News Sept - Dec 08
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News Sept - Dec 08
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20/12/08 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Well we near the end of another year - The Midweek and Friday Night crews have all been very busy this year and have now wound up for the Xmas period. Much has been done in the last 12 months with major projects such as the track upgrade, carriage painting, BT1, Storage Containers & Shelving, Water Tank project and upkeep of locomotive maintenance, keeping our volunteers busy. Thankyou to all, who put in their time to assist with these projects Thankyou also to all those who participate on the roster keeping the trains running. With several weeks of school holidays upon us, the roster crews and midweek train crews will be busy with services operating daily.
Recent activity has seen the painting of BT1's cab and replacement of the roof, main parts of the water tank project have been dug out of storage and prepared for sand blasting and priming which was during the week Work continues on the 1962 Planet which has had its electrical systems sorted out and progress is now being made on fitting of vacuum brake equipment. Planet #1 has been giving some trouble of late with a axlebox getting hot - this has kept the maintenance crews busy, but the cure seems to be elusive, keeping this loco from operating services.
15/12/08 New Page Mixed Gauge Crossing added
10/12/08 Saturday evening December 6 was the night of the BBR Annual Dinner. Once again many members took the opportunity to attend, take a leisurely journey around the railway with a few nibblies and drinks & have a good get together with fellow members.
A nice dinner was had before longstanding member Don Butler took a stool and his guitar and sung 2 fine Folksongs he had written about the Midland Workshops and the Bennett Brook Railway - Some presentations were then made to members who had provided outstanding services through the year - these being : Jill Wallis For Managing the Souvenir Shop & Party Coach Booking Office
Derek Ruston For Co-ordinating the Trackwork Project & Friday Night Work Parties
David Southwell For Co-ordinating the Mid-week Crew
The Mid-week Crew Barry Annetts Ronald Applin Bill Atkinson Ken Buck Eric Dickson Tony Gauci Terry Melville Kee Ng Dave O'Neil Ray Roberts Brian Rourke Dave Southwell Barry White For providing an invaluable service to the Railway . The Friday Night Crew Ross Barron Neil Blinco Charles DeBruin Trevor Franklin David Green Greg Harris Samuel Harris Sarah Harris Alex Kemp Simon Mead Liam Monkhouse Peter Monkhouse Cathal Nash Tony Ormrod Scott Parker Derek Ruston Rudi van der Putten Michael Watson For providing an invaluable service to the Railway
Life Membership of The Western Australian Light Railway Preservation Association was awarded to Ross Parker For his outstanding contribution and continued support of the Bennett Brook Railway
A big thankyou goes out to all members of the BBR who have helped to ensure the railway continued to operate all train services and maintain a high standard of customer service to our passengers, and to all those who have assisted with keeping the railway on track - no matter how small or large your contribution
Last Friday night, December 5 saw 13 members at the workshops. Bob, Scott & Rudi completed repairs to the track circuits for the wig wag - Peter & Liam painted signs at Zamia - Cathal worked on the smokebox of NG 123 - Greg & Tony worked on the water tank and a new bogie, Simon & Jamie worked on Planet No.1 and Ashley - Michael, Rudi & Scott removed the motor and gearbox from the Maylands ready for fitting of a new gearbox - Bob worked on the signal motors in preparation for placing on the outer home signals at Loop North and Loop South.
During the week the midweek crew installed the fence around the tree planted at Mussel Pool station in memory of members who have passed away. It stall has to have a plaque installed on the fence. Also the midweek crew completed painting the concertina set by painting the undercarriage.
23/11/08 Passing of Charlie Gregorini It is with great shock that we heard of the passing of WALRPA's patron Charlie Gregorini on November 22 as a result of a tractor accident while tending his property in Swan View. Cr. Gregorini was first the mayor of the City of Swan from 2000 to the present. He was patron of WALRPA since 2005. He attended our 21st birthday dinner in 2005 launching our commemorative book "From Backyard to Bennett Brook". Charlie was always willing to help the WALRPA committee in its sourcing of grants both from the City of Swan and Lotterywest. The sympathy of all the WALRPA committee, and indeed all WALRPA members, go to Mrs Sandra Gregorini and her family at this time. --- --- Friday evenings continue to see a reasonably good attendance in recent weeks with much being achieved with regard to cleaning up and storage of items that seem to "collect" over time in the Locomotive, Carriage and Pit sheds The midweek crew are always busy keeping up the general maintenance and servicing requirement of the locomotive and carriage fleet. Ashley has had a new radiator and engine mounts fitted and recently had the car body refitted making it once again servicable.
Work continues on the Water Tank project with Greg beavering away at construction of the stand and more recently the tank itself. The tank itself was recently moved to a location near the workshops for ease of access for further work. The top has now been removed for internal access.. Thanks to PETS for use of their mobile crane. Project manager Ross hopes to have this project finished in time for next years steam season and will be looking for willing hands come time for its erection. Last week the upper quadrant signals at Zamia were re-commissioned after repairs were carried out by the signals department. These signals were de-commissioned during the track up grade as there was considerable disruption to the track circuiting.
26/10/08 New Page Rocky Bay Staff Shed added
Fri Evenings report from Derek Friday eve was a busy one with the Perry moved to the hard stand in the pit shed, the Dorman and Ashley placed over the pit so work can carry on with all three locos and the exevator stored in the loco shed. While this was taking place others started cleaning the benches in the pit shed while others started organizing the sea containers for motive power and rolling stock. Did you know that the bench tops are light green! We had a very productive evening and found a few things too. Committee have made the decision to make the tiding of these areas a priority as well as keeping work progressing on locos.
Garry and Kym Married On Sat 18th Oct saw long standing BBR member Garry Howieson wed his partner Kym in the beautiful setting of Kings Park. A lovely reception was later held on the Paddle Steamer "Decoy" with a cruise in style (Steam Powered of course) on the Swan River Congratulations to Garry and Kym. The BBR wishes them All the Best and a very happy future together.
12/10/08 BBR has been operating throughout the Oct school holiday period running everyday. These services being reasonably well patronised particularly during the second week. The midweek crew have been busy in recent weeks and commenced repainting of the BBR coaching stock. The engine bay casing has also been removed from Ashley and the radiator removed for repairs.
The Friday evening crews continue with good numbers of regulars attending to assist with maintenance to the railway equipment. Re-assembly of the Perry continues with the aim to having the locomotive ready for next years steam season. It has been decided to also get an early start this year on NG123's summer maintenance schedule and so this loco has also been stood down from service duties. 25/09/08 It was wet, windy and wild day at Whiteman Park for our Friends of Thomas the Tank Engine day which was held on Sunday September 21 2008. Not only the weather was against a perfect day, but also the locomotives had their input as well.
The day started with Windy Wyndham and Planet No 1 top-and-tail between WVJ and MP as well as Rosalie and Ashley on the Bushland Loop. The heavens opened about 10:30 and apart from those on the trains, in the enclosed carriages of course, the remainder were huddled under the awnings at WVJ.
Even a fire was lit in the ticket office to keep people warm. Ng 123 was unable to see service after being delayed into traffic with repairs to a blown superheater and a couple of other niggly issues. It did eventually make it up to platform 2 where it was admired by those attending. Ashley also was having its own problems and blew a front transmission hose at about 12 noon and was taken out of service.
It is estimated that 900 people attended the event and we must thank those people for supporting the railway on such a bleak day. Thank you to all members who helped out with preparations for the event and also on the day
19/09/08 Friday Evening 19th of September found Ng123 in steam for a private charter working for the Hornby Collectors Association of Australia who were holding their first ever AGM here in Perth. The opportunity was taken to have a bit of a relaxing evening with Ng123 for the members who participate in the Friday evening work crews. This would also be the first time that Ng 123 would operate over the entire loop section of the railway for over 13 years - this being possible thanks the efforts of the mid week crew reopening the loop to traffic and the massive upgrade that has happened this year through our joint venture with Skilled Rail and the massive effort that our volunteers have put in.
18/09/08 Recent Friday evenings have been a bit quieter than usual with many of the regular members taking a break for overseas holidays and others with work commitments. The 12th saw a good number of members back enabling further work to be carried out on BT1, as well as some more picking up of dead sleepers from around Zamia station in an attempt to tidy the area a bit in time for FOTTE day which will be on the coming Sunday 21st Sept.
Previous weeks had seen the reassembly, painting and installation of BT1' pony truck enabling it to be moved over into the Pit shed, where members commenced to reassemble the rods and valve gear. Sadly BT1 will not be ready for use on FOTTE day. Our diesel fleet has suffered a little in recent weeks with failure of radiator hose pipes due to rats deciding they tasted good - Much to Jamies disgust when he came out the next day (after having replaced them the previous day) only to find they had been chewed out again - Thought he was going MAD!! Skilled rail have been out once again carrying out further track tamping on the Loop which will allow Ng123 to operate Loop services on FOTTE day. "Let there be Light" - The Carriage shed has had lights installed - this was completed last week along with new skylight sheeting on the roofs of both the Carriage and Loco Sheds.
6/09/08 1938 Planet page updated New Page All on the Same Frame added |
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Bennett Brook Railway Webmaster N. Blinco
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