At this month's meeting we enjoyed hearing about Brian and Joy's trip up north on the tilt train from Brisbane to Cairns.  Fortunately they were not washed away.

Our discussion re trip to Seymour was continued and at the time we felt that is would be advisable to do the trip sooner rather than later, due to the petrol crisis.

Discussion re cost of bus compared to car travel, members agreed it was better to travel down by car.  Athol is going to communicate with Seymour to discuss it further.

If we are not able to travel too far, there are enough members with plenty of interesting stories to tell and also DVD's to watch.  We will not be short on having an enjoyable meeting.  There are two or three members who have worked on the railways for many years.
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Anne Nelson/Joy Poole

Great turn up on our first meeting.  14 in attendance, 3 apologies and one no longer able to attend.

Firstly, all introduced themselves and told why they joined.  Some interesting stories. 

The  Railway was the biggest employer in Benalla in its day.

Places of interest to visit on our future calendar.  Seymour Railway, which unfortunately was put on hold last year, is now on our agenda.  Other visits talked about were the North Williamstown Railway Museum and quite a number of other areas of interest. 

Max Tilbury gave a talk on how and why detonators were used and still used on the railway.

It's going to be a very interesting group considering all the suggestions that came forward with regards to trips. Thanks to all for your input.
 
Anne Nelson and  Joy Poole

As the November meeting was to be our last get together for the year, we arranged a visit to the Seymour Rail Heritage Centre, followed by lunch at the Seymour Club.

However, our plan was derailed when the day before our visit was to take place the SRHC cancelled our visit due to fact that large cranes were arriving to lift some locomotives to allow bogie exchange to take place and it would be unsafe to have the group moving around the centre while this was taking place. 
   
Disappointing as this was, it leaves the door open for a visit next year.
 
We have had a successful year, with several excursions to places of interest, various classroom subjects ranging from steam locomotive design and operation to guest speakers from within our group who worked in the Victorian Railways in various roles. 

I would like to thank all who participated and assisted me throughout the year, especially Graeme Greed for technical assistance and Bev Lee for behind-the-scenes assistance.
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Athol Graham

We were met by the project manager  Katelyn and public relations person Graeme, from Inland Rail  and an engineer from the contractors who explained and pointed out what was proposed for the Benalla Station.

It is estimated that on completion this project, each train will remove 110 B-Double trucks from the road.

Our next meeting which will be our last for the year, will also be an excursion is to the Symour Rail Heritage Centre,, followed by lunch at the Seymour Club, on *Wednesday 19th November 2025.  (*please note the change of day and date from our usual)

We will meet at the Senior Citizens at 0915 for car pooling and a 0930 departure.

Athol Graham
0419 113 105  ​

At our September meeting we had a good attendance to hear from one of our members, Lynette Quick, who gave an interesting talk on her time with the Victorian Railways Refreshment Services in the early 1970s.

Lynette had wide experience in what was at that time an important division of the Railways, starting in the Railway Refreshment rooms at Spencer Street Station and graduating to the prestige trains of that time, including the Overland to Adelaide; the Southern Aurora, the Daylight and Spirit of Progress to Sydney and the Vinelander to Mildura.

Lynette also had some interesting photos acquired from her father Bill, a driver at Benalla for many years.

Next month we have arranged a visit to the Benalla Railway Station where we will be met by representatives of Inland Rail and Contractors who will explain the extensive works being undertaken there. 

​
Athol Graham

​At our last gathering we were entertained by Graeme Greed who has recently returned from a trip to Europe and England.
 
Whist in England Graeme took the opportunity to visit the British Rail Museum at York.
​
He was able to give us a great presentation with photos and commentary on a range of the exhibitions there, which included 'Mallard’ which holds the world speed record for a steam locomotive at 126 MPH and the “Flying Scotsman” the first Locomotive to travel at 100 MPH.
 
The afternoon was completed with viewing of a video of  the Tasmanian  Wilderness Railway restoration on the rugged West coast.  It was great to see this historic Mt Lyell mining railway between Straughn and Queenstown back in operation again
 
Athol Graham

At our July session we followed on from the previous month's subject of looking at the General Arrangement Plans of the Victorian Railways “R Class” Locomotive to discover exactly how a modern steam engine operated.
 
A number of members commented on the skill of the Draftsmen who produced such detailed plans back in the late 1940s without the aid of computers.
 
The day was completed with the screening of a video of the “Tasmanian West Coast Railway” restoration 

Unfortunately, due to some misreading of the information on the disc (by me) we ran out of time and were unable to complete it. Hopefully this will be done at our next meeting in August, where we are also going to have the pleasure of hearing about Graeme Greed's visit to the world acclaimed National Railway Museum in York during his recent trip to England. 


​Athol Graham

After our excursion last month, it was back to the classroom for our June session.

Following requests, we set out to study the working of a modern steam engine by looking at the detailed General Arrangement Plans of the Victorian Railways ‘R’ Class Steam Locomotive. (This was the last class of Steam Passenger Loco to be introduced to Victoria prior to the introduction of Diesel in the early 1950’s).

Due to the interest and questions on this subject, it was agreed that we would continue to explore this subject at the next session. We completed the day with the screening of a video “The Story of Steam” starting with “Stephenson’s Rocket” through to the latest of British Steam Locomotives. 

Our next session is on Friday 18 July at 2pm in Room 1. 


​Athol Graham

Reference:  Carlisle, R M and Abbot, R I (1985) Hudson Power Australian Railway Historical Society.

​The diagram above is on p 157.
​

​Our May get together  saw us take on our first excursion, with a trip to Violet Town to look at the Southern Aurora Memorial Gardens being developed to commemorate the horrific accident that occurred just to the south of the town on the morning of 7th of February 1969.

The gardens have a number of information boards throughout which give a good history of this tragic accident in which nine people lost their lives, They have purchased an original carriage from the Southern Aurora train  set, and intend to use the interior to display some of the large amount of memorabilia they have accumulated.

We were also fortunate to meet the president of the committee who happened to be there, and he was able to give us further information.

From there we proceeded to the actual crash site where there is a memorial plaque and further photos of the event before heading for home.

​Our next get together is at 2.00pm on the 20th June 2025.


​Athol Graham

With our regular meeting for April falling on Good Friday we have not met for this month. 

​At our March meeting our guest speaker Max Tilbury gave an interesting talk on his 40 years career in the Victorian Railways.  This was followed by a discussion on the Southern Aurora Accident at Violet Town in !969.  At our next meeting we are having an excursion to the Site of the accident and to the Memorial Park that has been established at Violet Town, which gives a good depiction of the event.

We will meet in the car park beside the Benalla Seniors and Community Centre at 1.45-2.00 pm Friday 16th May and arrange ride sharing for the trip there and return.

Athol Graham

​We had good attendance at our second meeting in March.  It was a very interesting meeting with thought provoking memories of the train crash just south of Violet Town on 7 February 1969.  It happened between a goods train and the now defunct Southern Aurora.  9 people were killed and 117 passengers injured.  It is believed that the Southern Aurora train driver suffered a heart attack just before the crash.  We were fortunate to watch a short video of the crash, and to hear from a couple of members who were involved in the rescues.  

The Train Buffs are now organising a trip to Violet Town to view the site.  

​Anne Nelson

Further viewing:  

Our new course, Train Buffs, had a great start last Friday, with 17 members attending the first session.

It was nice to see a good mix of members, including several female 'train buffs', actively taking part in the discussions.

We began with introductions, where everyone shared their railway interests and backgrounds, and we gathered ideas for future activities.

The session ended with a short video on the steam-hauled Spirit of Progress (see previous post), followed by a discussion.

— Athol Graham

​A History on the Victorian Railways 'S Class' including Spirit of Progress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62wYVGNPivA

​Train Buffs members might be interested in attending a meeting arranged by U3A Benalla with Inland Rail on Tuesday 4th March 2025 at 10 am in Room 1 of the Benalla Seniors Community Centre. 

"Inland Rail are planning on commencing the Benalla Station Redevelopment in mid-2025 and wish to share their recent designs for the redevelopment with the Benalla community. 

The presentation team coming to U3A will include a member from John Holland, the contractor. The community is being invited to have their input on seating, landscaping, lift shaft decoration design and the position of the signal box. There will be ample time for questions. 

Please come along at 10 am on Tuesday 4 March, listen to the presentation and have your say."    Margaret Jenkins, President, U3A Benalla. ​