Open Days: August open day was extremely well patronised & two carriages were needed for all trips except the first. Andrew had been interviewed on a Hamilton radio station during the week so perhaps thats what attracted the crowds. We were visited by the Military Vehicles Club from Hamilton, and they stayed most of the day. Some of their vehicles were on display for the time they were at the Junction, The only mistake made was not checking their trucks before they departed. September open day was fairly quiet but,strangely enough, our passenger count picked up mid afternoon. Thanks to all who turn up & help. Special mention must be made of Bob Wiseman during September open day. He turned up with what he claimed was a twisted knee so that he couldnt be guard for the day, what an excuser Iended up as guard for the day, rather a change from working on the locos.
Film Evening: Another film evening was held on Sat August 6th after the safety school & BBQ tea. The films were again from Erics collection* This time, The last trains in Auckland, a documentary on building Aucklands sewerage system, and a classic on Ellis & Bernands tramway at Ongarue. It was a trip on Climax 1650 & a jigger to the end of the line & is easily the best movie I have seen of the Ongarue tramway*
Charter Trips: These have continued to be very popular & certainly keep us busy.
During August, we had 7 groups spread over 5 days, 2 days during September & 3 days booked for October. They all help our bank balance.
TR217: Mike continues to slog away on the engine mounts when he has nothing else to do. Some of the new mounts are fitted.
F185: After 6 days work the end was finally welded onto the water tank* This hasnt been an easy job & I'm sure many uncomplimentary remarks were made about it. During September open day Trevor had the use of a small hiab, so the opportunity was taken to put the funnel on & hang the Westinghouse air compressor. The water tank was lowered into place the next Saturday & the loco is at last starting to look like an F should.
D3 Loco: For a long time we have suspected the engine had had some sand poured in the oil filler. During September open day Richard & Terry dropped the sump & confirmed that sand was definitely in the engine. The next Saturday Richard returned & both of them removed the engine. After much work, cleaning & cursing, the loco was in use on 24th September.
Guards Van: Bob & Richard removed the rotten tongue & groove timber fzom one side & worked out what framing needed replacing. This timber & the plywood was ordered & delivered. Bob then spent about 3 days fitting the plywood. At the time of writing this, only a small piece around the guards lockout needs to be fitted.
P.D. gang: The PD gang have been back a few times & have put in about 50 sleepers at the Rotowaro end of the Junction & the 7 mile curves. Upgrading of the track around the 7 mile curves continues with more to be done yet, They have also cleaned more drains at Hangapipi Rd crossing.
Jigger Shed: This shed was put on its piles sometime ago. The doorways into 2 of the compartments have been widened & rails laid into one. New doors are needed for these 2 compartments. One jigger is presently stored in the shed & when the 2nd set of rails is laid, both can be kept under cover. Bob started to replace a couple of sheets of roofing iron but found the whole roof needed replacing* This has been done. Richard did most of the wood butchering on this shed is even muttering about getting a water blaster & giving the whole outside of the shed a going over.
Loco Shed: After many years of peering into dark places, the power is finally hooked up. One plug is working & cable has been run for the spot lights. The necessary spot lights, switches & fuses have been purchased & should be fitted soon. This will give us enough light to actually see what we are doing in the shed* Thanks Bob for getting the power connected.
About 6 weeks ago we lashed out & hired a bush wacker to cut the sides of the drive & the sides of the line between the Junction & the bottom end of our line. The trackside is now good & clear so we can forget about getting our selves gently groomed by the gorse as the train travels down the line. The expense was well worth it.
This photo could be captioned Mr Muscle" It was taken by Bob recently & shows Richard working on the Price E The bogie in the foregroung had the pinion removed so the loco could be moved when necessary.
At the beginning of September, Colin Ewing, Andrew Bruce & myself attended a 1 day session in Auckland to help all private railways start writing their required safety systems - All railways between Kawa Kawa & Gisborne attended, We are well ahead of most with what records we must keep.
Richard has been working on our CB boiler. He has removed the firebox door & surrounds, needle gunned this area & spray painted the whole boiler.
These 2 cartoons were shown to us by a visitor who had just returned from the UK 1 havent put names to some of the characters but im sure most regular visitors to the Junction could:
The following article is taken from Auckland Society of Model Enginers newsletter. I am often asked how they work, so thought this article might be of interest. The drawing is of a model loco injector but is identical to the type used on some of our locos.
Injectors,What Makes Them Tick?
Article by Alex Holmes.
Injectors are wonderful devices.They do the apparently impossible, by taking steam at boiler pressure and using it to force water back into the same boiler. How it does this is a mystery. Many articles on this subject have been published in M.E. of these,easily the best is the series by Mr. D.E.Lawrence in M.E. between 4 April and 17 October 1986. My own injectors are made to his specifications and I have found them very good,and his instructions easy to follow. Miniature injectors today are completely reliable,so why not give them a go? This article is based on information in Mr. Lawrence's series. Injectors depend on venturi tubes for their working. They are an assembly of venturi tubes. It is their ability to change velocity and pressures that makes them work. So what is a venturi? It is a tube of varying cross section through which, when a fluid flows, changes the velocity of the fluid, and at the same time alters its pressure. The nozzle on the end of the garden hose is a simple venturi. Without it the water goes nowhere. With it there is a strong jet capable of travelling quite a distance. So what has happened is that as the water moved down the nozzle it was made to move faster and the pressure was reduced.This ability to bring about changes in pressure and velocity is the fundamental Principle on which injectors work. A man named Venturi worked it out that at any point along a venturi,the product of the velocity and the pressure was a constant. He also discovered that it worked in reverse. That is if a fast,low pressure jet was made to enter the small end of a venturi-it would emerge at the large end as a slow,high pressure jet. With all this in mind let us examine what goes on -Lnside a miniature injector. The drawing (supplied)shows a sectioned view of a miniature injector. Steam enters the steam cone at boiler pressure and is accelerated because of the venturi effect, to a speed of about 2000 mph. Note that at the latter end of the cone there is a slight divergent taper,also that the outside is reduced to nearly a feather edge.Next is the draught cone.The jet now enters the combining cone, the entry to which has a large radius into which the end of the steam cone projects,leaving an annular gap between the outside of the steam cone and the entry to the combining cone. The size of this gap is important as it governs the ratio between steam and water,and in turn decides the range over which the -injector will work.lt can be adjusted by fitting .005" shim under the head of the steam cone. Conversely it can be reduced by allowing the steam cone to enter the draught tube by a fraction.The steam jet entering the combining cone entrains the air in the water chamber, creating a partial vacuum and drawing water into the combining cone. Here it gets a bit complicated. The fast moving jet creates a depression in the water chamber and water is sucked up into the combining cone where it meets with the fast moving steam jet and condenses, giving up its kinetic energy and heat to the slow moving water stream. The combined steam is them accelerated until it reaches the gap below the over flow valve. Before the injector picks up there will be a positive pressure. Here the valve opens and steam, water, and air is dicharged to the overflow. once the air is discharged a jet is established and a negative pressure occurs. The overflow valve then shuts and the jet then jumps the gap into the forcing cone where it is accelerated due to the venturi action to a speed of about 2000 mph. There is a second gap here which communicates with the outlet from the ball valve and the overflow. The jet jumps this gap and enters the small end of the delivery cone. The pressure at this point is zero. once inside the cone the jet slows down and pressure rises to the point where it can overcome the boiler pressure. This completes the cycle and most of the energy goes back to the boiler as heated feed water. If you think allthis is too complicated , well its not. Read Mr. Lawrence's articles and do as he says and you can't fail. Alex.
The last open day for the year will be on December 4th. It will be followed by our usual BBQ tea. Please fill out the attached work notice & return it
Working Bees: Has your name been mentioned in the last few newsletters? Could it be that you haven't been along to help. There is a tremendous amount of work being done but a few more hands could mean even more is done. The next ones are = November 26 & 27
December none as it is Xmas day
January 1995 28 & 29 The gardens around the station have been tidied up by Mary, Una & Ken.
1995 Calendars: We have on sale the NZ Railway & Locomotive Soc desk-calendars for $11. There are some good photos in it. The Railway Enthusiasts wall calendars are now available at $9.
The committee have viewed Coalcorps plans for our terminus at the Rotowaro end of our lines The design has been accepted subject to a few alterations. The plans are for a main line, run round & siding, and including Rotowaro Station. The car park will be a short distance away beside the new main road, There will be bus access between the car park & the station. This will also be the pathway from the car park, We expect the earthworks to be done this coming summer.
The shunting & safety school was held on 6th August and very well attended, Our operating rules & shunting handbook were gone over* The ideas for our safety system were also discussed. Eric & myself then gave everyone a close up look at things to watch for when shunting.
The Price rail tractor is in use again after having the starter motor re-wound.
Sandfill: We approached Dept of Conservation to see if they could provide some flaxes or native shrubs to cover the sides of the embankment. They do not own any nurseries now but were able to provide 36 flaxes, cabbage trees & titree. Does any member have any flaxes or natives that could be used to provide cover on these banks? A large number of gorse seedlings are already growing.
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The club has been very fortunate in the last few weeks by receiving the following grants:
Trustbank Waikato: We received a grant to enable us to upgrade & increase signs we put out for open days.
Lotteries Board: We received a grant for a workshop. The workshop will be built
as an addition on the station end of our present loco shelter. It will
be basically the same type of construction but with windows. The front
track will remain as a through track but the rear track will be removed
& the area contain our machinery etc, We hope to include a mezzanine
floor over part of the machinery side so we can keep lighter equipment,
taps dies, wooden patterns etc in one place.
The lifting gantry we have will be erected just outside the workshop
over the through road, Our thanks go largely to Chris Mann for doing
a large part of the paper work for the application.