Thread: More Steam For The Few - V1213

Interesting use of wood.

You're uncanny Bob,
you have managed to take pics of all the interesting stuff, even the 'corks' or bungs as you called them. I am not sure what they are made of, not cork obviously but the idea of them is to be a lid for the oilers that allow air into the pots so they can empty instead of holding the oil in a vacuum and not allowing it to get to the bearing and journal.
Great to see they have emptied the boiler and not cleaned the engine. Gives them a chance at least to resurrect it at a later stage.
I have seen a great vid somewhere on Beyer Peacock building a loco, worth a watch.
Thanks for posting.

Phil

Bob
Your photos triggered the memory.
During our visit to your part of the world 3 yrs ago, I recall wandering glazed eyed around this engine, & imagining all of the work that went into building it.
A massive & beautiful sight!
Then Sue & I caught another train nearby,(on the other tracks shown in your photo) & went for a tour through a rain forest.
A good memory, thanks for the photos.
regards
Bruce

Ok Phil, I give up. Whats going on here?
https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...130-large-.jpg
Both whats the hose etc going on the end of the axle and why the spring and links that appear to go to the springs/brakes on the drive axles?
My guess is some sort of reactive brake boosting, but I'm really reaching there I really have no idea.

Thanks for the pictures BT

Stuart

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Whats the hose etc going on the end of the axle

To me that looks like a transducer of some sort, so my guess is that it is for a speedo, with the wires in a hose to protect them.

Michael

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Ok Phil, I give up. Whats going on here?
https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...130-large-.jpg
Both whats the hose etc going on the end of the axle and why the spring and links that appear to go to the springs/brakes on the drive axles?
My guess is some sort of reactive brake boosting, but I'm really reaching there I really have no idea.

Thanks for the pictures BT

Stuart

Hi Stuart,
Michael, I reckon, is right with the speedo. There were and still are strict rules on speed and they would have been put on non driving and non braking wheel sets.
The linkages from the springs are just rocker arms. All wheels 'must' be in contact with the rails at all times as locos tend to try to climb out of the rails with any 'vertical' bends.
It's just the angle of the pic that makes it look like they are attached to the brake arms.
Not an expert on locomotives Stuart but from the ones that I have seen this is how they work.,

Phil

Bob, My family used to live about 100 m from that tramway station (then Pemberton Railway station) as a kid. The shunting engines from the mill used to pull loads of timber past the back of our house to the mill where they would all be gathered up for a bigger train to take them further afield. During my time there the main engine driver was a guy called Bob Kelly. If we heard the train whistle that was a sign that Bob was crossing the main road so we'd all run out and watch him go by. On slow days he'd stop and pick one or two of us up for a ride around to the station and back again. What a hoot. Those of us that didn't get a ride would race the train on our bikes and meet up with the others at the station. Sometimes we couldn't get a ride back on the train so we'd dink each other back.

Thank you gentlemen, I like your story better than mine

Stuart

Originally Posted by BobL

Bob, My family used to live about 100 m from that tramway station (then Pemberton Railway station) as a kid. The shunting engines from the mill used to pull loads of timber past the back of our house to the mill where they would all be gathered up for a bigger train to take them further afield. During my time there the main engine driver was a guy called Bob Kelly. If we heard the train whistle that was a sign that Bob was crossing the main road so we'd all run out and watch him go by. On slow days he'd stop and pick one or two of us up for a ride around to the station and back again. What a hoot. Those of us that didn't get a ride would race the train on our bikes and meet up with the others at the station. Sometimes we couldn't get a ride back on the train so we'd dink each other back.

Ah ha. Now I understand the fondness for sawdust . My grandparents lived across from the railway line in Bassendean. I used to stay up there during my school holidays . I can still vividly remember the sound of the steam locomotives shunting at night on the track about 40 metres from the sleep out I stayed in. Sticks with you doesn't it.

Dinkying brings back memories of the standard mode of childhood transport. Don't see a lot of it now.

BT

Reminds me of trips between Perth and Bunbury on the 'Australind' when it was a steam service.

Excellent photos, and a grand display of some of the most evolved British design work (at the very end) of the steam age.
Also the end of an era of manufacturing where the skills of the artisan showed so clearly in the final product.
Thanks for the journey.
Bill

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Ah ha. Now I understand the fondness for sawdust . My grandparents lived across from the railway line in Bassendean. I used to stay up there during my school holidays . I can still vividly remember the sound of the steam locomotives shunting at night on the track about 40 metres from the sleep out I stayed in. Sticks with you doesn't it.

The little shunting engine that Bob Kelly used was similar to those that brought the logs in from the bush. It was a very basic engine that ran on firewood and every time I think of steam trains this one comes to mind. Dad was a tree faller but he usually worked ahead of the train lines snaking out into the bush so he rarely used the trains. I started going bush with Dad from when I was about 6 years of age, He used to carry 2, 100 cc chainsaws and bag of steel wedges and axes in between trees and I used to carry the fuel and oil tanks. He and his felling mate had an old Land Rover and we'd take some track into the bush and every now and then do a bit of cross country. By the time I was 9 years old the trains were gone and it was all log trucks. I used to ride shotgun on one of the D9s diesel tank which involved the dozer being backed up to the fallen log ready to be hauled back to the loading zone and then I would jump down and hook a steel cable or chain around the log end. One of the D9s was driven by an alcoholic who would take the opportunity for a drink from a hip flask while I hooked up. He would also start the D9 moving before I had got back onto the dozer so I had to step on the moving track which would elevate me upwards and when it had reached the top of the drive wheel I would jump across onto the fuel tank which was directly behind the driver. The alcoholic D9 driver loved to flog the dozer through the bush with me hanging on for dear life. If I had come off I would have fallen down between the dozer and the log or been thrown onto the exposed moving tracks about 2 ft away. Back at the loading zone teh D9 would pull the log up alongside the truck where I would unhook the chain and then the D9 would go around to the other side of the truck. I would throw two steel cables that were linked to the side of the truck around the log ends and then back to the D9 on the other side of the truck and the log would be rolled up onto the truck over some 6 x 10" skids between the ground and the truck. There was always a danger of snapped chains and cables and more workers got injured and killed this way than all the other ways combined. These days its all done by massive front end loaders with huge jaws which is much safer. There were countless adventures most of which I seem to have forgotten.

My other chores were boiling the billy for smoko, and sometime heating cans of tinned food for lunch, mainly baked beans and irish stew. In summer when no fires were allowed we'd heat the cans by placing them tucked into the exhaust manifold of the D9s. I can still smell the burnt baked bean odour when on some hot days the cans would explode spurting their contents all over the D9s exhaust. In spring I used to catch bucket loads of giddies/koonaks and the flowers were incredible. The bird life when we moved into a new are was incredible but the bush would be eerily silent when the felling in an area had been completed.

Dinkying brings back memories of the standard mode of childhood transport. Don't see a lot of it now.

I remember when the first RTA officer came to town and apparently he made a big show to the local council of "I'm going to clean up this town of hoon drivers". The next day a whole bunch of us kids at school had the afternoon off to play at a footy carnival at an oval across town. There was no organized transport to get there as it was assumed that we would use our lunch time to walk to the oval. Of course most of us left it to the last moment to go as those of us with bikes said we would dink our mates. Well guess who happened to be just outside the school? - Mr RTA himself. He took our names and addresses and gave us a lecture on road safety. Then those of us with bikes could ride on but the others had to walk so we could not field a team and had to forfeit the first game. He also sent a letter to our parents which was the worst thing that could happen to me since I got a belting from dad, and my bike was locked up, and I could not go to the bush with him, for a month.

Originally Posted by BobL

The little shunting engine that Bob Kelly used was similar to those that brought the logs in from the bush. It was a very basic engine that ran on firewood and every time I think of steam trains this one comes to mind.....

Bob was the little loco one of these? The first photos of the 109 under cover are in Manjimup, the others, at Pemberton Tramway Station.

Bob.

Originally Posted by Anorak Bob

Bob was the little loco one of these? The first photos of the 109 under cover are in Manjimup, the others, at Pemberton Tramway Station.
Bob.

It looks very similar but think it was stubbier and maybe only had two drive wheels.