H A P P Y N E W Y E A R
SUBS: Thank you to all who have paid - especially those that have included a donation. All donations over $5 can be used as tax deductions for your income tax returns. This is our quiet part of the year as far as finances go and-every sub received proves very helpful. To those who haven't renewed so far, please renew as soon as possible.
A.G.M.: This has been set for Saturday 26th March and the required notices were sent out with the last newsletter. This is YOUR chance to have a bit more than your usual say, by voting for wh o you think can really benefit the club. Perhaps you'd like to stand for committee yourself?
OPEN DAYS: The first for 1994 will be held on Sunday 3rd April - this is easter weekend. The next will be 1st May. We could certainly do with more hands to help our open days run smoother how about giving it some thought if you are one of those that doesn't help. All who normally help slot into their usual jobs very well. We even have a lady station master complete with her Aussie hat. Mary has been station master for the last 2 open days. I haven't seen her walking around with a whip yet to keep everyone in shape -Hope she isn't the 'son' in the snippet below. It sounds more like one of the ladies in the shop kitchen!:
Mum was in the kitchen listening to her small son playing with his new train set. She heard the train stop and her son say "All you sons of bitches who want to get off, get the hell off right now, cos this is the last stop, and you sons of bitches gettin, on get your asses in the goddam train cos we're leavin'. Mum went in and told her son "We don't use that kind of language. Go to your bedroom for two hours and think about what you said. Then you can come out and play with your train again, but you must use nicer language. t wo hours later he emerged and went back to his train set. Soon the train stopped and Mum heard him say "All who are disembarking, please remember to take all your luggage with you. Thank you for riding with us today and we hope you will ride with us again soon. For those of you just boarding, we ask you to stow your hand luggage under the seat. Remember there is no smoking except in the Club Car. We hope you will have a pleasant and relaxing journey with us today. For those of you who are pissed off because of the two hour delay, please see the bitch in the kitchen."
LOCO SHELTER: Richard has covered in 1 more bay on the back of the shelter. He would have done more but our finances ran out. We only have 2 bays left to cover in and both sides will be covered in. We have 2 large doors to collect and with some alteration these will be the end doors on the Glen Afton end of the shelter.
By the time you read this the power cable should have been put in the trench and buried. The PD gang dug the trench over a couple of days. The first day was a bit of a disaster - a detailed set of instructions as to what was wanted - including depth - was left, complete with measuring stick. 1 went up to inspect said trench and found a nice trench 150mm - 611 for those using true measurements - instead of the required 60Omm - 2ft They had used the handle end of the measuring stick instead of the proper end.
We have also acquired part of the vent from a spray painting booth for use as the basis of a smoke shoot. All donations of very light gauge spiral wound pipe that will fit onto the base will be gratefully received even better if you can get a chinamans hat as well.
F185: After a lot of cursing and minor alterations, the cab was lifted onto the loco in early January. Some cab fittings have been put back on and as soon as time permits, the oil fires from the lubricator to the cylinders will be fitted. Once these are on, the new saddle tank can be put in place. We couldn't find the Detroit lubricator that came off the loco so adapted another to fit. As usual, within a couple of weeks, the one off 185 was found under a bench in the track wagon of all places.
No.3 CAR: Bob has completed the upgrading of the woodwork and the painting is about to start - or at least Teresa has been heard muttering about it!.
SHOP: Security grills have been fitted to the kitchen windows and the high rear windows. These were made by Ian. During this winter it is hoped to have wrapped pies for sale on open days and of course, Paulas sausages.
Teresa, Ian and Jan have been noticed doing some more painting and sealing on the outside. Are any other members willing to help on this - I'm sure our main painters would appreciate some help.
PRICE E: Bob and Richard have been doing some work on this loco - the first time it has been touched since Kevin Schroder started on it many years ago. Richard removed the firebox door, needle gunned the steelwork and primed it. The boiler plates behind the door are slightly corroded but probably haven't seen the light of day for 40 years at least.
They also pulled the front bogie out and removed the pinion shaft. This loco can now be moved as the front crown wheel had been jammed.
A tremendous amount of work has been carried out on our line since January. Coalcorp spent a week diverting the rail embankment behind the slump at the sandfill. At the time of writing, this is being left to consolidate. It has been marked with steel pegs and is regularly surveyed to check for movement. To ease the curve onto the new embankment and some other work an estimated 3 days work is required.
Access to this work was up the line from Downers Crossing. All was well until Coalcorps trucks started carting metal up the line and even with the railbed built up to the top of the rails - a large section of this line will have to be completely relaid. We intend using tracksets recovered from Mahons mine to relay this section.
Work gangs of our members have been flat out recovering points and rail from our stockpile at the Carbo works. These points have all been collected2 right hand and 1 left hand. Also collected was the 701b point made up under Erics guiding hand to connect up to NZR a couple of years ago.
The 4 points and some tracksets made up 1 complete trainload. Another train load was made up of sundry rails. Those assisting were Trev, Bruce Andrew, Ian, Colin x 2. Long hours were worked on these days and I can assure you its not really the most desirable work in the middle of summer.
Speaking of summer - this summer has been particularly dry since Christmas. This means the countryside is tinder dry and NO fires must be lit. Our 4 legged lawn mowers visited us during February.
PECKETT: We were rather late getting this inspected this year, largely because of the heavy workload for our inspector at the powerstation. The open inspection was passed on 9/2. For 1993 it was in steam 170 hours and ran 226 miles. The regulator rod was removed and the gland area in the cab reconditioned. This area was badly pitted and impossible to seal properly resulting in a slight weep from the gland. This area was machined to good metal, built up with ceramic spray and turned to correct size by Meremere Engineering in the Meremere power station workshop. The fitter there was a fitter for State Coal at Rotowaro for some years and had worked on their steam locos many times.