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Infrastructure activities that were highlighted in Troy Barker's 2010 Annual Report illustrate the breadth of activities.
The statistics quoted refer to the 2010 calendar year.

Sleeper Renewal
Total sleepers renewed between Mt Barker and Victor Harbor during the year was 2300 Work plans and condition monitoring have continued to be undertaken in consultation with our service provider, Transfield Services, who provided regular external condition walking audits of our main line as an independent addition to our volunteer conducted inspections.
Level Crossing Relaying
New Airport Road and Skewes Road level crossing - both rebuilt with concrete sleepers and rails thermit welded throughout. Boettcher Road level crossing Goolwa - Middleton Section New pedestrian crossing at Dutton Rd Mt Barker, laid with concrete sleepers
Main Line Tamping
Major focus on rectifying the very poor Cockle Train route in the Goolwa to Middleton Section, with the completion of tamping throughout as part of this upgrade. Eight hundred tonnes of ballast was also dropped on the line, with significant deficiencies rectified on the curves in Goolwa and between 117km to 117.5kms. The results have been outstanding, with restoration of track speed of 70km/h. Tamping of the main line near Goolwa Depot and betweenr the Canoe Tree crossing and Currency Creek station were undertaken as these were sections that had been subjected to significant re-sleepering over the past few years.
Rail Renewal
As a result of the rail renewal during 2009, twenty mechanical joints were thermit welded by Transfield Services to remove the rough riding as a result of the replacement work.
External Contracts
These contracts provide much needed revenue to allow us to undertake track upgrades. Without them our infrastructure programme would have been stagnate or non-existent due to a turn down in SHR income due to lack of steam services in 2010.

Contracts included
Torsion Beam Tamper - hired out to tamp the Victor Harbor Tramway, 15km of Angaston Line in the Barossa, nine 9 level crossings on the Outer Harbor Line. Ballast Regulator - hired to work at the Dry Creek Railcar Depot and on the Angaston Line National Broadband Network - land access management for optic fibre cable installation.
Bridges
Middleton Bridge - Repainted stone abutments where scouring had removed lime motor.
Mt Barker Creek Bridge Strengthening - Stage 1 - welded cleats to the underside of the troughs and girders to provide new load bearing points. Bridge underside repainted with rust treatment system.
Environmental
On an ongoing basis, lineside vegetation maintenance was performed using the Gemco with verge trimmer attachment and Mechanical Services volunteers undertook tree pruning between Strathalbyn and Goolwa Depot. Weed spraying continued to be performed by volunteers over the entire line using the Bedford truck mounted spray gear, plus various hand spray units. Firebreaks were ploughed between Pt Elliot and Goolwa.
Signal & Telegraph
Upgraded signal control batteries at four level crossings Continued repair and replacement of safety critical elements. Installation and commissioning of new Flashing Light and Gong signals at Hurling Drive Mt Barker. Development and certification of a new signal design for Currency Creek level crossing in conjunction with the proposed DTEI Winery Rd upgrade.

These major activities werre supplemented with a myriad of day to day tasks which we report on in the following section as information is provided

This section of track is used only infrequently by SteamRanger for Junction Jogger railcar services. The line travels through a deep cutting before passing through a tunnel built under the South Eastern Freeway in the 1970s using circular steel lining sections and then crosses the Old Mt Barker Road at grade before winding through the outskirts of Littlehampton and on a elevated embankment alongside the roadway up the valley of the Mt Barker Creek to the site of the abandoned Mt Barker Station. The track terminates at a dead-end alongside the old platform, parallel to the main standard gauge line. There is no run-around trackwork and double ended railcars must be used or a second locomotive attached at the rear to haul consists back to Mt Barker.

Large trees overhang the track and brush invades the line at many points and both need to be kept well trimmed. Drains and culverts in cuttings near the tunnel must be kept clear to prevent ballast degradation. The maximum nominal track speed in this section is 25kph.

Leaving Mt Barker the line skirts the residential area, crossing Mt Barker Creek on a low level causeway, and then climbs through forested cuttings to the crest of the line at Philcox Hill (above).

The track then descends to Strathalbyn on a long extended grade, crossing the main Strathalbyn road at Gemmells. The steeply graded curved sections (as typified by this photo just beyond Stirling Hill Rd) are often on high embankments or through cuttings, and require particular attention in regard to maintenance of gauge and correct curvature under the stresses imposed by our 200 tonne locomotives and 40 tonne passenger cars.

The ranges can be subject to heavy rainfall and the large trees along the trackside and on sides of cuttings can be struck by lightening or be uprooted by a combination of heavy rainfall and high winds making a full track inspection before each movement obligatory. The maximum nominal track speed in this section is 40kph.

The next section from Strathalbyn to Goolwa initially traverses relatively level countryside, in places well away from public roads, with difficult access by road vehicles. The line crosses three major watercourses on significant bridges and flooding and erosion of the trackbed is common through the winter.

Track maintenance involves clearing and widening of trackside drains and rebuilding of the trackbed where it has been washed away by flash flooding. Regular inspection and maintenance of cuttings and embankments is required. This photo shows a section of track just south of Black Swamp bridge.

SteamRanger's Goolwa Depot is passed just prior to Goolwa township itself. Some of our track maintenance equipment and vehicles are based here and track inspections from Goolwa to Victor Harbor are conducted by locally resident volunteers. The maximum nominal track speed in this section is 65kph.

From Goolwa the line traverses flat farmland to Pt Elliot. There are a number of main road level crossings in this section.

From Pt Elliot the last 6 kilometres of track into the terminus of the line at Victor Harbor runs on an embankment along the back of the beach beside the Southern Ocean. This section, shown in this photo, is continuously subject to sand drifts across the track, caused in part by severe damage to the fragile plant species which would naturally bind the sand hills.

Salt spray causes accelerated corrosion, not only of the track but also structures such as culverts and bridges. Cuttings passing through sandy soil are subject to collapse, especially after heavy rain. The maximum nominal track speed in this section is 65kph.

Turntables are located at Mount Barker, Strathalbyn and Victor Harbor. The 85 foot electrically driven turntables at Mt Barker and Victor Harbor can turn any of SteamRanger's locomotives and railcars, whilst the 53 foot manually rotated table at Strathalbyn can turn Rx and F class steam locos, 350 and 500 class DE locos and Brill railcars.

The Mt Barker turntable is located in-line on the track between Mt Barker Junction and Mt Barker and was relocated from Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills by SteamRanger and installed in a newly built pit. In SAR days, locomotives were turned at Mt Barker using a triangle located in what is now the caravan park The other turntables are on spur lines in areas of the station yard previously used as locomotive running depots.

The line passes over six significant bridges of varying construction and a number of smaller bridges over watercourses. Leaving Mt Barker, major bridges cross in turn the Angas River just before Strathalbyn and the Finniss River, Tookayerta Creek, and Currency Creek before the line reaches Goolwa. The line then crosses Watsons Gap and finally the Hindmarsh River before entering Victor Harbor.

The Angas, Finniss, Black Swamp and Currency Creek bridges were originally built in the latter half of the 1800s and rebuilt or strengthened in the mid 1900s to handle the heavier locomotives introduced in the "Webb era". In general the original piers have been retained and spans replaced with steel girders or lattice girders, although the Finniss bridge has a single steel span raised just 150mm above the original and now redundant piers.

The current Watsons Gap bridge is an early example of an arch reinforced concrete bridge and the Hindmarsh River bridge rebuilt in 1907 was the first beam and slab concrete bridge in Australia. More information on the heritage of this bridge can be found HERE
Both bridges replaced earlier timber bridges.

Each of the bridges has been subjected to a professional engineering accreditation since SteamRanger took over the line and is monitored on an ongoing basis in regard to sleeper and steel girder condition and for internal reinforcement corrosion in the case of the concrete bridges.

Most major SAR stations were equipped with goodsheds, dedicated freight loading platforms and ramps and hand operated cranes for unloading freight from road vehicles into open goods wagons.

Although much of the track maintenance requires hard manual labour and use of hand tools, SteamRanger has received as a donation, has purchased and/or has modified a range of track machines to assist wherever possible in order to cover the relatively long track length of over 80kms on a regular basis.

The following photos illustrate the range of on track or road/rail equipment used.

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