During March, the Museum will be embarking on an extensive track recon-struction task adjacent to the tramway station/platform at the depot. The track in this location has deteriorated lately and needs to be re-laid. It was originally laid with timber sleepers however, these are encased in concrete. All concrete will have to be jack-hammered away to gain access to the track foundation. Concrete sleepers will replace the old ones. At the same time, the opportunity will facilitate the re-establishment of the arrival road points.

Another area of work will entail replacing the turntable checker-plate which has dete-riorated over recent years. The work en-visaged will take many weeks if not months and will necessitate the storing of 103A and trailer car down in the new shed. From here it will come up to near the eastern end of the safety fence to commence operations. As those who have visited the new shed in recent times will know, to accommodate the motor and the car, a lot of ex-Parramatta Park gear will have to be cleared from No.2 road to make way.

February, 2011

STEAM SCENE Newsletter of the Steam Tram and Railw ay Prese rvation (C o-Op) Society Ltd.

t/a V alley Heights Steam Tramw ay. Proudly associated with the NS W R ail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountain s Division).

Affiliated with the C ouncil of Tramw ay Museums of Austral asia and Rail Heritage Australia (NS W).

Volume 8, Issue 1

STEAM SCENE Newsletter of the Steam Tram and Railway Preservation (Co-Op) Society Ltd.

t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway. Proudly associated with the NSW Rail Transport Museum ( Blue Mountains Division).

Affiliated with the Council of Tramway Museums of Australasia and Rail Heritage Australia (NSW).

“Preserving the past, enriching the future”

From the Editor At a recent work-day at Valley Heights, we had at least eight members turn-up which is quite a good number for our society. It was reminiscent of earlier days at Valley Heights when we had the ‘bit-between-our-teeth’ and were anxious to make headway and get ourselves operational. Over recent times work numbers have been down to a rump and as a result, things are maintained but actual progress is very slow. Its marvelous what a difference a few extra bods make. There is a perceivable lift in spirit, jobs are progressed on two or three fronts and there is a general feeling that we are achieving something and indeed, at the end of the day, you can see a difference. I know I have laboured this point before but if we want to see pro-gress, there needs to be consistent effort. It would be nice to contem-plate that each work-day, a mini-mum of eight members would regularly turn-up. We don’t need a caste of thousands, just a steady reliable group able to tackle a diversity of tasks. It can be fun and it is surely satisfying. How about it?

Cheers,

Bruce Irwin. Editor

The Queensland Floods -How the major museums fared The recent floods in Queensland caused wide-spread devastation. The following is a roundup of how the major museums fared. In general they came through the inundation fairly well. They are all suf-fering a down-turn in visitor numbers so if you are planning a trip north sometime, make sure a couple of heritage rail operations are on your agenda.

Bundaberg: (Australian Sugar Cane Railway) Ex-tensive damage to track and buildings. All rolling stock submerged to varying depths Ferny Grove: (Tramway Museum) Well above flood levels. Ipswich: (The Workshops Rail Museum) Were isolated for a time but sustained no flood damage. Gympie: (Mary Valley Rattler) Lost a few days of operation but no damage. At one stage when Gym-pie was isolated and as part of the local flood emer-gency plan, the Rattler group organized a rail motor service between Gympie station and Monkland. They ran an hourly rail motor service between 7

carried over 1,200 passengers. This enabled a number of people to go to work and the transit of Emergency Workers. Groceries, medications, milk and meat were also carried. A gold coin donation was all that was requested of travellers.

Maryborough: (whistlestop Railway Museum) This is the home of the Mary Ann a replica of the first locomotive built in Queensland.. The line at Queens Park was inundated but not damaged. Mary Ann and the historic station building were safe from the flood. Rockhampton: (Archer Street station) Enquires reveal the Purrey steam tram was ‘high and dry’. Operations were suspended during flood. Warwick: (Southern Downs Railway) Flood wa-ters stopped just short of museum site. No dam-age to buildings or rolling stock. Extensive damage however to their Hendon-Allora branch line. Damage to main QR lines in area will affect some planned trips.

(Above) This road will be coming into service with the commencement of track relaying adja-cent the former Amenities Block

(Right) Track enclosed in concrete to be taken up and re-laid on concrete sleepers.

Major Track-work Project Coming Up There’ll be movement at the station...

The Sydney Tram-way Museum will be commemorating

the 50th anniversary of the passing of the old Sydney tram system over the week-end of 26-27 February. Take advantage of your member’s entry pass and pay them a visit.

Murder on the Orient Express Bundaberg Mail We are all familiar with Agatha Christie’s famous fiction mystery story ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. We are probably not so familiar with the non-fictional murder that happened on the Bundaberg Mail some 70 odd years ago. The events on the Orient Express were comparatively clinical compared with the savagery committed on the ‘Mail’. The murder was sensational news at the time and involved a three-state hunt for the perpetrator. It ranks as one of the most brutal in Australian crime annals.

On the 2nd April 1936, at 5.09 a.m. the Bundaberg Mail stopped at the (now) outlying Brisbane suburb of Petrie. Conductor Thomas William Boys called on passengers to have their tickets ready for collection at Northgate Junction. Following this, he boarded the sleeping car No. 997 which was at the front of the train, to awaken passengers. He did not appear again, as was customary, at the intermediate stations where the train stopped.

A Ghastly Discovery On arrival at Brisbane Central, no one alighted from

the sleeping car including the conductor. Rail-way of f i cers boarded the car and to their hor-ror made a ghastly discovery. Boys, the con-ductor, was lying unconscious in the corridor close to berth 16. His head had been terribly battered. In berth 1 6 , H a r o l d Speering (aged

36) lay dead with his head battered in. In berth 8, Michael Francis Costello, (aged 33) lay unconscious breathing feebly. He also had sustained head injuries and would subsequently die in hospital. There began the hunt for the killer with all the resources available at the time.

The Chase Begins But where had the killer left the train? Stations back along the line were promptly alerted to check tickets handed in by alighting passengers. A valuable clue was left behind by the killer; he had taken Speering’s blue-twill suit trousers and coat but had left behind the waist-coat. Following the alert, Mrs. Roberts, the Station Mis-tress of Wooloowin station, checked her surrendered tickets. Three had been handed in. One passenger, she noted was agitated and had jumped the fence. Follow-ing this up, the police found it was a false lead. On Friday morning, Mrs. Roberts was double-checking her surrendered tickets and noted that one of them was marked “ledger”. These were tickets issued on Gov-ernment requisition. Enquiries revealed that Speering was a Federal Government employee and that it was his ticket that had been surrendered. The investigation then centred on avenues of flight from Wooloowin. A young porter at the station revealed that only one passenger left the Bundaberg Mail on Thursday April 2, and he had been carrying a leather case branded with “P.M.G” A taxi driver revealed he had taken an early

morning fare from near Wooloowin to the Grey Street bridge Two blood stained florins were found by the driver behind the back seat of his cab. It appears the young person concerned caught an-other cab on the south side of the river to South Brisbane Railway Station. Police raced to the station and ascertained that a young man had made ticket-ing inquiries but left without a purchase. An appeal to cab drivers by police revealed a cabbie had taken a young man to Southport Post Office. On being shown a selection of mug-shots, the cabbie identi-fied Herbert Kopit as the person he had taken to Southport.

Kopit (or Colbert) was known to police as a slick thief and “hotel barber”. The latter was colloquial for a person who sneak-thieved from hotel rooms and the like. On Friday afternoon, April 3, police picked up Kopit’s trail at Southport. A hotel keeper, on checking his taking for the previous day, came across a One Pound note with blood stains on it. Kopit appears to have caught a bus on the Thursday afternoon from Southport to Murwillumbah in NSW. With the murderer moving into NSW, all police in the northern area were alerted. From Murwillumbah, Kopit caught a rail-motor to Casino and from Casino, caught the Kyogle Mail to Sydney. By now, police realized they were chasing an elusive quarry who chopped and changed his transport modes in order to throw the police off the scent. The Kyogle Mail arrived at Sydney on Friday morn-ing, April 3. Kopit was still maintaining his 24 hour lead on police despite the fact that the Queensland squad were now joined by NSW counterparts. Shortly after his arrival in Sydney, Kopit purchased a woman’s clothing outfit and booked into the Don-caster Hotel in Kensington. On Saturday April 4, he caught a train to Moss Vale in the Southern High-lands. From here he caught the Melbourne Express, arriving in Melbourne a little before noon on Sun-day, April 5.

When the Sydney police visited the Kensington hotel, Kopit of course, had well and truly left having just spent the night there. On searching his room, they found the Speering’s bag, the one branded with “P.M.G.”. On the top of the wardrobe, they found human hair, suggesting that Kopit had now at-tempted to change his appearance by cutting his hair. Melbourne police staked out Spencer Street sta-tion to greet the arrival of the express however, they were looking for a young man, not a woman! Strangely enough, despite an ungainly walk and coarse appearance, no one in the meantime sus-pected that “she” was a “he” until Kopit came into contact with young “Doris” at a hotel in Little Collins Street, Melbourne.

Shortly after his arrival in Melbourne, Kopit made his way to the Victoria Coffee Palace (a private hotel). “Doris” a young, pretty booking clerk was

Page 2 STEAM SCENE

(Above) Wooloowin sta-tion c. 1909. It probably didn’t look much different in 1936 when the mur-derer from the Bundaberg Mail alighted. (Below) Mrs.Roberts the Station-Mistress who discovered the “ledger” ticket handed in by the murderer.

Page 3 Volume 8, Issue 1

(Above) Herbert Kopit shown here at his trial. (Below) the tyre lever that Kopit used to bludgeon the train conductor and two passengers.

(Above) An artist’s impres-sions in 1950 of the hotel clerk’s encounter with “Miss Williams”

angular woman with a sinister face...dark furtive eyes, a hard mouth, beetling dark brows, a long nose and a pointed chin.” She also sported a two-day growth of beard. Although young, she was far from comely. A lean heavily veined and hairy hand almost snatched the room key from her. As the ‘woman’ strode to-ward the lift, Doris noted her dress which was a dove-grey one-piece frock, brick-red straw hat, beige stockings and black shoes. She carried a black wallet and brown suitcase. Doris’ suspicions were raised as “Miss Williams” headed off. Taking no chances, she contacted her manager on in turn rang Police Head-quarters. The clerk’s concerns were passed on to Detective Inspector Alex McKerral.

Kopit’s Arrest Both he and another detective made straight for the hotel and on reaching the corridor , were in time to see Miss Williams emerging, still carrying the suitcase. McKerral opened the suitcase and out fell a man’s apparel bearing blood stains. The detectives didn’t know at the time that they were confronting the notorious hotel thief and murderer, Herbert Kopit. After a few questions of enquiry, “Miss Wil-liams” confessed to being Herbert Kopit. Back at Police Headquarters, after a clumsy slip-up, Kopit now in male attire, decided to confess all. Following this, he was charged with murder and extradition proceedings put in place. The following is a collation of events from various sources and at varying times. Herbert Kopit (aged 23) was born of an Australian mother and an Egyptian father. He was of average height, dark good looks with dark brown hair brushed-back. Prior to the events on the Bundaberg Mail, he was known to police as a daring hotel “barber” (room thief). Any person asleep in a hotel or train was also likely to find themselves minus their wallet and valuables upon awaking. In March 1936, Kopit crept into the hotel room of a commercial traveller in Cairns and stole his all-lines railway pass. This gave him freedom to move up and down the North Queensland coast. Taking advantage of this, he masqueraded as a Johnson & Johnson commercial traveller, raiding hotel rooms in several coastal towns before conceiving the idea to comb the sleep-ing car of the Bundaberg Mail to see what could be stolen.

Detail of Events on the Train On April 2, 1936 he waited for the Mail at Gympie. Fatefully, from a nearby truck, he stole a tyre lever about 18 inches long and wrapped it in newspaper. He was checked aboard the train by conductor Tho-mas William Boys and allocated berth 10 in sleeping car 997. This car comprised longitudinal sleeping berths, closed off by heavy curtains. There were only two other sleeping car passengers, Harold Speering (PMG department) and Michael Costello. Both had embarked at Maryborough. Kopit’s intention was to “barber” the sleeping passengers shortly after Gym-pie and then alight a couple of stations further on down the line. Unfortunately for Kopit, he fell asleep and didn't awaken until almost 5 a.m. He quickly went to berth No.8 occupied by Costello. He had his head inside the curtain when conductor Boys came aboard to awaken the passengers. On being accosted, Kopit dived back to his own berth, grabbed the tyre lever and felled Boys with a blow. He dealt him several more blows as he lay on the floor.

The ensuing scuffle woke Costello, who sat up in his berth. “I rushed over to him and hit him on the head….he fell back on the bunk but raised himself” and attempted to pull the emergency cord. Kopit hit him several times with the tyre lever before Costello could do so. The other sleeping car passen-ger, Harold Speering, was still asleep, never-the-less, Kopit senselessly bludg-eoned him as well. Searching the clothes of Costello and Speering, he gleaned Twenty Seven Pounds (54 dollars) and some valuables. Finding his own suit slattered with blood, Kopit changed into Speering’s coat and trousers neglecting however, to take or put on the waistcoat. His own blood stained suit he carried off in Speering’s suitcase. The blood-ied tyre lever, he washed in the hand-basin and threw it out the window s o m e w h e r e between Eagle Junction and Wooloowin. He also took the c o n d u c t o r ’ s manifest in an effort to con-ceal his joining the train and disposed of it into some lantana bushes later on near Southport.

The Trial and Sentence At his Kopit’s trial, his cousel tendered a plea of ‘not guilty’ on the grounds of ‘insanity’. The weight of evidence was clearly against him however and the jury took only three-quarters of an hour to convict him of the murder of Harold Speering. Kopit was sentenced to Life imprisonment. The murder of Costello and the assault on Conductor Boys were not proceeded with.

Life in Gaol On the 5th August 1936, whilst in gaol, Kopit cut his neck and arm with a piece of razor blade in a suicide gesture. It was far from fatal.

On 12th August 1941, an appeal to the Central Appeals Court was dismissed as “frivolous” by the court. On Monday, 26th March 1951, Kopit, aged 39, died in Brisbane General Hospital, of heart failure following a severe asthma attack,. In gaol, he was well known for his meticulous appearance with his prison garb always clean and well pressed.

The Aftermath Boys, the conductor, received a fractured skull and remained unconscious for three weeks. He was never the same afterwards, suffering continually from headaches and mental impairment. Speering’s wife returned to teaching.

Page 4 STEAM SCENE

We are all familiar with the ‘dead man control’ or vigilance control that was progressively introduced during the late 1900’s. Simply put, this device automati-cally puts on a train’s braking system if the driver does not record his presence by regularly activating an alert button. The idea is of course, that should a driver be-come incapacitated and not ‘hit the button’ as required, the train will automatically come to a halt. These are common place today on virtually every train with the exception of steam locomotives. In the early 1900’s, steam engines were the main stays of the railway indus-try. The fact that somebody appears to have invented a ‘dead man control’ for steam locomotives way back then, seems incredible but here you have it. The story unfolds as follows; A.R. Angus was a Sydney solicitor by profession but given to inventing, particularly in the sphere of railway operations. On Saturday, December 17, 1910 an exten-sive trial was organized to take place on a disused piece of railway track owned by the Mount Kembla Coal and Oil Company Ltd. A special train left Sydney at 8 a.m. carrying a large party of officials to observe the trial of Mr. Angus’ remarkable device. The party included state parliamentarians, James Fraser (Engineer-in-chief for Railways), W. K. Johnson (Assist. Interlock-ing Engineer) other specific trade aficionados and no less than ex-Prime Minister, Mr. J.C. Watson. To quote the Sydney Morning Herald of the time: “It was a public demonstration of one of the series of ‘Angus railway inventions for the prevention of collision between trains’, a series of inventions of remarkable ingenu-ity, seeking to eliminate the risk of personal equation, or human fallibility, each train—electrically– being a ‘self-contained unit’. The train is provided with what the inventor terms an ‘electrical brain’ by means of which it determines for itself whether it is safe or not to enter a section, and if safe blows a ‘line clear’ whistle and if not safe a ‘danger’ whistle. If the driver fails to obey the warning then the loco-motive shuts off its own steam and applies the brakes on the train and prevents any other train from approaching too near to it. An express train may run at the limit of speed permitted through a dense fog and be absolutely protected from the risk of collisions with other trains, and each train is protected even though the driver, stoker and guard all drop dead at their posts, no signals whatever being required.” These were the claims of Mr. Angus. Unfortunately, one of the two engines prepared for the trial derailed on the previous Thursday at Unanderra sustaining damage enough to cancel its pro-posed use at the trials. Cutting through the verbiage, the test is paraphrased thus: The section of line to be used was specially protected by telegraph wires and a series of timber ‘ramps’ placed in the centre of the track. As mentioned, unfortunate;ly, one of the test engines was not available so its place had to be taken by a standard engine with driver, fireman etc. The other engine was fitted find Mr. Angus’ device. The test was not impaired by this eventuality. “As one after an-other of the various events took place the spectators mar-veled at the “brain” of the locomotive, and they loudly ap-plauded the inventor.

Detail of the Test Running The locomotive managed by the driver was on the line and the locomotive fitted with the device ap-proached it from the opposite end. The engine with the device, absolutely refused to collide with the conventional engine. The device equipped engine blew its whistle but the driver remained inert. Of its own accord, the engine shut off its steam and ap-plied its brakes, coming to a stop some distance from the opposing engine.

How was it done? The newspaper report gives a somewhat romantic description. The thing was alive, possessed of its own, hands of its own. By a brain we understand something which operates and controls the vital organs of the body. It is so with this electrical brain, but instead of using nervous impulse it uses electricity; instead of using nerves, it uses telegraph wires. Instead of calling muscles into play it utilizes mechanical instruments. The genera-tor is essential in each case; the brain is essential and some form of contact is essential. On the locomotive, in addition to the brain, is a controller. The contacts on the track are made of one or more telegraph wires. The mysterious instrument known as the controller, takes its instructions from the brain, giving a warning whistle in case of danger and if unheeded, shuts off the steam and applies the brakes.” At a time when the general populace was intrigued by the wonder and potential of electric energy, the description is almost worthy of Mary Shelley.

Visitors View the Invention From the Loco Visitors were given the opportunity of a cab-ride to observe for themselves, the controller doing its work. “There was something almost uncanny about it. It seemed human. Immediately the brain detected danger, the controller blew a whistle of warning. The driver took no heed but continued in animated conversa-tion with his guests. Another whistle– then, suddenly the controller shot out its hand of steel, a bolt flew back, and the steam was shut off and the brakes ap-plied...Two or three of the more curious of the visitors, rode underneath the engine (sic) and they saw the use of the ramps in the centre of the track. The apparatus connected with the invention extends down below to about the level of the rails. The ramps on the various sections of the line are of wood about four inches in width and six inches high in the centre, gradually taper-ing off at either end to the height of the rails. A complex instrument communicating with the brain of the machine passes over the ramp, and as it reaches the centre of the ramp communication with the brain is “pumped” upward by the pressure….Already about £10,000 has been spent by Mr. Angus and his friends...The cost of itting a locomotive is stated at about £25.”

The Attorney-General’s Congratulations Following the trials, The Federal Attorney-General, Mr. Hughes congratulated Mr. Angus on the success of the demonstration saying, “What I want to see now is the Melbourne Express going at 50 miles an hour pulled up by Mr. Angus’s invention, and I shall not be surprised if we see it before many years are over.”

Locomotive With A Brain 2010….1910 ! The locomotive was touted as a “Machine with a brain” with the potential to eliminate train collisions. It was tested both in Australia and in the U.K. But what was it and what happened to it? Was it fair dinkum or straight bunkum? I recently came across a report of the testing of this device in, of all places, Broken Hill’s ”Barrier Miner” newspaper. I had never heard of it before but I hope this article might kindle some further enquiry and throw some more light on what happened to it.

No Honour for the Home Prophet? A newspaper letter-to-the-editor in December 1911, bemoaned the likelihood that Mr. Angus would probably have to take his invention overseas to see it developed. This is evidently what transpired for we see a newspaper report dated July 10, 1912, where trials were recently conducted in the UK in the presence of the Great Western Railway’s Chair-man, Lord Churchill, and other dignitaries.

Other Experimenters on the Same Track? Having very little to go on, not even a name for the invention, I thought I would Email UK member, Bob Tebb, to see if he new anything about the in-vention or the trials that took place. Bob did indeed have knowledge of the event and the very line where the trials took place. The story though, has a strange twist for nowhere does Mr. Angus get a mention! On balance it appears that others were experimenting with radio train communications at about the same time as our Mr. Angus. A certain Mr. Von Kramer conducted first experi-ments in 1910 at Three Bridges on the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, when he suc-ceeded in establishing a telephonic link between an express train and a signal box. This was repeated on the Stratford-on-Avon & Midland Junction Railway (SMJ) in April 1911. Von Kramer then fitted further developments of his system in a Great Central rail-way coach. It could now also be used for ‘distress signaling’ whereby by pressing a button in the signal box, he could stop the train! The system could also return signals to danger once a train had passed. This system, which he called the RAILOPHONE, was apparently installed over 9 miles of SMJ track. An electrical conductor was buried beneath the track with coils installed on the coach to pick up signals. A Professor Gilbert Kapp of Birmingham University was involved in this installation.

Trials in the UK On June 28, 1911 a full-scale demonstration was carried out near Stratford. A newspaper of the time describes the test as follows: Very interesting were the trials devoted to distress signal-ling, a powerful hooter on a moving train sounding by the simple closing of a switch in the signal cabin, and then the mere pressure of a button by Professor Silvanus Thompson automatically pulled up the train passing at a good speed into the station. The train ran from the old carriage shed through the station against the railophone signal, which was at danger, and directly the Professor touched the button the hooter on the train showed that the contact had been made, and the screeching wheels and dense smoke from the engine proved that the train was slowing up under compulsion. The driver and guard were powerless to do anything until the pressure was released and the train was permitted to resume its jour-ney’.

Although this text does not explain how the sys-tem worked, the understanding is that signals were transmitted by magnetic induction to wires between the rails or at the side of the track. This was by no means the first attempt to communicate with a moving train, as can be discovered from Fa-hie's History of Wireless Telegraphy (New York, 1901). In July 1912, the following message was transmit-ted from a train travelling between Ettington and

Stratford-upon-Avon, picked up in the signal box and conveyed to His Majesty the King, then on a visit to Bristol:

“Representatives of railway companies, universities and scientific bodies are today inspecting the Von Kramer wire-less inductive railophone system for signalling to and from trains to stations. With this system it is possible to stop trains in motion by press-ing a button in the signal-box. This telegram was dispatched wirelessly from a moving train by the inventor.”

Professor Sil-vanus Thomp-son, presiding over the gath-ering of some 120 guests in a marquee behind Stratford-upon-Avon station, thought that there was great scope for this invention whilst the Stratford Her-ald expressed the following opinion: ‘. . . it is possible in the future that our borough will attain considerable impor-tance in the eyes of the scientific world as the birthplace of a system which may play a prominent part in the railway kingdom, inasmuch as it claims to ensure safe travelling by rendering collision impossible, and repairing (also recording) mistakes made by careless signalmen. We refer to the Railophone double-automatic signalling apparatus.’

What hap-pened to our Mr. Angus?

Had he been gazumped? Did Angus arrive in UK to find that others were work ing on ‘parallel lines’ so to speak? Ac-cording to Aus-tralian reports previously men-tioned and back-calculating, Mr. Angus ’s UK demonstration would have taken place on July 6, 1912. At present, we don’t have the exact date of Von Kramer’s demonstration however it would seem very unlikely that two separate demonstrations would have taken place.

Railophone Adopted in USA The Railophone, in UK at least, seems to have sunk and not been heard of again however, it did make an appearance across the Atlantic. It was apparently adopted by some railroad companies there in the early twentieth century. The Railophone as it was termed, was introduced to railroading.

(Continued end page)

Page 5 Volume 8, Issue 1

(Above and below) Illus-trations of the time, depicting the use of the ‘Railophone’.

Last but not least….

Dual Member Dave Torr is on the sick list at the moment, convalesc-ing at Mt. Wilga Hospital. Get well soon Dave. Best wishes from mem-bers and directors of STARPS.

ooo0ooo Director, David Lewis retired from his employment 30-1-2011.

Steam Tram & Railway Preservation (Co-Op) Society Ltd.

t/a Valley Heights Steam Tramway ABN 46 193 707 109

P.O. Box 571, Springwood NSW 2777 Web site:www.infobluemountains.net.au/

Chairman and Works Manager, Craig Connelly

02 9729 3536 Secretary and P.E.O. Peter Stock

(02) 9587 9051 Treasurer and Editor “Steam Scene”

Bruce Irwin (02) 9651 1707

Membership Secretary, David Lewis (02) 9630 6304

The museum is located in Tusculum Road, Valley Heights. Ample parking is available. A train service is available to Springwood. Valley Heights station is accessible for museum visitors but you must

walk around to the Tusculum Road entrance and not attempt to short-cut across the tracks.

“Preserving the past, enriching the future”

Works Report: 1308: Further small parts renovated and painted (Ralph Boesel) 93B: 103A: Nine boiler tubes removed and replaced. Prepared for boiler inspec-tion and ’re-boxed’. “S” truck: New spring shoes fabricated. Shoe bars and brake carriers renovated. LFA179: Painting of No.1 bogey concluded

The museum is open between 10 and 4 on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. Steam operations on both

days.

The heritage railway com-munications equipment shown above was recently stolen from the ARHS (Victoria Divi-sion) at Williamtown. If you have seen any of it recently turn up under perhaps suspi-cious circumstances, please urgently contact Ian Jenkin at jenkin4@aardvark.net.au

NEWS IN BRIEF

Boiler Inspection Time Again 103A received its annual boiler inspection on Saturday January 22.

(Continued from page 3) The railway pass taken by Kopit was reported as missing on Febru-ary 25 and notified as such in the subsequent weekly notice. Despite this, Kopit made many journeys on the pass with no one ever querying his identity. This in itself brought about a tightening-up of procedures.

The bloody assault by Kopit on the three men was senseless and a gross over-reaction. Taking the tyre lever with him on board the train certainly indicated a ‘ramping up’ of Kopit’s desperation, being no longer content to merely “barber” a victim and go but to prosecute his intentions with violence if necessary.

References: The Longreach Leader, Sat. 11-4-1936: The Courier Mail ,1-5-1936, 25-6-1936,11-7-1936,13-8-1936: The Argus (Melbourne) Saturday 29-4-1950

The inspector pronounced the boiler sound and certified it for another 12 months. Nine tubes were also replaced. Eight were originally done but on being given a “water squeeze” a ninth tube began to weep and had to be replaced. This also happened when the last batch were done. The re-tubing job was done in trying conditions with tempera-ture soaring. Congratulations to Craig and all those who assisted him. More tubes will probably be replaced during the 2011-12 break.

Keeping Your Mind on

the Job A recent derailment in the UK was caused by a person operating manual points, being distracted from his task. This caused the points to be half-set allow-ing a freight train to split the points and de-rail. It is a reminder for all RSW’s to remain single-minded when carrying out safety critical tasks and not allow them-selves to be distracted. Similarly, fellow workers should be mindful of the necessity not to distract a RSW whilst they are per-forming a critical function.

Years Mind

In fond remembrance we recall the passing of our esteemed past Secretary, Cliff Currell on Janu-ary 20, 2004

and

Our sadly missed past Vice Presi-dent, Frank William Millier on February 18, 2010

R.I.P

(Continued from page 5) It was a practical device by means of which telephone or telegraph messages and control signals were transmitted to and received from a train in motion. The transmission was affected by induction from a wire near the train. The current rang a bell to attract the attention of the train crew. Messages could be sent from a moving train to a distant station and received from the station by the train. Furthermore, it was also possible to automatically set the brakes on a moving train from a distant station by this device, and keep the train at rest in a block until they were released. Railroads equipped with the Railophone allowed a dis-patcher who discovered two trains ap-proaching each other on a single track to avoid a catastrophe by stopping one or both trains until matters were straightened out. Further investigations are underway as to what happened to the device after the tests in Australia and UK. We will keep you informed of results. As a final thought, perhaps ITSR could delve back into the ancient patents and revive Mr. Angus’s invention for compulsory applica-tion to heritage steam locos today??!! References: The Sydney Morning Herald 19-12-1910, The Barrier Miner 27-12-1910, 9-1-1911, 10-7-1912, Web site; The Railophone Notes and publication of Dr. R. Tebb.

Have you Seen Any of This Gear??