Participants on the Trip can highly recommend this venue to anyone interested in
seeing what is being done. Opening hours can be found on the web, just type in
Ambulance Museum and all will be found.
After about 2 hours at the Museum we convoyed through Montrose to pick up the Old
Coach Road which took us off the bitumen for a short while but gave us a great drive
up the side of Mt Dandenong, emerging at our lunch stop at Sky High on the top of
the mountain. While there was a bit of haze over the city we were able to get
glimpses of the great views westwards over the suburban area and the Bay. The
venue offered the opportunity for either option of a picnic or purchased and also has
some great garden features. It seems that a lot of work has been done in recent
years to improve the whole site.
From the lunch stop it was a short drive down the east side of the mountain with
great views again over Silvan reservoir and the Dandenong Ranges National Park
areas and on to Belgrave to visit Puffing Billy.
Tim Heeks was our host at Puffing Billy and while he claimed that public relations
was not his “thing” he did a great job. Tim heads up the workshop looking after
service, repairs and restoration of (mainly) engines and running gear for the line.
We learned that PB now caters to over 500,000 patrons per annum, running up to 6
trains a day at times and they are delighted that facilities will be upgraded in the near
future to give these patrons better service.
We often complain about our vehicle service needs however we were told by Tim
that they do a minor service on engines after every 3,000 miles (yes miles, not kms)
a major after about 10,000 miles and a full check and service every 20,000 miles.
Boilers are further checked by the licensing body every 12 months. So they are
constantly working on their various engines.
The group were really pleased that we were able to get up close to an engine
undergoing full restoration currently with parts of the restoration now into their 20 th
year. Not a short term exercise by any means. We also learned that they are
undergoing a transformation from coal powered steam engines to diesel or oil fired to
reduce the risk of fires started from sparks from the stacks. This will allow PB to run
longer during times of high fire risk. Fortunately the oil fired engines will still give off
the smoke and the “choof choof” noise to retain the atmosphere.
Tim told us of the positive impact that PB has on local workshops with much of the
engineering and manufacture of parts contracted out to Australian companies in the
local and wider Melbourne area.
As an added bonus while we were in the yards there was an engine shunting and
preparing to take a train full of passengers for their ride so again we were able to get
up close with this activity and see what was involved.
After time spent at PB the Trip came to an end with participants making their own
way home from Belgrave. Thanks to those who came along for the day and to
reinvigorate the Midweek Meander, it has made us determined to be more regular in
the future. Watch Team App for the next MM.
Rusty & Helen Wilson
Member # 983
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Vol 35 No. 6 - Oct / Nov 2017