No 119 April 2018 The renovated forecourt between the turntable and roundhouse In this edition 1. The Chairman’s chairside chat 6. Models 2. Roundhouse forecourt refurbed 7. Workshop 3. News desk 8. Safety matters 4. Big toys 9. Membership 5. Talking shop 10. Our coming events The first word Of course you may have been wondering if there share the need for renewal and succession is anything to report other than the refurbishment planning. If as a member you have skills that can of the Museum forecourt? Well the good news is be put to good use at the Museum, please have that “There is” and hopefully the following pages a chat to Membership Officer Jeff Russell on will provide plenty to interest everyone! Project 4751 2471 straight away, don’t delay! If you Manager Bruce Coxon has prepared a great know anyone who is not a member, but has skills article for your enjoyment on the massive that are compatible with the Museum’s infrastructure upgrade that occupied his time for objectives, please let Jeff know! Make sure you the last two years and led to the Museum’s six include younger candidates when searching your week closure. Progress has been made on many brain. Also if you know of a likely group that we other fronts and as usual many volunteers have can target with an appeal for volunteers, please contributed across all departments since DD118. contact Jeff. The Museum always benefits from the input and impact of new arrivals and different In common with similar organisations around the ways of problem solving. All welcome! world, the challenges of keeping the wheels turning are best met by sharing the load. We also Keith Ward, Publicity Manager VHLDHM © 2018 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, Blue Mountains Division of Transport Heritage NSW Ltd Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Page 1 No 119 April 2018 1. The Chairman’s chairside chat I welcome back Bruce Coxon to the ranks of our the Museum’s custody. The Keys were executive committee as Large Exhibits Manager. ceremoniously presented by Sydney Trains' (Bruce is well known to most of you as a Barry Palmer to past Chairman Ted Mullett who committee member for many years and passed them over to current Chairman, Henk Luf Chairman during 2015–17 — Ed) via previous Chairman Bruce Coxon who did most of the paperwork prior to the handover on Meeting: 11 April. (A small but excited band of volunteers The THNSW Board meeting was held at The from across the years attended this impromptu Valley on 27 February. The actual Board meeting but important event, before the mysteries of the was held in the cafe/shop while giving Board roller door remote control had several of us members also a bit of an opportunity to observe practising the limbo!—Ed) a work in progress. Site inductions took place and given current activity, all movements for a closer look were escorted and restricted to safe areas. I provided the Board with an overview of our plans and progress in relation to other projects as well as WHS issues. I think the report was well received! Rail Corridor Boundary Fence: The latest news is that Sydney Trains are looking at it more positively with dates being considered in the May–June 2018 window (coinciding with a main line shutdown). Civil Depot Handover: The Civil Depot will house some historically important railway items currently located within From left: Ted Mullett (past Chairman), Henk Luf the Museum roundhouse, a process that by all (current Chairman), Barry Palmer (Sydney Trains), accounts will take some time. Bruce Coxon (immediate past Chairman) After years of negotiations, reams of paperwork Henk Luf, Chairman VHLDHM and substantial amounts of friendly and gentle persuasion, the Civil Depot was transferred into © 2018 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, Blue Mountains Division of Transport Heritage NSW Ltd Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Page 2 No 119 April 2018 REMINDER OF MEMBERSHIP FEES Members who have not paid their 2018 renewal fees are now unfinancial. To pay your fees, please visit our website infobluemountains.net.au/ locodepot/ membership and read the information on the right hand side of the page. You can also contact the membership officer at jeff.russell@ valleyheightsrailmuseum. info or 0414 764 178 and a form will be posted to you. 2. Roundhouse forecourt refurbed From this... · Firstly, the uneven surface which had rail heads protruding above the bitumen creating major trip hazards to our volunteers and visitors has now been eliminated to create a smooth surface all round. Foam strips are being trialled in the flangeways to enhance the safety of all. to this... If you have visited the Museum recently or seen our Facebook page you will have caught up with the fact that the forecourt refurbishment project has been completed, a project that we are all · Secondly, the risk of derailment albeit at low very pleased with. Three major issues have been speed of a locomotive or carriage when resolved: entering or leaving the roundhouse has been © 2018 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, Blue Mountains Division of Transport Heritage NSW Ltd Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Page 3 No 119 April 2018 minimised by the replacement of all sleepers look. What we found was that in bays 1 to 5, the below the surface and the replacement of railways probably in the 1970s had remediated rails that had substantial corrosion of the rail this section with some PVC piping but bays 6 to foot. Many rails and sleepers had completely 10 had no drainage pipes left at all. Further to failed due to the lack of drainage below the this, the roof downpipes emptied into a box drain surface. which had a further pipe at the bottom taking the · Thirdly, the complete replacement of all water away to the main outlet. It was essential to subsurface drainage. When the site was keep these box drains to preserve the original excavated, we discovered that the original look of the system but nearby excavation meant earthenware drainage in all ten bays had they literally just fell to bits! They had been fallen apart and was not working at all. As constructed with a very weak concrete mix and a you know, the roundhouse roof has a large few pieces of brick and rocks. surface area and due to this failed drainage The two photos below show the new PVC piping system, most roof water was just flooding the and an example of a new box drain. The photo area causing rotted sleepers, rusted rails and on the right is of bays 1 to 5 where we could the area to subside. save some of the box drains but from 6 to 10 The management team thought we had been they were all replaced. As you have seen in the very thorough in our planning allowing for what completed photos, the finished project looks utilities may be uncovered and what future needs exactly the same from a heritage perspective as (like ducting from the roundhouse to the turntable the original drains. pit) should be provided for, but we were Of course we would rather have not touched any somewhat taken aback by the task of how to drainage but this failed system was found to be replace this drainage and maintain the heritage the root cause of all our damage! New PVC drainage system The box drains © 2018 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, Blue Mountains Division of Transport Heritage NSW Ltd Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Page 4 No 119 April 2018 There were other challenges along the way and one was the issue of how to weld standard 53 kg replacement rail to the original small 41 kg rail coming from the roundhouse. This took the specialist welders some time to perfect but the pictures below show how it was achieved. Most rails were severely corroded and were replaced. The railways had previously done some rail replacement and had used transition bolted plates but it was felt that to drill new holes through the very old original rail would produce a weak joint and welding was the way to go! A Completed weld and composite sleeper 41 kg rail ready for welding to 53 kg rail Concrete sleepers were mainly used in the Other interesting heritage items discovered project but of course where the rails converge at included the original brick facings to the entrance the turntable, these were not functional as they of the roundhouse roads. The picture below cannot be cut to length and would foul the shows an example of this brickwork installed adjacent sleepers where they intersect. Timber c1913, during the depot’s construction. Great could of course have been used but has limited care was taken to not damage this infrastructure, life so the picture above shows a composite some previous decay is shown. sleeper (made from recycled soft drink bottles!) that can be cut to length and fixed to the rail with coach screws. Original brick facings The new compacted roadbase with concrete sleepers installed and composites ready for use © 2018 Valley Heights Locomotive Depot Heritage Museum, Blue Mountains Division of Transport Heritage NSW Ltd Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence Page 5 No 119 April 2018 As you can see it was a most interesting bitumen. This of course meant that all construction that took 21 working days to precautions by specialist groups had to be complete.