First: We hope everyone had a good Christmas season and that 1995 will bring everything you want - or didn't get in 1994. We hope you will continue to support the club and encourage new members to join,
OPEN DAYS: October, November and December open days went off well although November was very quiet. We just can't work out what a day will be like. When we expect a quiet day often the opposite happens. We were a bit short staffed at times with Eric and Mary, Bob and Betty all away on overseas trips.
The extra 2 open days at Labour weekend proved a big success financially but the Sunday was a disaster as a spell of dry weather, a strong northerly wind and lots of small fires all combined to give a very exciting and busy afternoon., The fire burnt out gorse between the line and the main road from Hangapipi Rd almost to the Junction, Several fires also damaged part of our pine tree plantation. The local fire Brigade and county water tankers did an excellent job in stopping the fire getting more out of control. Our own fire crew were kept very busy with our fire wagon and certainly managed to put out any fire within reach of our hoses. Ken Davies reckoned he couldn't help but walked down from the Junction to Hangapipi Rd with a couple of trays of soft drinks. I can tell you the drinks were really appreciated.
Continued dry weather during November meant the Peckett was restricted to the Junction for November and December open days. Bob Mann got all flashed up and did guard duties a couple of days.
A film evening was held on the Saturday night of Labour weekend and some of my slide collection saw the light of day again. Some of the slides included Rough River Tramway out of Reefton, A, X and Wab at Wairio - Invercargill, Price V and Barclay in the gorse at Gladstone near Greymouth.
CHARTER TRIPS: They continued right up to the dry weather in late November, A Christmas outing in early December was diesel hauled and proved very popular. Several enquiries for early 1995 have had to be turned down.
D3 LOCO: Richard and Terry gave the motor a good going over and the loco has been in use for the last 4 months, With its regular use - it is easy to start.
The' Price railtractor also has seen regular use and after some *tickling up' it is very easy to start as wells
F185: Work has continued on this as time permits. The water tank is bolted
down. The compressed air tanks are sitting on top with the pipework
roughly in place* When fitting the injector pipework, it was discovered
that the slightly wider water tank wouldntt allow the pipework to fit
The continuing storyl A local plumber was given the job of making
everything fit. He had never seen proper steam copper pipe before
but eventually with some pieces of pipe of a slightly larger diameter
used as sleeves, the whole lot fitted as good as new.
The bunkers have been fitted with slopping floors to try and cut down
the amount of old coal that sits at the front ends on the floor.
PECKETT: This is presently out of service waiting for its annual boiler survey. Several small jobs have been carried out on it recently. A bad steam blow in the smokebox was traced to several holes in a lubricating line to the regulator valve. The spindle threads on the blower valve in the cab stripped and the valve had to be replaced, Luckily we had a spare valve and we have since had a new spindle made to replace the faulty one,
TR217: The continuing saga - Mike has nearly completed this loco's motor rehash and it should be going again very soon.
GUARDS VAN: The fitting of all the new plywood has been completed and 2 coats of paint applied. Bob is making some -1 round to cover the joins.
The PD gang continue to be the backbone of all the labour intensive jobs. They have spent quite a few more days putting in sleepers just below the Junction and spent a day painting No. 3 car.
JIGGER SHED: Richard water blasted this and then put on the undercoat* He came back several weeks later to put on the top coat only to find Teresa and Jan had beaten him to the paint brushes. The shed is painted the same yellow as the shop and looks very nice,
LINE TO GLEN AFTON: The gap on the top side of the new embankment was joined during November. It is now possible to go by small diesel loco or jigger almost to Glen Afton. (well at least as far as the Jenner's for a cuppa) The track across the new embankment needs the curve in the centre easing somewhat* The line from Downers Crossing to the embankment was straightened by the PD gang and is now used on open n days or charter trips.
Colin Ewing and Terry weed-sprayed the line from the bottom end almost to Glen Afton during November* On the return trip, they did some gorse spraying.
The new main road from Huntly to Glen Afton is starting to take shape in the Hangapipi Rd area. Motor scrapers have been busy since mid December.
The design for our terminus in this area has been accepted by the committee* When it is finished, I think all members will be happy with the set up.
CB LOCO: Richard has really got stuck into the underframe for this loco. The underframe was positioned outside the workshop with the aid of the handcrane, Terry and I'm sure a couple of others. The underframe has 2/3 been needle gunned and received 3 coats of paint* A section of the frame under the water tank had received a mickey mouse' repair at some stage and didn't really seem to be holding properly. This has been cut out and a new section welded in. Welding courtesy of "Wingnut"# The underframe has now been turned over and is getting attacked on the underside.
CALENDARS: We still have RES calendars for sale at $9 plus NZR & LS desk calendars for sale at $11.
We recently received notice of some trips in Queensland during April.
They are the "Waltzing Matilda 11 centenary celebrations and will be hauled by a steam loco with vintage carriages. The proposed timetable is:- Brisbane to Longreach 1st to 5th April
Longreach to Winton to Longreach daily round trips 6th to 9th April
Longreach to Brisbane 10th to 13th April.
If interested, contact Roger Stanton. Queensland Rail, Brisbane, If you are interested and need a hand to hold your bags or wallets - contact me:
You will all have read in the newspapers about the young boy falling from a passenger train near Hundalees As a result of this accident, all railways in NZ that carry passengers must review the safety aspect of carriage platforms and gangways between carriages. We will be making several alterations to the steel
Some of the unemployed in Huntly have painted a mural featuring old methods of transport onto a shop wall in Huntly. Rather surprising is the loco - a Heisler. Ours is the only one to have come to the district but the painting is of a larger one with a balloon stack and handrails along the running board beside the boiler.
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE BUSH TRAMWAY CLUB INCORPORATED WILL BE HELD IN THE "NEW
SHOP" PUKEMIRO JUNCTION ON SATURDAY 25TH MARCH 1995 AT 2PM.
A G E N D A
1. Welcome
2. Apologies
3. Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting
4. Matters arising from Minutes
5. Report - i. General Manager
11. Chairman
iii. Financial
6. Election of Officers
7. General Business - setting of subscription
8. Meeting closure.
NOMINATION for OFFICERS/COMMITTEE members:
The Committee consists of 4 Officers and 5 Committee Members. All existing officers or committee members are eligible for re-election without nomination. ALL NOMINATIONS must be signed by a proposer, seconder and the NOMINEE: All nominations must be returned to the Secretary at least 7 days BEFORE the Annual General Meeting. All nominations shall be accompanied by a short statement from the NOMINEE. These will be available to all members at the A.G.M.
N.B. No Member is eligible for any office of the Society
unless he/she has been a financial member for no
less than 12 (twelve) months prior to his/her
election to that office.
ONLY FINANCIAL MEMBERS HAVE VOTING RIGHTS AND FAMILY MEMBERSHIPS ARE ENTITLED TO TWO VOTES.
PROXY VOTING All proxy votes must be returned to the Secretary at least seven days BEFORE the A.G.M.
I/We being Member/s of the
BUSH TRAMWAY CLUB INCORPORATED hereby appoint
. . as my/our PROXY to
vote for me/us and on my/our behalf at the Annual General Meeting
of the BUSH TRAMWAY CLUB INCORPORATED to be held in the 'New Shop'
Pukemiro Junction on Saturday 25th March 1995
Dated Signature
(Names)..................................