ex WAGR W901 Steamtown Peterborough South Australia

W901 formerly from the West Australian railway system, was in 1992, videoed while returning from Orroroo South Australia, to Peterborough. The forward part of the trip was not here because we were held up by a creek which had flooded over the road from Gladstone, and was running fast at quite a depth.
The steam locomotive is running in reverse as there is no turntable or other turning facilities at Orroroo. After arrival back at Peterborough, W901 is shown shunting around the yards there. The carriages are ex trans Australia railway cars, which were here seen runnung on 3ft 6inch bogies in place of their original standard gauge bogies. The railway on which the train was videoed,was once part of the main rail network, and this section was a part that connected Sydney via Broken Hill to Quorn from where it originally met the Commonwealth Railways Port Augusta to Alice Springs line which was also 3ft6in gauge.
(the line from Sydney to Broken Hill was and still is standard gauge).
The carriages featured, in this video, operated on the original standard gauge section between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie. Due to deterioration of the track, and expensive maintenance requirements, the Steamtown Railway from Peterborough to Orroroo which was the main section utilised for Steamtown special trains, has now been closed. The locomotive and the carriages in this video, as well as a selection of other locomotives and rolling stock, are now on display at the railway museum at Peterborough which is well worth a visit. One of the locomotives on display, is NSU56 which is featured in another posted video entitled: Pulling up the Central Australia Railway 1993. G.R.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• steamtown
• railway
• peterborough
• south australia
• 1992
• w901

[reidgck]

@mechknight73 Apparently when running tender first, much more pressure is put on the lower slide bar because the weight of the connecting rod and slide gear is not offset by the otherwise uplifting tendency exerted on the slide gear if the locomotive is going forward -- so the lower slide bar gets all the wear when running in reverse. Also the further back position of the sliders catches stirred up dust which mixes with the lubricating oil forming an abrasive misture akin to grinding paste.

[reidgck]

@Mechknight73 G123 I think was the loco I rode behind between Bunbury and Busselton in early 1970. I've 20 minutes of 8mm film of it and steam in the south west of WA taken at that time. Hope to get it on here one day but it is a hassel getting it to a computer file so it tends to not be done in a hurry. Have some slides too. By the way, according to railpage page, the PMR at Peterborough needs a boiler tube job and has excessive wear on the lower slide bars due to the 50% tender first running.

[Mechknight73]

@reidgck In my case, I was too young to see them when they were still working commercially. WAGR retired the last of its steam locomotives in 1972, a year before I was born. I've been past the Pichi Richi rail yards about 4 times in daylight (have made the Nullarbor crossing 5 times)

The bulk of the working steam survivors work for Hotham Valley Railway, mostly based in Pinjarra, 100km south of Perth. Their oldest is G123, the longest serving of the WAGR fleet, pulling forest explorer trains

[reidgck]

@Mechknight73 I didn't know about the blue paint job. Sounds unique! When I saw it in 1990 it was in original colours. At least it still exists. By the way, not long back, I put a video with W934 in it, on the youtube / reidgck channel taken on Pichi Richi Railway in South Australia back in the 1980s. It's about the third row down at present. As you once fired them, you might like to see it.

[Mechknight73]

@reidgck I know that one, and it's still there. It's the blue paint that threw me off; the original paint job was the standard forest green and black

[reidgck]

@Mechknight73 I think there is also PMR729 at Koolgardie Museum. It was in the station there when I last visited in 1990. I think that was the number I looked that up on the tripple W - steamlocomotive . com / lists / Australia.shtm - website. But that visit was a while back now. The loco might not be still there. I live in Victoria, It's a long way to go to WA to check it out.

[Mechknight73]

@reidgck Not many of the PMR class survived. Outside of the one ar Peterborough, I know of only two others. PMR721 that lives at the old Northam train station, and PMR735, that is in bits in an industrial yard in Burswood

[reidgck]

@roodogt67 It seems the roller bearings generally outlasted the locos in original service anyway. They would not have required constant oiling as the white metal ones probably did, and would have cut down on friction I guess.

[roodogt67]

Sorry I cant answer that, but maybe able to find out by talking to some of the old drivers. unfortunatly most of the old steam fitters have passed on

I figure rollers were trouble free on V & W as I cant recall any discusions on the footplate

with roller bearing trouble

[reidgck]

@roodogt67 -- What were the easiest to maintain the white metal plain bearings or the rollers? The ex Tasmania M class at Queenscliff had trouble with roller bearings and the wheels had to be pressed off to replace them. Quite a job! The white metal bearing setup would not require that. I surpose if oil was kept to the white metal the life would be good. But then again, the roller bearings would probably have a good life too if dirt was kept out of the works and lubrication was present.