A Trio of Transport History

And they sounded better than they looked too, Colin! :-)

Bob

Just opened My Pictures to check the photos, Barnray.

Took the photos at 4.10pm on 19th, so they weren't wasting any time, eh! Wonder if they opened them right up, once they hit the NT border?

Yeah, sounded awesome alright. :-)

Bob

Went through The Alice in 2011, but were pushed for time to stop at the Museum, Mike.

Only 2-3 days drive for us to go there, so maybe next year?

The Truck and Machinery Museum in Winton is worth a look too, if anyone is heading through town. Not been going as long as The Alice, but are getting plenty of support, and have some good exhibits with lots of old "stuff" down the back.

Bob

Bob, is the Truck amd Machinery museum the one adjacent the musical fence? We were there last week and had a look over the fence. Can youget inside to have a better look. Had an interesting chat with the publican at the Tatts pub about the parrot sanctuary they are establishing too.

Yes Des, gate is at the front, on the Hughenden road. Free entry, open from about 8am - 6pm.

You might have seen me, walk the 2 dogs past there every morning. :-)

Paul is good to have a yarn with, as well as running a good pub. He's a great ambassador for Winton. I know the area where the night parrot has been found very well.

Bob

The Winton Truck & Machinery Museum is well worth a visit,
and well worth the very modest $5 admission fee that SWMBO and I were asked to pay when we were there a month or so ago...
(Might be free for you Bob, but us 'mere mortals' have to pay ;)))-

Open the link for some pics of what's inside the shed >>
Winton's Diamantina Heritage Truck & Machinery Museum

:)

G'day Bob, it's fantastic news regarding the Night Parrot. Do you know the name of the website that the group are using. It would be very interesting to see what they are planning and doing.

Apparently Bush Heritage bought the parrot area, Des, so you could keep an eye on their website.

They are keeping the area secret at this stage, because of possible poachers and other less desirable activities.

Bob

Bush Heritage have just put out an urgent request to members for funds to support this project.
Please consider making a donation - which is tax deductible - as they have been asked to take this on in addition to their normal work load
Cheers
Andrew

Been past the old powerhouse many times, Mike, and it always seems deserted.Well, except during school days when there's volumes of kids arriving/departing at the place of the 3 R's. There's also a Mens' Shed right next door.

Probably doesn't get the recognition that those other attractions do, on the other side of town. :-(

Bob

Actually Bob when I went there, there was no one in attendance but seeing the doors open in I went!
Did not notice the Mens Shed either
I would love to hear one of those big straight eight turbo Mirrlees pumping out some kilowatts, they sure had a "heartbeat".

From the '50's I recall the big 420kva. 8cyl. Blackstone at the (Vic.) Licola sawmill where I worked.
From the log deck the whistle of the Blackstone turbo was as loud as the scream of the breaking down saw.
What a cacophony!! Ah.. memories.
mike

Mike, I think you're an engine tragic! :-)

Thanks for this follow up, as I'm in Longreach tonight, and head for the Barkly Homestead tomorrow, I'll have a day to spare in Longreach on Saturday, before heading back to the BH on Sunday. Might go down there and spend some time. Already been on the Jumbo!

You'd better come and have a look at the Winton Truck & Machinery Museum, Mike. Ergon recently dismantled/demolished their Winton powerhouse, and the Museum scored a "portable" genset. A V16 cylinder GM driving a ??? KVA alternator, all mounted in a special shed.

One year, back in my previous life, the Cook, one child 'n I were at Brunette Downs NT for some time(went up for 10 days and stayed 7 weeks) and they had a couple of CAT gensets. The bigger one was powered by a 3406 engine driving 225 KVA alternator, and used to sound pretty good at full song. They didn't use it much because it used huge amounts of diesel.

Got a couple more engine anecdotes, but will leave 'em for later.

Bob

The Longreach powerhouse museum is only open from 9 AM to noon Tuesday to Friday - See web site. They have a bit of the DCA Aeradio station from the local airport there as well, see the RH picture (similar to the Dubbo one I used to maintain in the 60s.)

Well that's a bugger, Peter. Will have to find something else to do tomorrow.

Thanks
Bob

Bob, the best genset I've ever heard was a monstrous English Electric V16 (about 1600 HP from memory) that drove a 1000KVA alternator at the Redross Nickel mine near Widgiemooltha.

I used to truck the sand to backfill the mine (with an old Perkins powered "butterbox" ACCO DF-1840 tipper, no less! LOL), and stockpile excess nickel ore from the ore bin, when the road trains of Gascoyne Trading were unable to keep up.

That big V16 would bark like nothing I've ever heard, when the winder driver pulled the lever to lift a loaded skip from the lower levels of the mine! It was music to an engine tragics ears! LOL

Cheers, Ron.

".......V16, ......1000KVA". That's a serious genset, Ron!!!

After being reliant on gensets for almost 45 years, I enjoy the sounds of any of them. It means they're still going! :-)

Maybe draw the line at those horrible El cheapo 2 stroke units sold by Bunnings and others.

Been awoken in the dead of night, by............NOTHING. Pull the slippers on and jog down to the power shed in my 'jammies, to see what the problem was. Ahh, memories. Now Mr Ergon does it all for me. :-)

Bob

Ha ha, dead right there, Pop.

Replacing a camshaft in a CAT 3208 would have been the pinnacle of my "mechanical career". :-)

Bob

Yeah, I know where you're coming from Bob.

Changing a camshaft on a 6v-53 in a TK Bedford NON tilt cab was the sort of stuff nightmares were made of as well.

(:=((

Don't know about you, but happily for me all that lot are a fast fading memory. Haha.

Cheers
Pop

Was never in your trade Pop, but being on stations, one needed to attain some degree of mechanical knowledge(and sympathy!) or else you had to walk home. :-)

Also ran a small earthmoving plant for my long time employer for 6 years, so have a bit of an affinity for Cat gear.........and their workshop manuals!

Yeah, memories are good, because you can always forget about the bad ones, and savour the good ones(preferably over a cold lager, with mates)

Thanks,
Bob

Geez, Pop - didn't you know the cab comes off a TK Bedford in less than 15 mins when you know what you're doing?

Everything under the Bedford cab is unclippable and quickly unboltable. It takes 15 mins for a Bedford guru to unbolt the linkages and steering and unclip the wiring harness - then you wind down the windows, slide two lifting straps through, protect the window frames with old telephone books ("what are they?", cry the youngsters! LOL) - and hey presto! - lift off the cab, complete!

I replaced a radiator in my TK Bedford without knowing all this - it was only when I found an old Major Motors bloke who cut his teeth on Bedfords, that he let me in on the cab removal trick! I wish I had known about it before I struggled with that radiator job!!

Cheers, Ron.