I am excited to be able to announce that today, Thursday 6th November 2014, ANGRMS took delivery of the Perry steam locomotive and a surplus wagon from Dreamworld.
It is a great credit to all involved in ANGRMS that Dreamworld chose to donate this locomotive and wagon to ANGRMS.
The loco needs a bit of work and we are still to undertake a detailed assessment. At this stage the tentative plan is to have it operational about April/May next year (as well as the physical work there is also a lot work to accredit the loco, do driver training etc). Once Melbourne is operational again it will drop back to standby loco. When Bundy and Melbourne are both back in operation, the loco can then commence a full overhaul.
This additional operational steam loco will allow us to much better manage our operation steam loco assets.
Briefly the history of this loco is:
This 16t steam loco was built in 1951 by the Perry Engineering Company, Mile End, South Australia for the Bingera Sugar Mill near Bundaberg. In 1974, after its career hauling sugar cane came to an end, it was saved for preservation at the Goulburn Museum of Historic Engines near Goulburn NSW. It was purchased privately in 1977 and moved to Panania in NSW.
In 1982 it was purchased by Dreamworld on the Gold Coast for their railway. It operated at Dreamworld until 2013 when it was stored. This year it was donated to ANGRMS for use on our Woodford Railway.
The first stage of a plan to double the length of ANGRMS mainline is about to commence. (See below for update to this post)
ANGRMS has been held back in its plans to extend its track by the need to install a level crossing over Peterson Rd at Woodford. Thanks to the generosity and support of the Moreton Bay Regional Council, tenders have now been let for the construction of the level crossing. Work is expected to commence late April/early May.
There is still a lot of work for ANGRMS to do finishing off the crossing, building a new re-aligned mainline, run around loop and new platform at Storey Brook to connect the existing track with the level crossing, plus the necessary paper work such as Interface Agreements etc.
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Armistice Day Friday 11th November 2011
With this Friday being Armistice Day, I think it is important we all pause and remember those who made the supreme sacrifice. Railways played an important part in World War 1, with many Australian railway personal involved both here and abroad. ANGRMS has a direct link to WW1 as we have a genuine WW1 war relic in our collection – a Hunslet 610mm gauge steam locomotive which saw active service in France. Light railways played an important part in WW1 in France. In the environment of the Western Front, main line railways could get no closer than five to eight kilometres from the trenches, as they were a prime target for artillery and were very expensive to install and maintain.
Narrow gauge ‘light railways’ served as the vital connection between the main line railheads and the forward areas. By 1917, an average of 165,530 tons of war material was being moved per week on the light railways. A peak of 210,808 tons was reached in October 1917 in connection with the Battle of Ypres. By the Armistice in Nov 1917, these light railways totalled about 6000km of track in the British sector alone, to which about 750 steam locomotives and a similar number of small internal-combustion locomotives had been delivered. Australians played an important part in the operation of these “Light Railways”, with several Australian Light Railway Units. Below is a very interesting “YouTube” link to some great old WW1 war footage showing these “Light Railways” …
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