November 2002
#352
November 2002
#352
My apologies to Netscape users who did not see this page as I intended. I have now discovered the unreported bug that caused the problem and altered my code to work around Netscape's idiosyncratic code.
This index has been revised due to branch renaming. Changes will continue for the next few months.[WR}
CONFIDENTIAL: Officer & Roster Clerk content details herein are for official Railway use only and are not to be used for other purposes.
The railway has generated enormous local publicity in recent weeks and months:
The 7th million passenger story is the 5th time in the past 9 months that we've appeared on evening metro TV news, the others being: Re-commissioning of 6A (January), Great Train Race (April), 40th Anniversary (July) and CSF grant (September), all of which also generated coverage by the local press and specialist magazines (eg: The GTR in "Runners World", Our 40th Anniversary in the VECCI bulletin, etc).
The above includes only News items. In addition we appeared in several programs (eg Channel 7's Discover twice! And the Big Arvo and V8X Super Cars program on Channel 10), "Beyond Energy" AGL's spring customer newsletter, "Business Forum" the VECCI members magazine, and received significant free exposure in tourist publications (eg: Colour cover photo on "Discover Melbourne" Oct 02).
Copies of all print media mentions are displayed on the volunteers & staff noticeboard at Belgrave station, but we have to "weed out" the old items every 4 weeks or so because of the volume!
The extra publicity, and some good weather, resulted in large crowds on several days in the second week of the Sept/Oct. school holidays. In response we added an extra Belgrave-Menzies Creek train to the published (Blue/table C) schedule for 6th October to address anticipated overcrowding.
Whilst we will not cancel advertised services (even the "empty car" departure in bitter cold rain during the Grand Final), because there may be people waiting at out-stations, we do plan to be more flexible with the timetable to meet obvious demands. Expect to see more such extra public services turned on at short notice in future.
Such short-term extras are notified by 'S' circular, as are charters and works trains. Whether you work in shops, booking, as SM, conducting, or in a train/trolley-operating role always check the 'S' circulars to be fully informed of out-of-ordinary activities on the line. If you have e-mail you can do this before you arrive for duty. Just give your e-mail details to rob.emmerson@pbr.org.au E-mail
As requested by Passenger Operations branch, Train Operations branch have introduced new benchmarks for docking of trains before departure, and for the locomotives to remain at the Up end of Belgrave platform after train arrivals. Except at busy times (e.g. 6-train running) all carriage sets will be docked for passenger boarding at least 30 minutes before departure from Belgrave, with locomotives attached for photographic purposes at least 15 minutes prior. Steam locomotives will remain on or near returning trains for photographic and public viewing for at least 5 minutes. These arrangements formalize, for the benefit of all our visitors, practices followed by some customer-aware crews for quite some time.
Over 60 interested volunteers and staff attended the information night held on 18th September to introduce new CEO Ray Leivers, discuss the new draft Strategic (10 year) plan and learn more about what projects are included in the CSF-funded 3-year enhancement project. The strategic plan is an internal business document and therefore will not be published on our website nor made available for e-mail distribution. However, over a dozen copies are displayed in various meeting/crew rooms throughout the railway and a pool of loan copies is available for circulation to branch committee members or short-term loan to active staff & volunteers via the Belgrave office reception desk.
Ray Leivers will be on-site from 27th October, to see his first "Thomas" show, then in the Belgrave office weekdays from 28th October. He attended Way & Works and Refreshment Services branch meetings during his orientation week (16-20 Sept) and will endeavour to get to other branch meetings over the next few months.
Now that the electronic booking office system is fully operational at Belgrave we are learning more about our customers. Visitors over the October school holiday period came from:
| Metro Melbourne | 26.8% | Queensland | 3.6% |
| Country Victoria | 20.9% | South Aust. | 4.0% |
| NSW & ACT | 9.3% | W.A. & N.T | 3.0% |
| International | 28.8% | Other | 3.6% |
Collecting and analysing this data over different periods (weekend/holidays, mid-week and seasonally) will help us to better target our marketing efforts.
We urge all PBPS members to attend and participate in the meetings scheduled for Sunday 17th November, or to appoint a proxy. See the separate members mail-out for details.
Graeme Breydon, ETRB Chairman, chairman@pbr.org.au
John Thompson, PBPS President, editor@pbr.org.au
This section will be regular once Ray starts full time.
Our condolences to all who have worked with member Adrian Kiely on the footplate at the PBR. Adrian was one of the three fatalities in the level crossing accident at Benalla involving K183 and a road vehicle on 13th October.
Our sincere condolences to Doug, Vera and Alison Newberry on the tragic loss of their son/brother Stewart.
We also express our sincere condolences to the family of Ken Elliott who died recently. Ken was a regular mid-week volunteer.
We are also sorry to hear of misfortune suffered by a long-standing member and volunteer: Our best wishes from all at Puffing Billy to Rick Bryse who has recently undergone serious brain surgery.
Cliff Simmons rang to say that Anthony and Viola Simmons' baby arrived last Wednesday 9/10 and has been named Annika Margareta and weighs in at 7lb 2oz. Cliff will be known as Grand Pa and Marylin will be Grand Mouse as her nickname is already Mouse! All is well with Viola and Annika and no doubt Anthony is handing out cigars.
Expressions of interest are invited for this challenging and rewarding position. The following pre-requisites are required prior to being selected for an interview.:
Applications should be sent to: Locomotive Running Department, Footplate Training and Development, c/o Deborah Woodward, P.O. Box 451, Belgrave 3160.
Applications close Monday 25th November 2002.
Lindsay Rickard.
A Trolley Drivers course will be held on Sunday 8th December 2002. Anybody who is, or will be, a qualified Safe Worker by that date is invited to apply for the course. Applications in writing to Dan O'Connor. Applications close on 30th November 2002
The team that produces Monthly News would like to thank all contributors for getting their copy in on time. It does make things so much easier.
No report this month
There have been two recent incidents of objects being thrown at a train. In at least one case there was a delay in reporting it to the Victoria Police and so the chance of apprehending the offender was considerably reduced.
GI 1.13.4 states that any such incident must be reported immediately to the Police. This can be done either directly by mobile phone if you have one or by radio to the OIC at Belgrave and passing on the message. The number to be used to contact the Police is 000.
Please note that applications for the next Safeworking Course (No.23), which will be held during 2003, close on 16th December 2002. Application Forms are available from the Station-master's office at Belgrave or contact Deb Woodward (deb.woodward@pbr.org.au) if you would like an email copy sent to you.
Rob Emmerson
Please also note the section on Carriage Lighting in the Pass. Ops. Section below.
Firstly, Thanks to Reg Williams who has been rostering Head Conductors & Conductors for some time now. Reg is handing over the position to Terry Lee and Peter Marshall. During this transitional period, please call either Terry or Peter.
Terry can be contacted on email tblee@bigpond.com.au and Peter can be contacted on jomah1@optusnet.com.au
Reg will continue in the role of Supervisor Conductor Training.
Could all conductors and Head Conductors please be more diligent with checking tickets. When you find a passenger with out a ticket please explain the fare and sell them a ticket. This process needs to take place with all passengers on all journeys regardless of the number of passengers in the carriage. Negotiate with your fellow train staff as to who is checking which carriages during each section of the journey. Be prepared to change carriages at each stop. This instruction is elaborated in Part 11 of the Conductor Training Manual.
This seminar will be happening during November. However the Pass Ops committee is sensitive to the roster loads during November and need to carefully choose a day that will have minimum impact. Hopefully it will run midweek with a morning, afternoon and evening session to enable all train staff to attend. A letter will be posted to all Head Conductors and Conductors to advise of the details. We hope that this will be a great opportunity to share information to enhance the smooth operation of the timetables over the summer period.
Pass Ops aim to have a Booking Clerk at Lakeside and Menzies Creek on every Sunday and Public Holiday commencing November to April including all Public Holidays and E (green) timetables. If you would like to try something new and work at either of these locations please call Nina to book a day. Also every effort is being made to have 2 Booking Clerks at Belgrave on all days except the winter midweek timetable. This will also enhance training opportunities for the new booking system.
Pass Ops would also like to roster an SM at Lakeside every Saturday, Sunday Public Holiday and all 6 train running from November to April. If you are a trained SM and have not been on roster for a while and would like to return please contact Peter Kemp. If however you would like to train as an SM for Lakeside please contact Ben Reid to arrange training.
David Eaton
Passenger Operations
To ensure the safety of our passengers and staff, all Puffing Billy trains which operate after dark must now carry lighting in each carriage in which passengers are travelling. A number of battery powered lanterns (together with spare batteries & globes) are available for this purpose and these are to be found on the platform at Belgrave in the cabinet which also houses the kerosene tail lamps.
It is the responsibility of the Head Conductor to ensure that an adequate number of lanterns is fitted into the train prior to departure, and that the lanterns are then switched off and returned to the cabinet on arrival back at Belgrave. Details of how and where lanterns are to be installed will be found with the lanterns inside the cabinet.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Jeff Goodwin.
Jeff Goodwin
In case anyone has forgotten, Christmas is fast approaching. If you need a suitable present for a rail enthusiast then two great videos by Steam Media Productions are "Victoria Year In Steam 2001" - showing all the major railway events of 2001 (available now) and "Bye Bye Broad Gauge Volume 1" (due early November) - showing steam on the broad gauge tracks of Victoria that are planned to be converted to standard gauge in the near future. Both video's available from Belgrave Shop for $44.95 each.
Bruce West
No report this month.
The work on G42 continues along with work on 8A. Please come along, all are very welcome and we will train you in any skills required.
We have a plan in place to begin restoring some NQR wagons and to this end we have 29NQR in the Locomotive Workshops. If you are interested in being in a group that will proceed to bring this, and other NQRs back to trafficable condition, please contact Hugh Markwick and we will arrange for you to be in this group. Work can be on Wednesday nights, or at the weekends as shown in the roster, or if you like during the week. Work has commenced on removing parts and cleaning them. The end frame rails have been removed along with couplers. Removal of the floor has commenced.
Note also the paragraph about the Trolley Drivers Course in General News.
Please note that we encourage Track Patrollers to take an assistant or two with them in case of defects or emergencies. Track inspecting is a serious and responsible task and entails a higher level of risk than simply riding the train. Therefore, any person travelling on a trolley MUST be either an employee, a registered Puffing Billy Volunteer or a person working on a Management approved work scheme. Other persons are not covered by our personal accident insurance policies.
Coalition Creek No 2 bridge is now complete and track is being re-laid, while work on Coalition Creek No 1 is progressing well. This latter bridge includes replacing piles in the creek and recent spring rains have made this a very boggy workplace. We have made liberal use of a hired truck fitted with a crane and road-rail equipment which has been invaluable.
Work is about to start on Kardella bridge which will be the last of them to be repaired. We are hoping to finish the job in late November.
Anyone who would like to help Chris Adams and the weekday volunteer team should contact him
.Planning is continuing on the extension of the Belgrave Locomotive Workshop and associated works. Extension of the Workshop means a major re-work of the track on the engineering plateau and it has been designed to allow the maximum amount of straight track within and outside the building.
A consequence of this is the need to remove the Way & Works Gang Shed from the plateau and work is under way to design a new gang shed on our Stanley Street properties.
A major part of the work will also include provision of a staff and volunteer amenities block. This building will include showers, toilets and locker rooms for both genders and a meal room with some kitchen facilities. It will be large enough to be shared by loco crews, workshop staff and track workers.
Plans for these areas will go on display for people to comment on when they are available in the next month or so.
Final adjustments are now complete and we are working through the testing and accreditation regime needed before the vehicle is introduced into service. Track Patrollers will be contacted shortly to arrange a short training session in its use.
Trolley NVW1 was involved in an accident recently but has been repaired with the fitting of a new axle and bearings and other items.
Re-building of the track on the section between Beaconsfield Road and Lakeside continues with replacement of sleepers and removal of ballast being done near 'Superman Corner'. Most of this section has now been repaired and new ballast is being run out prior to tamping.
Our next Volunteer Work Day will be on Saturday 16th November and will be held near 'Superman Corner'. The usual sumptuous BBQ lunch will be provided and transport will be provided from Belgrave at 8:00 am or directions can be given if you want to drive there yourself. Please let Roster Officer Norm know if you can attend
Spring has brought its usual periods of heavy winds and with it a number of trees blown over. Fortunately the work we have done to improve the safety of our trees in recent years has meant that trees have generally not fallen on or near the track.
A prominent landmark at Lakeside in the form of a very large messmate beside the station building has had to be removed and its absence has changed the look of the Lakeside area.
The Emerald Loco Shed has been extended sufficiently to allow the Climax to be stored there. This will allow the tamper and other track-mounted machinery to be stored in the wooden shed at Belgrave.
With the recent provision of underground cabling at the down end of Menzies Creek station, we are pleased to advise that a telephone has been installed at the School Road Level Crossing.
This phone is connected to a dedicated line.
The Radio Cabinet in the museum now also has a phone for S&T use only. (i.e. This phone is only accessible by S&T personnel.)
The telephone transfer switch (labelled "858" and located in the Menzies Creek Booking Office - immediately under the phone) has been brought back into service.
At times when N.E.C. are conducting radio trials near Menzies Creek, this switch will be placed into the "NEC Tests" position and will be returned to the "Normal" position at a convenient time after tests are completed.
Whenever this switch is in the "NEC Tests" position, the middle phone in the Signal Box (858) will be out of service.
Please Note: This switch must not be operated except under direction from a member of the S&T Branch.
The 2 weekend work days this month will be Sat Nov 9th & Sat Nov 23rd. Both will commence at the Depot at 10.00 a.m.
The work details have yet to be finalised but we expect to concentrate on the Wig Wag and other necessary jobs prior to the start of the busy season.
The next Branch meeting will take place on Saturday December 14th, Kings Rd offices, Emerald at 9.30 a.m.
Immediately following the December meeting we will again sojourn to "Blarneys Celtic Affair" for lunch and a pleasant social afternoon. As we need to advise the owners by early December of the expected attendance, I would request that those interested in attending contact either myself or Kevin by Nov. 23rd (work day). Thanks.
Just a reminder that I will not return from Sydney until Wed Nov. 13 th
.Andrew Wheatland
Work continues on gathering material for the collection, so if anyone has any suitable records or memorabilia we would be pleased to hear from you.
Thanks to Emile Badawy for donations of copies of VR Drawings & old photographs. Bruce West has donated Tidy Towns Awards documentation, while Alan Gardner has agreed to be custodian of a collection of technical and engineering books.
With the onset of drier days at Menzies Creek, attention has once again turned to the maintenance repaint of the Abt exhibit. Due to the miserable workdays last season we were unable to finish our repaint and work has started again on repainting the van and touching up the engine. The garden in front of the exhibit has had a makeover and new ballast placed and other work has been done to the track upon which the exhibit rests.
These units are being cleaned and are being repainted in gloss black.
We are freshening up the paintwork on the engines in the compound and repainting the Foden traction engine.
The next running day will take place on Saturday 7th December 2002. Our last running day was held in September and all who attended were able to take photographs at their chosen location with our friendly crews. Our annual staff BBQ will also be on this day.
The Museum is closed on Wednesdays.
Please note. If you see the sprinklers running in the Museum, we are not using precious Melbourne tap water in the present drought. We are using our own stored water from the large concrete tank, which is charged from the Museum roofs. The entire garden area is reticulated from the tank.
John Frost
We would like to thank all those who have offered to help with this years Santa Specials, but we still need more help, so why not give Peter Medlin a call.
"Focus On Victoria's Narrow Gauge - Whitfield Line" is selling well with half of the print run sold. My recommendation is to get one before they are all gone. If you haven't obtained the two previous, "Focus On Walhalla" or "A Day In The Life of G42", I suggest that you don't delay as stocks of these are now limited. These are all available from Belgrave Shop or G42 Sales at $35.95, plus $5.95 postage and handling.
I have received an order for the Whitfield Line book, paid by postal order at Rowville Post Office, but with no address of the sender. If it is yours, please ring me on (03) 9560-2941 or leave a message. Also, does anyone know an Andrew Ward who ordered a copy of "Focus On Walhalla", as this one has not been posted out for want of an address.
"Locomotive Depots of NSW - Part 2" arrived in late October and "Locomotive Profile - AD60 Garratt" is due in early November. Both books available from Belgrave Shop at $29.00 each of or from G42 Sales Direct for $33.00 each posted anywhere in Australia.
Selling pre loved books, magazines and memorabilia. Located behind the Emerald carshops in the Thomson building near the playground, our next opening is Saturday 2nd November (last for the year) and Saturday 1st February, 2003 between 1pm and 3pm. Other times can be made by phoning Bruce West or Peter Medlin to arrange a suitable time.
The collection box figure for September 2002 was $70.95. Thank you very much to all the volunteers and staff who have ensured that the RED G42 collection boxes were put out.
With work on the boiler continuing, your donation is needed more than ever before if we are to see G42's restoration completed in 2004.
The following donations of $10.00 or over have been received recently. All whether small or large are greatly appreciated and will help complete G42's restoration. Thank you to those who have been and continue to be regular donors towards the restoration of G42: B.H. Chipperfield, A. Collier, P. Donald, G.R. Harding, Dr. A & Mrs. B Hurst, J. I. Lacey, A. Love, J. Morice, P.R. Norton.
Bruce West
| Date | Day | Event | Host/Contact | Brochure issue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 24th | Sun | Train to wherever...Echuca | Philip Leslie | August |
Please Note that the New Years Eve train previously advised will now not take place.
| SEPTEMBER | 2002 | 2001 |
|---|---|---|
| Train kilometres for the month | 3,423 | 3,394 |
| Loco kilometres - steam | 3,516 | 3,581 |
| Loco kilometres -diesel | 93 | 77 |
| NA locomotive days for month | 76 | 80 |
| Carriage kilometres | 26,557 | 27,918 |
| Carriage Days for month | 708 | 739 |
| Highest kms operated - loco | 1,366 | 1,276 |
| Highest kms operated - pass vehicle | 1,434 | 1,431 |
| Highest kms operated - wagon | 95 | 48 |
| On-time running (OT - 5") | 82% | 66% |
| Scheduled trips run (one way) | 185 | 183 |
| Revenue trips (one way) | 205 | n/a |
| Non-revenue trips (one way) | 4 | n/a |
On Saturday September 21st, two wedding trains operated during the day. Is this a first?
The on time running figure for September was excellent. I have mentioned before that we must consider the best interests of passengers as a tourist railway and that sometimes there are good reasons to delay a train. However, most of the time it is in the best interests of our passengers for us to run to time. The maximum late arrival for the month was 13 minutes.
I suspect that it would be many months since we kept all delays to below 15 minutes over a month. I also believe that the result reflects the efforts that have been made to make scheduled running times match the normal situation rather than a theoretical possibility.
Bob Wilson