November 2012 - January 2013
November 18th: Members from both groups enjoyed a visit to the Steam Traction Society near Feilding. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
November 28th: We had another one of our DVD/Video nights. Members brought along bits of film that they thought other members would be interested in.
December 8th: This was the Club's Xmas BBQ. After an initial setback with the BBQ it all turned out to be great night with good company and the weather was fine. We also got a few members there we hadn't seen for a while.
January 5th: SRW members got asked to help out with an Open Day to the public at Pahiatua with the Pahiatua Railcar Society. Its always good when like minded groups can work together. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small Signal Box. A new window jamb has gone in after Colin Pound machined it for us (thanks Colin). Work has also started on stripping the old paint off the inside walls. The box is also now rewired and once the new roof and paint goes on we will be able to move our smoko room in. The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. Ewan Pound has now welded a new piece of steel in along the bottom of the back wall of the cab, this replaces the rusted out piece we took out. Greg Tinnion has removed the back Shunters step so we can clean up the headboard a lot easier. He has also started to clean some of the dirt and grime off the chassis. To make life easier we have also removed the cab steps while he does this. Colin Hughes has cleaned up the steps and given them a new coat of paint. Hamish Coull, Ewan Pound and Colin Hughes have also been carrying on with the Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). It has had more of its bits removed, cleaned up and repainted. Hamish and Ewan have removed the water tank from the off side by cutting a doorway in the side of the cab. This now gives us better access to the engine of the crane. Colin has carried on stripping the boom of the crane and parts of it have now had their first coats of primer.
The North Island Model Expo: This show is being held by the WMR&ES at the Racecourse on the 2nd and 3rd of March. SteamRail will once again have a stand at this show. We will be displaying some of the Club's memorabillia. Members help with our stand and even an extra pair of hands for the setup with the WMR&ES members would be appreciated.
Donations:The Club would like to thank the following: Charlie Quirk for his donation of an A 1045 carriage number plate and a replicar Ka 920 cab side plate made out of lead and Brian James for his donation of a Westing House air compresser. This is the same type that is in the Imlay Price loco as well as Blair's Tr 113.
November 28th: We had another one of our DVD/Video nights. Members brought along bits of film that they thought other members would be interested in.
December 8th: This was the Club's Xmas BBQ. After an initial setback with the BBQ it all turned out to be great night with good company and the weather was fine. We also got a few members there we hadn't seen for a while.
January 5th: SRW members got asked to help out with an Open Day to the public at Pahiatua with the Pahiatua Railcar Society. Its always good when like minded groups can work together. See Report on the Trips & Visits page.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small Signal Box. A new window jamb has gone in after Colin Pound machined it for us (thanks Colin). Work has also started on stripping the old paint off the inside walls. The box is also now rewired and once the new roof and paint goes on we will be able to move our smoko room in. The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. Ewan Pound has now welded a new piece of steel in along the bottom of the back wall of the cab, this replaces the rusted out piece we took out. Greg Tinnion has removed the back Shunters step so we can clean up the headboard a lot easier. He has also started to clean some of the dirt and grime off the chassis. To make life easier we have also removed the cab steps while he does this. Colin Hughes has cleaned up the steps and given them a new coat of paint. Hamish Coull, Ewan Pound and Colin Hughes have also been carrying on with the Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town Workshops). It has had more of its bits removed, cleaned up and repainted. Hamish and Ewan have removed the water tank from the off side by cutting a doorway in the side of the cab. This now gives us better access to the engine of the crane. Colin has carried on stripping the boom of the crane and parts of it have now had their first coats of primer.
The North Island Model Expo: This show is being held by the WMR&ES at the Racecourse on the 2nd and 3rd of March. SteamRail will once again have a stand at this show. We will be displaying some of the Club's memorabillia. Members help with our stand and even an extra pair of hands for the setup with the WMR&ES members would be appreciated.
Donations:The Club would like to thank the following: Charlie Quirk for his donation of an A 1045 carriage number plate and a replicar Ka 920 cab side plate made out of lead and Brian James for his donation of a Westing House air compresser. This is the same type that is in the Imlay Price loco as well as Blair's Tr 113.
August 22nd: On this club night we enjoyed another film from Colin Hughes' collection. This one was on the new KiwiRail ballast cleaner working on the main trunk railway just south of Otaki. Thank you colin this was an interesting night seeing how this big machine works.
September 9th: This was the day the Club ran its Shunters Course. With the club moving Locos and Wagons in and out of our building more often now, we had to bring all members who were interested in line with the rules in our licence to operate and in our safety case.This course involved hand signals, riding positions and coupling and uncoupling of locos and wagons etc. This has brought us up to the same standards as other preservation groups and KiwiRail use. Only members that have done this course are to be involved with any movements the club makes with our rolling stock. The course was run by Blair Jordan and we congratulate the following for passing it :- Rob Walker, Ewan Pound, Colin Hughes, Eddy Frith, Greg Tinnion, Stephen Shaw and Hamish Coull. We will look at running more of these courses as other members become interested in helping out. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
September 9th: This was the day the Club ran its Shunters Course. With the club moving Locos and Wagons in and out of our building more often now, we had to bring all members who were interested in line with the rules in our licence to operate and in our safety case.This course involved hand signals, riding positions and coupling and uncoupling of locos and wagons etc. This has brought us up to the same standards as other preservation groups and KiwiRail use. Only members that have done this course are to be involved with any movements the club makes with our rolling stock. The course was run by Blair Jordan and we congratulate the following for passing it :- Rob Walker, Ewan Pound, Colin Hughes, Eddy Frith, Greg Tinnion, Stephen Shaw and Hamish Coull. We will look at running more of these courses as other members become interested in helping out. Photos taken by Colin Hughes.
September 26th: Members brought along their hobbies on this club night. We had a wide range of items on display.
The following is a list of just some of them. Colin Hughes showed us:Railways annual statements for 1910 and 1939 and some Auckland Weekly News 1915 and 1919 showing railway pictures, Hamish Coull showed us: Lego Technic magazines showing how to assemble Lego models. He also had some of the models he has assembled, including a dump truck, a crane (based on Steamrail’s E120), and a digger and Greg Tinnion brought along: NZR railway cup and saucer, number 21 from Aramoho Station,A book called “Master of Deception”showing pictures of optical illusionsand an old book from 1878 “Moores Universal Assistant – 1 million industrial facts. Greg read some interesting paragraphs from the book:
1. Speed of passenger trains – In the USA, the Newspaper Express train, between New York & Philadelphia makes the daily trip of 93 miles in 1¾ hours, inclusive of four stops. The most remarkable feat of railway travel on record, was accomplished June 4, 1876, by a fast special train, which made the journey from New York to San Francisco, a distance of 2900 miles in 26 minutes
less than 84 hours, being at a rate of 40 miles per hour.
2. The average life of an iron rail is 15,000,000 of tons, or equal to 100,000 trains of 150 tons. On the Great Northern Railway at Barnet, the life of an iron rail was 5 years, with 13,484661 tons of fast trains, and 38,303,028 tons of slow traffic. Steel rails were only half worn out with 95,577,240 tons traffic.
October 24th: Since daylight saving is now here we decided on this club night to hold our meeting down at the SRW shed. This was a chance for members who can't get along on our Sunday working bees to have a look at the work we are doing. Although we get a progress report in every newsletter it was great to see first hand what has been getting done down there by the guys. We finished off the night with supper supplied my Natalie Tinnion, Thank you Natalie.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small signal box. Some new paint has started to go on and the new step has been built in front of the door. The box has also been getting rewired, (photos 1 and 2). The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. This has included cutting the bottom part of the back of the cab off to get to the rust behind it. The locos wiring has also been getting some attention, (photos 3 and 4). Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town workshops) has had some of its valve gears and workings taken off and cleaned up and painted. The hook on the boom has also been taken off and they have started to strip some of the paint off the boom, (photos 5 and 6). We had to do a bit of a fix it job on the big signal box after we found that people had been getting into it. We found about 15 candles inside of it which is very worrying considering how dry the timber is in the building. All access holes have now been boarded up and windows screwed down.
The following is a list of just some of them. Colin Hughes showed us:Railways annual statements for 1910 and 1939 and some Auckland Weekly News 1915 and 1919 showing railway pictures, Hamish Coull showed us: Lego Technic magazines showing how to assemble Lego models. He also had some of the models he has assembled, including a dump truck, a crane (based on Steamrail’s E120), and a digger and Greg Tinnion brought along: NZR railway cup and saucer, number 21 from Aramoho Station,A book called “Master of Deception”showing pictures of optical illusionsand an old book from 1878 “Moores Universal Assistant – 1 million industrial facts. Greg read some interesting paragraphs from the book:
1. Speed of passenger trains – In the USA, the Newspaper Express train, between New York & Philadelphia makes the daily trip of 93 miles in 1¾ hours, inclusive of four stops. The most remarkable feat of railway travel on record, was accomplished June 4, 1876, by a fast special train, which made the journey from New York to San Francisco, a distance of 2900 miles in 26 minutes
less than 84 hours, being at a rate of 40 miles per hour.
2. The average life of an iron rail is 15,000,000 of tons, or equal to 100,000 trains of 150 tons. On the Great Northern Railway at Barnet, the life of an iron rail was 5 years, with 13,484661 tons of fast trains, and 38,303,028 tons of slow traffic. Steel rails were only half worn out with 95,577,240 tons traffic.
October 24th: Since daylight saving is now here we decided on this club night to hold our meeting down at the SRW shed. This was a chance for members who can't get along on our Sunday working bees to have a look at the work we are doing. Although we get a progress report in every newsletter it was great to see first hand what has been getting done down there by the guys. We finished off the night with supper supplied my Natalie Tinnion, Thank you Natalie.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work has carried on with the small signal box. Some new paint has started to go on and the new step has been built in front of the door. The box has also been getting rewired, (photos 1 and 2). The Price loco No 212 (ex Imlay) has had more rust removed around the cab floor area and the back of the cab. This has included cutting the bottom part of the back of the cab off to get to the rust behind it. The locos wiring has also been getting some attention, (photos 3 and 4). Steam Crane 120 (ex East Town workshops) has had some of its valve gears and workings taken off and cleaned up and painted. The hook on the boom has also been taken off and they have started to strip some of the paint off the boom, (photos 5 and 6). We had to do a bit of a fix it job on the big signal box after we found that people had been getting into it. We found about 15 candles inside of it which is very worrying considering how dry the timber is in the building. All access holes have now been boarded up and windows screwed down.
May - July 2012
May 23rd: We enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about South African Railway Garratt Locomotives. Thanks Graeme.
June 27th: On this Club Night we visited the Tram Shed in Taupo Quay. It was great to see the restoration progress done to the tram and we thank them for coming out and hosting us for the night.
July 20th: It was suggested by one of our members that SteamRail have a mid year Dinner simular to what the WMR&ES does each year. Everyone thought this was a great idea and it was then surgested if the WMR&ES was keen maybe the two Clubs could cobine for this. Both groups thought this was a great idea and we had it at the Liffiton Castle. Both groups enjoyed themselfs on a great night out with great food. A big thank you to the team at the Liffiton Castle.
Construction/ Maintenance: Work on the Signal Box has slowed down a bit. The back wall and floor is now finished and they have started to sand down the weatherboard under the front windows. Greg Tinnion has started to rewire the box. We will be looking at getting a new roof shortly. After sitting off the loco for a couple of years while we did work on it the ex Imaly Price loco enginehood was lifted back on to the loco in May with the help of Carters Wanganui with the use of the Hiab truck. A big thank you to the Carters Team (photos 1 to 3). This went well and while the crane was there he also lifted down the 2 old ex Carters trolleys we had stored on one of the YC ballast wagons for us. These are currently getting the wheels machined thanks to Ewan Pound (photo 6). Once they are back together they will come in handy to store items on while we restore them. Now the loco hood is back on the Imlay loco Greg has started to look at the wiring. To get to some of it this has also included the removal of the cabs wooden floor. While the floor is out the guys are also getting a chance to get to some of the rust around the bottom of the cab. Another faily big event happened down at the shed in July when Ewan Pound and Hamish Coull, after weeks of freeing up the engine on the old East Town Steam Crane, hired a compresser and ran the cranes engine for the first time since it was writen off when the East Town Workshops closed in 1988. This included lifting the hook and boom up and down as well as turning it from side to side a little bit. Althought there is still alot of work to be done with the crane it was surprizing how freely it ran considering how long its been stored, epseicaly with alot of that time outside in the weather (photos 7 to 9). When the weather has been in our favour we have also been pulling the locos out of the shed more often. This helps keep the dust down inside the shed while we work on the locos. It is also amazing the posstive feed back we are getting from members of the public as they walk past on the river walkway about our restoration work when they see the locos.
Donations:Thank you to Bill Hone for his donation of old Ganger's Box, to David Lloyd for Photos and to Graeme Carter for his donation of Books.
February - April 2012
Feb 22nd: The Club enjoyed another DVD night on this night. The first DVD was on American Railroads and the second one was on the highest railway in the world from China and Tibet.
Mar 28th:Thank you to Greg Tinnion for being our guest speaker on this club night. He gave a talk on his 2nd trip to Vietnam. He showed us where he went on the screen (via his computer) and his talk about different areas that he went to was amazing. He put on a great show. Thank you Greg.
Apr 25th: This was the Club's A.G.M. Only 9 members turned up. There was a change to the committee with Nick Kaveney standing down. We would like to thank Nick for his time served on the committee. The committee otherwise stayed the same as last year. Subscriptions also stay the same for the next 12 months. We talked about the projects the Club has been working on over the last 12 months and after the meeting had finished we enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about 2ft gauge South African Railway Garratt Locomotives.
Construction/ Maintenance: Most of the work down at the yard over the last few months has been on the small signal box. The guys have been very busy. First was the job of stripping parts of the box to see what needed to be replaced. This resulted in the floor being lifted and the back wall weather boards been taken off. The main beams under the building were full of borer and most of the framing on the back wall was also and what was not was rotten. We priced around for new timber and the best price was from Waverley Sawmill. The guys have now replaced the beams and put down new flooring. The back wall has new studs and weather board. Their next move is to take the old roof off as some of the rafters have to be replaced. We have also been donated a new door and deadlock for the signal box, which has now been fitted. On Sunday the 22nd of April Blair Jordan fired up the baby Price to make sure it was all go ready for when we need to push the Imlay Price loco out in the next few weeks so we can lift the engine hood back on. We left these outside for the morning working bee, and it was amazing the good feedback we got from the public that walked by. Some of the guys have been fighting the rust on the East Town Steam Crane trying to remove the old track clamps, so these can be freed up. At this stage they have only got one off. Ewan Pound has carried on working on the Imlay locos cab.
Donations:Thank you to Rob Walker for his donation of door and deadlock for the small signal box and to Blair Jordan for his donation of $100
Mar 28th:Thank you to Greg Tinnion for being our guest speaker on this club night. He gave a talk on his 2nd trip to Vietnam. He showed us where he went on the screen (via his computer) and his talk about different areas that he went to was amazing. He put on a great show. Thank you Greg.
Apr 25th: This was the Club's A.G.M. Only 9 members turned up. There was a change to the committee with Nick Kaveney standing down. We would like to thank Nick for his time served on the committee. The committee otherwise stayed the same as last year. Subscriptions also stay the same for the next 12 months. We talked about the projects the Club has been working on over the last 12 months and after the meeting had finished we enjoyed a video that Graeme Carter brought along about 2ft gauge South African Railway Garratt Locomotives.
Construction/ Maintenance: Most of the work down at the yard over the last few months has been on the small signal box. The guys have been very busy. First was the job of stripping parts of the box to see what needed to be replaced. This resulted in the floor being lifted and the back wall weather boards been taken off. The main beams under the building were full of borer and most of the framing on the back wall was also and what was not was rotten. We priced around for new timber and the best price was from Waverley Sawmill. The guys have now replaced the beams and put down new flooring. The back wall has new studs and weather board. Their next move is to take the old roof off as some of the rafters have to be replaced. We have also been donated a new door and deadlock for the signal box, which has now been fitted. On Sunday the 22nd of April Blair Jordan fired up the baby Price to make sure it was all go ready for when we need to push the Imlay Price loco out in the next few weeks so we can lift the engine hood back on. We left these outside for the morning working bee, and it was amazing the good feedback we got from the public that walked by. Some of the guys have been fighting the rust on the East Town Steam Crane trying to remove the old track clamps, so these can be freed up. At this stage they have only got one off. Ewan Pound has carried on working on the Imlay locos cab.
Donations:Thank you to Rob Walker for his donation of door and deadlock for the small signal box and to Blair Jordan for his donation of $100