THE
DIAMOND VALLEY RAILWAY
CHAPTER SIX SPIRIT IN PROGRESS
Up to the beginning of 1967, the Diamond Valley Railway story had
been a record of remarkable progress, much of which was due to
the efforts of a small, but dedicated band of members who turned
up week after week. But then the proverbial 'seven year itch'
began to make its presence felt. In recent years many new
members joined the DVR and differences of opinion were rising, on
which was the best way for the little railway to develop!
Consequently, the development went into a period of stagnation.
Some members even resigned in protest at the way things were
going.
Nineteen-sixty eight was a tremendous year, with new milestones
being achieved. The Way and Works Branch, with a new Superintendant,
Jim Willcox, leading a band of energetic workers, started
some new projects which were to change the whole face of the system.
The projected New Station was now beginning to take shape,
with the installation of the platform retaining walls and a
cyclone mesh fence along the boundary of the future dock road area.
An hilarious new 'Department' was formed. The 'Ulcer Department'
was responsible for the construction of points for the 14 lb
rail. After much scratching of heads and following designs prepared
by Robin Quaife, a 100 ft radius, 14 lb, blade point was
finally constructed. This point was installed at the departure
end of the new station to provide a connection to the dock road.
A further two 100 ft radius points were constructed in rapid
succession and the express road through the new station was soon in
commission. Point construction was a hard, but rewarding job
which takes a long time to complete. A quote from the 'Ulcer
Department' is very appropriate: "The Hurrier we go, the Behinder
we get!"
With the 14 lb rail relaying progressing well, the supply of
rail obtained from Oakleigh was dwindling fast. Through the agency
of Richard Hayes, we were fortunate to gain a new source of
supply from a defunct quarry in East Hawthorn. A large working
bee, ably assisted with lorries, driven by Allan Calder and Jim
Willcox, saw another buildup of rail, in fair condition, to be
used in the continuing main line relaying program.
To cope with an increase in storage requirements at the DVR, a
mezzanine floor was constructed over the four carriage storage
roads in the old workshop. This area also provided a new point
construction bench.
Meanwhile, S300 had its ford 10 motor reconditioned. The departure
of W100 at this time created a greater workload for S300.
In the 4 year period since January 1964, this locomotive had recorded
an incredible 7,000 running miles. During the latter part
of the 1967 Christmas period, a new locomotive joined our small
diesel fleet. T320 was the name of this new locomotive, owned
and built by John Murdoch, with assistance from Bill Pert and
others. T320 is a very historic locomotive and is unique because
of its design concept. The combination of a petrol motor and
electric generator driving electric traction motors is a first in
model railwaying of scale size, in Australia at least.
The idea was formulated after the success Russel Ryan achieved
with his battery-electric locomotive W100. T320 also hearalded
another innovation for the DVR, namely air brakes. T320's
ability to pull up was greatly improved and provided a taste of
real railway locomotive operation.
With the introduction of another large locomotive for regular
running and the completion of a passing loop with a facing point,
the need for a proper signalling system increased tremendously.
Members were given the opportunity of training in signalling
procedures through the agency of Brian Coleman, a signalman himself
with Vicrail. This member was to transform the whole DVR system
in the years to come. Also, at this stage, the Signal and
Telegraph Branch was formalised and given the task of constructing
point machines and signalling systems for the safety of the
Railway. To this purpose, regular work nights were set up at
Jack Rutledge's home. Five regular members soon had the group
flourishing and a new set of scale model VR type searchlight
power signals and scale model, lower quadrant signals were produced.
Most of these items are still in active service today.
The spirit of clubmanship was further enhanced with the election
of a Social club whose activities met with much success. A great
innovation was the DVR's first organised club trip which took the
form of an allnight tram tour around Melbourne's Suburbs, with
John Murdoch as the voluntary tram driver.
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