Model Trains and Things

I can’t believe that it’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve been able to find some spare time to add something here. Things have been so hectic with business and family that I haven’t even been able think about getting any modelling done.

But yesterday I wandered into the newsagent’s here in Hervey Bay and found that the December issue of the Australian Model Railway Magazine had arrived and it’s got me fired up again.

I have to say that it’s one of the best issues of the magazine I’ve ever seen. Of course that’s an entirely subjective view and I don’t really think that I’ve ever seen a dud issue but this month’s certainly appealed to me.

Not only is it packed with some interesting articles but some of the new products that have arrived on the scene since the last edition also caught my eye.

For my N gauge interest there’s some urethane dogbox carriages from Peter Booman’s Workshop and just to revive the narrow-gauge bug that occasionally bites me there’s a Brookville diesel kit in O gauge that’s now available from Christmas Every Day here in Queensland and Bergs in Parramatta.

So if you’re not a regular reader of the Australian Model Railway Magazine be sure to hit your hobby shop or newsagent and grab a copy.

Sooner rather than later I’m going to have to make up my mind about just what I want to model.

Maryborough Queensland is located about three hours drive north of Brisbane. Maryborough has almost always been a railway town, it’s the home of EDI where locomotives have been built for over 100 years, it was the home of the busiest branchline in Queensland, it was a crew change point on the north coast line and today it has lost a lot of its importance.

The main station in Maryborough never sees a passenger train anymore, crews are still changed here … but some of the crews are employed by another transport operator, and the busiest branch rarely sees a Government train these days.

But Maryborough is still worth visiting because you never know what you’re going to see in the yard.

When I took this photo just over 12 months ago there were two new Brisbane suburban carriages from EDI stored adjacent to the platform and what’s that peeking out of a shed at the end of the platform?

It’s a Queensland B15 class steam loco. It was built here in Maryborough when EDI was known as Walkers Engineering and one day it will be restored. Until that day comes it will sit under cover against the buffers at the end of the platform at Maryborough.

So if you’re heading north from Brisbane take the detour off the Bruce Highway and wander down to the station in the middle of Maryborough … you never know what might be sitting in the yard.

You see some interesting things from a railway carriage. You can look into private worlds as you pass; you catch glimpses of things that you wouldn’t normally see and get a snapshot of life as we all live it.

Well here’s something interesting that I snapped from a passing train

This would have to be one of the loneliest cemeteries in Australia. It was once close to a bustling mining area but the coal mines  limestone south of Dover in Tasmania closed ran out and the people moved away … leaving their dead behind them.

Here there is nothing but headstones, ferns and the wind that blows almost every day. It’s lonely here and there is no way to visit this cemetery other than the train … that only runs occasionally.

The train I took this from was the morning tourist trip on the Ida Bay Railway  – the most southerly railway in Australia.

In 1912 the Tasmanian Government Railways went back to Beyer Peacock for some more Garratt type locomotives. This time they weren’t looking for anything like the original L Class they had bought three years earlier – this time they were looking for some 3′ 6″ gauge mainline grunt for both goods and passenger locomotives.

Once again Tasmania led the world for the M class passenger locos Beyer Peacock supplied were the first Garratt mainline express locomotives ever built.

This photo is used with the permission of the National Archives

Two of these handsome 4-4-2+2-4-4 locomotives were built and placed in service on the mainline express and mail trains between Launceston and Hobart. M1 remained in service until 1925 and M2 lasted until 1931.

Beyer Peacock also supplied two mainline goods locomotives – these were the L class and even though they were narrow gauge locomotives they certainly rated some serious tractive effort of 134.3kN (30,171 lb).

Compare those figures to the most up-to-date NSWGR locomotive of the time – the 53 class with a tractive effort of 128.1kN (28,777 lb) and you’ll see that the L class had some serious grunt.

This photo is used with the permission of the National Archives

These 2-6-2+2-6-2 locomotives also worked the mainline from Launceston to Hobart. They lasted in regular service until 1936 but made a brief come-back in the last years of the war.

If you compare both the builders photos of the M and the L class you will see that the centre unit was basically the same for both classes and both classes shared the same boiler pressure.

None of these locomotives were preserved and all wer cut up around 1950/51

Yesterday I posted a photo of the world’s first Garratt locomotive – the Tasmanian K class – just follow the link to find the photo.

A little while after I posted that photo I was digging around in my photo draw and came across this builders photo of one of the K Class.

The photo is used with the permission of the National Archives

As I mentioned yesterday Tasmania lost a real piece of its railway heritage when it sold a hybrid version of K1 back to Beyer Peacock in 1947 but for some time in the 1990s another version of the K class ran in Tasmania.

The Bush Mill was an extensive tourist attraction on the Tasman Penninsula not far from Port Arthur and it had a miniature railway that ran for a kilometre or two down into the forest. Originally tourist trains were hauled by a smart red 0-4-2 tank loco but in latter years this superb locomotive was added to the fleet.

It even sported its own builders plate.

I understand that the Bush Mill site has now been closed for several years and the locomotives were offered for sale shortly after the site closed. I’m not sure what became of them.
 

A couple of days ago I had a mild rant on another railway blog about modern day railway photographers who search for the perfect shot and think that it can only be found on a day when the weather is perfect too. My point was that rain and clouds add a new dimension to the railway scene and, for these photographers, the perfect shot can go begging simply because it’s raining.

In case anyone should think that I don’t practise what I preach I offer these two photographs. It’s June 1989 and I’m stationed in Orange – on the Saturday of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend the Flying Scotsman and 3801 were due in town early in the morning with a tour train to Dubbo so I headed down to Loco at Orange East Fork

Unfortunately the Scotsman was having problems with NSW coal and the train was running very late. When it did finally arrive the Scotsman was cut off and run into Loco to have the firebox grate thoroughly cleaned.

That’s where I got this photo as the Scotsman wheezed it’s way up to where the pits were located.

You’ll notice that the loco seems to be covered in steam and the background almost looks as though I’ve blotted it out. Well the truth is that it was so damn cold it was actually snowing.

While the Scotsman was being serviced I went home to have a hot shower – according to my wife my face was blue.

After the hot shower I jumped back in the car and drove down to the Dalton Street level crossing where I got this photo of a rejuvinated Scotsman and 3801 storming out of town as they took the train on to Dubbo.

You’ll notice that the background is still rather white, the roads are wet and … you guessed it, it was still snowing.

Those two shots aren’t perfect by any means but they tell a story far more graphically than if they had been taken on a fine sunny day.

I know a lot of people might find it hard to believe but in it’s early days the Tasmanian Government Railways was surprisingly innovative. They weren’t afraid to embrace new technology if they thought it could get the job done.

That attitude is what led to Tasmania being the first place in the world to employ the first Garratt type steam locomotive. Two of these locomotives entered service on the Government’s North East Dundas Tramway … a 2′ 6″ gauge line on the island’s west coast … in 1909.

This photo of one of the class is thought to have been taken at Zeehan.
The photo is used with the permission of the National Archives

These locomotives were built by Beyer Peacock and entered service as K1 and K2; they worked on the Tramway for many years despite one glaring design fault. If you look at the cylinders you will see that they’re the reverse of all subsequent Garratts and the rear set of cylinders are under the cab floor.

That caused the cab floor to get very hot and Beyer Peacock were quick to take notice of drivers’ complaints.

Both locomotives were withdrawn around 1939 and in 1947 K1 was sold back to Beyer Peacock. To ensure that the company got a complete locomotive the TGR combined parts of both locos and K1 was returned to England.

The remains of K2 are thought to have been finally cut up for scrap during the 1960s and Tasmania … and Australia … lost a vital part of our railway history.