Warren, I don’t want to be picky and cast any aspersions after the excellent effort you have show above, but, that last pic of the “Moreton” bears an uncanny resemblance to this:
from the “John Bowning Collection”. Please note the aspect ratio is different.
Great thread, guys!. Thanks for all the pics and info.
-Brian
Warren Mumpower said:The photos you've found have sown some doubt in my mind. Perhaps I saw the cab side opening as porthole windows. I thought the front windows were portholes, but maybe it's my memory playing tricks on me.
It's strange that you also say "Shay" had porthole windows. I have a number of pictures of it but none show it with portholes. I'm wondering, since 2 people say they have seen her with portholes, if there were temporary mods made to the cab to make it appear with portholes while it was on display at the school or in Mapleton. Both displays occurred during the 80's.
Edit: I just remembered that a friend had told me about the porthole Shay, so that’s 3 people.
Tony, it is the same picture. I cropped and resized it for the sake of fitting on the forum page. As I’ve never been to Australia I must rely on other people’s photography. Posting was for the sake of illustrating the above conversation. I think most of those photographs were from his collection. Some that I didn’t use even had his wife in the pix…
Nah, just the side windows were rounded (bottom side flatenned out), this was a steel cab added to the loco after the rebuild into ‘shay’. Front windows were square. The cab exactly as seen above with the rounded side windows only. I’ll get digging and scan some. Back in the 1970s I made a match stick model of Valdora! Still have it today. It was cute as a button that lil loco. Ma was a professional Mucision. Every Christmas to New Year period from around 1979 - 1983 she used to be part of a Tour to Queensland with the Australian Pops Orchestra in those years…so Dad and I would go with her…while she played in the Orchestra, we went train hunting! The Nambour locomotives were always my favorite…I’d not been back untill Nov last year for work - so much had changed.
interesting to see folks from across the world take an interest in them now. Sadly where Nambour used to be a magnet for cane enthusiasts - now that the mill is gone and there is no hint at all of their RR past, there is nothing there to see. Even the Big Pineapple, just outside Nambour, which was a tourist draw car for some 30+ years was nothing but a shabby run down place last year, and the Coolum loco gone…Coolum had been the best seen, and most looked after of the lot being in such a public place.
Mark Fry wrote a series of Articles last year in Narrow Gauge Down under about 8-14 Ton shays, and included the Moreton Shays and their history. Look up Narrow Gauge down under and if interested, email the editor Gavin Hince for a copy.
David.
David Fletcher said:
Nah, just the side windows were rounded (bottom side flatenned out), this was a steel cab added to the loco after the rebuild into 'shay'. Front windows were square. The cab exactly as seen above with the rounded side windows only. I'll get digging and scan some. Back in the 1970s I made a match stick model of Valdora! Still have it today. It was cute as a button that lil loco. Ma was a professional Mucision. Every Christmas to New Year period from around 1979 - 1983 she used to be part of a Tour to Queensland with the Australian Pops Orchestra in those years..so Dad and I would go with her..while she played in the Orchestra, we went train hunting! The Nambour locomotives were always my favorite..I'd not been back untill Nov last year for work - so much had changed.interesting to see folks from across the world take an interest in them now. Sadly where Nambour used to be a magnet for cane enthusiasts - now that the mill is gone and there is no hint at all of their RR past, there is nothing there to see. Even the Big Pineapple, just outside Nambour, which was a tourist draw car for some 30+ years was nothing but a shabby run down place last year, and the Coolum loco gone…Coolum had been the best seen, and most looked after of the lot being in such a public place.
Mark Fry wrote a series of Articles last year in Narrow Gauge Down under about 8-14 Ton shays, and included the Moreton Shays and their history. Look up Narrow Gauge down under and if interested, email the editor Gavin Hince for a copy.
David.
Soooooo don’t they have historical societies up there in Queensland? Or just not a big enough attraction?
dono what you point is HJ. The Shay has been moved to the Ipswitch museum for future cosmetic restoration and will probably be dispayed there. But it is curious that Nambour seem to take total disinterest in their particular cane history. The rest of the fleet seems to have dispersed into private collections, or other attractions. There is a cane train museum further inland from Nambour, with a large collection of poorly kept equipment, rusted beyond belief…a good collection none the less that should probably see restoration in time. It however does not have any of the Nambour locos. Anyway here are some photos: The Shay as original displayed at the fence line of the school next to the Moreton Mill Carpark, Nambour, taken around 1980:
Here she is at the Ipswitch Museum in Noc 2006. awaiting restoration. Kept on the flat car for ease of movement (its a very large site, the Workshops Museum).
The Fowler 0-6-0T ‘Coolum’ taken in the early 1980s at the Big Pineapple:
Eudlo in the Moreton Mill Carpark - this shot taken in 1983, also a Fowler 0-6-0T. I have a photo of her someplace taken in 1980 and she’s all rusty. So they did some work to her later on.
and Valdora in the Nambour park in the early 1980s. I believe this loco is now privately owned, out of public sight.
Sorry all the photos are so bad - these were taken on my old Kodak instamatic camera, and over time the photos seem to have lost their contrast somewhat. Going through these old photos brings me back. I’ve not looked through these albums for 20 years! I also found old layout photos! I started messing around with SLR cameras in late 1983 at school. I took these couple of photos at the Annual AMRA show in Melbourne in March 1984 using a borrowed school camera. This is Tony Walsham’s layout on display there with some of his HOn2 1/2 product line. ‘Puffing Billy Models’. I found Tony’s layout to be very ispiring to me.
Hope you enjoyed the tour! If anyone has clearer info on where the Steam loco 0-4-0T Valdora (there is a Diesel of that name), and Eudlo, Coolum are today, do let me know! David.
Thanks for the photos David.
Don’t apologise for the quality of the photos. I used to dabble in photography (at best I’d say semi-pro) and people would often ask me what’s the best camera. My answer is always, “the one you’ve got with you”.
Now with digital photography, people are deleting most of their shots. So in 50 years time me may have none of those old historical photos.
Dave,
If there is all this stuff worth preserving, where are the historical societies doing it??
It is interesting HJ…maybe its just that region hasn’t come to miss the ‘loss’ yet. There are plenty of preservation groups, and further north some excellent steaming cane train groups. But given the large interest in cane steam, it is surprising how there was no push to create a Moreton train museum, nor provide better assistence to the cane museum inland from Moreton, which could definitely use some funds and volenteers to look after their collection.
Maybe in 10-15 years time there may be a drive to bring the equipment back to Nambour and set up an attraction.
David.
David, the following information is what I have on the locomotives: Valdora: Sunshine Coast Railway Modellers Society, Nambour (2004) Eudlo: Donated to the Nambour and District Museum (2004) Moreton: At the Ginger Factory Nambour (dieselized) Valdora (0-4-0DH): Botanical Gardens North Bundaberg…fully restored and operational Maroochy: At Kallangur partially dismantled Petrie: Warwick Turner, Echuca, Victoria (1985) Coolum: Location currently unknown Bli Bli: Location currently unknown Of the active DH’s at the time of the closing, most went either to Babinda or Bingera. E.M. Baldwin Coolum went to Fairymead…but that mill has since closed and I don’t know where the locomotive went after that. Maroochy (0-4-0DH), also seems to have fallen off the end of the world. This was the locomotive that was Valdora’s twin and was MU’d to Valdora. Another event that’s about to take place is the merger between Maryboraugh Sugar and Bundaberg Sugar. Up to this point it has looked like they were borrowing the script from the LGB fiasco. Let’s just hope that these locomotives don’t become lost forever. 0-4-0DH Valdora fully restored at the Botanical Gardens
What a GREAT set of photos, David - thanks for posting!
Having grown up on the other side of the pond, only emigrating to Oz in my 20s and now having lived here longer than there, I feel that the US train “kultcha” is far more deeply ingrained than Australia’s. That’s the best explanation I can offer for the apparent lack of interest in preserving what is, without a doubt, a very important piece of Queensland’s, and Australia’s, railway heritage.
That said, it’s worth keeping in mind that there are more people in California than there are in Australia, a country almost identical in size to the continental USA. Western Australia alone is bigger than the US east of the Mississippi, and it has fewer people than Brooklyn. Several of my friends and acquaintances are active in preserving Western Australian historical sites. They have done some great things, but there is no great groundswell of interest in their work.
You make a good point Dave and are spot on. New Zealand in an exception on a lot of levels, and has an interesting preservation movement, with more steam preservation projects (and historic aircraft!) per population than just about anywhere. I guess it comes down the passion of the people in the area. The good news for Nambour as Warren has uncovered, is that two of the locos are actually still there! Valdora 0-4-0T and Eudlo. When I asked around town last year, no one knew anything, and all said the locos had ‘gone’ a couple of years before (even the tourist info didn’t know anything!) , so I guess we may have to wait some time before the public once again gets to see them again…but it looks like they’re in the right hands. They will be preserved.
Thanks for finding out what I wanted to know Warren. Good news all round.
Interesting thread chaps.
David.
Dave Healy said:I moved in the opposite direction and am now 1/3 Canadian by age (and weight :-s ), and I think you're right - to a degree. There seem to be enough model train enthusiasts, and therefore presumably 1:1 enthusiasts, in Oz to support a local magazine. Where the US, with 15 times the populatiuon of Oz, certainly does not have even 10 times the number of mags, maybe not even 5 times. And Canada, with 50% greater population, has no such magazines.
Having grown up on the other side of the pond, only emigrating to Oz in my 20s and now having lived here longer than there, I feel that the US train "kultcha" is far more deeply ingrained than Australia's. That's the best explanation I can offer for the apparent lack of interest in preserving what is, without a doubt, a very important piece of Queensland's, and Australia's, railway heritage.
It would seem then that the interest is there. However, Oz has a MASSIVE magazine industry compared to it’s population, so maybe a magazine is profitable with a smaller readership and therefore not a good indicator of enthusiast population.
The main difference I’ve detected between Oz and Canada (and I’ll include the US with Canada as there are many shared values and outlooks) is one of attitude. In Oz, I would rarely tell anyone that I was a model train buff. To do so would bring comments of childishness and worse. Here in Canada, OTOH, I can say it as a matter of fact and people just accept it. At worst they’ll say nothing but often they will ask a question or two. A common comment is for them to mention other people they know with layouts in the basement.
Australia seems to have plenty of rail museums and preservation groups but there seems to be an official disdain for such projects. I suspect public officials want to be seen to share that public attitude I mentioned above.
And let’s not forget that Queenslanders are … different. 
Paydirt for David Fletcher. Follow THIS LINK and it will take you to a comprehensive list of all retired cane locomotives still in existence and who owns them.
Warren Mumpower said:That is bloody amazing!
Paydirt for David Fletcher. Follow [url=www.lrrsa.org.au/LRR_SGRc.htm]THIS LINK[/url] and it will take you to a comprehensive list of all retired cane locomotives still in existence and who owns them.
One of the problems with these locomotives is that they are small enough that they can be stuffed in someone’s garage or small warehouse and out of sight. The term “preserved” doesn’t seem to have the same meaning there as it does here. There it seems to simply mean that it’s still in existence regardless of condition. Those that I know are still running are:
Homebush 0-6-0 Hudswell Clarke
Bundy 0-6-2T Bundaberg Foundry (most likely a Fowler)
Flash 0-6-2T Perry
I’m sure there are others that have gone elsewhere and are running.
Thanks for the link Warren! Terrific stuff. As you note, they would be scattered about and in some cases in private back yards, while under the ownership of various organisations.
Thanks mate,
Most interesting and helpful.
David.
Kevin, I agree totally with your point about attitude. Spotted a bumper sticker here a while back that read “HELP! My husband plays with trains!” Can’t imagine it getting much of a run in the US.
Warren, your next project will be researching the intricacies of Australian tax returns. Once you’re on top of it, let me know . . . .
Dave, that may be a while. I’m still sinking in the intricacies of US tax returns…
To win there you have to sell your soul to the devil…