Wagga Wagga Perway sheds

 A brief photo record of the Perway sheds at Wagga.

Early in September 2024, a fire broke out, and severely damaged the remaining perway shed at Wagga.

Photo by Pete Neve, taken from the LVR 620/720 railcar Sunday 22nd September 2024.  Used with permission 

Cause of the fire is unknown, although it may have been an accident, as the perway shed was being illegally accessed by homeless persons.  I understand the Wagga Rail Heritage museum had some items stored in the burnt end, and Peter M reported to me  there was a loss  of a luggage trolley, 2 country link hand luggage barrows, a Villiers trike frame, a TIC trike frame, and around $5,000 worth of steel shelving.

The group of perway sheds are a group of models that I have to make, and I was holding back on the description, until I had a chance to make it.  However, the fire has changed things.

Where were the sheds located?

The sheds were located on the northern side of the main line, between the Best St/Edmonstone St road bridge and the western end of the Wagga station platform.  A small reverse siding attached to the siding that serviced the Wagga station platform south dock. 

The shed that burnt was identified as the "Motor Mech" in the above railway site diagram.  I have orientated the plan this way, to correspond to the aerial pictures later.

The group of shed comprised The Signal Engineers, a fuel storage shed (that included a bowser), the Motor Mechanics, and lastly a storage compound shed for LP gas storage.

An Wagga council intramaps view from 1971 shows the sheds, and a freight train on the platform track.  A CPH is stabled at the end of the reverse siding - presumably for the Tumbarumba branch.  As my time period for my model layout is nominally 1970, there is a lot of interest for me, despite the lousy resolution

An image from the ARHS archives, shows the 3 main sheds - the motor mechanic shed being the one that recently burnt.  The distant LP storage shed was removed sometime between 1990 and 1995.

Wagga council aerial image from 1990.  One of the railway street cottages has been demolished. and some changes have been made to the fuel storage/bowser shed.  But most of the infrastructure remains.

In 1995, I took a few pictures of the sheds.  This being the Motor Mechanic shed.  Note the siding has been removed, along with the entire LP storage shed.  These images scanned from my prints. 

Signal Engineer shed

Western side shows a lot of detail

I am hoping that I had earlier recorded additional images on slide, although I have yet to find them.

By 2012, Wagga Council aerial view had become a lot more detailed.  One can make out the skylights on the Motor Mechanic sheds.  A new shed had been built on the former siding (where the CPH was in the 1971 image)  All the railway cottages had been demolished - only the original Best Street gatekeeper cottage remains.  Another shed ('99') had been constructed on the site of one of the cottages.  Note the large white roof building in the top RHS of the picture.  This is the former District Engineer Office - now repurposed

Detail of the roofs of the motor mechanic shed, and the Signalling engineering shed in Wagga council's  2020 image.  The "garage" at the rear of the Motor Mechanic shed is hidden in the shadow of the tree (see the 1990 image).

A year or two ago, armed with a digital camera, I took a lot more pictures.  Changes from 1995 are generally that the sheds have been boarded up.  Whilst now over 50 years after my nominal layout period, the pictures are still potentially useful for the finer details. 

Conclusion

We can never take things for granted.  Record what you can today, because it may be gone tomorrow.  

Sydney bound Intercapital daylight approaches Wagga platform in the late 1980s.  The perway sheds and track vehicles on the RHS.  Cottages, fences and walkway all add detail for the modeller to reproduce

Until next time, happy modeling.

How not to park your grain train

 Modelling, NMRA Meeting, and a derailment

An SSR grain train collided with the rear trailer of a truck at the level crossing near the former Rockview Station west of Junee on March 8th.  More pictures later

Modelling

Ladysmith Perway shed gets painted

The white styrene was sprayed Tamiya flat aluminium, and lightly rusted with powder.  The concrete was hand painted with Floquil concrete.  The rails, and the metal framing hand painted with Tamiya Red/brown.  I decided to not make the doors moveable, so they are fixed in this position with white-glue - so could be repositioned with the application of some water on the "hinges".  The Sheffield hand pumped trike is a Lloyds whitemetal model kit - something I made in the 1990s.  I have not yet made the water tank, or its stand.  

CW -Cattle Wagons

Casula Hobbies in the late 1980s, produced a kit of the 4 wheel sheep and cattle vans, coded SV,  and CV respectively.  I probably bought over a dozen of each kit, but only ever got around to making about half of the kits.  The rest have been stored for over 30 years.  Whilst these kits build up into a nice model, more recent RTR models from Austrains are superior (if you can find them).  So, the question is do I build the kits, or sell them on ebay?  Probably best I make them - after all, that is why I bought the kits.

A train of CW wagons, headed by an X200, is proceeding to the Trucking yards about a mile west of here.  The date of this picture is in the late 1960s.  (I wrote a complete blog post on this picture a few years ago - fascinating)

I assembled the kit into 2 subassemblies - the chassis, and the superstructure.  I painted both with Tamiya german grey - which now needs to be weathered

After painting, I added a sheet of lead weight to double the wagon's weight  up to 35 grams

Three CW wagons.  I used white glue to fix the superstructure to the chassis, in case I need to add cattle loads in the future

NMRA visit to Bowning

Last Saturday, I made the 2 hr trip to Bowning to attend the Div 2 meeting at Jack's place.   It is always good to meet up with friends, view models, gain ideas, and get inspired

The show-n-tell models on the table.  And Ezi-Kits D334, a Rivarossi oprient express coach, an EZI-Kits Z26 (under construction), my Perway shed, An SDS models MHO, and a Shoreham Shops brass California Zephyr slumber coach.  Not shown was a light framework design for a Fre-Mo module

Jack's talk was to describe how he made some of the models for his layout, and after an lovely afternoon tea, we were able to view in person. 

Jacks shed was air conditioned - a must for the unusual heat of the afternoon

Jack's layout is a folded dogbone, with an operating aisle.  Note, these pictures were taken with most of the room lights turned off - amazing how good phone camera are

Jack has modified a number of commercial kits in the capturing the portotype.  Here is a train at Woolbrook - which Jack informs me started as a victorian station

The Church, and both the road, and rail bridges are modelled after real structures at Woolbrook

Walcha Road station is a Walker model kit, modified with scratchbuilt signalbox.  Jack has lit the interior, and in the dim lighting with the main room lights turned off, is quite effective

Walcha Road Hotel is totally scratchbuilt by Jack - again, lighting and patrons brings the structure to life

Derailment at Rockview

Around 9am, on March 8th, an empty Southern Shorthaul Railroad grain train was heading west, when it collided with the rear trailer of what the press said was a grain haulage truck at the level crossing near the former Rockview station site, between Old Junee, and Marrar.  The press also said that the trailer was empty, but the damage to the train, tells a different story.

Both train drivers, and the truck driver escaped with minor injuries.  The road, Canola way was closed for 2 days, and the railline was also closed.

The SSR train was one I enjoyed watching, as it ran a 2 or 3 days a week shuttle service to Melbourne using vintage engines, and around 40 grain wagons. 

I got word last week, that the train had not yet been recovered, and I travelled the 20km to the site and took some pictures.  (Click on an image to enlarge)

G514 has a smashed cab, but not much other damage that I could tell

CLF1 was the lead engine, and took the brunt of the impact.  Both drivers escaped with minor injuries, which is a testimate to the design of the streamlined front to absorb collision forces.  Unfortunately, it looks like the frame of the loco has been twisted, so I don't like its chances of returning to the rails

CLF4 is on its side, but from this angle, doesn't look in too bad a shape considering

Oil absorbant pads to catch any oil drips from comtaminating the soil

4910 is also on its side, although hard to tell how much damage it sustained

Detail of the hatch raising mechanism on the grain wagon - something normlly hidden by metalwork

Unloading hatch details - an angle not normally seen by railfans

Interior of a grain wagon, showing the bulkheads

The level crossing where the collision occured.  It doesn't have any bells of lights relying on a "stop" sign.  An error if you ask me - the crossing has been the site of many incidents in the last few years since the line was upgraded, with heavier rail, new ballast and increased train speeds.  The other 26 or so grain wagons of the train had been removed, and hauled back to Junee, where I suspect they are back in service

Controls in the Cab of CLF1 - taken through the windowless window

I was very surprised that the wreck scene had no security.  The number of people drivng alng the Canola Way that stopped when I was there had no idea of what happened.  It could have been a temporary tourist attraction.  

What is to become of the locos, and about 14 grain wagons?  It is possible that the locos will be trucked through to the Junee roundhouse for assessment, and maybe rebuilding? Junee roundhouse is well suited for this.    Grain wagons might end up being cut up for scrap on site.  These are my guesses - I suspect a lot depends on insurance.  However, the rail line remains closed, and this is a situation that cannot be left indefinitely

Until next time, keep your trains on the track.