By the time you receive this, the year will already be half-gone!!
- rather frightening.
Read on to see what has been achieved since our last Newsletter - were you one of the ones that helped?
STEAM LOCOMOTIVES:
F 185 was out of service for about 6 weeks due to a couple of minor problems compounded by a lack of members able or willing to help. The two leading axleboxes on the drivers side did not seem to be getting oil to the bearings. This meant releasing the springs from the axle-boxes and some other fittings, jacking the loco up about 200mm (or 8" for those of us still in REAL measurements) and checking the oilways for blockages. Some wool fibres were cleaned out of one, but nothing was found wrong with the other one.
So the loco was lowered and everything bolted back into place. This took the best part of 2 days and took place in our new engineering workshop and using our shallow pit. Much easier on the body.
The other problem was found by Eric when he unscrewed a plug in the Westinghouse brake system to get any grit out and found the plug would not screw back in as the threads on the plug were badly worn!!! This "small" job was taken to a local engineering firm in Huntly - not the usual 'engineering firm' either, and repaired at a reasonable cost.
21 new firebars have been collected from Prices for this loco.
CB 117 has been steamed during open days since its boiler tube replacement. Meanwhile .........
The Peckett continues to 'hold the fort'.
DIESEL LOCOS:
401 - During May open day, the driver reported that the air drives in the gearbox were not working properly. Further checks showed that the '3rd gear' piston had an air leak. As usual with 'Pommy engineering', nothing is simple. To get at the piston, it was necessary to drain the oil and take the bottom plate off. The piston rings were replaced with some spares we obtained soon after getting the locos from Meremere. Colin and Alan really burnt the midnight oil to get the job done. (I hear they didn't finish until 9 pm). And we found we had 'stocked up' with ample oil supplies, but alas not enough oil required for this change!
OLD SHOP/CANTEEN:
Kerry, Teresa and Paula have largely finished painting the doors and outside trimmings on this. There is still a small piece of plastic weatherboards to sort out. (If anyone ever decides they want this type of weatherboards - talk to us first and we'll tell you a firm NOT to use!)
W E L ENERGY TRUST:
Once again, The Club has received VERY generous funding from W E L ENERGY TRUST to complete the platform work and building upgrade of canteen and the last of this level public area. (The next area to look at is the BBQ and picnic areas). $11 000.00 was received and it is because of donations received such as this from The Trust that we can afford to complete the programmed public facility upgrade.
STATION:
Teresa did a bit of tidy-up paintwork on this too! (Painted one window sill, had 'visitors' call to look around - and guess who found the ONE WINDOW SILL WITH WET PAINT?) The PD Crew swept all loose tar seal chips and the floor sander is booked for mid-July. Before the floors can be sanded, we'll need a helping hand to get everything out of the station. (Strong volunteers needed). Wingnut had a day doing all the fiddley jobs - door knobs (Mary will be delighted), connecting waste-pipes etc, that just never seemed to previously get "around tu-it".
CARRIAGES:
A 'little' further progress on two of these of late. (Where's our wood-butcher for the Mine's Car?) Mind you, we do have to wait until the weather improves before we can run power leads outside again. Ian Jenner will probably cast his eye around for "offers" of help..... how about volunteering!!! - Learn a new skill. Wingnut has replaced the T & G floor-boards (another 'tuit' job) ready for sanding and oiling in 1047.
As Ian has said "..... the last 1% of jobs in the restoration projects are taking 20% of the time"
HANDCRANE:
The slewing-gear rings have had the broken teeth repaired and are being refitted by Mike The gear that slides on the hand winding shaft to engage either the slewing or lifting gear was seized after many years of no use and needed attention.
Andrew has completed the new timber framing and it is all in place - Just the decking to bolt on after the springs have been fitted.
The broken spring leaf turned into a lot of work i.e.FOUR springs needed complete rebuilding.
Tranzrail came up with a copy of the spring blueprint very quickly and this gave the spring makers the correct set. These will be picked up end-of-June.
TRACKWORK:
Rotowaro-end : A lot of work was put into an area just below Hangapipi Road level crossing after a derailment of our our track-wagon. The wagon was re-railed by Wingnut and Andrew. Checks showed no cant - (or camber like a road curve)- on a gentle curve. A few sleepers were replaced as well and the whole curve jacked and packed on one side to give the correct cant. I'm told even Teresa was on the end of a shovel as Wingnut was on the packer. (She was also sent to the roadside to flag down a truck with a tool-kit - needed a crescent, the old saying when you need something its back at The Junction).... The curve was also re-gauged at the same time. About 4 days was spent on this - some also by the PD Crews.
A lot of progress has been made on the loop at the lower terminus. 2 PD Crews made a gib impact one day as they put in approx. 40 sleepers, spread 4 YB wagons of ballast - the last 2 as it was ploughed out and packed sleepers.
The Club now needs to do a bit of work on this to bolt up more rails and complete the trackwork where it joins onto the bottom-end point.
Glen Afton-end: Bob has spent a lot of time cleaning moss and earth off the ballast in a cutting not far above the sand-fill. He has also put about 15 new sleepers in this area. We now have 200 square and 400 1/2 rounds curing for this piece of our railway.
Recently I was faced with a problem. I got to work and found a note from 'The Boss' - tool your trailer for 2 PD crews for the railway. So on went enough tools for them for re-sleepering and we put in 38 sleepers - 3 1/2 track-sets - just by Bob's shed at the 2km peg. We also unloaded and stacked 120 square sleepers for this job.
An excellent start has been made on this end of our line, and I'm sure further progress can be made. Some work is needed by The Club to sort out the sharp curve at the top-end of the sandfill, but it would need doing over no more than a couple of weekends -or progress further up the line could get held up.
I often don't know from day to day when we will get PD crews. We had 2 PD crews recently on a wet Saturday when I was in Palmerston North so that meant having to get someone else to be 'Club Representative' - Kerry volunteered - thanks Kerry, hope they didn't give you a hard time? They spent all this day clearing and digging new drains at the bottom of the driveway, by the toilet block and raking and disposing of pine-needles at each end of the yard. Once again, jobs well done.
They have since emptied the ashpit and loaded the ash onto our 'tipping' trolley. This ash will be used as fill where the track across the sanfill needs alterations.
The rest of the railway has had its dose of weedspray, and we have recently had a contractor on site to crunch through the bigger 'stuff' (toi-toi, black wattles and gorse) encroaching overhead on the line. Another job for the PD's - clearing the branches off the track before open day.
OPERATIONS AUDITORS:
Our annual visit from these VIP's occurred during May. We have received Rodney's report, but Jonesy is still being written -I hope!
CHARTER TRIPS:
June has seen a group at least once a week - with three on 19th June. Mostly bus-tour companies, but the kindergarten and playcentre enquiries are starting to come in. We are also getting some enquiries for 2001!!!!! - our calendars don't even go that far ahead. Thanks to members who help on these - namely Bruce, Andrew, Wingnut, Jan, Avice and Phil. Teresa & I turn up regardless,but we need more for the shop.
OPEN DAYS:
The May one was pretty well patronised but June was a wash-out - literally! Oh well, you can't win them all (we even had a couple of 'serious' hail showers Queen's Birthday Sunday, - so it was pretty c-o-l-d!)
Sincere thanks to all who come and help - (we could always do with more!)
NEXT OPEN DAYS ARE: July 2nd August 6th September 3rd (father's day)
Please fill out the work-notice and RETURN IT. At all times, we are very short of crews for all our steam locos - and unless I know definitely who IS COMING, may only light one up.
SPONSORS DAY:
This will be held on SUNDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER STARTING AT 1.00 PM. This is an important day for us as it gives us the opportunity to thank the various companies, Trusts and organisations that go out of their way to help us - very often in a major way.
We need as many members as possible to help and make this afternoon a success.
If you think of any company that has helped behind the scenes in any way, please contact us. We don't expect this type of sponsorship to be just a commercial discount on purchases. The Committee reserves the right to invite those sponsors they think most suitable. All 'nominees' will be given consideration.The Committee has considered a "special event" to further promote this special day - come, be part of the day!
WORKING BEES:
We hope the work continues but could certainly do with a few more WILLING members.
NEXT ONES WILL BE:
July 22-23rd August 26th-27th September 23rd-24th
FIREWOOD:
We are getting short of firewood for lighting up the locomotive. Does any member have a 'spare' couple of hours AND a chainsaw? There is a heap of wood waiting to be cut up.
I hear Andrew has a Poulan and has been practising his chainsawing skills at The Junction. Will we see artistic furniture around for our visitors to picnic on??
MEREMERE POWER STATION:
Plans to turn this into a refuse burning power station have fallen through and dismantling of the machinery will start soon. It is expected most will go for scrap. We were fortunate to be able to have a "rat-through" their light store and obtain mostly gauge glass and fittings. If we had had a day or so to spare, we could probably got a bit more. One thing spotted was the traversing base for a loco jack - cast NZGR - and looking like it was never used. Guess where it is now?????
I hear rumours that another preservation society is obtaining the NZR sidings and turning triangle for use on an extention to their railway.
NATIONAL FEDERATION CONFERENCE:
This year it was held in Pamerston North and well attended. B.T.C. was represented by Jan and myself. There were a variety of interesting talks and discussions. I gave one about steam loco driver qualifications - and the need for railways that want to train steam drivers to become accredited training sites. (Such as ours). There was a discussion on sleepers and track fittings, how to obtain them and costs, another by Land Transport about how they saw rail safety in general, possible flow-ons from the Ministerial enquiry into TranzRail's shunting - another on a new agreement framework for running on TranzRails network, (a couple which thankfully don't affect us) one on new unit standards for diesel, diesel electric, electric loco drivers, shunting, train inspections and crewing of main line trips. Hopefully these won't affect us - BUT YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.!!!
Visits were made to Fielding to see progress on the complete overhaul of W AB 794 - a large tank loco, and the traction engine complex at Maewa - just up the road.
The group at Fielding have just taken over the old fertiliser storage complex, complete with rail access and have b-i-g plans for the development of this.
If you have never been to the traction engine comples you are really missing something. A traction engine and roller were in steam - the traction engine in the process of being blown down for its winter overhaul.
All-in-all, a worth while conference where a few more things were learned and future possible headaches heard about!!
W E L ENERGY:
Some years ago when local power boards were split, some of the new energy companies issued shares to purchasers of their electricity. The Waikato was no exception - so we received 105 shares. These shares have been sold over the years by a lot of the original shareholders. At our last A.G.M., the Committee was directed not to sell the shares. The majority shareholder - W E L Energy Trust, decided to obtain a 100% shareholding and started proceedings to compulsorily buy out all minority shareholder. At a Special General Meeting held early in June, the majority of these shareholders voted to sell their shares. By the time you receive this newsletter, I expect our shares to have been compulsorily acquired by WEL Energy Trust.
CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED:
"The Pukemiro Line. On Sunday, 2nd April 2000, seven of our group visited The Bush Tramway Club at Pukemiro Jct, who hold their open day on the first Sunday of each month. It must be encouraging for the Club to see, in this rather out of the way place, a good number of the public, upwards of 100 enjoying the activity of this working steam railway. Located about 10 kilometres west of Huntly in the hills, most of us had visited the site previously. This time we were able to appreciate the improvements the club had achieved. The new station building and canopy moved from Rotowaro and given a glossy coat of yellow paint was a striking addition to the Pukemiro Yard.
Besides the usual railway offices, this now includes a kitchen & shop, ticket and a information booth. The separate toilet block has been upgraded, and picnic tables and seats provided.
Club members were operating an hourly schedule of trains for the public, leaving on the half hour. Due to the extremely dry conditions, a total fire ban was in place, and steam could not be used outside the Pukemiro Station yard.
Diesel Shunters were being used to haul the consist of two carriages. The rail line climbs at a 1 in 50 grade up towards Glen Afton, then the train reverses back through Pukemiro down to Rotowaro.
It passes through scrub and pine plantations, dells of ferns and ends at Rotowaro with a view across an opencast coal mine.
In the Pukemiro Station Yard the 1878 F Class locomotive was kept busy giving short cab rides. We took our turn and have to thank engine driver Eric Burns for his very interesting instructions on controlling a steam locomotive. His description of all the various gauges, valves and levers used to operate this powerful little loco was fascinating.
One was always conscious of standing very close to a hot firebox, of the heady smell of steam and coalsmoke and the restrained power of the machine.
The 1923 Peckett was also in steam but was being used to move stock around the yard, notably a hand operated crane truck which was newly restored, emerged from the workshop shed with new hardwood headstocks. (A note here: this crane is to have all of its timber replaced and most of its axlebox leaf springs too.)
The 1927 Price Cb, usually busy around the site, was out of action, having one of its tubes replaced.
A wooden car/van of 1908 vintage has recently been restored, and is equipped with standard NZR reversible leather upholstered seats, a big improvement on the former carriage with side mounted bench seats. Both vehicles were in use this day.
We had a close look at the 1904 Heisler standing in the loco shed. This efficient bush locomotive type is likely to be the club's next project for restoration and when completed will add much interest to their collection because of it's novel method of steam propulsion.
There is a long term possiblity of getting the 7 ton steam crane in operation.
There is no doubt there is much of interest scattered around the Pukemiro Railway, on sidings and buried in heaps in long grass.
This was a most enjoyable day spent with dedicated club members who are making steady progress in the restoration of a railway which once served the coalfields of Glen Afton and Pukemiro. - Frank Davis"
With visitors writing back to us such as this, maybe we could use them as extra publicity officers!!!! We DO get 'suggestions' as well reported back - "... you should be doing this, you should be doing that....." and we do take notes, but when we ask for their help .........we only see their dust!!!!
EXCURSION TO DRIVING CREEK RAILWAY:
Sunday 18th June some of our hardy members met at Barry Brickells railway. They all had a good hunt around and poked their heads into some of his more interesting projects. We walked through his new tunnel and congratulations on his artistic brickwork at the tunnel entrance. As we ventured up "into the clouds" for a "view of the valleys" some members with a head for heights ventured up to where his 'eyeful' tower will reside - hopefully, none of our members are expecting the same industrious projects back at The Junction!.
Well done Barry and crew, and trust it won't be too long before we have another return visit - summer next time maybe!
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING BUSINESS:
If you are one of the owners of equipment currently at B.T.C. we wish to invite you to submit in writing some suggestions to 'protect' this property in the long-term. The Membership cannot apply for funding for restoration whilst it is still in private ownership. So any written suggestions will be looked at seriously by The Committee.
CARRIAGE HISTORIES: Continuing on from the last two newsletters.
WELLINGTON MANUWATU CAR:
This was built by WMR railway on 4/9/1904 at Thorndon, Wellington.
Their carriage No 42, it was a 50ft 2nd class car that could seat 50 people.
After WMR was purchased by NZR in 1908, most WMR cars continued in NZR's use for many years. I have a photo of Glen Afton in the early 30's that shows what appears to be a WMR car.
Car No 42 was renumbered A 1120 in NZR's fleet, finally being written off on 4/3/39 but was converted to EA 2358 and a 'plumber's car'.
This car was shunted around various stations or yards in the Auckland area where plumbing repairs were required. It was last overhauled at Otahuhu workshops in July '57 and had its last Westinghouse brake overhaul at Auckland in June '63. It was damaged in a shunting accident sometime that year and left at the back of Otahuhu workshops until obtained by The Bush Tramway Club Inc - largely financed by Bob.
It is badly in need of an overhaul (and is one of only a couple of WMR cars still in existence).
A 1477: (Now known as our 'No 3' Car).
This was built at NZR's Petone workshops on 24/3/1917 and was a 50 ft composite car with seating for 15 X 1st class and 28 X 2nd class passengers.
Its first and second class seating was slightly re-arranged on 30/4/27 and 21/7/34 as a result of different types of 2nd class seats being fitted.
It was converted to a full 2nd class car on 23/6/51. It was written off in Auckland on 31/3/58 but converted to a Way and Works car with a single man's cabin at each end, and a tool store in the centre.
It was purchased by Phil Wallis and his brother and donated to B.T.C.
A 1319:
This was built as a 50 ft composite car on 20/6/1913 at Petone.
It too was fitted out for 15 X 1st class and 28 X 2nd class on 12/10/35 and 63 X 2nd class passengers on 14/10/44.
It was written off in Wellington on 6/11/71 and converted to EA 3961 for the Way & Works.
At some stage it was renumbered EA 1628 and obtained by Eric in October 1981.
This car is presently used as a timber and boiler tube store and is badly in need of a rebuild.
That's about all we have about our carriages, it would be good to get a similar history of our wagons!
CONDOLENCES:
Sympathy to those Members who have lost Family Members recently. Also to our other loyal Club Members who are not enjoying good health - we trust that things are going easier with you all, and it is not too long before you can make a visit to The Junction and participate in the social activities again. You are all in our thoughts.
NEW MEMBERS:
In the last newsletter, I mentioned a new member, Gwyneth Jones, who was writing a book on the history of The Junction and mentioned a photo taken in 1925 from one of the hills across the valley.
I have always been told that there was a brickworks just above where the hall is now. The 1925 photo shows a long low building that could easily be the drying shed. The following article was sent to me by Gwyneth and mentions the brickworks. The day she visited us, I was able to show her a small piece of one of the bricks from the works. A few bricks have been found at times behind the hall.
"Pukemiro Junction Colliery.
In 1922, Clare and Partners, a party of co-op workers, acquired a crown lease and opened a board and pillar mine situated 20 chain from the Pukemiro Junction Railway Station. Mining was confined to a narrow block of coal and output was delivered to railway wagons by 12 chains of surface jig tramway. 15 men were employed by 1925 and the output had risen to 50 tons per day. The owners had erected an approved magazine, bathhouse and changing house. That same year brickmaking had commenced and been abandoned when it was realized that that modern machinery was required to eliminate moisture that caused shrinkage in the finished brick. A fire in the No1 mine section caused anziety to the management in 1927 but the area was flooded and subsequently recovered in good condition. By 1931 the coal being mined was soft and of inferior quality and some difficulty was being experienced in marketing the coal. Mine operations were discontinued in 1933 due to the exhaustion of the narrow field. The mining plant was removed and the crown lease surrendered. The mine had worked for 12 years with a total output of 113,261 tons of coal."
Keep on track!!