Subs: Quite a lot of subscriptions have been renewed but some are still outstanding - HAVE YOU RENEWED YOURS YET? To those that have many thanks. We hope that all members will renew and get some enjoyment out of the clubs activities.
Annual Meeting: This was held on 20-2-93 and attended by the usual members. Several major changes have been made to the committee:Chairman - R. Mann, Vice Chairman - C. Ewing, Secretary/Treasurer - T. Bettison, General Manager - C. Jenner, Committee:- I. Bettison, J. Jenner, T. Walker, B. McLuckie, K. Dow and A. Thompson. The new face is Andrew Thompson - well known to regular visitors at the Junction.
Mary Burns has stepped down as Treasurer due to extra time commitments in Auckland. The club owes a great deal of thanks to Mary for her 5 years of fiddling our funds and always knowing where every cent was. Both Mary and Eric have said they will continue to support the club.
Also discussed at the A.G.M. was the changes to our rules that are required by Inland Revenue Dept. to enable us to be exempt from Tax. These changes were passed after some discussion on their need.
After the A.G.M. a B.B.Q. tea was held and very enjoyable it was. I don't thank I have ever seen such a spread. There were about 12 salads, fruit salad and cakes, not to mention the usual bangers.
I saw plenty going back for second helpings and I know I was one of them. Andrew produced a carton of cold bottles with red labels, all full to wash all the goodies down - thanks Andrew.
Film Evening: Saturday 3rd April, to start our year off, we intend holding a film evening in our shop, starting at 7.30 or 8.00pm, It is hoped Eric will be able to bring down some of his old movies.
Don't forget something for supper and something to keep your throat moist. The evening won't be too late as open day is on the Sunday. We hope to have a few of these evenings this year.
Open Days: The first for 1993 will be held on Sunday 4th April and then the first Sunday of each month until December. Please take the time to fill out the attached work notice and return them. It might not seem important but it is rather hard organising an open day not knowing who - if anyone - will turn up to assist.
There was a good discussion at the A.G.M. about additional open days and it was agreed that where the school holidays or public holidays fall 2 Sundays or more from an open day - an extra open day could be held. This was seen as one means of raising extra income.
Charter Trips: We already have one booked for approx. 100 people on 22/4/93. These are a good source of income and do not usually involve too many members.
Calendars: We still have calendars available for $8 - wall type or $9.50
Books: We can obtain a very good discount on books published by I.P.L. To obtain the discount, we need to order at least 2 copies of each title, If anyone is interested, contact me. We do not intend ordering any books unless we get the minimum number to order.
Pukemiro Pickings:
Peckett: This is ready to go again having passed its annual survey. The boiler inspector wishes all boilers on his books were as good inside. The interior is in very good order - a credit to all engine drivers who regularly put the dosing in. This must continue.
Ian Bettison has welded a ring on the smokebox to make a better door seal.
Loco Shelter: Bob - helped by Chris - has done a lot more work on this. All the roof is now nailed down and most cross bracing in place.
Shop: A tremendous amount of work has been done on the interior painting mainly by Teresa. It will soon be a case of removing dirty boots and overalls at the door.
Tony Hinton and his wife Catherine paid us a flying visit late in January. Unfortunately the visit was not long enough so he has threatened to return in a couple of years.
F185: The boiler is now ready to put back on the frames.
No.3 Car: Bruce started replacing some rotten tongue and groove and found some framing rotten, The framing has been replaced and he has the tongue and groove ready to put on.
P.D. Gang: The gang returned during mid January and are at the Junction every Thursday, So far this year they have replaced a few more sleepers, cleared some gorse and scrub from another culvert and some from the lineside. One of their main jobs has been digging out the toe of a slip near Hangapipi Rd and using old car tyres to make a wall.
Dave Harris has been out recently and overhauled the Westinghouse brakes on our open day vehicles. He has also done some more work on overhauling a bogie for the Mines Car.
I got stopped at the railway crossing in Huntly West a few weeks ago when going home from dayshifts. The train was slightly different to the usual coal trains and consisted of a blue PM van, 2 blue carriages and an observation car hauled by a DF loco. They were returning to Huntly so that ruled out some new cars being delivered for our railways. At Huntly the train went towards Hamilton, so presumably this train was the Overlander being turned on the triangle at Weavers Crossing.
Andrew must have taken a hint from the last newsletter as he has spent a lot of days replacing sleepers at the Junction. Not the easiest job in the middle of summer but essential none the less.
We have been given an old belt driven drill press by Waikato Wool Scourers of Ohinewai near Huntly. It is similar to the one in our workshop but slightly smaller. It will be set up in the workshop and left with the chuck for normal shank drills in place. By the look of the drill press and the amount of muck under the base, it has probably been in place since this works was a sand soap works, complete with rail siding, many years ago.
Working Bees: YES, we still have them. These are held on the 4th weekend of each month, the next ones being March - 27th and 28th, April - 24th and 25th and May - 22nd and 23rd.
See you there.