Unusual load - 3 steam locos by road 5-6 Sep 09

Just back from Puffing Billy where they are loading 2 smalll 3ft 6in gauge steam locos and a garret of the same gauge to go from the Puffing Billy Museum to Bellarine Penninsula Railway near Queenscliff. I had to leave as after the big tank loco and the garret were loaded. There was still a couple of hours of mucking around to load the 3rd loco and a small tipping wagon to go.

By the time you read this 2 of them should be in Doolan's Moorabbin yard and the 3rd one almost loaded.

The plan for the move is to leave Moorabbinaround 8:30 then via South RD, Beach Rd and over the Westgate arond 10am where there is some press function. They will be unloading at the railway crossing in Portarlington rd around 3pm so that road may be blocked for a while.

I am uploading pic now put about to fly out the door again so will put them in here tomorrow

some photos as promised


The trucks involved in the movement of the 1st loco


first loco almost loaded. due to the Mack Tow Truck being parked parallel to the Western Star they ran the rope to the rear coupler and winched it forward so they didn't pulll loco and track off the float!


The Mack Tow Truck at work. It hauled 3 locos and one wagon (combined weight over 100 tonnes) forward without ever lifting off idle. Every time I see one of these big tow trucks in action I am impressed by the power they have. The uncoupled the front loco at the bottom of the ramp and loaded them


The garratt loco almost loaded


for the garratt they winched it through the gooseneck of the float. they also had a dolly lined up to go under it


garratt finally loaded


it was taking 2 hours to back the floats in, lay the tracks etc before they could load. There were too many people hanging around (including railfans complaining to staff trying to do a job to get out of their photos :) so I left before the 3rd one was loaded as I had another engagement. For info the 3rd loco was a little Perry built in South Australia. just visible in this photo.



more at www.flickr.com/photos/bparo2003/sets/72157622124602831/

Also why is it those with the imported cars have an attitude problem. WE usually see quite a few ford/holden hoons on that road but this day they all slowed down to a crawl to go past where the people and action was. It was the BMW/Mercedes/ 4wd owners who were roaring through flat out (and a Hyundai that almost found the bullbar on a Western Star - do wonder they are called "Hi and Dies") and abusing the traffic control staff saying they had no right to stop raffic (even when the road was blocked by truck/trailer combinations )

Nice pics Bruce,I`d guess it cost more to move them thasn buy them?Well done.

Stupendous, Bruce. Thanks for taking the time to post. It does make you wonder if people can't handle being delayed slightly what would happen if something serious happened. Must be interesting in their little world.

great pics there Bruce,
not to oftern you see a Kenworth with Mack sign writing

Thanks to Atkipete here are some photos of them on the move today


Ex Fyansford cement works Beyer Garratt No 2, built by Beyer Peacock in Manchester in 1939 for the cement works, and worked there until the early 1970's, then donated to Puffing Billy for display. It is actually a combination of the engine units on No 2 and boiler units of No 1 as in the final few years the boiler on No 2 needed repair so they swapped the better boiler unit off No 1 as No 2'es engine units were in better condition

The Grey is not an undercoat (sound familiar;)) it was being repainted into the scheme Beyer-Garrett used for their builders photos. In the days when it was built it was common for engines to be painted in the builder's livery for photographs in their catalogue & advertising prior to repainting them in the customer's colours. It was to be grey with black and white lining etc which came up well in photos of the period



Pozieres was built by Andrew Barclay in Scotland in 1919as part of a war service order that was close to completion when peace was declared so it was sold to the Broken Hill Associated Smelters in Port Pirie as one of 4 similar locos (3 of which still remain).


Ex Fyansford Perry No 11, built for the State Rivers Commission in 1929 by Perry in South Australia for the construction of the Hume Weir. From there to SEC and the Yallourn mines, finally to Fyansford in 1946. The wagon with it is a "dustcart, used for taking waste to the dumping sites. There are another 2 wagons still to be picked up (probably just a tilt tray job really) - they are not that big or heavy

The two ex Fyansford locos have joined with three other survivors on the Bellarine Railway at Queenscliff, and it is intended to restore Pozieres and the Garratt reasonably quickly. No 11 may be kept as a display locomotive, as it is the last original Perry loco of its type, all other survivors have been significantly modified.

great pics bparo (even though they are trains)

Andy, you should try lining up behind a fatal to see what the human race is like. Having been caught up in too many it really amazes me what gets said from by standers and over the UHF. There is nothing that doesn't get winged about. yer sure we may be held up for a few hours but at least we will get home to our families.

Bruce N Pete, nice work thankyou

Sarge :-X

I don't normally reactivate old thread but this is relevant.

I was invited to go down to the Bellarine Penninsula Railway in Queenscliff to witness the official relaunch of Pozieres (the black engine in the above photos) as a running locomotive. The invitation was due to the work I did as a Puffing Billy Museum volunteer who helped ensure the engine still existed for them to restore. My first experience in its conservation was in around 1978 and I never thought I would see it running again!

The loco has been stripped down to the frame, the wheels removed and new axles machined and fitted, and completely rebuilt and reassembled. They were lucky that the boiler and tubes were sound (a new one was fitted in 1951 and it went out of service in 1966). The rebuild took 15 months (it sat for a while due to other priorites and maintenance requirements.

All I can say is congratulations to the BPR for a great job and thank you for the public recognition of the work undertaken to make sure the loco survived for over 40 years so it could be made to live again.





and a heap more pictures at
www.flickr.com/photos/bparo2003/sets/72157627878037309/detail/

Bruce, well done mate. Thanks for putting those pictures up. For the uneducated at least we now know how they load them. I will look out for them to go past today as I live by the Portarlington road where they will go down to Drysdale to unload. Might even be able to go take a bo peep at the unloading area. Cheers Tim