Thread: Calling all steam railway fanatics!

Originally Posted by isuzutoo-eh

Different gauge, PB is 30" whilst Mt Lyell/WCWR is 3'6", and the locos are pretty specialised being Abt rack locos. The only other railway that could justify them is a long closed line in QLD that used the same rack system, but that'll never be reopened as a tourist railway.
Also, the Tas government owns the railway, rollingstock and infrastructure, and said gov will likely try to renegotiate the 20 year contract that Federal Hotels had, so the end isn't a certainty.
The ex Mt Lyell carriages that PB uses have different bogies under them.
As long as it all doesn't end up overseas same as the North East Dundas Garratt that now runs on the Welsh Highland Railway...

Does anyone know where "The Long Closed Line in Qld Was" as mentioned in here?
Thanks,
John.

Moonmera to Moongan, near Mt Morgan

Originally Posted by RichardK

I don't know if anyone has seen this but this is workmanship without the machinery of today

3685 horsepower steam locomotive - YouTube

Great clip. Does me good to see something from the glory days of heavy engineering. I think the main problems that would be encountered building one today would not be the lack of skilled tradesmen but the time taken to get the necessary experience into the current generation and that those huge machine tools have almost completely disappeared. Not long ago a British firm was to make an enormous press or moulding die. Only one steelworks in Europe, in Sheffield, was capable of making the blanks, and only one firm in the world, in Germany, still had a large enough milling machine to handle the job and its owners had to have some custom big bits made to do so. I saw some old black and white film of the gun shop at John Brown Clydebank pre WW1 making battleship gun barrels. 105' lathes and several of them.

Edit- I liked the bit of the clip showing the four main engine castings being machined in parallel on the big planer.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Great clip. Does me good to see something from the glory days of heavy engineering. I think the main problems that would be encountered building one today would not be the lack of skilled tradesmen but the time taken to get the necessary experience into the current generation and that those huge machine tools have almost completely disappeared. Not long ago a British firm was to make an enormous press or moulding die. Only one steelworks in Europe, in Sheffield, was capable of making the blanks, and only one firm in the world, in Germany, still had a large enough milling machine to handle the job and its owners had to have some custom big bits made to do so. I saw some old black and white film of the gun shop at John Brown Clydebank pre WW1 making battleship gun barrels. 105' lathes and several of them.

All the patterns for QR which were at Ipswich Workshops are at the Redbank Workshops.As a firefighter I went there many times to alarms.You are right Brian there are very few tradesmen left but there are a few and they are at the Workshop Museum in Ipswich keeping the Old locos running for tourist purposes.
John.

Originally Posted by robbotd5

Yeah Aus, I have been to timber town to see this loco as well. I can remember as a young child being taken there by my grandparents and riding behind the "Green Hornet". Which is still there although not in steam. That class of Hudswell Clarke loco holds the record for the most cane hauled by a steam locomotive. "Cairns" had just short of a thousand tons on it's drawbar. Preaty impressive!!!
Regards
Robbo

I visited one of my daughters, who happens to live in Bundaberg, the week before the recent floods and took these piccies of the narrow guage cane lines.




This one was near the town of Childers, just behind the icecream place.

Originally Posted by Ausfree

I went for a ride on the Puffing Billy many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, It is a real credit to the people who keep it going!!

Cheers Ausfree, I have ridden a few steam lines and the thing that makes Puffing billy so outstanding is the line gradients which means the Loco's work VERY hard on busy days and the loco combinations when they run 2 NA's (The Lil ones) or when they run a long carriage set and use G42.

The sheer power and majesty of these trains becomes very very tangible and you can feel, taste and sense the strength in steam which is something that more than anything reminds me of some great times I had as a kid standing with my back to the sides of a cutting as a Double header NA set choofed past chockers with tourists dangling their legs out of the carriages and spending time picking bits of soot from my hair.

When I lived in Cockatoo not far from the line I took my kids to stand and watch not far from the platform and they all stood in awe and huge smiles as the train came and went even though they had zero experience with this apart from Thomas the tank engine.

And that's what its all about, the wonderment and awe, the laughter and excitement of such a visceral experience in an age of quiet and sanitised machinery.

[quote=Ausfree;1853468]

Hi Ausfree, when I first moved to Queensland I was going through the road rules booklet I got when I changed my driver’s license over.

As I read through the booklet I came to Roundabout rules and it stated that you had to give way to vehicles in the roundabout and to TRAMS in or approaching the roundabout.

As Brisbane had not had trams for 40 odd years, I thought well good old Queensland is up with the time, NOT.

Some time later I realised they meant trains on the Cane TRAMWAYS

Whilst a kid I lived fairly close to the main Sydney Melbourne line, not too far out of Demondrille (Harden Murrumburrah) and would sit riveted watching the "Big Pigs" haul their load up and down the line, but without a doubt, the most fascinating steam engines I have come across were the myriad of little locos working throughout the coastal areas of Qld hauling sugar cane from farms to mills back in the old days. These great little machines have since been retired, , replaced with Diesel powered locos, sold off and now some reside in many a tourist area around the world hauling tourists around circular tracks for a living.
This following film was done by Channel 7 round about the bi-centenary and gives an idea of the range of the narrow gauge system in the state, and also a rather interesting insight into the sugar industry itself.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK2iq-B4LSo&feature=player_detailpage]Steam Sugar Cane Railway Queensland - YouTube[/ame]
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaj6jxXyt8s&feature=player_detailpage]Bundy's Last Great Adventure part 2 of 4 sugarcane train qld Australia - YouTube[/ame]
Regards
Glen