Much has been happening, some has been rather challenging.!!!!
Read on to see what has been achieved since our last Newsletter -
and you could have been one of the ones that helped!!
ROTOWARO STATION BUILDING: The final 'big job' on this building has been completed.
Yes! All the floors were sanded and oiled the week after the July open day. The contractors had a bigger job on than was first envisaged. Of course there were 'hic-cups' (now, why should this job be different?). The vinyl ordered over a week in advance was ... guess! held up in Christchurch, - then shipped to Auckland to finally be picked up by Wingnut in Huntly. The kitchen floors and work benches have been covered, the remainder of the flooring is as seen in it's previous life! The whole of the station contents were removed immediately after July Open Day, except for some very heavy items (which the PD crew removed a few days later). The actual sanding took the best part of three days, followed by 3 coats of oil over two days. The oil used was made to an old recipe and is commercially available (and NO, it is not finger-lickin' good, but has a very sweet smell). The use of the oil was a first for the sanders, they were impressed with the results and will be using the oil in other old buildings.
After a few days drying, the ladies team (Jan, Teresa and Avice) got stuck in and washed all walls, light fittings windows and frames to remove the sanding dust-and other accumulated grime found by Avice.
The PD crew was again used to put all heavy furniture back in the station, while the rest of the 'necessary gear' was put in largely by Paula and Sean (who just happened to get 'organised' by Teresa, and then she disappeared - until the last rack was being carried in off the hand-trolley!!).
A FURTHER DAY was spent by the 'ladies team' - which included Betty as well as Wingnut and Andrew -tidying up, water blasting all the exterior and tidying up the gardens and rearranging the brickwork trims, while Bob Wiseman carried on quietly in the background doing the necessary wiring.
Mary has undertaken to 'fit out' the Station Masters room - including the 2 old cabinets that the Tablet Machines once sat on - haven't you Mary?????!
It is fair to say the ladies have spent nearly as much time at The Junction in the last few weeks as the blokes!
POWER SUPPLY:
As part of the station and 'old shop' job, a new power cable was urgently needed. The new cable was laid a couple of months ago and Bob has spent many, many days sorting out new fuses, switches etc.(along with help from his 'chum' Betty), so that finally on 3rd August he could 'liven' up the new cable into the station and the cable into the old shop. All must have gone smoothly, as I didn't hear any "bangs" or see any "strange scorch marks"!
'OLD SHOP' / UTILITY SHED:
We are presently obtaining prices to get the interior re-lined as necessary and the outside area and the rest of the platform tidied up. The water supply is to be connected to the building, but the rest of the plumbing still needs attending to. Colin Ewing has obtained the last piece of capping for the plastic weatherboard, (but it still needs fitting). All-in-all, a very busy period in this area - mostly by members who are usually busy in other areas as well.
Stop press!!! Plumbing completed, relining ready for painting team!! HOW'S THAT? Outside drains being prepared. Drainage coil bought and final costings for platform re-surfacing being undertaken.
HANDCRANE:
Work continues on this. The 4 new springs were fitted - one slipped into place easily, two - not so easily and one had many 'words of advice' - and the help with a disc grinder, before it finally gave up and 'slipped' into place. All axle-boxes needed repacking. The new decking has all be bolted down by Andrew and Wingnut.
The paintwork was water blasted to remove the green algae. More work is needed to fit the slewing gear ring segments and winding gear shaft.
The old timber on the 'fold-down-side' deckings has been removed for replacement.
We still would like to fit a hand-brake and rail holding clamps (things the crane has never had - at least since well before we obtained it).
This work has been done by Wingnut, Andrew, Mike and Myself - begun about 4 years ago!!! At least this restoration job has been very thorough.
MINES CAR:
Ian has been down, measured up a few more bits of timber and taken some back to his home to be worked on. (May sound easy, but some of the 'bits' he took home are 12" X 4" X 8' long!) Most of the steelwork for the end of the carriage being worked on has been cleaned and painted by the PD crew - largely as wet-weather jobs.
CAR VAN:
Last Newsletter, I mentioned that Wingnut had replaced some flooring in the guards van section. He THEN decided to replace the bottom runner that the sliding door runs on, and had a job getting his 'new flooring' up! While the floor sanders were at the Junction, the floor of the Guard's Van section was also sanded and oiled.
I hear that one of our wood-work member's was booked to "help" replace the old sliding door still to be done - marked it on his calendar and THEN FORGOT. Don't worry, the door is STILL WAITING!
Try the calendar routine again!
The exterior of this and No 3 carriage was water blasted by Wingnut to remove the soot (from those dirty steam loco types) HOWEVER, they looked too clean, so August Open Day gave them the "used" look again.
AUDITORS:
We have received reports from Auditors and replied to points raised. A few minor changes to our Safety Scheme will be necessary.
TRACKWORK:
The area of our derailment was finally checked in mid July - a little further work was needed - the area re-checked and the speed restriction lifted. In all, this small area took about 6 days work - including about 2 1/2 days with the PD crew.
GLEN AFTON end:
Bob Mann has spent most of his time while he is at The Junction working here. He has cleared a lot more earth etc. Off the top of the ballast and put in a few more sleepers.
The PD crew have spent another day replacing sleepers here as well.
5 tipping-trolleys of sand and spare ballast from the loop at Puke Junction have been used to widen a section of the embankment at the top-end of the sandfill, where the present track needs shifting slightly to ease the present sharp curve.
PUKEMIRO JUNCTION:
Main PD crew work at present is resleepering the top-end of the Loop-Line - near Trev's driveway. So far, 30 sleepers have been put in. Track in this area is ballasted right up to rail head level so a lot of digging is needed to get down the sleeper level. Where possible, track is only being ballasted to the tops of the sleepers - hence the amount of spare ballast and sand that needs to be got rid of - in this case, shifted up to the sandfill.
There is still a lot of work to be done in this area. Fish plate bolts are being replaced also as this area is resleepered.
ROTOWARO TERMINUS end:
Not much to report in this area. Wingnut and Myself spent a few hours bolting up further tracksets in the Loop and pointing the rails in the right direction - to line up with the bottom end point. We haven't been able to get any spare time for putting in sleepers down here for a while.'
Just in case you think all this work is eating into our sleeper stockpile, you are right - so ANOTHER 250 X 1/2 rounds and 40 square sleepers have been delivered and stacked since the last Newsletter. An order of 50 long-point sleepers had not been treated, so could not be delivered and stacked while the PD crew was available. No doubt, another day can be arranged soon!
(One of our 'investments' matured just at the right time - CONGRATULATIONS on this forward planning)
FIREWOOD:
Only Wingnut has answered the call for cutting up firewood. Teresa and him cut up a large trailer load of packing-case timber (that contained the huge new transformer at Huntly Power Station which arrived in from Brazil)
We still need more wood cut up and have a fairly large pile ready for cutting up. Surely, someone must have a few spare hours.
(Haven't seen Andrew in action, with his flash new chainsaw yet!) There are still wattles you cut down, waiting to be cut into shorter lengths - or are they being eyed up for creative outdoor furniture?
WORKING BEES:
If you haven't been at The Junction for a while, you should turn up and see the improvements you have read about. Some of our members (who haven't been around for 2 or 3 years) have turned up recently - and been very surprised. We always need more members 'willing' to turn a hand at anything - even if it means getting your hands kinda dirty. (We can guarantee every colour/type on a scale of 1 to 10).
The next working bees are:
AUGUST 26 - 27th
SEPTEMBER 23 - 24th
OCTOBER 28 -29th
OPEN DAYS:
June and July Open Days were literally a 'wash-out' - even though we had a lot of passengers in July, early in the day. The rain set in soon after lunch and just got heavier, and heavier AND HEAVIER.
August was the complete opposite. A fine frosty morning, and a very sunny day. Our passengers just kept coming and coming AND COMING. Our 2-car trains was very full for at least two trips. The rush certainly kept ALL members (where ever or what-ever they were doing) extremely busy. We were very surprised by the number of members or ex-members who came to have 'a look' that day.
A very goodly amount of cash was banked. Thanks to ALL who turn up and help on these days!
Remember - these are our badly needed 'income days'. The next Open Days are:
SEPTEMBER 3rd (Father's Day)
OCTOBER 1st (Day light saving weekend)
remember NO LABOUR SUNDAY OPERATIONS this year
NOVEMBER 5th (Guy Fawkes weekend)
DECEMBER 3rd (end-of-year wind up?? - any suggestions please)
Please fill out the work notice and return it. We very nearly had to pull the fire out of a loco and park it up during July Open Day because of a lack of a crew. Thanks Robin for your help!
REMEMBER - if you have 'volunteered' to help in any capacity on an operating day, PLEASE sign in the register in the Station Masters Room - and indicate if you require a Club Lunch. Please - don't bring your mates!! You need to be a CLUB MEMBER!! And you need to be helping! If its only a social outing, wait until our CLUB SOCIALS to participate!! Open Days sees our members pretty busy.
SPONSORS DAY:
This is definitely on for Sunday, 10th September with our invited guests due to arrive around 1 pm. Some are expected earlier, so everything MUST be ready to start at 1 pm. NO LATER! This is The Club's way of thanking those who help us, and give them a look at what they have provided! Without these Sponsors, we would not progress AT ALL!
An early lunch for MEMBERS ONLY is planned. If you're LATE and our sponsors are arriving, tough!!! You'll have missed out (until afternoon tea time anyway).
We MUST know well beforehand how many members will be available to assist with the running of this important day.
We hope to have a 'Ceremony' to 'Officially launch the start of the overhaul of line to Glen Afton.' One of our Sponsors has contributed with the grant for this start.
CHARTER TRIPS:
(They keep coming, and coming and coming). We seem to have a couple of weeks break from these but, these trips over the last few months have certainly kept the "faithful few" busy. We are now largely getting lots of kindy kids (and of course their mums AND grandparents).
One day recently was a "bit hectic". We had a lot of smaller Playcentres booked. Their organiser had told them pretty well what time to arrive. These groups all arrive by private car - and the cars kept coming and coming and guess the rest! They were ALL INTENT on parking around the station - so pretty soon our carpark by the shanty was full, the sides of the roads to this car park were full, and one even thought it easier to park "with her front wheel in a drain". There was one major problem with this. These ladies were townies and obviously more used to parking in supermarket-type car parks (where there are lines on the tarseal): IT WAS POURING WITH RAIN - AND IT REALLY SET IN! You can imagine our carpark - no lines - cars all over the place, no access ways at all (and of course, the first cars blocked in!!!, but wait -there's more, LOST CAR KEYS from a car jamming up the parking!!, and the drivers that could have 'unblocked' the grid-lock were - ON THE TRAIN!! There were also more passengers than were expected, so we ended up running 3 trips.
N.B. The littlies LOVED the sound of their voices (on high shrill) in the new looking station.
These trips are a very necessary part of our railway operations and greatly help our bank balance!!
The Psalm of Steam:
The steam locomotive is my treasure;
I shall not want diesels.
It maketh me to lie down in green pastures
with my camera;
it leadeth me beside the still water towers.
It restoreth my soul;
It leadeth me along the dirt roads to scrap yards,
wretched food and poverty
for its preservation's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the terminal
of the shadow of diesel,
I will fear no secret police;
for my photo permit is with me;
thy side rods and thy stacktalk they comfort me.
Thou preparest a turntable before me in the presence of
the diesel salesman;
thou anointest my head with cinders;
my tender runneth over.
Surely low, three-quarter sunlight
and thick smoke will follow me
all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the roundhouse of the
LORD forever.
Amen.
DIESEL LOCOS:
Colin and Alan have carried out our annual checks on these.
Mike has been working on repairing the radiator for our DS loco. Sean recently turned up with the radiator out of a large Caterpillar bulldozer, that we may be able to use instead.
WORKSHOP:
A bit more progress on this. Paula found the 'cheapest' supplier of plywood for the mezzanine floor. This was delivered by Teresa (volunteered by Ian) on-site and unloaded by the PD crew, h-a-u-l-e-d up and nailed in placed on the section built so far. The RSJ for the supports for the rest of this are close to the workshop - ready to be cut to size. The floor joists for this section are stacked up on the already completed new floor.
All windows have been put in, so there is only the big sliding doors to put up - work is progressing on this side as well (in what spare time!)
TOOLS:
The Club - through Wingnut, recently purchased a larger air compressor (mounted on a purpose built trailer). This works well and supplies heaps of air for our track tools etc. Wingnut is NOW COMPLAINING - (as usual) - this time, its about the amount of air "available". There's one way around that - use a jack hammer in EACH HAND when you're packing the track!!(..we note that Teresa is NOT volunteering to help in this matter. - I wonder why.) You'd be surprised how quickly the job will be done! We can now easily run a jack hammer AND an impact wrench at once - and only stop when we want to - not when the air pressure runs low.
Richard supplies the odd part for spares.
Problems of a Secretary: (borrowed from 'Northern Views' Whangarei Model Engineering Club's Newsletter, and added to)
IF a Secretary writes a letter, its too long,
IF he (she) sends a postcard, its too short,
IF he /" issues a bulletin, he's a spendthrift,
IF he offers a suggestion, he's a 'know it all"'
If he says nothing, he's useless, (I like that bit)
IF attendance at a meeting is slack, HE should
have notified the members,
IF he telephones them, he's a pest,
IF he asks a member for his subscription, he's insulting,
IF he doesn't, he's LAZY,
IF he spends all his time at The Club, members
wonder if he hasn't a home to go to,
IF he is never seen working at the Club, others
assume he's lost interest,
IF the secretary passes on a good idea, it is credited
to that member,
IF the 'idea' was a bad one,
IT WAS ALL THE SECRETARY'S FAULT!
.... position up for grabs! SECRETARY'S ......
Jan continues to feed our two cats with their grub supplemented by the odd bird or rabbit. We now have some new inhabitants around The Junction - and they can be spotted roaming well up and down the railway.
Shame on you Bob. While getting electrical bits and pieces out of a shed, you locked in 'Shanty Cat'. She was found about 2 days later - and had probably cleared the shed of rats and mice.
We now have four roosters wandering and scratching around the place (and no, Jan doesn't feed them). Be very suspicious if we have fresh chicken on our lunches!! although I can't see the girls plucking these!
Andrew spent about an hour after the August Open Day using our yellow digger to find a long lost culvert under the bottom of the roadway to The Junction. We thought the missing end would be close to the large creek culvert, but surprise!!! it was about 2 mts away and well covered. It now needs a bit of spade and shovel work to clear it out as much as possible and tidy up the area, so guess what will be on the next PD trailer that goes out that way?
This culvert drains all of one side of the driveway, right up to the railway lines at The Junction and about halfway up the road to 'Downer's Crossing', so is very necessary and can handle a lot of water in heavy rain. Good going Andrew!
Ex-member Gordon McLean arrived at The Junction early on our August Open Day - with his car looking like a traveling nursery. It was full of native trees for us. He has planted them on the sandfill area where we already have some flax and cabbage trees growing.
It is interesting to see that one of our earlier club members (Larry Cocker) is at present in USA as one of the NZ Fire-fighters - helping put out their forest fires!
STOP PRESS:
Word has just been received and it is with great regret that I inform our Members of the passing of Bill Patton on 26th July at Oamaru.
OTHER MEMBERSHIP NEWS: SOCIAL EVENING:
A very informal social evening will be held at The Junction on SATURDAY, 9TH September. This will be a POT-LUCK dinner - followed by an evening of >>>>>>>>??? You name it, you do it. The dinner will consist of what-ever YOU BRING - if you don't bring anything, you won't get anything!! So don't expect others to provide everything for your dinner. If we hear a squaaaawk, we'll know where the roosters are!
FRIENDSHIP
Friendship buds and blossoms
Like a summer in full dress,
Friendship brings a harvest
Of joy and happiness,
Friendship is sustaining
Through winter winds
and snows,
Friendship can't be horded
By being shared, it grows.