Dug out some old photo's, thought I'd share.
Nov 21, 2015 11:42:33 GMT
smallbrother, ejparrott, and 3 more like this
Post by Lisa on Nov 21, 2015 11:42:33 GMT
The temperature was getting near 40°C today, so I spent most of the day in front of the air conditioner vent. While I was there I dug out a few photo's I thought I'd share. Quality's not so good, as they're photo's of photo's, but hopefully there's something of interest to someone.
In roughly chronological order:
Southport, Gold Coast, summer of 1988/89. 5" gauge by the sea. Dad had got permission from the City Council to lay a track in a park that also held a full-size C17 4-8-0, that I can well remember climbing all over that summer.
The loco, known to us as "the switcher" was dad's first 5" gauge loco, built by Bruce Teasdale (the last he built as I recall). Just under the cab can be seen the whistle, the plans for which I posted in the whistles thread a little while back.
No shoes on the passengers! Wouldn't get away with that these days.
Early 1990's sometime, Ettamogah Pub (Now Aussie World), Sunshine Coast. Dad got a permanent track in here, which remained for much of the 90's. A bit of a family shot this, at the end of a day's running; my sister driving "the yellow flyer" a railmower that served as the main backup loco; my brother wandering near an early Maxitrack Simplicity battery electric; and dad near the switcher, being blown down on the turntable in front of the train shed. The track here used to go around the house, and was dual 3½"/5" gauge, but the 3½" rail was ground off and used to make more track when it was moved here. Note the 18" long sleepers, paid for by the owner of the site, they were made the same width as the passenger carriages as an experiment in stability combined with the ½" rail height.
Toowoomba, about '96, portable track in the carpark across the street from the Darling Downs Model Railway Club during one of their open days. Yours truly driving dad's (highly) modified Sweet Pea, this was just after a rebuild, and so the old "temporary" cab was in place, and it looks like there's no sanding gear fitted at this point either. Camera flash decided it hated me for this one. I still don't know why dad ever bought this loco as it was terribly built, I think in the end the only thing that hadn't been replaced, remachined, rebuilt, or otherwise reworked heavily was the smokebox door (even the original boiler was scrapped, which resulted in a boiler inspector and boiler maker getting into a bit of trouble) - it was often referred to as Sweat Pee in its early days.
A bit blurry this time, but here's dad with the modified Sweet Pea about 2003 at an antique machinery rally near Toowoomba. One of the last commercial jobs he did. The is an off-side shot, we always ran clockwise in the later years of commercial operation, thus the "inside" or right side of the loco had the mechanical lubricator, sand box, and sanding gear.
About a year after this I replaced the weighshaft and reversing lever/stand, and did some work on the valves and ports. Plus rebushed everything that could be rebushed, I would have completely replaced the valve gear, which I was never overly happy with; but by then dad had decided to sell her, and didn't want me to bother.
In roughly chronological order:
Southport, Gold Coast, summer of 1988/89. 5" gauge by the sea. Dad had got permission from the City Council to lay a track in a park that also held a full-size C17 4-8-0, that I can well remember climbing all over that summer.
The loco, known to us as "the switcher" was dad's first 5" gauge loco, built by Bruce Teasdale (the last he built as I recall). Just under the cab can be seen the whistle, the plans for which I posted in the whistles thread a little while back.
No shoes on the passengers! Wouldn't get away with that these days.
Early 1990's sometime, Ettamogah Pub (Now Aussie World), Sunshine Coast. Dad got a permanent track in here, which remained for much of the 90's. A bit of a family shot this, at the end of a day's running; my sister driving "the yellow flyer" a railmower that served as the main backup loco; my brother wandering near an early Maxitrack Simplicity battery electric; and dad near the switcher, being blown down on the turntable in front of the train shed. The track here used to go around the house, and was dual 3½"/5" gauge, but the 3½" rail was ground off and used to make more track when it was moved here. Note the 18" long sleepers, paid for by the owner of the site, they were made the same width as the passenger carriages as an experiment in stability combined with the ½" rail height.
Toowoomba, about '96, portable track in the carpark across the street from the Darling Downs Model Railway Club during one of their open days. Yours truly driving dad's (highly) modified Sweet Pea, this was just after a rebuild, and so the old "temporary" cab was in place, and it looks like there's no sanding gear fitted at this point either. Camera flash decided it hated me for this one. I still don't know why dad ever bought this loco as it was terribly built, I think in the end the only thing that hadn't been replaced, remachined, rebuilt, or otherwise reworked heavily was the smokebox door (even the original boiler was scrapped, which resulted in a boiler inspector and boiler maker getting into a bit of trouble) - it was often referred to as Sweat Pee in its early days.
A bit blurry this time, but here's dad with the modified Sweet Pea about 2003 at an antique machinery rally near Toowoomba. One of the last commercial jobs he did. The is an off-side shot, we always ran clockwise in the later years of commercial operation, thus the "inside" or right side of the loco had the mechanical lubricator, sand box, and sanding gear.
About a year after this I replaced the weighshaft and reversing lever/stand, and did some work on the valves and ports. Plus rebushed everything that could be rebushed, I would have completely replaced the valve gear, which I was never overly happy with; but by then dad had decided to sell her, and didn't want me to bother.
