August 2006#397
August 2006
#397
Please note: These pages are provided by me, Bill Russell as a service to the Puffing Billy Railway & the E.T.R.B.
If you find a problem with them please contact me first. No other person has the ability to alter these pages.
If you want to be notified when Monthly News changes send me an e-mail. My e-mail address is bill.russell@optusnet.com.au .
In May - June 2006, an anonymous survey of Puffing Billy Railway volunteers was conducted by the P.B.P.S. executive committee membership group. The survey was intended to help us plan improvement to our volunteer management systems and, in particular, to prioritise the implementation of the Volunteer Strategy. Around 600 surveys were sent out and over 300 completed forms were returned. These provided a range of valuable input and suggestions including improvements to volunteer amenities, better communication, training, induction processes, social activities, volunteer recognition and ways of making volunteering more affordable and rewarding, plus a few "wake-up calls" about inappropriate attitudes and behaviour patterns toward volunteers by some past and present managers and supervisors. We most sincerely thank all who responded and commend the Membership Group for an enormous amount of work to "make it happen". The individual responses are currently being analysed and actions formulated by management to address the many suggestions, for discussion at the Information Night and the next Strategic Planning Committee meeting. We will keep you informed and again thank you for your valued responses.
As mentioned in the July Monthly News, the next information evening for volunteers will be on Wednesday 26th July at 7.45 p.m. in the Belgrave Masonic Hall (yes, we apologise for the wrong date in the last MN!). Topics to be covered will include the Volunteer Survey, Strategic Plan, 2006/07 Budget, 2007 Timetable, Belgrave Station planning, follow up actions from the last meeting and General Business.
A briefing on the valuable feedback received will be provided and discussion invited at the Information Night. This will be your last opportunity for input, so please participate if you can! A summary of the feedback received and discussion at the Information Night will then be posted on the Belgrave Notice Board. A final version of the Plan will be provided to the Board for adoption at its August meeting.
Cardinia Shire Council has released a draft Strategic Plan for Emerald Lake Park following consultation with key stakeholders (including Puffing Billy) and public meetings held in Emerald township. The Plan includes a vision statement for the Park, a review of existing conditions, analysis of major issues, proposals for future directions and a proposed five-year capital development plan. Interestingly, of the total estimated 2004/05 visitation of 230,000, some 126,000 came by train compared with 92,000 by car and 11,000 by foot. We will be responding to the Draft Plan, based on our in-depth understanding of the relationship between Puffing Billy and the Park. Please contact Andrew Stephens for a copy of the Plan if you would like to read it and make comment.
The annual operating budget is one of the Railway's key management tools, providing a framework for fares, premium product prices, maintenance programs and estimates of revenue and expenditure. The budget for the coming year, adopted at a recent special meeting of the Board, recognises the likelihood that the recent relatively quiet domestic tourism trends will continue - almost all of the major Victorian attractions have suffered downturns during the past year, so we have done better than most by equalling or exceeding our previous performance. Generally, the 2006/07 Puffing Billy budget assumes no great change in passenger numbers, revenue or expenditure. However, our managers' performance contracts include requirements to achieve a higher than budgeted revenue and surplus result and develop a major new grant program for 2007/08. In the meantime, minor capital works projects will continue to address volunteer and staff amenity and OH&S issues and some of the more obvious revenue enhancement projects.
Consistent with the theme of completing minor capital works projects which will improve working conditions, efficiency and revenue, a standard VR Portable Building has been relocated from Emerald to Belgrave to function as a retail stock store. This will overcome double handling and the current "clutter" of stock on the ground floor of Belgrave Station. The next stage of the long-awaited Way & Works Depot at Stanley Street will also commence in the near future, providing an improved and safer working environment for our volunteers and staff. The user requirement for this project has been carefully fine tuned to ensure that essential needs can be met within budget whilst allowing scope for future expansion and at the same time maintaining an attractive heritage street-scape for our neighbours.
Now that the Annual Budget has been adopted, the next routine planning task is the development of a timetable to take effect in March 2007. In a sense, the timetable is the key "product" we offer, and the more input from all PBR personnel - especially those who interact directly with our customers - the better. Please have your say by forwarding comments to Andrew Stephens, your Branch Manager or by attending the Information Night. A draft will be presented to the August Board meeting so we can publish a finalised timetable in September, six months ahead of commencement.
| Andrew Stephens CEO | Graeme Breydon ETRB Chairman | John Thompson PBPS President |
I would like to sincerely thank all who kindly offered their condolences on the death of my Father on 16 June. Dad died just short of his 90th birthday and he is now at peace after a difficult period of illness. The number of warm thoughts offered by so many volunteers and staff has greatly eased our family's sadness and sense of loss. The Puffing Billy community is a wonderfully friendly and supportive one at such times and I thank you all.
Andrew Stephens
As part of a closer working relationship with Gembrook, the traders have invited all interested guards, conductors, drivers and booking staff to a familiarisation of the Gembrook township. This will take the form of a walk through town pointing out areas of interest and meeting the traders. I am sure you will agree that having first hand knowledge of a destination makes it easier to sell!
We plan to hold these familiarisations in late September and dates will be advised in the next issue. I hope as many of you as possible will see the merit in this visit and attend.
As many of you will know we plan to hold "Best Station" awards in November, so now is the time to tidy up our stations giving them a cared for feeling and making them more appealing to our visitors.
The winning station will be announced on Sunday 26th November, so watch this space for further details.
Shirley Westerberg
If you are able to spare some time to work in Refreshments at any of our stations anytime this month, it would be much appreciated. We have many gaps to fill and selling refreshments and souvenirs is one of the best ways of making money to pay for the things we all want to see done on Puffing Billy.
Could you please call June or April.
Puffing Billy Steaming into the 21st Century -
DVD-Was $35.00 Now $29.99
VIDEO-Was $30.00 Now $24.99
To help combat shop theft on Puffing Billy, camera surveillance will now be introduced at both Belgrave and Lakeside to reduce theft and loss of valuable revenue. As most of you will be aware, shop-lifting has become a major problem in the Retail industry in general.
April Williams
Lost! Sometime in the last two months I loaned my brass "H" key (marked 'GD92') to a conductor so he could open a carriage as he did not have a square key. For whatever reason, it did not come back. I did not realise this until I went hunting for it to open a carriage on my last trip. If someone has it, please leave it in an envelope in the pigeon hole in Belgrave
Thanks. Paul Pavlinovich
If any one would like to order a PBR good quality wool jumper please let me know as I will be placing another order soon. I have jumpers to try on to confirm size before you order so please see me if you are interested.
New fares apply from 17th July so if any conductors have not received their new fare inserts for conductors book please call me and I will organise copies.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to Brian Thompson who will be taking on this role as of the September roster. Brian will be in contact in the next few weeks with everyone. My thanks to Brian for taking on this important role and I would like to thank Darren for his time as roster officer. Darren is far from retiring and will still be very busy on the railway in the other areas where he volunteers. Good luck Darren with your various pursuits.
Jean Clowes
A reminder to all Guards and Signalmen that the new 'Outer Home Signals' at Menzies Creek are automatically returned to STOP by an arriving train. The controlling lever must be operated again to clear the signal for a following train (where applicable). Please ensure that you check the appropriate Signal Repeater on the Block Shelf before departing.
An additional reminder that, Unless Trains are scheduled to Cross, only one Outer Home Signal should be at Proceed at any given time.
Please refer to the notice on the Block Shelf if in doubt.
Lost! Sometime in the last two months I loaned my brass "H" key (marked 'GD92') to a conductor so he could open a carriage as he did not have a square key. For whatever reason, it did not come back. I did not realise this until I went hunting for it to open a carriage on my last trip. If someone has it, please leave it in an envelope in the pigeon hole in Belgrave.
Thanks. Paul Pavlinovich
Thanks to everyone who has put up with my (seemingly to me) endless phone calls and emails nagging you into accepting positions to fill the gaps during July and fill out the August roster. I really appreciate the people who answer the call happily and when they can go above and beyond to work on our railway. I have a new found respect for the both the roster officer and my fellow Safeworkers. There are so few of us and so many shifts to fill. Looking forward to the next batch qualifying to help out with the September gaps!
This month, sadly we've lost one of our most active Safeworkers; Henry Brohier, who has elected to retire for health reasons. I'm very sad to see you leave the ranks of active Safeworkers. Henry will still have strong participation in the railway as SM and other activities. A special thanks to those people who stepped up during July and August to fill the positions in which Henry was rostered.
I've learnt more about this railway than since first working on it in 1982 this last couple of months by talking to all the other Safeworkers!
You can contact me at roster-safeworker@pbr.org.au
| June | Financial Years | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 2005 | 2005/06 | 2004/05 | |
| On-time running (OT - 5") | 70% | 76% | 67% | 80% |
| Locos docked on trains by due times | 77% | 90% | 77% | 75% |
| Carriage sets docked by due times | 82% | 92% | 77% | 59% |
| Train kilometres for the month/year | 3 230 | 2 976 | 45 754 | 45 665 |
| Loco kilometres steam | 3 355 | 3 025 | 47 067 | 46 761 |
| Loco kilometres diesel | 31 | 185 | 1 888 | 2 446 |
| NA locomotive days for month/year | 55 | 73 | 789 | 814 |
| G 42 days for month/year | 25 | 0 | 252 | 228 |
| Carriage kilometres | 29 939 | 24 413 | 410 384 | 403 287 |
| Carriage Days for month/year | 781 | 704 | 10 646 | 10 670 |
| Highest kms operated - loco | 1 244 | 1 170 | 14 049 | 12 726 |
| Highest kms operated - pass vehicle | 1 313 | 1 241 | 17 015 | 18 439 |
| Highest kms operated - wagon | 12 | 77 | 397 | 454* |
| Scheduled trips run (one way) | 180 | 163 | 2 632 | 2 589 |
| Revenue trips (one way) | 216 | 171 | 2 964 | 2 909 |
| Non-revenue trips (one way) | 4 | 8 | 111 | 176 |
*21NQR ran 1899 kms, but 1666 kms were on passenger carrying trips from December to April.
Some more statistics for the full financial year follow:
7A ran the highest kilometres for the year. (14,049kms over 288 days) followed by 6A (12,081kms over 249 days), 14A (8,589kms over 189 days) and 12A (2,688kms over 63 days). G42 ran 8,903 kms over 252 days. Diesel distances were D21 (706kms over 28 days) and DH31 (1,143 kms over 42 days). 4 or more steam locos were used on 53 days.
3NBH recorded the highest vehicle distance (17,015kms) over 360 days. 6NBH followed with 9NBH coming third. The average length for all passenger trains throughout the year was 9 vehicles, the same as last year. 216NQR recorded the highest distance for non passenger carrying vehicles (397kms) over 20 days.
70 Dinner and Wedding Trains were operated as against 78 the previous year.
My sincere thanks go out to all persons who accurately completed the Train Running Statements from which all the above information is obtained. A good deal of the data written down is extracted by me for my various reports and graphs that I prepare each month.
Once again I highlight that accuracy and completeness are so important and appreciated by me. The standards have slipped just a little lately and I ask the few folk who are omitting to complete key areas of the Train Running Sheets to please check them front and rear before handing them in. Docking times, arrivals at destinations, the provision of loco numbers on the front of the sheets and full details of vehicles shunted off or added en route are particularly critical areas for me.
Bob Wilson
We will be working on the cubby house at Emerald Workshop on Saturday 5th August. We will be learning pre-painting preparation and then some priming. We will also look at railway heritage colour schemes.
The report the July day is contained in our newsletter Dogspike.
John Conway
Expressions of interest are sought for the dismantling and removal of the present gang shed on the plateau at Belgrave. Interested parties please contact Alan Gardner at Belgrave.
After 25 years of service in the Workshops and Carriage Workshops, Neil Mathieson has decided to retire. A function for Neil was held in the Workshops recently where he was presented with some farewell gifts which included fishing and boating gear. We all hope that you have an enjoyable retirement Neil.
After advertisements in Monthly News, Graham Kidgell and Adam Burrage have been appointed to the Rolling Stock Branch as fitters. Congratulations to you both and we hope you enjoy your stay with Puffing Billy.
Hugh Markwick
Re-sleepering of this section has now been completed. The first stage of lifting, lining and drainage works is well under way, excavation of the foul and unusable ballast has commenced. This work is all pick and shovel so it is very time consuming and hard 'yakka'. Thanks go to the correction centre department for supplying the labour to make these projects possible. This project is progressing as expected.
Renovation of the old Stanley Street house is continuing; the veranda on the southern side has been reinstated with the external walls being completed. The back half interior is being guttered and relined to accommodate more office space for the road foreman and buildings manager. Guttering and down pipes have been installed. The site of the new shed out the back has been consolidated and is ready for construction.
The platform coping at Clematis has been removed and replaced; crushed rock has been laid and consolidated on the platform. Some fencing and a general tidy up of the area has happened. This project has attracted a reasonable number of participants.
This building was located just inside the entrance gates at Emerald yard and has now been relocated adjacent to the plateau at Belgrave. A sterling job was done by Simon and the boys.
The July weekend concentrated on building a retaining wall around the new depot location at Belgrave.
The August weekend will either be at Belgrave or Selby depending on progress at both locations.
We still have vacancies for truck drivers on weekends and a roster officer. If you can help with either of these positions, please ring me.
Tom Kilner
The time has come to get serious! From now on there will be Climax workshop days on the second Saturday and third Sunday of each month. We start with Saturday 12th and Sunday 20th August. (These are in addition to the regular first Saturday workdays when anything gets sorted out.) This work is able to happen because of all the people who have contributed to the Climax fund. Thank you all for buying shirts and mugs or for your donations. These extra workdays will greatly shorten the restoration time.
If you are not able to help on the workdays but would still like to see the progress of the work, please come along and survey the efforts of the Volunteers. The initial work will involve the new smokebox and working on the boiler. Harry Hibgame has been busy with the design of the smokebox for some time. It will be of rivetted construction and will look like the original. At the July workday, Harry was presented with a Climax mug as a token of appreciation for the work he has done for the project.
You are all invited to a party to celebrate the 120 years of running by locomotive 861. The invitation is included with Monthly News. This will be a day designed for fun and photos of 861 and 986 along the line from Emerald to Gembrook. There will be two cakes - one for 861 and 986, and one for the rest of us. Book early as we expect a lot of interest in this party and places will be limited. Come along and help the Climax project.
Editors Note: Somehow the item for this section was lost last month. Apologies to all. We don't know what happened.
A sincere thank you to all those persons who have recently made donations to the Belgrave Signal Box Fund. Even with the S&T entry being misplaced last month, (which was to include a reminder) many people have taken the opportunity to make tax deductible donations to the Fund which now stands at over $43,000. Your continued support will enable this project to proceed with confidence when building works commence.
The current round of desktop computer upgrades have been completed at Belgrave and will be / have been completed at the Emerald Finance area following completion of the end of financial year activities.
Test works are currently under way with replacement Firewalls & Routers and also with computer based telephone exchange equipment.
The new Up Inner Home Signals are about to be commissioned. Final installation and tests are currently under way.
Thanks to all personnel who have adapted to the new Outer Home Signals. The occasional failure to re-operate the controlling lever meant some Guards had to walk in, however most operators are now aware that the Outer Homes will return to Stop when a train arrives.
Under suitable supervision, the Navy personnel have completed the wiring of this asset. Some minor fittings are required and the Workshops personnel will continue the overhaul of the mechanical components.
Andrew Wheatland
Planning is proceeding for the re-jigging of the interior of the Carriage workshop for the new display Museum. Once the transfer takes place from the Rolling Stock Branch (and this will take quite some time to do due to the need to build new facilities at Belgrave) and the new Museum established, we hope to have the new Museum open each weekend and on public holidays and to have provision for setting up displays which will highlight the railway and the district over the last 100 years.
We anticipate having a third track laid in the shed to accommodate the two foot engines and we hope to run these engines and indeed the little engines in the Nursery shed at least once a month. We have been discussing the possibility of connecting the northerly 2'6" track direct to the Ski Jump to allow a continuous demonstration track to the turntable by-passing all the points that currently allow access to the mainline. This line will be dual gauged.
We are looking for people with the skills to help us develop the new Museum and urgently need someone with drafting skills to help us plan the interior. Can you help?
On Sunday July 30th Lineside Attractions will be running the heritage 'Casey' trolleys within Emerald Yard Limits for Emerald Winterfest. Come along and sign the attendance book - lets make this the biggest volunteer day for the Museum ever!
As mentioned in earlier issues of Monthly News, the Museum is open for inspection when we hold the workdays at Menzies Creek, which are on the 1 st, 3 rd, and 5 th Saturdays of the month. However, please make you self known when you enter the compound to alert our staff to your presence. If a specific group wishes to inspect the exhibits, please notify the office at Belgrave who will inturn arrange for a member of staff to be available to show visitors over the site (a group is more than five people). Do not forget, it is your Museum.
Well the work is almost finished and only the last rods remain to be fitted. Once these are done and the keys are made to fit the rods to the power take off, the engine will again be operational.
A few years ago, Warwick Piper from his farm, donated to the Museum, a small steam operated engine which was made by W.H. Blackham of King Street, Melbourne. This engine has now been completely dismantled by David Baker, thoroughly reconditioned and painted. It looks splendid in its Museum Display condition and is being held off site so that it can be one of the first exhibits to be available to be displayed at Emerald.
The body of 8NKS trolley has now been completed and it is being repainted in pink. The motor needs work done on the big end and this is under way. We have been looking at rebuilding the Whitfield trailer and possibly the Whitfield motor. We need as many photographs as we can gather and plans would not be amiss either. Many years ago the Whitfield trailer was dismantled but the frame remains at the museum and we have now found the wheels. A replica was made for the centenary of the Whitfield railway several years ago in the King Valley and details of this construction would be appreciated.
John Frost
For our second film night we will again view a wide range of films and slides on different subject matters in the surroundings of the Gemco Theatre building, adjacent to the station in Emerald. Once again we will lay on a train to take you to the event, this time running from Belgrave to Emerald.
The last film night sold out, so book now to avoid disappointment! Last minute enquiries to John Conway
Join us as we travel in the splendour and comfort of our own bus (departing from Belgrave and running via Spencer Street) to Castlemaine where we will travel in our own carriage on the way to Maldon, with time for a leisurely lunch and a walk around the old town before returning on the train to Castlemaine and our bus back to Belgrave.
Look for the booking form with this edition of Monthly News.
Once again we present our ever popular end of year event. Further details coming soon!
For enquiries on any of these events, please ring Jeff Goodwin
This much awaited book has just arrived and features rare and so far unpublished photographs of Streamlined S302 and S303. This book is available from Belgrave Shop for $33.00 less your volunteer member/staff discount. The book can be posted anywhere in Australia for $33.00 by writing to G42 Sales PO Box 452 Belgrave 3160 with your payment by cheque or credit card details.
"Visions of the Victorian Railways" by the late Gerald A Dee
This beautiful hard cover book of 230 pages has just been released. G42 is pleased to be able to offer this book at $53.90 which is a discount of 10.1% off the recommended retail price of $59.95. If you are interested in purchasing this book just contact Bruce on (03) 9560 2941 or write to G42 Sales PO Box 451 Belgrave 3160 with your credit card details. Postage will be charged at cost.
Clock numbered 45 is available at the G42 Shop for $150.00; this is the last of the limited run of 50 clocks to be available for sale. Personal shopping only!
Selling pre loved books, magazines, videos, DVDs and memorabilia. The shop is located behind the Emerald Car Shops in the Thomson Building facing the play ground. The next open days are Saturday 5 th August and 2 nd September. Other times can be arranged by ringing Peter
We would like to thank Weston Langford, David Knuckey and Errol Hermann for their recent donations to the shop which helps "Keep G42 Going".
Norm Atherton (UK), Bruce West
The donations from our Red collection box in April were $48.20; May $30.70 and June $29.85.
Thank you to all who continue to support our efforts to Keep G42 Going
Bruce West
Following a successful application for a grant an independent consultant has surveyed our archive holdings and storage, both at Kings Road and off railway holdings and is preparing a written report for our information.
We have purchased a compactus unit that has been installed at Kings Road to assist with overcoming our overcrowded storage area.
Our area has been increased which will assist us in our sorting and classification activities.
Hugh Markwick
On the second Tuesday of each of the school holidays, a group of Young Volunteers gather at Belgrave to perform a wide variety of tasks around the railway. The ages of the Volunteers varies from about 6 to 66, maybe a bit older. Some are tiny, some are big and brawny. All enjoy working at Puffing Billy. We tackle tasks, which anyone could and would do, given enough time. We paint station buildings, like Selby; dig out drains at Emerald and Belgrave, clean and polish little locos ready for Thomas days. We get dirty and tired and have fun getting that way.
The day was fine but cool. Still there was plenty to do to keep everyone warm. First there were blinds to undo and roll up on the two carriage sets. This gives the Conductors an easy start to their long day.
The carriages in the platform were then treated to an attack with soapy water and rags to clean the dirt and dust off their sides. The sides were also wiped down with dry rags to stop smearing.
At 10:10 it was time to get some flags from June to sell along the platform. This effort usually brings in enough money to pay for our lunch. Today was no exception. While not everyone bought flags it was definitely worth the effort.
After the departure of the 10:30, it was time to get moving. Half of the group went with Val to plant shrubs and bushes on the banks of the creek behind the new Way and Works building site at Stanley St. There was plenty of dirt and water (mud), but who cares! The plants will grow well and in the future will be there for all to see - planted by Young Volunteers.
The rest of the gang were busy unloading the wood trucks in six-road. The smaller pieces were taken straight into the Running Shed and stacked. The bigger logs were stacked ready for splitting. Kevin brought G42 up and dragged the trucks into 3-road so that we could get the trolleys, NVW1, NK2, and Jenny, the small trailer, out of the trolley shed. When Ken gave us the Staff and an SW3, we were authorised to travel out to Menzies Creek to pick up wood. We had to be back by 12:10 to allow the Lunch Train to go. It was quite an exciting experience going over the Monbulk Creek bridge on a trolley for the first time. We found plenty of wood just past Selby Station. Then we went on further and filled the trailer. It was then time to head back over the Trestle Bridge to Belgrave. We got back in plenty of time and returned to Staff to Ken so that the Lunch Train could depart. We unloaded the wood at the wood heap and then watched G42 haul out the Lunch Train. It was time for our lunch.
After lunch, there was plenty of wood splitting and stacking to be done. There was also a trolley ride to the Up end of No.1 Road for those who didn't go out in the morning. There were some big logs here that were loaded into Jenny and shifted up to the shed.
Just for something different, Alan asked if we could help him shift a post. It was a heavy, cast iron lamppost. We carried it from the top of No.3 Road all the way to the front of the Workshops. He then used diesel D21, to shunt the wood trucks back into 6-road.
Zec and Nick then went off to the Locomotive Workshops to start an inventory of the Consumables Store, so that people can find stuff there. Hamish took his model of 8A over there to show the Workshop staff. They were impressed and pointed out that the model had more wheels than the real loco in the shed - it only has pony wheels at the moment.
Just after 3 pm we finished up and headed home. Lots of plants put in, wood gathered, split and stacked, flags sold, and nuts and bolts counted. Well done everyone.
Next workday: Tuesday 26 th September
John Conway