SHORT NORTH

SHORT NORTH

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF THE

CENTRAL COAST

STEAM MODEL CO-OP LTD.

June, 2003

OFFICE BEARERS

President Ted Williams 02 4384 3089
Vice President Bruce Langdon 02 4396 3767
Secretary Peter Holt 02 4397 2700
Treasurer Norm Browne 02 4396 3564
Members’ Board Member John Crowhurst 02 4343 1980
Boiler Inspector Lindsay Brack Smoke Signal

RUNNING DAY 1^st Saturday of each month
CLUB MEETING Last Thursday of each month 7.30 pm at the club, Lot 10 Showground Road, Narara

POSTAL ADDRESS P.O. Box 692, Gosford, 2250

EDITOR Rob Lougher

Web site: narara.cjb.net

WHATS NEWS.

A reminder to all members that their annual subscriptions are now due.

With the damp weather of late a lot of the work that has been done around the club has been drainage to try and dry out the grounds and while this might seem to be closing the gate after the horse has bolted it is probably the best time to do this work for a number of reasons not the least being the soft ground for digging.

Most of the work has been carried out by Allan Fogarty with other members assisting where they can.

As well as this work Allan has been working on extensions to the station and fencing of the top steaming bay.

I will print a full list of work done by Allan in the next Newsletter.

The floods and heavy rains of mid May caused some problems for us and while some of these problems are on the way to being solved as mentioned previously one of the other problems encountered was a huge amount of debris and mud left on the track after the rain and floods the job of clearing and cleaning the track was undertaken by Norm Browne in an effort to have the track passable for the June running day.

(Thanks to Norm for putting this in the diary it makes the newsletter job a bit easier.)

A minor job compared to those above was the raising and re levelling of the 5" track over the small bridge in the middle of the oval track. Thanks to Ted Williams, Bob Newman and Rob Lougher for their attention to this problem.

The signalling branch has been busy over the last few months and to date has ran out 110 metres of conduit and cable for the track over the trestle bridge thanks to Ivan Burns, John Crowhurst and new member Kelly Maybury for giving this project a good start.

Listed below is a draft /interim set of rules for the signals and whilst the committee is open to changes these are the rules that we will start to operate to. A fully illustrated copy of these rules is on display in the van.

C.C.S.M.Co-op. Signalling Committee

Driver Protocol

General Procedures

Use signals as an indication of track state ahead.
Obey all signals once within automatic signalling section.
If following a long consist (in excess of 3 carriages), count 5 seconds after signal clears before moving off.
If signal is at stop for more than 15 seconds, assume breakdown ahead.
Wait for signal to clear.

If visual check confirms no consist in following section, assume signal failure. Sound whistle & proceed at low speed. Report to Safety Officer.

If for safety reasons you must pass a signal at stop (low water etc.), sound whistle & proceed at low speed.

Should you encounter mechanical breakdown, stopping before you pass a signal will protect the rear of your consist with a Stop indication.!

Please pass on any comments or suggestions to a member of the signalling Committee

RUNNING DAYS.

A reminder of some important running days coming up firstly on the 19^th of July is the Lions Club Run that was postponed from May due to the rain.

Two weeks later is our own birthday run. Could members please let the club secretary know if they will be attending the running day and in particular the evening B.B.Q. for catering purposes.

There is another lions club run on the 18^th of October 2003.

The chargemans list of locos whistling out last running day was as follows -:

985	Mick Farrell
8002	Trevor Crowhurst
Marie Estelle	Lorne Brack
2705	Ted Williams
41 class	Club
Diesel	Stan Smith
A10	Tom Walker.
Dandy	Bob Newman
XPT	Allan Foggarty
42105	John Gordon.

As well as the above locos we had a visiting loco from Lismore in the form of Peter Laws’ 71/4 XPT Locomotive member Peter Le-May acted as guard and guide for the day to help out with this loco.

Member Tom Fink was able to take some photos of the activities on the day, which are on the web site (click here). As well Tom recorded the following details-:

"Owner/builder: Peter Laws
Usually operated by his nephew Brian Grey as a commercial operation in
Lismore.
Weight: 600 Kg
Width: 22"
Length: 10'
Height: 704 mm
Brakes: DVR system
I asked about the other end of the train. He said that another unit was under consideration. It would be the same except for colour scheme of Olympic blue and gold. A second set of controls would be accessible from the first riding car, to allow for driver training and for drivers of more than Australian standard body size. (I think that the train would look better without a full size human sticking out from the roof!). The new loco would be gauge: convertible between 7 1/2" and 7 1/4" as Peter plans to ship the new loco to the USA and visit as many tracks as possible there."

Photo by Tom Fink.

Peter Laws’ 71/4" XPT is turned on the turntable in the top steaming bay. Its size can be appreciated when you look at the 27 Class and 985’s tender in the background.

The visit of this loco was not without some comment two of the funniest heard being

"The 71/4 boys have finally converted Allan." And "I don’t know what Allan’s been feeding his loco but if I feed mine some to I’ll have to change to 12" gauge."

Photo by Rob Lougher.

As I said previously we had heavy rain in mid May and the track was flooded in some parts. The centre of the track opposite the station was no exception with our drains backed up to the same level as Narara Creek the above photo captured a group of ducks arriving at Narara Junction Station the big question is what gauge are the ducks?

We’ve managed to stay inside Australia Post’s 50c loading gauge don’t forget the Birthday and Lions runs.

[home page][More issues of Short North]

For the information of members and not for publication. Instructions to Station Masters, Guards, Drivers and all others concerned.

AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION OF LIVE STEAMERS.

_________________________________________________

SPECIAL TRAIN NOTICE NO.1-2003.

_________________________________________________

TIMETABLE FOR SPECIAL LOCMOTIVE HAULED TRAINS

NARARA JUNCTION – BIRTHDAY LOOP – NARARA CREEK AND RETURN.

A/C CENTRAL COAST STEAM MODEL CO-OP LTD.

BIRTHDAY RUN.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2^ND SUNDAY, AUGUST 3^RD	NL01		NL02
Narara Junction dep Birthday Loop Narara Creek arr Thence every 5 minutes until 10.00 PM	AM Mixed 9.00 9.01 9.05	Narara Creek dep Birthday Loop Narara Junction arr	PM Mixed 9.55 9.59 10.00

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING THE RUNNING OF SPECIAL TRAINS

SATURDAY’S RUNNING WILL BE OUR NORMAL CLUB RUNNING DAY FROM 11-00 TO 4-00 BUT THERE IS NO OBLIGATION ON VISITING ENGINES OR CREWS TO CARRY PUBLIC.

THERE WILL BE A BOTTOMLESS CUP OF TEA OR COFFEE AVAILABLE IN THE GUARDS VAN (NOTE THIS VAN IS TO BE MARSHALLED AT THE NEWCASTLE END OF THE CLUBHOUSE AND THIS VEHICLE IS FITTED WITH A HANDBRAKE.)

LUNCH WILL BE AVAILABLE ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

SATURDAY NIGHTS TEA WILL BE A B.B.Q FOR MEMBERS AND GUESTS AT A COST OF$7-50 TO BE PAYED ON THE DAY

IF POSSIBLE MEMBERS AND GUESTS SHOULD REGISTER WITH THE SECRETARY BEFORE THE 17^TH OF JULY.

OVERNIGHT SECURITY WIL BE AVAILABLE IF NEEDED BUT PLEASE LET THE SECRETARY KNOW ON THE ATTACHED REGISTRATION FORM.

THE SECTION NARARA JUNCTION – BIRTHDAY LOOP – NARARA CREEK AND RETURN WILL BE CLOSED AND UNAVAILABLE TO TRAFFIC FROM 10.00PM SATURDAY THE 2ND OF AUGUST 2003 UNTIL 11.00 AM SUNDAY THE 3RD OF AUGUST 2003 DUE TO CURFEW RESTRICTIONS.

SPECIAL TRAIN NOTICE NO.1 – 2003.