News Dec07 Jan08
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News Dec07 Jan08
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21/1/08 BBR trains have been operating everyday during the school holiday period seeing good numbers of travelling public taking a ride on our railway - thanks to all members involved who have given their time to help run these services.
Friday night work parties are now back to a regular routine at the BBR Mussel Pool workshops- All members are encouraged to come along and assist with the maintenance required to keep the railway operating, as well as have a bit of a social get together with like minded members. On Friday evening 18/01/08 , 3 second hand vacuum cylinders donated by ARG arrived at the depot with another 8 still to come - BBR is most grateful to ARG for this donation as the vacuum brake equipment used on our trains, is now becoming harder to find spare parts for. Some of the new shelving (from Coventry's) was moved around from the original unloading location to enable the sleeper cutting facilities to be cleaned up. The timber boards which make up the shelves, have been stored in one of the containers to prevent weather damage. The corridor consist was run over the pit and inspected and the brakes adjusted where necessary. The Perry Boiler was degreased. BBR has enlisted the services of "Skilled Rail" to progress our sleeper replacement program as it has been difficult to activate members in this area of our operation. It is hoped that this work will take place during February. The QBB flat wagon was cleaned, ready for prepared sleepers to be loaded , which will then see the sleepers dropped lineside in readiness for the track teams to get started on some required track work. A number of sleepers were also de-spiked during the evening.
New member Trevor has been busily assisting Greg, Tony & Samual with works on the turntable and in his spare time has produced extra wheel chocks for the depot as well as dismantling some of the new shelves.
Track master Garry has been busy walking the railway inspecting sleepers and marking them for replacement with a new toy - A line marking machine which negates the need to bend over to mark the sleeper with paint. Jim and Barry have also been assisting in sleeper marking on the loop section.
6/1/08 Welcome to the New Year. One which will be, hopefully, as exciting and interesting for BBR as the last 12 months. We are however, off to a slow start with a very warm Xmas and New Year period. Over the last few weeks there has been a few things happening including : regular school holiday services operating everyday, A vegetation clearing train was run to do a bit of pruning of some of the very close hanging trees that have encroached on the railway, general maintenance repair works have been carried out on the turntable decking by Greg and his team of helpers. The Perry wheel sets have been sent off to GEMCO for re-profiling. Scott was out on the 5/1/06 doing a little bit of clean up along the Mussel Pool line. The Friday night crews have had a bit of a break over the festive season, although workshop activities resumed on the 4th of Jan. It was
a quiet night with Tony, Greg and Derek getting back
in to the swing of things. Tony carried on cleaning out the pit shed so we have
room to move and duly assisted Greg and Derek when needed. Greg
tackled the muffler issues on the fowler and modified the spark arrestor so that
it clears under the door in the loco shed. This means that we don’t have to
climb up and install the muffler at the start of the day, and also we don’t
forget to remove it at the end of the day. Derek
worked on the Perry removing the gauge glasses and fusible plug and organised
all the necessary paper work for the first part of the boiler inspection which
happened on Saturday.
And to round off this News Update - I have been busy working on a few new pages which will be uploaded over the next few months - here below is the link for the first new page which is on the Collie/Mussel Pool Signal Box. New Page Added - Mussel Pool Signal Cabin - Click Here
21/12/07 The BBR Wishes All a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year
15/12/07 Over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of December BBR members took delivery of racks of shelving from the old Coventry's warehouse in Walter Rd Morley which has recently been relocated. Some of the shelving in this huge building had been donated and had to be removed by the organisation. Due to the sheer weight and size of these shelving units it took both Saturday and Sunday to finish the job. Many thanks to those members who attended to help.
During late November BBR also took delivery of 4 sea containers which will be very handy for storage of equipment as the long serving FD vans are starting to get a little cramped and tired. The racks/shelves will be modified to be installed in the containers when time permits. On Saturday 8/12/07 the 3 coach corridor set was split for the first time in quite a while. AQ 4745 was taken off the set and replaced with AQ 1788 which was fitted with its second concertina and completed on the day. The consist ran in this formation for the next week enabling some minor repairs to be carried out on AQ 4745. On Friday 14/12/07 the Friday night crew reassembled the corridor consist to a 4 car set by adding AQ 4745 to the end. The consist is now made up of AQ 4745, AQ 1788, AR 1638 with brake coach AQB 2970 bringing up the rear. Saturday 15/12/07 is the first time that BBR has been able to operate a 4 car consist with through corridor connections.
With Christmas looming, the Friday night work party over the last 2 weeks dwindled to smaller numbers, but still some things got done. As well as finishing off and fitting of the AQ concertina, Ng123 had the boiler, firebox, ashpan and cab thoroughly washed out and the steam dome was removed. Work has also continued on fitting of chains to the Dorman Planet. The ashpan on the perry boiler was blocked up and prepared for removal from under the firebox and then later removed. The perry wheel sets have been steam cleaned in readiness for pick up by "Gemco" who will be re-profiling the flanges and replacing the oil feed axleboxes with roller bearing boxes.
Friday night work parties will be taking a break over the Xmas period and will resume on the 4th of January. Members are encouraged to come along and help out - there is much to be done before we head into steam season once again. Now that Paul has headed for distant shores we have lost our midweek advantage so any assistance would be appreciated.
8/12/07 New page added - D33 Restoration of a WAGR Goods Van - click here.
2/12/07 Saturday 1/12/07 was the night of the BBR Annual Dinner held at Whiteman Village Junction Station Around 115 members, family and friends were in attendance for the evening which commenced with a bit of chit chat and nibbles whilst everyone arrived. The Krauss locomotive, under cosmetic restoration & recently reassembled by Charlie De Bruin, was also on display in 3 road for members to look at. Once everyone had arrived it was then "All Aboard" a 6 coach train hauled by the Fowler, for a journey around the loop.
On return to WVJ, proceedings commenced with a tribute to recently deceased member Dave Cochrane. Members were asked to be upstanding and with charged glasses a remembrance toast was made. This was followed by a minute of silence and then closed with 3 long mournful blasts from the 5 chime horn on the Fowler. A fine catered dinner was then had by the group, under the stars and the lighted station building canopy.
After dinner presentations were made by the railway committee, to selected members of the railway for recognition of their efforts during the past year. The awards presented were: * Lisa Little - for purchasing of souvenirs for the shop. * Barry Annetts for perseverance in restoring the Dorman Planet * Brian Rourke - for repairing the Gemco * Neil Blinco - for establishing and maintaining the BBR website. * Derek Ruston - for returning Ng123 to traffic * Terry Melville - for acting as the railways quartermaster
Two other important presentations were also made by the committee. The first was to bestow upon the founding members of the organisation "Foundation Life Membership" . These members being Ron Watson, Ken Watson, Neville Watson, Lindsay Watson, Charlie De Bruin and David Whiteford. The second presentation made was to Paul Willemse who has been the railways workshop manager, and past treasurer for the last few years. Paul is leaving our shores to return to his favourite place - Singapore. Paul assures us however that he intends to remain a member and will return as often as possible to help out with big events as well as to keep his hand in on driving steam locomotives. The BBR wishes him well for the future and presented him with a framed certificate and pictures of some of his activities on the railway.
Dessert was then had before another train journey - this time down to Mussel Pool and then Non Stop through WVJ from Mussel Pool onto the loop north via Kangaroo Flats and Zamia stations before returning to Platform 2 at WVJ - coffee and tea was then available as the night came to an end and members disappeared into the night.
Thanks go to the Committee for another well organised BBR Annual Dinner - Particular thanks to Bob and Jan for their efforts in bringing it all together and thanks also to all who helped make it work on the night. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bennett Brook Railway Webmaster N. Blinco
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