Railway Preservation Society Inc. PO Box 2736, SA 5606 NEWSLETTER February 2017

STATION BUILDING 90th ANNIVERSARY

Port Lincoln’s magnificent heritage-listed will allow us to conduct small group visits station building celebrates its 90th Anniversary downstairs to see the ‘dungeon’ (basement) in May/June, and the EPRPS will be marking and the still-intact boiler for the building’s the occasion with a special afternoon at the original heating system. station on Sunday th7 May. The Guest Speaker on the day will be We will be launching a special display on Michael Heath, grandson of Bert Ernest the station building for History Month, and it Heath, the stonemason who created the will also be an opportunity to showcase the superb building stonework we see today. many changes and improvements which are The museum will be open at our usual currently taking place around the museum times, from 1 pm to 4 pm, with the formalities (see other articles in this Newsletter). taking place at 2 pm. Entry on the day will be As a special feature on this day only, GWA by gold coin donation.

This was how the station building appeared around 1979. Note the AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL RAILWAYS sign on the wall above the breezeway, and the absence of the garden area in the car park. The paintwork is very different to last year’s ‘heritage red’ colour scheme. Many photos of the station in its various guises over th the years will be on display at the 90 celebration and for History Month. Tony Carey EPRPS NEWSLETTER - February 2017 Page 2

PLATFORM FENCE INSTALLED The platform area between the station approval, and by then GWA’s building building and the yard tracks has up to now refurbishment program was under way. been enclosed with a rope and flags, and we Work was finally carried out in November have made it clear to visitors that they must to erect an aluminium boundary fence. not go past it. Despite our best intentions, Gates have been provided at each end of the from time to time children have wandered platform, but these are normally kept closed. beyond the rope, and even worse, occasionally We are grateful to Bunnings Port Lincoln an adult has ventured out — ‘I just wanted to for supplying the fencing materials at a take a photo’ being the usual excuse. discount. Erection was carried out by Kevin To solve the problem, we decided 18 Couzner with post holes dug by EP Mini months ago that a fence was needed. It took Diggers, both at heavily discounted rates. months to obtain the necessary Heritage Their support is very much appreciated!

The new platform fence is surprisingly unobtrusive. We initially proposed a cream colour, but the Heritage people insisted on black. Seeing the result, they were right. Peter Knife

EASTER AND BRIDGEWORK DISRUPTIONS This year will see some significant compensating us for lost attendance. disruptions to our usual arrangements. Work should begin soon on the The Port Lincoln Auto Sprint is a street replacement of the London Street bridge over racing ‘time trial’ (one car at a time) to be the rail yard. The old bridge (which is now 90 held over the Easter weekend this year. As years old) will be removed, and a new bridge the race track includes Railway Place and the constructed on the same alignment. This station car park, all access will be blocked and work will take most of the year, and while it we will be unable to open on Easter Day or is under way the only access to the museum Easter Monday. The race organisers will be will be via Liverpool Street and Railway Place. EPRPS NEWSLETTER - February 2017 Page 3

SOLAR LIGHTING IN FREIGHT SHED DISPLAYS The only power we have had in the Freight Shed up to now has been generators, and these are too noisy to run while visitors are around. On sunny days lighting has been reasonably good, thanks to skylight panels installed by our volunteers several years ago, but dull days are difficult particularly in the rollingstock displayed under the shed canopy. To help ease the problem, we recently purchased a 12V solar lighting system. A small solar panel mounted on the roof of one of our VFN vans keeps a battery charged, and this runs LED lights inside the rollingstock on display and also in the tent and replica cottage interior.

MUSEUM FRIDGE MAGNETS Our range of souvenirs has expanded museum, and we can arrange for mail order if with the addition of two designs of fridge desired - please contact the Treasurer for this. magnet. They are on sale for $3.50 each or Our thanks go to member Dr Ian Cutter two for $6.00, and a good number have been for allowing us to use his lovely photo of a sold already. They can be purchased at the railcar in front of the station building in 1965.

Brill Railcar in 1965 Port Lincoln SA

Railway Museum Port Lincoln SA

T Class Port Lincoln Railway Museum Brill Railcar EPRPS NEWSLETTER - February 2017 Page 4

GRANT FOR INTERPRETIVE PANELS

We were delighted to be given a grant the railways on Eyre Peninsula. by the History Trust of SA for a series of They are being printed and mounted on interpretive panels around the museum. lightweight aluminium by Impact Signs in Twenty-nine panels are being prepared, Port Lincoln. In the station building rooms we and will be placed in many locations in the are taking advantage of the picture hanging museum’s various rooms and at the freight rails installed by the SAR when the building shed. was constructed in 1926. The use of nylon Up to now most of our signage has been droppers to hang the panels means that the focussed on specific objects. The new panels walls are not damaged, and displays can be add a “big picture” story to many aspects of easily rearranged at any time.

Railwaymen’s Accommodation

Living conditions for railwaymen Bagged Grain Handling stationed away from the main towns came late to bulk handling, introducing on Eyre Peninsula were far from ideal. it decades after the other grain-producing states. As a Above all else, the safe passage of Tents for the track result, bagged grain lumping, grain stacks and transport trains depended on the gangs located gang at a siding on Eyre Peninsula. were an everyday feature of Eyre Peninsula right up to strategically along the line. These EPRPS Archives the 1970s. men were entrusted with the routine inspection and maintenance of the Huge stacks lined the tracks at every siding along the section of track under their care, and line. The jetties were a hive of activity as bags were to do that they were required to live transferred from rail to ship. in all manner of remote locations and in primitive circumstances. This often entailed living in a standard issue Some samples of the railway tent in a station yard. Eventually barracks buildings were provided for the single men in each gang. These panels which will be structures were themselves fairly primitive: corrugated iron, with sawdust for ‘insulation’ in the walls. Modern conveniences such The labour-intensive nature of bagged grain handling is obvious in this scene as electricity and sewerage were non- Grain stacks and the SA Farmers Union shed at Minnipa on Brennen’s Jetty at Port Lincoln, as bags are loaded from rail wagons onto a existent. Rainwater was collected in tanks installed around the in 1958. waiting ship. Minnipa Memories Collection where possible, but this often had to be HK Williams supplemented with water brought in by train in water tank wagons. Fortunate ones had a shop nearby, but many had to rely on groceries EPRPS Archives museum. Fireman Ron Kirby posed for his photograph in front of the original “Wheat lumpers were tough, strong and and supplies brought in by train. The nearest crew barracks and maintenance barracks at Minnipa. skilful men often receiving grain in heat doctor might be a hundred miles away. wave conditions.” The more senior employees were provided with “The skill of the men that did this work, railway cottages from the early days. Then from 'rivers, Àremen and guards often had to stay and the speed at which they did it had the 1920s onwards, several hundred cottages for overnight away from their home stations. Barracks never been seen before and never will railwaymen were built at stations across Eyre buildings were provided for them also, similar to be again.” Peninsula, primarily for married employees but the gang barracks. Crews had to carry all their available to single men also. necessities with them including food, and cook, Ian Rodgers sleep and clean up before commencing their return shift.

Early Passenger Services Lumpers building a stack from rail wagons for the SA Farmers Union in Port Lincoln, circa 1940. Rudd Wollaston and Harold Richardson are on the stack, Bert Ridgway (Tally Clerk) is near second The much shorter distance by sea than by land from to Port HOHYDWRU,QIRUHJURXQGQHDUWUHVWOHLV:LW+DUURZÀHOG 6DPSOH )RUHPDQ 7HG6DPSVRQLVLQWKHWUXFNGRRUZD\&OLII'REELQVL Lincoln, together with the poor state of many roads, resulted in the U DOPRVWKLGLQJ3DW'REELQV almost total dependence of Eyre Peninsula on shipping links. Rail V1HHGOHPDQ Living on the move Bob Dobbins services on Eyre Peninsula were co-ordinated with the regular vessels At times, a specially-equipped ‘barracks on wheels’ between Adelaide and Port Lincoln. was attached to the rear of the train, and two crews )RUWKHÀUVWTXDUWHURIDFHQWXU\RIWKH3RUW/LQFROQOLQHVMixed trains would alternate shifts as the journey progressed. It worked all regularly scheduled services. These were essentially goods In the transition period from was challenging cooking, eating and sleeping in the trains with one or more passenger cars attached. bagged to bulk handling, rocking, jolting relay van at the tail of a long goods The journey was slow and uncomfortable, with the train stopping to cutting-to-bulk was used at train. The crews would alternate shifts ‘on’ or ‘off’ many sidings. As the stacks Alex Grunbach shunt at each siding along the way. Being at the back of the train, the were broken down (photo at until they reached home, three or four days later. carriage would be jolted every time the train speeded up or slowed Typical railway cottages at Rudall. left), the bags were slit open down. It was however a big improvement over the alternatives available and the contents emptied at the time: horses or walking! into wagons (at right) for Between 1931 and 1935 railcars took over almost all passenger services railing in bulk to the new terminals at Port Lincoln and Put yourself in the picture on Eyre Peninsula, speeding up the timetable. A single weekly Mixed Thevenard. train did continue running for 30 more years, connecting at Minnipa Bill Lewis Step inside the railwaymen’s tent here and imagine with the Friday railcar from Port Lincoln and running through the night A Mixed train pauses at Cummins in 1924 on its long trek south, allowing the passengers to make a welcome visit to the yourself living in it for a year or two. to Thevenard. refreshment stall on the right. Such facilities were provided at a number of locations along the line. SLSA: B 28023

Several relay vans await their nextGraeme call Westwood for Opposite the tent is a reconstruction of the living area duty at Port Lincoln. and bathroom/laundry facilities in an early railway cottage. How times have changed! Watch the action See grain lumpers in action in the 1950s in the incredible colour movie footage in Jim Cronin’s DVD (on sale here).

W53 leads a short Mixed train near Port Lincoln, c.1910. SLSA: B 58295

Scan here for more details of the passenger carriages used The train photographed here departing from Minnipa for Thevenard on 30 September 1930 was well on Eyre Peninsula: patronised. From an early postcard

Background: Passengers milling around at Yeelanna. A Voumard, EPRPS Archives

MUSEUM ‘THEATRETTE’ After several months of preparation, an • Kim Bird’s movie film of steam and diesel extra display room will be open very soon. locomotives and railcars at work on Eyre It is accessed off the platform, between the Peninsula in the 1960s (15 minutes). Reading Room and the Photo Gallery. Other displays in the room will include It is being set up as a mini theatrette, with the barley handling and sampling equipment a large wall-mounted screen. Two videos will display, and collection of surveying and play on a continuous cycle, alternating with drafting equipment. each other: Our special thanks go to Christopher • Jim Cronin’s amazing colour footage of bag McGeever for help with mounting the flat sewing and grain lumping around Cummins screen, and to Harvey Norman Port Lincoln district in the 1950s (20 minutes). for supporting us with a great purchase price. EPRPS NEWSLETTER - February 2017 Page 5

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The track leading down to Thevenard installed across the cutting directly opposite jetty from the station yard descends through West Terrace. This work was completed in a deep cutting. When the gypsum and plaster December 1926. works were established in the 1920s, the SACBH erected their first Thevenard silos cutting formed a barrier for pedestrian access in 1961, and the footbridge gave convenient to the works from Thevenard Road. access to the silo complex also. In 1964 Around this time the ‘Western System’ a project was undertaken to widen the of the SAR (the narrow gauge network based cutting down to the jetty, and the old Kadina on Hamley Bridge and including the Moonta footbridge was removed. A new bridge was line) was being converted to broad gauge. A erected 100 ft further along towards the jetty. footbridge had spanned the tracks at Kadina, The old bridge had served the SAR for over 80 and this was removed to allow for the gauge years, so was written off. widening. The jetty line was closed in 1985. Since The main span from the Kadina then the cutting has been filled in, rendering footbridge was then sent to Thevenard and the new footbridge redundant.

Above: Taken in 1962, this photo shows the old footbridge (the rusted girder at ground level in the centre of the view) still in place across the cutting. The first SACBH silos are beyond the cutting, and the track in the foreground curves around and into the CSR Siding where salt trains were unloaded. Lister Coop

Right: An extract from a Thevenard yard diagram showing the original and replacement footbridges across the jetty line cutting. EPRPS Archives EPRPS Committee 2016-17 President Peter Knife (08) 8684-3647 0428-119-287 [email protected] Vice-President Bob Prout (08) 8682-2914 Secretary Trevor Hoskin (08) 8682-6669 0428-826-669 [email protected] Treasurer Maggie Knife (08) 8684-3647 0417-401-364 [email protected] Committee Don Atkinson (08) 8682-4077 0427-824-077 John McGeever (08) 8682-2002 0416-069-035 Des Wiseman (08) 8684-6122 0428-846-122 Murray Wright (08) 8682-4628 Website: http://www.eprps.org.au

Eyre Peninsula Railway Preservation Society Inc PO Box 2736 Postage Port Lincoln SA 5606 Paid Australia