Volume 10 Issue 3
Total Page：16
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STEAM SCENE Newsletter of the S team Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-Op ) Society Lt d. t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway. Proudly associated with the NSW Rail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountains Division). Affiliated with the Co uncil of Tramway Museums of Australasia and Rail Heritage Australia (NSW). “Preserving the past, STEAM SCENE enriching the future” Newsletter of the Steam Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-Op) Society Ltd. t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway. Proudly associated with the NSW Rail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountains Division). Volume 10, Issue 3 Affiliated with the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia and Rail Heritage Australia (NSW). June, 2013 An Anniversary We Could Have Done Without…. From the 20 years since the Parramatta Park fire Editor June 7, 2013 marks twenty years since the destruc- knew where they were or if they were indeed, in Without hesitation, tion of our shed and collection in Parramatta Park. For existence. The Fire Service had to make do with there is no doubt in my mind that of those of us who were around at the time, it is one of pumping water from the river—all time consuming all the site options considered after those ‘bookmark’ events in our lives when we can and critical to any possible survival of rolling stock. the fire, Valley Heights was the right distinctly remember what we were doing or where we The hydrant locations were soon found after the one to be selected. It has succeeded fire. beyond most peoples expectations. The following day, the long slow clean-up and Many doubted, that given the single- salvage operation began. Pieces were picked up in mindedness of most groups, two disbelief, that only the day before they had been ‘sleeping in the one bed’ could not invaluable relics. possibly work. But work it has and it continues to mature and develop into And so the process went, sorting, saving, discard- a mutually supportive operation. We ing. It was so difficult making decisions on some share without equivocation what we items. Some were so hard to identify or some be- each have. There are no barriers with longed to something that probably had no hope of training up firemen, drivers or tractor ever being restored, but then again, perhaps it operators. We share tools, machinery might. Much burnt out material went to the dump, and a host of other things. Although some was stored both on and off site. It must be there might have been a touch of said that the local council were very helpful in as- reticence to begin with, there is now sisting with the initial clean-up. Eventually, after a lot no room for attitudes of ‘them’ and (Above) The morning after. 103A’s bunker is to the right of searching and evaluating, a temporary site was ‘us’, ’ours’ and ‘yours’. Thus our work, and 1022 in the background. All that remains of trailer allocated to us near be it individual or complimentary goes 74b, are the ferrous parts behind 103A. All timber work the Macquarie Street on day by day, week by week towards has been totally destroyed. car park, on which to fulfilling a mutual goal—that of creat- place two ship’s con- ing the premier visitor attraction of were, at the time. For me, I distinctly remember Frank tainers for storing the Lower Blue Mountains. Moag phoning me at a late hour and in a trembling some of our gear. voice saying, “Bruce? Its gone…..its all gone….” To After a lot of investi- Each group has their problems and which I replied, “What has Frank ?” “The gation and considera- one concerning both of us at the shed….everything…” I couldn't believe it, I was tion of potential sites, moment are declining visitor numbers stunned. I had to get down to the “Park” as soon as we were given a and revenue. We are confident how- possible. Perhaps Frank was exaggerating...perhaps home at Valley ever that the pool of resources that something had been saved….surely the KA car hadn't Heights by RTM. A lies within the two groups will see us gone up in smoke. And so I mused as my wife and I lot of gear was subse- through with new initiatives and pure made our way into Parramatta. On arrival at the quently transferred grit and determination to succeed. scene, total devastation greeted us. There was a con- to that site. Bruce Irwin—Editor gregation of members and friends, curious onlookers In some respects, I and firemen keeping watch. The shed and everything find it hard to believe (Above) Mark Newton, Frank that had been therein, was a total burnt out wreck of that 20 years have Millier and Craig might be twisted galvanized iron, smouldering stumps and un- passed us by since smiling for the camera but the recognizable iron and steel work draped over wheels that dreadful night and smiles surely conceal incredu- that could only have been items of rolling stock a few following day. In other lous disbelief. Craig is holding short hours before. All of us who were there, were in ways it is also hard to a brass grab-handle from the shock, numbed to the core. Round and round, the believe what remark- questions went, “Who could have done such a thing?” burnt-out motor. able achievements “Was it deliberate?”, “Was it an electrical fault?” Of have been made by us during the last two decades course there were no positive answers then and as it since the fire. To paraphrase one wag’s comment has turned out, there would not be any satisfactory recently, “ Here we are a society 60 years old and we answers to most of the questions, even today. Eventu- still only sport the motor, a loco, and a trailer with a big ally the fire investigators concluded that the fire had collection of still-to-be-dones.” I suppose that is basi- indeed been deliberately lit and that it had been lit cally true. Had we not had the fire, it is interesting from a series of points inside the shed. Theories to muse what might have been in Parramatta Park. abounded then as they do now, as to who may have Pre-fire, we were getting into not bad shape on all done it. One theory even included the local Council! fronts, including the track (an object of scorn by Who ever it was, they most certainly had an intimate many). Importantly, the city council after years of knowledge of the ‘minefield’ that was the tangled inte- vacillation, had recently indicated their support for rior of the shed and a plan for a ready exit once the us in re-building our shed on the existing site. It (Above) The late Frank Millier is fires were ignited. was finally acknowledged we thought, that after a on the bunker of the motor whilst Much could have been saved had there been an ade- mammoth struggle, the common sense of the situa- Craig Connelly surveys what can quate hydrant water supply in the Park. But no one tion had prevailed and there was no need to worry be saved. about re-siting the shed or track. (Cont. on Page 6) Page 2 STEAM SCENE “WYLAM DILLY”: A chance encounter with a steam locomotive as old as the 1813 crossing of the Blue Mountains! Centenaries come and go with Valley Heights being no exception. We all like to associate ourselves with such events. We are all looking forward to the centenary of the Valley Heights Locomotive Roundhouse this year. Also the other celebration this year will be commemorating the bi-centenary of the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813! It is also the bi-centenary of the first successful locomotive using the now universal smooth steel wheel to smooth steel rail concept. Whilst wandering through river. By then the evolution the galleries of Edinburgh’s and development of steam Royal Museum of Scotland in power that was beginning to June of last year the Stock’s emerge across the industrial came face to face with two heartlands of England. ancient steam locomotives. One treasure was an 0-4-0WT These events were not lost locomotive called Ellesmere, on Blackett whose vision was built locally at Leith in 1861. In to develop these innovations accord with the mechanical and for the purpose of minimising design standards of the time, it his transport costs. During was provided with basic 1812 Blackett asked his mine weather protection for the manager, William Hedley, to crew, rudimentary controls and build two locomotives to re- equipped with wooden brake place horses on the plateway. blocks. It was another locomo- In this Hedley was fortunate to William Hedley (1779-1843) tive however, that really caught be ably assisted by the col- demonstrated that smooth wheels my attention. Here was one liery’s “foreman of the smiths”, could operate over smooth rails, even older, and will reach the one Timothy Hackworth. Hedley feared unemployment contrary to general belief. grand age of two hundred years old this year, having been built as a result of the possible clo- in 1813! sure of the colliery. This was on the cards owing to the Two hundred years old, imag- (Above) 0-4-0WT ‘Ellesmere’ was built in Leith, continual rise in the price of ine that! Here is a steam loco- Scotland, during 1861. Apart from the ‘spectacle’ hay and other necessities re- motive built in England at the plate, the crew had little protection from the quired for the operation of the very same time as Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson were elements.