very sad to hear of the passing The Committee of Management Graham has been with the MRPS since assets at the site as well. The moves of also need to be careful to not overload have been tackling issues such as training, of three of our members during the past is continuing their challenging and the very early days, and has seen many 7 CV, 59 RM and W 241 will almost our volunteers, nor to compromise the marketing issues regarding a courtesy bus months. exhaustive work and look forward to exciting events throughout his time with certainly happen in June and the Work offering we provide to our customers. I and new marketing initiatives amongst ensuring our railway continues as a major the railway. I’m hopeful that Graham for the Dole scheme starts on the 9th of would like to appoint a working party to many others and the review of several of Howard Girdler – A founding member attraction on the Mornington Peninsula will write some feature articles for future June. There are also likely to be track examine these issues and to come back our current documents. and stalwart of our railway newsletters, sharing experiences from his assets in various locations made available to the Committee of Management with many years of service. for collection later in June, and we have some recommendations as to the best way steel sleepers to collect from our friends to proceed. I will be seeking Committee The last few months have been at the Daylesford Spa Country Railway endorsement for this proposal at the June chaotic, to say the least. We’ve seen our for trial in the Baxter section. We’ve also meeting. long held dream of obtaining a 70 foot started to investigate what can be done PLANNING FOR OUR FUTURE turntable realised, our Moorooduc yard to fix Tanti station platform (which is It’s a very exciting time for the redevelopment has hit high gear, we’ve slowly collapsing towards the track), the MRPS. I urge each and every one of you acquired new locomotive and rollingstock Balcombe Creek Armco culverts (which to consider what you can do to help move ver the past few months, a group of appointed members called the Strategy Working Group (SWG) have assets, nearly finished a boiler restoration, must be repaired or replaced within the the railway forward either from home, been conducting interviews with volunteers and reviewing the operations of the Mornington Railway to stripped a carriage for a full reskinning, next ten years) and the embankment or from the railway itself. At the very O met with Mornington Peninsula Shire over Watson’s Creek on the Baxter side least, we should all be evangelists for the produce a Strategic Plan which will outline a proposed way ahead for the MRPS. Council, successfully applied for a Work (which is subsiding). There are also plans railway, helping to spread the word about for the Dole scheme, set up a crib room to extend the platform at Moorooduc, us, encourage new business and build our The SWG has been busy interviewing roadblocks to ensure that the plan is be your document and will reflect the for our locomotive crews, rebuilt the and potentially Mornington as well, and profile in the local community. individuals, department members, delivered. direction that the majority of the members problem section of our track at Wooralla we are still hopeful of finding a way to department heads, and Committee would like the organisation to take. This Drive, removed many of the problem pine extend our carriage shed and set up a members to discuss their thoughts, ideas, In the coming editions of “Down is an exciting time for the railway, and the trees at Wooralla Drive, cleared all the proper workshop for the Carriage and and suggestions. These discussions have Our Track”, all members will be invited SWG are honoured to be undertaking this remaining pine trees on the Baxter section Engineering department. We are actively been very useful and many positive ideas to complete a short questionnaire which activity on your behalf. almost as far as Sumner Road, run a searching for a tamping machine for the and proposals have emerged, which will ask for your feedback on items which have been considered by the SWG for the SWG believe are important to you. The SWG comprises the following incorporation into the plan. This feedback is very important as the members: Geoff Blake, Kristian Lofhelm, SWG are keen to receive feedback from Maurice Clarke, John Baxter, Rodney The Strategic Plan which emerges at non-active as well as active members. All Reed, and Lindsay Carlier. the end of this process will be a blueprint members are also invited to write to the mapping out a recommended way SWG with their thoughts and ideas via the It is envisaged that the Strategic forward for the MRPS over the next four email address at the end of this article. Plan will be delivered to members for to five years.