MHG - There's movement afoot...

With trams being moved out of the old tradies club in Dickson combined with Goodmate Mario in town to shift a tram, an excellent opportunity was taken to collect the MHG wheelsets for delivery to Sydney in preparation for inspection and overhaul by one of the railway workshops. Free plug for Mario, find out about moving trains at www.a-tm.com.au and for further info, quotes and other train shifting requirments...

Here we see the wheelsets being loaded and tied down on Mario's truck - and then Mario heading off! (and a shot of Mrs P. Oldmate sitting in the car being bored waiting for Mr P Oldmate to finish off loading with Mario!)

























As progress occurs on the wheelsets and other matters, future updates will be made to the blog.

Keep on privateering until next time...

ARHS Locomotive Branch Fundraiser - 1st Class Lounge - Central to Kandos, Saturday 20 February 2010

The following is a posting on behalf of the ARHS Locomotive Branch, who are looking for ongoing support for their projects.

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As part of any restoration effort is the need to generate $ to fund the ongoing restorations.

On Saturday 20 February, the ARHS has arranged for interested persons to travel in a first class lounge car for a ride from Central to Kandos and return.

The trip is to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the 48 class, but the opportunity is being taken for those interested in supporting the ARHS restoration efforts to have a good day out, as well as assist in fund raising for the ARHS locomotive branch!

Preliminary timetable is to depart Central at 7:30am, Arrive Kandos at 1:30pm, Depart Kandos 3:25pm, arrive back into Central at 8:45pm.

Tickets are $195 for a ticket in the first class lounge car, which includes a two-course lunch at the Kandos Pub.

Bookings can be made through the ARHS-ACT front office (02) 6284 2790 or email trains@trains.org.au

Thanks for all the continued support to the ARHS Loco branch!

New Years Eve - 2009/2010 - Happy New Year!!!

The end of 2009 ended for the Privateers with one final trip to Sydney for NYE celebrations.

Again, the ARHS used motive power and crewing provided by our Goodmates at Southern Shorthaul Railroad. This year the honours were undertaken by newly acquired units G513 and G514 from SCT Logistics.

As the train was 17 carriages long, the consist wouldnt fit into the gates of the Society's depot in Kingston, so had to be stored in two halves which were shunted together prior to departure.

Here we see 4833 putting the private BAMs and society BAMs onto the other portion of the train.














Another shot of 4833 and the private cars














In the ARTC territory we see the front of 4833 and G514 having arrived a little earlier in the morning.














Money shot of a pair of G's sitting in Canberra yard having arrived earlier on.














Engines coupled in Canberra yard.














G513 coupling up to BAM1748.














Almost there.














Arty shot of G513 headlight through the end of BAM1748














Having just departed Canberra early cheers all round














... and catching up chit chat from the last time we all caught up.














On time running into Queanbeyan sees the engines through the heritage station platform shelter














Being the first carriages on the Sydney end of the train, we see G513 coupled to the consist.














G514 on the NYE train, same location.














Being a more modern unit that we are used to at the ARHS, good opportunity to have a look at the EMD Control stand of G514!














A lovely sunny day sees G514 with the NYE train roll into Bungendore for a down Xplorer cross.














What are the A-Team doing here?














One half of the A-Team (Gav) contemplating life in the station shelter at Bungendore.














The cross of the Xplorer and the NYE train at Bungendore.














Fun and games of crossing trains on the Canberra Branch means lots of back and forth movements - here the train after arriving into the platform road, then shunting back to the Canberra end home signal has now taken a position the passing loop.














After leaving Goulburn a sumptuous lunch was provided by Mrs P. Oldmate - awesome spread of tasty food!














Prior to arrival into Central, a couple of shots were grabbed passing through the Sydney suburbs.

After travelling up in the East Hills line, the train headed left through Wolli Creek seen here.














Heading through Tempe we see a Cityrail Tangara on a down Illawarra service.














Approaching Meeks Road Junction...














...and approaching Sydenham looking back on the train...














... looking towards Sydenham ...














... and back on Sydenham!














Train passing near Erskineville (wasnt there a movie about some basketball team of this location from the mid 1990's???)














Rounding the corner near Eveleigh, Cityrail has spare sets stabled. Here is an OSCar "H" set awaiting its next duties.














The train has just arrived in Central!














BAMs in Central














... and behind every moving engine is a qualified crew - here are a couple of our Goodmates from SSR sitting here in Central!














View of platform 1 in Central.














Another shot of the G class on the NYE train in Central














Look across Platforms 1 to 4 in Central.














On NYE, we see Office of Rail Heritage PayBus displayed on the Central Concourse.














On NYE Privateer Oldmate and the gathering of privateers went to Balmain for dinner - view of the harbour bridge from Darling Street.














With truncated bus services turning in Darling street, interesting angle of the buses U-turning around in Darling Street. Looks like it could go top over!














On New Years Day, the bar in BAM1741 is set up for breakfast.














and happy travellers relaxing.














With a late night 'sing song' session in BAM1748, none of the pax to be seen anywhere in the lounge of that car!














Almost home, the NYE express passes over the new Yass Road Bridge in Queanbeyan - the old timber trestle bridge was removed in the later half of 2009.














Passing under the Monaro Highway, Fyshwick.














Looking back on the consist from the MHN.














With most of the operational fleet on the train, the ARHS depot looks kind of empty.














Very short distance ot the station platform.














Thanks to oldmates Fireman Dave and Gav, 4807 was shunted into the yard to place 4833 for its return to Sydney and to shunt the ARHS consist back to the yard.














4833 sitting in the Canberra station siding awaiting its return to Sydney.














On the Canberra end of the platform, we see G513 and G514 having just arrived and coupled onto the PHG power van.














Lots of 'vests of invincibility' on the Canberra platform. We can see Fireman Dave talking to the engine crew in the cab of G513.














Sunny morning in Canberra, G513 leads the consist in Canberra Station.














G514 being prepped for leading back to Sydney, and prior to uncoupling from the PHG.














Fun times had and looking forward to the next trip.

Until then, happy privateering!

BAM1748 - Wiring Fun Times Continued...

With the external conduit fitted up, progress has been made on wiring up the car internally by Pat the Electrician.

Here we can see the end junction box with the end receptacle fitted to the car, with the mains feed up to the main internal power box inside the car.














The wire feeding up in grey conduit contains the main power line to the car.














Here is the internal switchboard with the cover closed














... and the cover open where we can see the main circuit breakers and the contactor for the hot water system.














As was the case for BAM1741, power points will be fitted to the vestibule area for easy access to plug in applicances like vacuum cleaners etc etc.














Typical for NSWGR rollingstock was the fitting of gas hot water systems. One such system was originally fitted to BAM1748, however, it had not actually operated for nearly two decades since the carriage was last in service with SRA in the 1980's.

A review of the hot water tank showed the gas heated tank was NFG with the gas lines and system missing many parts. Not a restoration proposition at all.

Like BAM1741, with safety and 'convenience' issues in mind, the opportunity was taken to upgrade the hot water system to operate on a three-phase 'flash' instantaneous hot water unit. Also, like BAM1741, the electric hot water unit was a Stiebel Eltron DHC-15 three phase unit.

For the record, EBay is a great source for these units, which come up for auction every now and then (they are a common fitted unit to domestic applications in Sydney).

Here we see the heater plumbed up for testing and activation in the old 'wet area' heater cupboard.


















Prior to fitting of the mains power bylines to the car, provision was made for small electrical appliances through the use of an inverter from the 24v battery system with the single 240v power outlet fitted to the bar area.

The new mains power points can been seen installed in the bar area, with the old inverter supplied point hiding down in the lower left corner of the picture.














and more wiring work in the bar to be completed shortly.














Also very handy to have provision of lots of strategically placed power points in the carriage. Here holes have been drilled in anticipation of fitting up the power points.















With Mrs P Oldmate coming along for the ride, seen here standing in the vestibule of BAM1741, opportunity was taken to assess the bar/fridge/esky requirements for the NYE trip in a few days time














Onwards and upwards towards the big NYE journey!

FAM Stainless Work Continues...

Our northern contemporaries have sent us an update on the FAM project!

Best to hear how things are going from Oldmate himself:-

Just to update you all, I finally got out to Swanbank today to continue working on FAM2386.

Myself and two mates of mine helped me to continue to clean the stainless steel. In one day (not a full day) we got half of one side cleaned which I am stoked about.

(ed - looking good, cant wait to see the finished job on the outside stainless)











































































































Keep on Privateering!

Merry Xmas - Bungendore Steam and Cuisine 27 November 2009

With the pending xmas season almost upon us (and nice summer weather too), the opportunity was taken for the Privateers group to go for an evening ride behind ARHS steam engine 3016 and Alco diesel 4807 to Bungendore, and have some celebratory cheers!

Being the first of the ARHS's summer series of trains, and with the launch of a new product "the Steam and Cuisine Express", it provided the perfect journey for such an evening out.

Here we see the BAM sitting in the S&C consist in the Kingston yard prior to departure.














and going around the other side, we see 1741's twin 1748 parked up still awaiting completion of electrical mods.














A view through the PHG guards van shows us the end of 1741.














Getting back to the main reason for the trip, xmas cheer! Here we see the privateer oldmates sitting around waxing lyrical about fun times.














Same people, different angle!














Having just arrived at Queanbeyan, the consist sits awaiting for the normal passengers to have their dinner service.
















It is worth including the obligatory shot of the 'pointy end' of the train.

Here the honours are being undertaken by 3016 and 4807.














Goodmate Driver Keith always cheerful!














Workhorse of the ARHS 4807.














... and our train guard for the evening (or someone in a reflective vest impersonating a guard)














Always important to make sure plenty of drinks are around.














... and never lose your cup/mug/stein!














The serious photographers have a timely discussion about pressing matters.














Pat the Electrician - big supporter of Steam on Any Sunday.














Fun times being had by all.














The "A-Team".














Lots of passengers at Bungendore














Has anyone seen this man?













Keep on Privateering!

Melbourne Cup Holiday - Powerboard Installation BAM1748

As us lucky Canberrans got to enjoy our Melbourne Cup Holiday aka Families and Communities Day for the last time that it will fall on the day of the Melbourne Cup, the opportunity of nice weather was taken to progress the wiring task on BAM1748.

Here we see a general overview of the electrical cabinet in the vestibule area of BAM1748. No holes in the wall, and modifications made just yet!















Prior to drilling holes in the vestibule wall, it is important to make sure we have the correct measurements. Used in the modifications in BAM1741, this cardboard cutout of an old banana box makes a good template to mark out the holes on the wall of which profile to cut out with the jigsaw.














Same model of electrical box, different carriage!














Just to check that the cutout is still a good fit, the electrical box is tested in the template to make sure - measure twice, cut once!


















Before cutting out the wall section to fit the electrical box, it is important to drill pilot holes to enable the jigsaw blade to be fed through the wall to cut out the section.














Cuts made in the wall.














Remove the cut out bits and youre left with a hole.














Yep, the electrical box fits the cut out.














Electrical box mounted properly in the wall and the circuit breaker bar screwed in to check clearances.














Test the final fit of the cover of the electrical box.














One of the other tasks in installing the electrical box is modifications required to be made to one of the fire extinguisher boxes in the lower part of the vestibule wall. Here is the box pre-modification.














Fire Extinguisher box undone from the wall - all a bit discheveled.














Modified box refitted.














Wall reinstalled and ready to accept the next bits and pieces for progressing the task.














Until next time, happy privateering...