“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. Volume 10 Issue 4 Proudly associated with the NSW Rail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountains Division). Affiliated with the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia and August 2013 Rail Heritage Australia (NSW). New Track Work for 100th Celebrations From the Over the last few months, the Valley Heights Congratulations to John Stanley, Ted Dickson and Editor Museum Perway gang have re-laid in the second Ash the team on a great job. With the Centenary Road to the Tram Shed. This has been a mammoth Another heavy track job now underway, is the of the official opening of the Round replaying of about 20 metres of the ‘arrival road’ house fast approaching, a lot of nearest the turntable. This road has seen gradual work remains at hand. Part of our deterioration over the last few years and although obligation is to ensure that we have this doesn't worry the feather weight tram it could a reliable tram service availaavailableble as cause problems for heavier engines of the class required. expected to grace the round-house’s centenary We are endeavoring to have the LFA next year. All of this road has been laid on timber car and the Stephenson loco avail- sleepers and the portion in question, covered in car and the Stephenson loco avail- concrete. This section of track will be fully torn-up able to coincide with the centenary and replaced with concrete sleepers, 107lb rail and celebrations. With the second bogey overhaul well underway and with the braking system yet to be fully checked out, the commissioning of this car of foreseeable. However, it is not just a simple matter of the car (Above) All but completed ash road project. Full- being made ready and away we go. ballasting remains to be done. (Below) Site of the re-lay There is a lot of paper--work involved of arrival road track. and a familiarization tool--box talk or two to be had before the car can be submitted to the regulator as being fit for service. Whilst the ‘technical’ work is well in hand, we could do with some assis- (Above) Site of the land-slip area to be walled. tance to help clean the car and Stepho in readiness for when they a mass concrete pour. This is a project that cannot do go into service. If you are avail- be achieved between running days so tram opera- able, just turn up on any Saturday tions have been suspended during the month of prior to a non--running day and you September to enable the work to be completed. will be made most welcome. The Another project underway, although not con- more help we can get, the better the nected with track work, is the installing of a new chance we will have of turning out retaining wall at the rear of the roundhouse. This something completely different for effort including the installation of points and provi- area was the subject a land slip some time ago. The our visitors. This is something we sion for a the future laying-in of a storage siding to work is being carried out by a private contractor on have needed and strived for a long the side of the shed. The track has been packed and behalf of Railcorp. time. is trafficable however full ballasting and tamping remains to be completed. See you soon, Bruce Irwin Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow (2012) Talks to Us Editor. At the invitation of the Society, Ken Kitchen This issue has been discussed on a couple of occa- (ITSR) visited us on Saturday 29th June 2013 to give sions in Steam Scene some years ago. The question a power-point presentation on his recent Churchill was also touched upon of just how practical is it to fellowship overseas study. The study was formally keep items for possible restoration when recourses “Oi—Have entitled:- "An investigation into a risk-based, lifecycle of time and money are so thin. you paid approach to the maintenance and management of rail your subs With a younger generation coming into play in the yet?” assets within the heritage rail industry". various rail museums locally, Kevin stressed the Kevin’s study took him to rail heritage museums in necessity of maintenance and management knowl- Japan, USA, France and the UK. edge being passed on in documented form to avoid All subscriptions w e r e it being either lost or distorted. Further, that this Both high and low profile museums were visited due to be paid by July 31. If you documentation should be shared between opera- to assess and report on the various techniques and have overlooked your remit- tors in a centralized pool eventually. The experience rationales employed for maintaining both opera- tance, could you get it in the mail of overseas operators could be invaluable because today? Members overdue after tional and non-operational heritage rolling stock. of the commonality of the material operated. Kevin the final date for payment lapse It was interesting to hear how the various opera- was happy to make contact names available in the into “inactive” status. tors juggled the old debate on ‘operation’ versus short term. ‘conservation’. Page 2 STEAM SCENE Penny Fares and Linseed (Part 4) Having an operational lifetime of just short of 60 years, the Duck River/Redbank Tramway was the longest lived, purely street steam tramway in Australia. Fortunately, the line was well photographed, particularly so as it was realized after 1937, following the demise of the Kogarah Sans Souci line, that it was now, the last of its kind. A lot of folk-lore has been written about the line and it is sometimes difficult to sort fact from romance. Any tale that appears slightly ‘suspect’ , I have tried to give authorship to so that readers may make the judgment. Processed linseed product was taken back to the with council made worse by changes in the road levels wharf for lightering back from the original alignments. The company’s equipment down to Sydney. It should and method for repairing their responsible portion of be mentioned at this point, roadway, is related to us by the late Harold Matthews. that the goods trucks were “The perway truck, compete with tar boiler and ashes, was entirely devoid of any hauled behind the car from the wharf depot and by means braking. Braking was in the of complicated juggling, was placed on the rear of the tram sole province of the motor after reversing at the Park Gates terminus. It was then and perhaps supplemented hauled to the point requiring repair where it was uncoupled by any trailer car’s hand- and abandoned with its gang, in mid-street by the tram. It brake that had been added was careful sprigged against run-away by means of a hand- to the consist. (Mixed ful of ashes under the wheels, fore and aft. While it cheer- trams were a regular fea- fully filled the neighborhood with fumes from the boiling tar. ture, in which case the consist of goods trucks The next tram from the wharf was eased up and the motor coupled to the per-way truck which was then pro- (Above) Four trucks of linseed was reduced to five.) pelled to the park gates terminus where it was again product move down George Multiple car picnic traffic was a weekend feature, the shunted as previously. From this point the procedure was Street destined for transfer to shunting of which at the O'Connell Street terminus, repeated again to another site until the days scheduled lighters at Redbank. (Photo; L. would have been a delight to see. The O’Connell Street repairs were done and the per-way truck and gang, re- Manny collection.) terminal loop only had room for one trailer car. If a turned to the wharf.” An old-timer of Parramatta Herb picnic tram had two or Nankivell tells us that many an aging George Street three cars, the run-round resident was brought out to the site of any repair and process involved much use held over the fuming tar pot to relieve lung congestion! of a tow-line. If picnic trams were in two divisions, the Accidents and Fatalities shunting maneuver was There are many ‘folk-loric’ tales that could be re-told much more complicated, here but space does not permit. I thought it better to involving the use of Meg- include material that has not in all likelihood, been told gitt’s sidings and more tow before. rope use. The first accident recorded for the tram was around Harold Mathews also October 5, 1883, when a Miss Risbey had a spark fly tells us about some further into her eye as she was alighting from the tram. It was idiosyncrasies of the ser- painful and caused some subsequent sight impairment. vice: Accidents involving horses, carts, animals and indeed “the 1045 a.m. trip from the Park Gates, was an institution. (Above) A picnic tram is about pedestrians, were frequent and indeed, too numerous At its arrival at the Church Street intersection, it was met by to leave the O'Connell St. ter- to recount here in this limited space. Several however, shop assistants from nearby delicatessens, all laden with minus in February 1941. do warrant recording. lunches etc. for the factories down Camellia way. All these (Photo; late L...Clark) packets and parcels were stowed on the front seat of the Sheep to the Slaughter trailer car.