Model Trains and Things

Railway administrations all over the world have always been interested in cutting costs and those who were in charge of the railways in Tasmania were no different.

So when it came to moving small numbers of passengers around the state both the government railways and the private railway companies were early adopters of railmotors and railcars.

One of the earliest railcars to be seen in Tasmania was this Berliot four-wheeler bought by the Emu Bay Railway for use on its private line that ran southwest from Burnie. By 1960 it had been sold to a sawmiller in Zeehan who was still using it to transport workers to his mill.

One of the earliest railmotors operated by the Tasmanian Government Railways was this unit … note the unusual wheel arrangement.

When it had outlived its usefulness as a people carrier it was converted to this maintenance vehicle. The Australian Standard Garratt in the background is an indication that this this unit was still in service well into the 1940s.

Most Tasmanian Government Railmotors were classified ‘DP’ and DP7 was another unusual design. Once again, notice the unusual wheel arrangement on a railmotor that was obviously intended for more busier lines than the earlier railmotor.

All images are used with the permission of the National Archives and come from negatives held in the Archives.

It’s sugar cane season in Queensland … in fact cane cutting starts in May and runs right through to December every year although the start of the season is staggered and the further south you go the later the season starts.

This year though the cutting season in the southern part of the state has started earlier than usual. The cutting and crushing season usually starts sometime in July but this year Bingera Mill near Bundaberg began crushing cane in the last full week in June, the Isis Mill near Childers began crushing shortly after that and the Maryborough Mill began crushing around the second week in July.

While crushing at the Bingera Mill might have commenced late in June cutting didn’t commence at the same time in all localities served by the Mill.

On Saturday June 28 the cane lines in the eastern part of Bingera’s extensive rail network were showing signs of use but at Wallaville … the mill’s western out-depot … the rust was still thick on the rails even though Rubyanna and Burnett were locked in the compound.

A week later the western end of Bingera’s network was still not operating seven days a week although there were clear signs that the lines had seen some use during the week. On that day there were two locos locked in the compound but by this time Rubyanna had been replaced by Invicta.

The following week saw more action on the western end of Bingera’s rail network with a number of locos being heard calling Control as they collected full bins that had been brought into Wallaville by the locos assigned to the out-depot.

Invicta is an 0-6-0 and was originally built by Comeng in 1956 (b/n A1513) as a diesel-mechanical loco and was rebuilt as a diesel hydraulic by Bundaberg Foundary Engineers Ltd in 2001. Here we see it in the compound at Wallaville on 3rd July 2010

Rubyanna is an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic and was built by E M Baldwin & Sons P/L of Castle Hill in Sydney (b/n 3406.17.70) in 1970 for the Fairymead Mill. When Fairymead closed Rubyanna was transferred to Bingera in 2002. Here we see Rubyanna in the Wallaville compound on 28 June 2010.

Burnett is an 0-6-0 diesel hydraulic built for Bingera Mill in 1963 by Comeng (b/n AH2967). In 1980 Burnett was transferred to Qunaba Mill and in 1986 when that mill closed it was transferred to Millaquin Mill. Sometime after the 2007 it was transferred back to Bingera and here we see it in the compound at Wallaville on 28th June 2010.

If you want to hear what has to be some of the most intense narrow-gauge action anywhere in the world you can tune in to the Bingera Mill’s radio network by heading over to RailroadRadio.net and drilling down to the Bundaberg Sugar Cane Operations channel.

My thanks to John Browning and the Light Railway Research Society of Australia for the loco information given here.