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This page last altered 1/12/2009 November 2009 26th November 2009 By late afternoon on Thursday 26th November, mast bases, cable pits, main cable conduiting and drain extension were completed. The next stage will be the concrete bases and an apron for the location box control cabinets which will be placed at the square pit which can be seen in the left of the left photograph below.
25th November 2009 There is always something to make any job a bit bigger than need be. In this case, in order to place one of the signal masts correctly, an existing drain had to be extended. This was done on Wednesday 25th November together with the commencement of installation of the cabling pits.
24th November 2009 The conduits for cabling to the signal masts at the Del Park Rd crossing at Dwellingup was installed by under-bore directional drilling. This was carried out on Tuesday 24th November by Cape Cable.
12th November 2009 HVTR was successful in its request for funding to install flashing lights at the Del Park Road (Newton St) level crossing in Dwellingup. On Thursday 12th November, site works commenced with location of existing underground services by Cable Locates and installation of the mast bases. To minimize disturbance of the surrounding area, particularly the road formation, the giant 'vacuum cleaner' used by the cable locaters for pot-holing cable positions, was used to create the holes for the mast bases.
11th November 2009
The line from Alumina Junction to Dwellingup was unfortunately closed once again by circumstances beyond our control. On Wednesday afternoon 11th November, a grader operating on Grey Rd Marrinup managed to engage the railway with its blade, severely damaging the line. One rail was broken and torn from its sleepers over a length of approximately 15 meters. HVTR is currently seeking compensation & repair costs from the grader operating organisation.
3rd November 2009 Completion of the siding at Alumina Junction built with significant assistance from John Holland Rail and Westnet earlier this year has been delayed due to many other priorities. In the first week of November, completion was brought a little closer when John Holland Rail had a tamping machine in the area and was able to lift, line & tamp the main siding for us between other works.
October 2009 28th October 2009 Wednesday 28th October saw the last steam run for HVTR in the very short 2009 season. Passenger loadings on all trains were very high with almost half the average 6 month season numbers carried in just 6 weeks. Thank you to all those who supported our re-commencement of the Steam Ranger services. Steam Loco G123 was returned from Dwellingup to Pinjarra for maintenance, as second engine on the returning Steam Ranger that day.
4th October 2009
The Pinjarra Steam Rangers have continued to operate to Dwellingup Sundays & Wednesdays with very good passenger loadings. Here, the Steam ranger is passing over the 3km bridge on the morning of Sunday 4th October.
September 2009 20th September 2009 Steam Ranger Returns - Sunday 20th September the first passenger train was operated from Pinjarra to Dwellingup. Here, W920 assisted by W903 depart Pinjarra with the first passenger train to Dwellingup since October 2006.
16th September 2009 Wednesday 16th September was a great day with a very successful commissioning run of the first thru train to Dwellingup since the fires. The train ran with three cars to Isandra, then light engine to Marrinup & return to Isandra, re-coupled to the three cars and on through to Dwellingup with no problems of any kind.
13th September 2009 On Sunday 13th September, the first train entered the HVTR line to Dwellingup for what was to be a commissioning service over the line. Unfortunately, problems were experienced with W920 which resulted in the train only reaching the 4.5km point and having to be recovered to Pinjarra by diesel electric traction. I guess we should have known better than to run the first train on a "13th".
6th September 2009 Sunday 6th September and the field installations for the level crossing lights is progressing. August 2009 31st August 2009 Back in the workshop at Pinjarra, the electrical control equipment takes shape. Initially, the lights will be manually operated with the automatic equipment being installed over summer following final ballast regulating etc.
16th August 2009 The following day, the same work was completed at the top crossing.
15th August 2009 Saturday 15th August saw commencement of the final mast work at the active level crossings. The tall mast with double lamp sets were easily worked on with the aid of a hydraulic work platform. Unfortunately, the weather was wet making work slow and uncomfortable. In the photos below, Andrew Bremner & Will Howard complete the mast work at the lower lights crossing.
9th August 2009 As the rollingstock & locos for the first trains are being readied, work continues on the level crossing lights. On Sunday 9th August, the battery location cases were installed, one at each crossing, and cabling was installed.
2nd August 2009 In the late afternoon of Sunday 2nd August, Bernie & Will take a break & pose for a happy snap following steam tests and mechanical examinations of W903 & W920. On the same day, C1702 and a quantity of the AH passenger coaches also had their fitness examinations.
July 2009 26th July 2009
Sunday 26th July saw further, more visual progress on the two sets of level crossing lights when the old painted steel masts were replaced by new galvanized masts, one of which can be seen in the background of the adjacent photograph (lamps yet to be fitted). As part of this work, the northern-most masts at each crossing are being replaced with much taller masts that will carry additional lights to give earlier sighting to approaching road users.
18th July 2009 As the railway re-construction nears completion, work has been continuing behind the scenes at Pinjarra preparing locomotives and rollingstock for the re-commencement of services. In the photographs here, Will Howard and Andrew Bremner re-fit the safety valves to W903 following inspection & testing whilst Derek Castagnetti is busy with painting on W920.
4th July 2009 Work on the Level Crossing Lights continued on Saturday 4th July with the pouring of the apron slabs around the bases for the electrical control cabinets. The upper crossing site is shown on the left with the lower crossing site on the right. Completion of the installation of these sets of lights is the last remaining major work to complete the full re-construction of the fire damaged infrastructure. Although this sounds simple enough, the work involved to achieve this is extensive, very diverse and all being carried out by HVTR itself .
June 2009 28th June 2009 On a wet, windy and cold Sunday, lifting and tamping of the HVTR Alumina Junction siding turnouts was tackled with an unpleasant day out enjoyed by all. New member Stuart Biss learnt a lot on the day, especially the primary use for long handled shovels as demonstrated below. Everyone worked very hard in the trying conditions resulting in the western set being completed and the eastern set being lifted ready for tamping which was completed in the following week.
26th June 2009
Although most efforts remain directed to restoring the fire damaged infrastructure, developing better infrastructure to enhance HVTR's ability to operate varying services into the future has not been ignored. Construction of a loop and dead end siding at Alumina Jcn with significant assistance from John Holland Rail and WestNet Rail has been a major undertaking (see April 20 & 22 news). Here, the Pemberton Tramway's 1975 model Passer Switch Tamper is being delivered by John Holland's' track machine transporter. This tamper is specially designed to tamp turnouts, where multiple rails need to be worked around during tamping, necessitating the tamping heads having tynes which can be individually moved sideways as required.
14th June 2009
On Sunday 14th June, the pre-cast concrete bases were installed at both upper & lower lights crossings for the electrical control cabinets. The two bases of the upper crossing can be seen here in front of member John Wilkinson. The cable pit installation Will Howard was working on the previous day can be seen in the shadows between John and the mini excavator.
13th June 2009
More cable pits. Here, HVTR member Will Howard works on the main electrical cabinet location pit at the upper crossing.
12th June 2009
The adjacent photo shows the lower lights level crossing following completion of the cable pit installations. Four of the five pits can be seen as well as the extended drain headwall on the extreme right of the photograph. The fifth pit is out to the left of the photo on the embankment where the electrical control cabinets will be installed.
11th June 2009 When the fires swept through in January 2007, the extent of damage one way or another was profound. The electrical cabling of the level crossing lights was destroyed which might be expected but if that wasn't enough, vehicles involved in fighting the fires or replacing power poles took their toll on the cabling "pits" as well with most wrecked by having been driven over. The old cable pits were small rectangular boxes made from fibre-cement which made them vulnerable to traffic. These have been replaced by the more modern
May 2009 23rd May 2009
On the weekend of May 23rd/24th, similar site work to that carried out the previous week on the lower lights (13.197km) crossing was undertaken at the upper lights (14.273km) as well as the installation of 4 new concrete cable pits.
17th May 2009 The major site work on replacing the two sets of Level Crossing Flashlight Sets commenced on Sunday 17th May with the installation of newly positioned mast bases. This portion of the works is being done to bring the installations in line with current standards. In addition, there will be extra lamps on one mast at each of the two crossings to provide better and earlier presentation to road users of the activated lights. The latest LED lamp heads will also be replacing the older incandescent lamps. Unfortunately, the local terrain is largely rock which necessitated the use of a jack hammer for most of the hole depth in order to break up the ground before it could be dug out.
16th May 2009 On Saturday 16th May, with the help of a more suitably sized machine to load the LA hoppers provided by Robbos Contracting, ballasting from the 21.500km point to Dwellingup was completed. Traditional Gravel (roundly 240 tonnes) was used as the ballasting material for this section of the line, thereby retaining the historical appearance of the branch line. This section was the only portion of the line not damaged by the bushfires. Approximately 900 sleepers have been renewed in this section to bring it up to a similar standard to the remainder of the rebuilt section, making the track generally consistent in strength & condition from Alumina Junction to Dwellingup. The Gravel used was obtained from the old Railway Ballast Pit adjacent to the line at approximately the 22.250km point. The photograph below shows a portion of the pit and a cutting in the foreground where the dead end ballast pit siding once stood. The payloader provided by Robbo's Contracting was a big time saver. 3 bucket loads with this compared to 28 bucket loads for the Bobcat to fill each LA was indeed a refreshing change. We owe Robbo's a big thanks for all the extra unpaid assistance they have provided to HVTR. Only a week previously, a smaller loader had been loaned to us by them for the weekend to help complete ballasting of the new sidings at Alumina Junction.
4th May 2009
The last ballasting with crushed rock road base was carried out from the 17.500km point to 21.500km. The ballast for this was stockpiled at Marrinup on what was the site of the siding there. Ballasting to the 21.500km was completed on Wednesday 13th May however forming and regulating of the ballasted sections from the 18.500km was yet to be carried out.
April 2009 22nd April 2009 The photo below is taken from the eastern end of the new loop, looking westward. This set of points will access a dead end storage siding and another set located behind the photographer will connect the tangent side of this set of points to the HVTR main line. These new facilities will greatly enhance HVTR's operational abilities, particularly as the dead end siding will stow equipment currently occupying the loop at Isandra, thereby freeing it up for train operations.
22nd April 2009 The points at the western (Pinjarra) end of the new HVTR Alumina Junction loop near completion.
20th April 2009 Below is the developing "new" Alumina Junction, looking somewhat different to the photos shown in the August 2008 News. With the re-sleepering of the WestNet Rail South West Mainline now complete, the HVTR area used as the Sleeper Depot is being developed into an operational facility for HVTR with the installation of a loop and dead end storage siding with significant and greatly appreciated assistance from John Holland and WestNet Rail. On Monday 20th April, track laying of the loop commenced.
18th April 2009 When the bushfires ravaged the area in 2007, all of the electricity infrastructure was also lost which included the power supplies to the two sets of level crossing lights in the 13 to 14km area. On Saturday 18th April, the transformers not replaced at the time were re-installed for HVTR by Western Power. The truck is parked on a cleared area where the replacement electrical cabinets will soon be installed.
Thanks to grant funding secured from WA Lotteries by the Rail Heritage Foundation of WA, the historic loco shed on the Western side of Pinjarra yard is currently receiving a new roof of Galvanized Iron sheeting to replace the once 'modern' asbestos roof. This probably makes a full circle for the roof cladding over the last 100+ years of the building's life.
16th April 2009 And the ballasting continues................. The fire damage from the 16km bridge to the 17.5km point was some of the worst on the line with multiple sleeper losses over long areas which then resulted in much of the formation being damaged and washed away with the ensuing winter rains. Significant quantities of new ballast material have been required in areas such as this. 3rd April 2009 As the ballasting work progresses, the important ballast regulating follows. The photos below show plowing and brooming being carried out immediately east of the 13km bridge (approx 13.4km). Consistent with all the other track maintenance equipment, this machine is an 'old timer' and a bit of an historic relic in its own right. Owned by the Pemberton Tramway Co, this Kalamazoo model T-40 Ballast Equalizer is ex Queensland Railways MMB12, which was completely re-built by the PTCo in 2000 following purchase of MMB8 & MMB12 from Queensland Railways as wrecks in October 1999. MMB12 has one significant ex WAGR component being the turntable which was provided to the PTCo by the Bennet Brook Railway of Whiteman Park which had many years earlier acquired two similar machines owned by the WAGR and subsequently built one machine from the two for use on their 2 foot gauge railway, resulting in some useful 'leftovers'.
March 2009 31st March 2009
As the re-commencement of Steam draws nearer, work is well underway on the various maintenance needs of the HVTR Steam Loco fleet. The adjacent photo shows the interior of W920's tender which has been thoroughly cleaned and painted. A great deal of this very important 'unseen' work is continually being carried out by the midweek volunteer gentry on Tuesdays & Wednesdays at Pinjarra..
21st March 2009
Early in March, Metropolitan Vickers built ex WAGR loco XA1401 was made operational for the first time in almost 2 years. Then on Saturday 21st March, XA 1401 was used for shunting moves at Pinjarra depot. The loco proved to be operating normally with a good deal of noise, vibration and obligatory smoke all of which the class were well known for. The XA should see the occasional outing this year across to Isandra from Pinjarra on the HVTR line to Dwellingup as the organisation strives to undertake more activities and operations of railway & heritage interest in conjunction with its tourist & leisure activities.
20th March 2009 On Friday 20th March, work was continuing to be carried out on the old Claisebrook (East Perth) Footbridge which is to be re-erected across the mainlines at Pinjarra linking the Hotham Valley Railway platform with the PTA platform, Alcoa Information & Tours centre, Pinjarra Visitor Centre and township. This steel footbridge (historic in its own right) is similar in appearance to the timber structure which existed at Pinjarra many years ago. The new bridge will not be in quite the same place however interpretive information will be presented for visitors to gain an understanding of the various histories involved. Federal Government Grant Funding has been provided for this project by the Rail Heritage Foundation of WA.
14th March 2009 Ballasted and regulated, the 'track' is starting to look more like a 'Railway' once again. These photos show sections of the finished work between Alumina Junction and Isandra.
7th & 8th March 2009
With the lining work completed, ballasting of the deficient areas could be commenced. Following earlier trials, two La hoppers were fitted with hydraulically operated discharge doors and operator side seating to make the ballasting task a better controlled affair, faster and safer. On Saturday 7th March, the La's were loaded at Isandra Siding and ballasting commenced. The enhancements proved to be an outstanding success. This photograph shows ballasting at roundly the 12.7km point on Sunday 8th March.
Left: La Hoppers being loaded at Isandra.
Right: Ballasting immediately east of Isandra on 8th March. The ballast regulator can be seen in the distance.
February 2009 22nd February 2009 The extensive re-sleepering works along the line had significantly disturbed the trackwork geometry, which was to be expected, necessitating corrective re-lining. This would be an enormous manual task and although modern tamping machines could do the work, their brute force would likely create bigger issues with sleeper fastenings on the older sleepers. Ex WAGR track aligning machine TM701 (owned by the Pemberton Tramway Co) having not operated for some 14 years was re-commissioned with surprising ease and commenced work at HVTR on Saturday 21st February. The photos here show the lining machine working at the 12km point on Sunday 22nd February, operated by Andrew Bremner and being assisted by Will Howard. By the close of the following Sunday, several hundred locations had been re-aligned between Alumina Junction and Dwellingup in just 4 working days.
December 2008 20th December 2008
This area had been sodden for some time as well as heavily congested with grasses and weeds. On Saturday 20th December, the wet side of the cutting was excavated to create a path for the water to disburse to the west. In due course, a small culvert will be installed under a nearby access level crossing (at m/v in photo background) as well as a concrete culvert under the railway at approx 11.250km, immediately west of the access crossing.
17th December 2008
One example of this was the eastern side of the 14.273km (upper lights) Level Crossing, where, on Wednesday 17th December, a concrete culvert was installed. This culvert will cater for water coming down the steeply graded line as well as water from the road which all previously converged on the railway, depositing significant silt mud between the lines. The pink lines in the photograph mark the locations of telephone cables which were identified for us by Cable Locates of Singleton prior to excavating.
4th December 2008 With the last of the ballast beams bolted into place and cross-tied, the task of ballasting was carried out. The track had been set & blocked to its correct position of line, level & cant allowing ballast to be tipped over it and pushed under the sleepers by hand using shovels. As the work progressed, the blocks were removed. The piece of timber on top of the rails in the foreground was used to minimize ballast within the checkrail.
November 2008
3oth November 2008 On Sunday 30th November, the 16km bridge sleepers were laid and the central 3 spans of ballast beams put into place.
28th November 2008 Roundly 90 metres east of the 16km bridge, a small rock cutting had clearly concentrated heat from the bushfires with devastating results to the track; this was found to be typical at all cuttings. Although the burnt out sleepers had been replaced earlier, significant lifting and lining was required to get the track back into order. Rock ballast was used here due to the large amount of water that flows in this steeply graded area during periods of heavy rain.
Bundles of sleepers were placed strategically along the bridge by crane in readiness for the laying of sleepers which would soon be carried out.
Once the main structural work of erecting the bridge was completed, safety hand-railings were fitted for the deck completion, laying of sleepers and ballasting work. By this stage, the structure is bringing a real sense of satisfaction to everyone as it approaches completion.
25th November 2008 By the end of the day, all spans of the 16km bridge were in place and fully assembled.
In order to place the first and last spans, the abutment sill base plates were carefully set into place, on the sill hold down bolts, at their design heights as the first job on Tuesday 25th November. The laser level and staff can be seen in use for this task in the photos below.
19th November 2008 The 16km bridge was constructed from the centre outwards. Each component of all the new bridges was designed with ease of assembly in mind with everything made to bolt into place. A strong focus on accuracy meant that once components and bracing were assembled, the completed assembly was structurally and dimensionally correct in every respect. This feature made for easy straight forward erection.
18th November 2008 The following day, the central span was fully constructed. This span is a fixed structure providing fixed end points, to and from which the remaining spans were to be placed with their expansion & alignment tolerant bearing connections.
17th November 2008 With the hold down bolts having been set into place the previous day, it was time to commence erection of the 16km bridge. On Monday 17th November, the trestle base plates were accurately set to their respective design heights, the trestles erected and the first two span beams positioned. The first span placed being the central span.
15th November 2008 The 16km bridge (located at 15.913km) with its 5 spans, is the largest and became the last of the 6 bridges to be rebuilt.
Meanwhile, significant local earthworks, filling, leveling and surfacing were undertaken in the vicinity of the bridge to provide a stable and safe work area from which to erect the bridge structure.
October 2008 29th October 2008
On Wednesday 29th October, the last ballast beam is lifted into place thereby completing the structural assembly work of the 13km bridge. By days end, all sleepers had been placed and fastened to the track enabling the tamping machine to be moved across the bridge to continue its work.
28th October 2008
Track machinery waits impatiently in the background to cross over and get on with track work, as the 13km bridge progresses towards completion.
27th October 2008
With decking placed and temporary safety railings erected, construction of the 13km bridge continues.
24th October 2008
Once again, our friends at CSBP Kwinana were quick to provide HVTR with with a quantity of redundant 300mm fibreglass pipes within a few days of us asking if they could help us as they had done earlier in the year. The adjacent photo shows the CSBP stores truck delivering the pipes to Pinjarra, all at no cost to HVTR.
23rd October 2008 With the trestles up, the 13km bridge quickly takes shape with placement of the span beams.
22nd October 2008 At last something
bridge-like starts to appear at the 13km bridge site with the erecting
of the four trestles.
8th October 2008
On the afternoon of Wednesday 8th October, light ballasting was trialed at the 12km where several short but deep lifts were required. The ST2 was used to propel two LA ballast wagons from Isandra to the 11.5km area where they were loaded by bobcat from a roadside stockpile of 'roadbase' crushed rock material. The trial was helpful in identifying how the material could best be placed, quantity assessments and most importantly operational and safety issues that exist with this work on the HVTR line with its uneven track shoulders and embankments etc. One outcome from the trials was a decision to equip two of the four LA wagons with hydraulically operated discharge doors in place of the existing manual system..
September 2008
25th September 2008
Another Bridge, Another Step, Another Milestone! Early on Thursday Morning, 25th September, the 10km Bridge was complete, allowing the ballast regulator and tamping machine to progress further along the line without the need for road transfer.
22nd September 2008
On Monday 22nd September, work commenced on erecting the structural steelwork of the 10km (Isandra) Bridge.
18th September 2008 If the fires weren't enough, nature and natural degradation made sure we did not forget the aging elements of the HVTR line. Below, the final stages of repair to the partly collapsed roof of a large timber culvert are attended to at the 9.120km, just to the east of Vezey road.
17th September 2008 On Monday 15th September, with most of the wet winter days over, workers from the Puffing Billy Railway of Victoria re-commenced work for HVTR on the Alumina Junction to Dwellingup line. The first task was to get on with the lifting, lining and tamping of the 6900 sleepers which had been previously inserted by the PBR team. Inserting sleepers is only half the job, they must also be packed firm and to the correct level for the track by a process known as "Tamping". Modern machinery will lift, line and tamp. however with so many old sleepers still in the HVR line, the modern processes would likely damage many sleepers which still have life in them. Therefore, older forms of mechanised maintenance have been employed with the use of a 1974 Plasser KST95 Beaver spot tamper owned by the Pemberton Tramway Co. This machine is a well traveled one, having been originally supplied to the Mt Isa railway, later sold to the Lithgow Zig Zag railway, then to the PTCo where it worked on their Lyall Line and now going strong at HVTR Pinjarra. The photos below, taken early morning on Wednesday 17th September, show the tamping work well underway near the 6.5km point, with the Pemberton Tramway Co tamper being operated by PBR team member, Ian McCorkelle.
10th September 2008 Looking somewhat like an ICBM ready for take off, ex WAGR Shunting Tractor ST2 is loaded onto the John Holland Track Machine Transporter at HVTR's Pinjarra Depot for delivery to the Alumina Jcn-Dwellingup line and unloading at Vezey Road, near Isandra Siding. ST2 will be utilised for light maintenance movements on the closed HVTR line and at Isandra Siding, until one of the heavier HVTR diesel mechanical Drury locos can be deployed for the main ballasting work. ST2 was recovered from Rottnest Island several weeks earlier, courtesy of the Rottnest Island Board, where it had been operating during the latter half of the 1990's on the island's tourist railway following restoration of ST2 and its sister ST1 in 1995 by Willis Engineering in Rivervale WA.
9th September 2008
Mid morning on Tuesday 9th September, the first two of four LA ballast hopper wagons were unloaded at the Vezey Road level crossing having been transported up from the Pemberton Tramway by JJ Hawkins & Co, operators of the John Holland rail machine transporter. The second two LA's were delivered the next day. In due course, these will be used to place ballast in areas that require it following the heavy sleeper replacements along the line.
1st September 2008 The uppermost portions of the 10km Bridge abutments required concrete filling as part of changing the bridge from a ballasted deck type to an open transom structure. With these having been poured on Saturday August 30, all of the remaining formwork was stripped on Monday 1st September , revealing the rough finished product. Some further trimming etc will be carried out in due course making the finished work all look like that which is shown in the lower right picture of the #2 pier.
August 2008
24th August 2008 On Sunday 24th August, the formwork for repairs on the East and West abutments of the 10km Bridge at Isandra were completed and the special repair concrete mixed in a special mixer and poured. Ian Willis, Ray Cooper and Andrew Bremner are shown below, carrying out the micro-concrete mixing, pouring & finishing.
23rd August 2008 On Saturday 23rd August, work continued on preparing the West and East abutments of the 10km Bridge for re-concreting of the damaged areas. The work involved a thorough breaking out of all damaged areas back to sound concrete followed by edging and benching with a diamond saw. Once this was completed, starter bars, reinforcing bars and threaded rods for securing the formwork were installed, followed by the formwork panels.
18th August 2008 New meets Old, or Vise Versa???... Monday 18th August saw the first train on the HVTR line at Alumina Junction since the January 2007 fires. The John Holland re-sleepering machine arrived hauled by South Spur Rail Services (Coote Industries) R1902. With the line still closed for repairs, HVTR has quarantined and made the initial 800m from Alumina Junction available to John Holland Rail for the creation of a temporary forward base and sleeper depot. This will be used for two projects, the relaying of the Alcoa private siding (on the left below) and the re-sleepering of the WestNet Rail line between Pinjarra and Brunswick. An area of approximately 7500 square metres has been cleared and will be surfaced with 400mm thickness of limestone to form the necessary hardstand area.
17th August 2008 On Sunday August 17, repairs were completed to the tops of the two piers at the Isandra 10k bridge with the pouring of micro concrete to the formed up areas of the piers. As can be seen, there was a deal of scaffold work required before the work on these piers could be carried out. Boral - Perth Formwork have continued to support HVTR with advice and discounted rates for everything we have required throughout the whole re-instatement project which has greatly assisted HVTR and we are very appreciative of their help.
8th August 2008 A little further progress has been made at the 16km Bridge with the installation of two small retaining wall structures immediately adjacent to each abutment base. This was necessary due to the steep terrain surrounding the bridge and the original abutments having been constructed with their bases quite high on the formed embankment. These retaining walls will ensure the abutments are not undermined by weather or local subsidence.
6th August 2008 Prior to the fires, the points operating & locking mechanisms at Isandra were installed on timber framings which of course burnt well being so old. New modern mechanisms on steel frame were installed at Isandra Siding over Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th August.
July 2008 29th July 2008 This month, saw the last of the steel sections for the 13km Bridge being finished. The photos below are of the steel sections being worked on at Watercon's workshop at Malaga. Earlier in the month, all sections for the 16km Bridge had been completed, galvanized and delivered to Pinjarra. Steelwork for the 3km and 10km Bridges having been completed earlier this year.
June 2008 28th June 2008 Steam Power recommenced at Dwellingup on Saturday 28th June with the return to service of the 111 year old G123. The photo below shows G123 crossing the new Davis Brook Bridge on its return to Dwellingup with the first service back from Etmilyn. This scene will be familiar to some people as a much older photo was used for one of HVTR's many postcards. Those interested in comparing the scenes will find the older photo elsewhere on the HVTR website.
A bright sunny day on 28th June provided an opportunity to take the photos below showing the finished product following the formwork having been stripped from the last major concrete works poured at the 16km Bridge on 20th June.
20th June 2008
On Friday 20th June, with the water level back down, the last of the major concrete repair works at the 16km Bridge were completed with the pouring of retaining footings around both west and east abutments. The photo on the left shows the west abutment with the concrete pump supplied by Boomcrete set up and awaiting the arrival of the concrete truck.
1st June 2008 Following the heavy rains of the previous day, the water was also well up at the completed 3km bridge.
May 2008 31st May 2008 It would have to be said that we just got all that concreting at the 16km bridge done in the nick of time!! On Saturday 31st May, whilst working on the last stage of the concrete works required at the 16km bridge abutments, it rained a bit. Well quite a bit actually, as can be seen from the photo below, only 8 days on from having finished the footings.
22nd May 2008 Following a couple of days of initial curing and a bit of rain, the formwork was stripped from the new footings at the 16km bridge site.
20th May 2008 With the reinforcing steelwork completed mid morning, it was in with the concrete, supplied by Hanson's Mandurah plant and pumped into place by Boomcrete of Mandurah. The 4 footings consumed a little over 30 tonnes of concrete.
19th May 2008 5th May 2008 With the first new concrete at the 16km bridge poured, accurate toweling off was carried out to ensure the necessary good base for the main formwork to be erected on. The Boss (Ian Willis) would have to be happy with this, everyone head down backside up working!
The task of replacing the 40 odd culverts lost in the bushfires has continued in the background and at Monday evening 5th May Robbo's Contracting of Pinjarra had progressed to culvert #28 at the 16.965km point. This culvert is in a high catchment area requiring a larger pipe than most of the other culverts. All of the replacement culverts have been bedded in, filled to rail height and compacted with crushed rock 'roadbase' to ensure potential for subsidence under traffic is significantly reduced or eliminated. The very heavy rains of 2007 turned the burnt out culverts into large washaways resulting in large quantities of roadbase fill being required.
4th May, 2008 Looking more like an archeological dig of ancient ruins than a railway bridge, work had progressed to where all blinding forms were completed by knock off time on Sunday 4th May as Rob, Ashley & Paul of Puffing Billy Railway proudly show off their handiwork.
3rd May 2008 At the beginning of May, work re-commenced at the 16km bridge with the forming and pouring of concrete blinding slabs around the 4 fire damaged trestle footings. These slabs will provide a flat and level base for the main formwork to be erected from and fastened to, preventing them from moving or floating as they are filled with concrete to reform the trestle footings. Accuracy of the blinding slabs was ensured so as to automatically provide accurate finished heights for the completed footings.
April 2008 24th April 2008 On Thursday 24th April, rails were placed over the 3km bridge by the Puffing Billy Railway team which completed the first of the four bridges between Alumina Junction and Dwellingup. The original ballasted deck bridge had rail joints upon it however with the new transom bridge rail joints have been arranged off the bridge structure, necessitating cutting of the original line which is being carried out in the adjacent photograph by John Shaw as Paul Trew looks on ensuring the cut is square and 'true'. The machine in the background of the photo is a tamping machine which arrived from the Pemberton Tramway several days earlier.
12th April 2008 Saturday 12th April was a big day. An access road bridge was created at Isandra by placing a wagon chassis across the waterway, ballast regulator was transported from Dwellingup to immediately west of the 3km Bridge, sleeper scarifier was transported from Isandra also to the west of the 3km Bridge and last but not least the 3km Bridge steel work was erected.
Late Saturday afternoon 12th April, the structural steel work of the 3km Bridge was fully erected. Just as the steel work at Etmilyn and Davis Brook went together with speed and ease, so too did the 3km Bridge. The structural steel work has all been manufactured to a very high standard by WaterCon of Malaga to all bolted designs created with HVTR, based on WAGR principals for all welded 20BSU steel bridges.
On Saturday morning a wagon chassis (QU25029) was placed by crane across the waterway immediately to the southern side of the Isandra Bridge. This chassis will be re-decked and provide access for bridge reconstruction as well as ongoing maintenance and emergency access as it joins what were two dead-ends of a fire break. 9th April 2008 - Isandra Siding
On Monday 7th April work re-commenced at Isandra Siding and the 10Km Bridge. Point timbers required replacing at each end of the siding and a significant quantity of the sleepers in the siding, which had been burnt from the fire. Photo on the left was taken Wednesday 9th April shows work progressing at the eastern end of Isandra. The 10km Bridge is immediately beyond the scarifier, which can be seen in the far distance of the photo.
5th April 2008 - Dwellingup Depot
On Saturday 5th April the sleeper scarifier having completed some 6500 sleeper replacements from the 3km Bridge to Dwellingup, was transported to Isandra for the completion of sleepering the siding and then the final portion of track between the 3km Bridge and Alumina Junction. Photo on the right shows scarifier loaded at Dwellingup on a tilt tray truck owned and operated by local Dwellingup Contractor Dave Every.
3rd April 2008 - 3Km Bridge
Left is a view showing the new M24 hold down bolts, held in place by special templates after having been set in place using the HIT500 chemical anchor system.
2nd April 2008 - 3Km Bridge The first of the 6 bridges from Pinjarra is the 3km Bridge. The concrete repairs at this bridge site were completed in May 2007 utilising special early funding provided by the Peel Development Commission. In April this year (2008) work commenced on completing the bridge. On Wednesday 2nd April the concrete foundations were core drilled to accommodate the new hold down bolts which will be chemically secured in place with a HILTI product - HIT500. March 2008 30th March 2008 - Davis Brook Bridge On the 30th March ballasting of the Davis Brook Bridge was completed. The ballast was delivered nearby from road transport, then placed on the hi-rail using a bobcat loader, then shoveled into place by hand. Approximately 27 tonnes of 50mm hard rock ballast was placed in this way over the 3 spans of the Davis Brook Bridge and the single span of the Etmilyn Bridge. 19th March 2008 - 16Km Bridge On the 18th and 19th March the abutment sills of the 16km Bridge were cut with hydraulically powered diamond saw (1.8m in diameter) to provide a non-canted mounting surface for the new bridge spans. When previously built in timber, the bridge was constructed on a grade as well as being canted. The new steel structure will have the cant accommodated within the ballasted deck. The concrete cutting was carried out by Freo Concrete Cutting. 16th March 2008 - Etmilyn Bridge
On the 16th March the first bridge was completed, this was the Etmilyn Bridge, the 6th bridge on the line from Pinjarra. Tony, Fish and Dave from Puffing Billy Railway of Victoria proudly posed for the occasion. 2nd March 2008 - Davis Brook Bridge
Over the 1st and 2nd March the structural steelwork was fully erected for the Davis Brook Bridge
February 2008 29th February 2008 - Etmilyn Bridge
On the 29th February trestles and beams were placed at the Etmilyn Bridge site. Work continued to progress throughout the month of February, principally on sleeper replacements east of Scarp Road.
January 2008 29th
January 2008 - DM Loco V4 DM Loco V4 has been at Pinjarra for approximately 18 months having a variety of work undertaken prior to its return to Dwellingup for use on the Forest and Restaurant Train services.
The loco was originally brought down to Pinjarra by John Holland's road transporter following a wheelset failure where one wheel had moved inward on the leading axle. Work on the locomotive is steadily progressing and it is proposed that this loco will be utilized for ballasting work on the repaired line from Alumina Junction to Dwellingup prior to its return to the Dwellingup roster.
29th January 2008 -Restoration Work - Level Crossing Equipment
At the HVTR Pinjarra Depot, work is progressing on the level crossing equipment for the two actively protected crossings on the line to Dwellingup which were also lost in the bush fires. The first stages of this work involves restoration of recovered electrical cabinets donated to HVTR by WestNet Rail.
19th January 2008 - 13km Bridge Site work
13km bridge site - Eastern Abutment With the retaining soldiers and deadmen securely reinstall, the abutment sheeting replacement commenced. Above Puffing Billy Railway Contractors can be seen compacting the back fill which has been stabilize of the addition of 3 to 5% cement powder mixed in with the original soil believed to have been railed to the site from the Isandra Siding WAGR sandpit when the 3 span bridge was constructed in replacement of the original several span structure many years ago.
Image to the left is a view of the 13km
bridge - Western
December 2007 13th December 2007 - Ballast Regulator on the move again.
After completion of its work as far as the 16km bridge, the Ballast Regulator is once again loaded to road transport for a visit down to Pinjarra and some much needed maintenance, love and care. 11th December,2007 - Re-sleepering east side of the 13km point Before and after shots of the re-sleepering east side of the 13km point. In this general area, sections of up to 25 sleepers in a row were completely burnt out. 11th December 2007 - Ballast Regulators Movements
The Regulator being unloaded at the 14.300km point, immediately east of the upper lights crossing.
Following completion of the Ballast Regulator's work as far as the bridge at the 13.383km, the machine is once again transferred to the next section by road. This scene is the loading operation at the 13.210km point. 6th December, 2007 - Re-sleepering at the 12km point location.
This work is being carried out for HVTR by a team from the Puffing Billy Railway of Victoria utilizing equipment and materials provided by HVTR. The sequence can be clearly seen here as a backhoe removes the old sleepers in the distance, the Linear Scarifier follows, clearing the sleeper cavity to the required shape, size and depth. This is followed up by manually inserting the sleepers, which are then plated and drilled. Next comes the gauging and fastening utilizing petrol driven power tools to install galvanized "Dog-screws".
A close up of the Linear Scarifier at work Sleeper distributions is by Hyrail with the sleepers brought to the suitable loading points by the HVTR Hiab Truck.
Morning smoko - lineside at the 11.750km 6th December 2007 - Access Roads. Much of the HVTR line has long been inaccessible by any means other than train, trail bike or "shank's pony" . This has therefore required the construction of significant amounts of access roads to enable repairs to be carried out, particularly to the bridges and the many culverts. The photo below on the left is a section of the access roads is located on the downside of the line to the east of Scarp Road in an area of multiple burnt out culverts. There are some 17 burnt out culverts in the first 2km east of Scarp Road.
The photo above on the right is a section of the access roads looking east at approximately 17km point. Burnt out culverts - east of Scarp Road. These 8 photos below show a selection of the burnt out culverts in the area east of Scarp Road
Heat Damage to Rail - 16.650km point
Heat buckle east of Scarp Road at approximately 16.650km 4th December, 2007 - Ballast Regulator at 13.1km
Ballast Regulator in action at the 13.1km point, immediately west of the lower level crossing lights. (Photo courtesy of Don Smith) 1st December, 2007 16km Bridge site now with access roads and cleared debris
November 2007 30th November 2007 With bridges missing, the only way around for machinery is by truck & crane. Here, the Pemberton Tramway Ballast Regulator is being placed on track at the 11.5km location having previously been working between the 3km bridge and Isandra Siding. This machine is moving vegetation and clearing the gravel ballast from the track and sleepers to enable identification and removal of the burnt out sleepers plus a clear safe working environment for sleeper renewal.
28th November 2007 - Trestles for Etmilyn and Davis Brook Bridges.
The photo on the left is the Pinjarra Team assembling one of the trestles for Davis Brook Bridge, while the photo on the right is the 6 assembled trestles at Pinjarra ready for Davis Brook and Etmilyn. (Photo of the Pinjarra team courtesy of Bevan Hill) October 2007 Sunday 7th October - Etmilyn Bridgework
This week end saw the completion of the four abutment wing walls at the Etmilyn Bridge constructed from 868 bags of concrete, each weighing 30kgs and all manually placed.
Week ending Friday 5th October - Repairs to Culvert
The first of the many burnt out culverts was replaced this week just east of the 13km bridge. This culvert is one of the largest at 700mm diameter and 12 metres long. As noted earlier on this news page, this location had become a large wash away due to the significant rains of this winter. Continuing water flow had to be managed during the installation of this culvert.
September 2007 28th & 29th September 2007 - Etmilyn Bridgework Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th September work at Etmilyn continues with the construction of the abutment wing walls using 30kg bags of concrete premix stacked, spiked and watered to create simple effective wing walls.
16th September 2007 - Etmilyn & Davis Brook Bridgework
On Sunday 16th September HVTR members installed the abutment face timbers at the Etmilyn Bridge site and back filled them with limestone. Late in the day the lower four timbers at each abutment of the Davis Brook Bridge site were also installed. The photographs (by Andrew Bremner) shown here are of the work at the Etmilyn Bridge site.
August 2007 4th August 2007 - Etmilyn Bridge work On Saturday 4th August anchor bolts were set into the abutments of the Etmilyn Bridge site to secure the staunchions, which will retain the abutment face timbers. Similar work had been completed at the Davis Brook site on the week-end of 28th and 29th July.
July 2007 Construction of Access Roads to 13km and 16km Bridges Work has commenced on the construction of access roads to these two bridge sites to facilitate machinery and personnel access for their reconstruction. Significant earthworks are involved and once again, CSBP Kwinana have assisted with the work by donating several 600mm diameter heavy wall polyethylene pipes for use as culverts on these access roads.
The two photos above are of drilling and blasting of rocks to facilitate machinery access at the western end of the 13km Bridge. Left - Access Road construction on the northern (down) side of the railway immediately east of the 13km Bridge. The blue excavator is working adjacent to one of the largest lost culverts on the line, located in a deep gully. With the wet weather we have been experiencing, this location has washed away significantly leaving a cavity more than 5m wide and 3m deep. Photos by Peter Robertson
11th July 2007 - G123 Arrives at Dwellingup John Holland Rail, utilising the track maintenance machine transporter operated by contractors J J Hawkins transported G123 by road from Pinjarra to Dwellingup on Wednesday the 11th July ready for service the following day. Thursday the 12th July, being the first day of steam for Hotham Valley Tourist Railway this season.
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The
HVTR line from Alumina Junction to Dwellingup has several locations
which remain wet all year round. This is generally due to underground
water being trapped in layers of clay, often over very large areas of
rock. The water simply rises out of the ground or out of embankments
etc where the ground layers have been severed or otherwise disturbed.
One such location is at the 11.350km within a small cutting where the
line approaches the Pinjarra Williams roadway. 
Adequate
drainage on a railway is vitally important to maintaining a sound
formation. With so many sleepers having been replaced at one time
on the gravel ballasted HVTR line, drainage management and maintenance
has been a very important aspect of the track recovery works. Part of
the attention to drainage has been to improve areas which previously
had poor drainage.
On
Saturday 15th November, following careful and accurate marking out of
the hold-down bolt locations by Crossland & Hardy surveyors, core
drilling of the bolt holes was carried out on the 4 trestle footings.
The drilling of the abutment sill bolt holes would be carried out
later once the concrete repairs had been completed on the sill fronts.
With
most of the track repair works completed, there remains some
'housekeeping' to be done along the line including tidying up some of
the access tracks and fire breaks. In order to derive the best long
term and year round benefits from this work, several low lying areas
as well as a gully on the east side of the 16km bridge need to be given
culvert piping. 
