Running maintenance and major restoration of passenger cars is carried out a team from our pool of three paid workshop employees and dozens of volunteers from all walks of life.

The tasks involved in the routine maintenance, repair and overhaul of passenger rollingstock are many and varied. They can range from trademens’ work such as welding, fitting, turning, mechanical, carpentry and carriage building to general work such as cleaning and painting.

This page consists of several sections; an outline of the our depot facilities and key personnel, an insight into the role that volunteers can play and a regularly updated report on the present mechanical status of our carriage fleet

Main characteristics and photos of our full fleet can be found

Depot News

FRED VALSTAR HANGS UP HIS HAMMER AND CHISEL- Farewell Fred! Regular volunteers may be aware that our long serving carpenter, carriage builder and inspector Fred Valstar has decided to call it a day. In recent years Fred has had a number of health worries and has reluctantly decided to retire from SHR and pursue personal interests. SHR management and volunteers sincerely thank Fred for his efforts over a considerable period dating back to our time at Dry Creek Depot - 17 years in all!. Our heritage fleet of carriages, especially the wooden bodied ones, owe their ‘new lives' to his skill and diligence. Due to Fred's expertise and commitment we are confident that these carriages will now operate on our trains well into the future. We wish Fred a long and healthy retirement and will find it very difficult to replace him. Ian Johnston and Bob Green who both worked with Fred from the 1990's recall below some of the highlights of Fred's work with us, and have found some photos of Fred at work in a range of areas. "Fred came to SteamRanger May 1992 at the then Dry Creek depot as there was a pressing need to undertake major rebuilding work on car 61. This project ended up virtually a total rebuild except for the outer roof with almost all other timber components and outer cladding being replaced with new materials. Additionally at that time SteamRanger was implementing a program to strengthen Centenary Cars by including steel box frames in the end walls plus steel beams and plate steel in the underframes. Fred's expertise was a major contribution to this large task, the scale of which was a first for SteamRanger. Now some 14 years later, car 61 is still in very good condition being our most presentable car. When SteamRanger moved to Mt Barker in 1996, Fred set up his carriage shop in one large corner of the new depot and a number of carriages including 60, 66 and 71 went into that corner then came out some months later after major repair work. Additionally car 70 underwent a rebuild although not quite on the same scale as car 61, but even then the following photo or car70 under restoration shows the extent of the rebuilding Fred tackled. At the time of Fred's retirement in January 2010, Cockle Train baggage car 82 was in the final stages of a similar rebuild and like all his carriage work, it is an excellent example of Fred's talents and expertise in carpentry and associated work. In between the major rebuild and repair tasks, Fred kept a watchful eye on all operational carriages which included exterior repainting of carriages, the mandatory accreditation car body inspections and day to day routine maintenance work. This would include anything from general repairs, fixing stuck windows and doors to recoating external roofs as well as installing wooden insulation batts on our steam locos. Fred took two years away from SteamRanger during 2000 to 2002 to pursue similar fields of work in house renovations. However even though he did not like travelling to Mt Barker from the city, his desire to continue his work on heritage carriages, including working with a good bunch of volunteers, was a win for SteamRanger. Fred enjoyed working with many long time carriage volunteers including Pat McMahon, Rex Hoppo, Brian Carter, Bob Green, Trevor Sasche and Keith King and he has expressed his appreciation to all volunteers for their friendship and assistance. In recalling his work with Fred on various Buffet car designs Bob particularly highighted Fred's willingness to always consult with volunteers with an open mind, leading to a mutually agreeable design or solution which met both SHR's operational needs and Fred's desire to end up with a high professional standard of carriage building and cabinet making. Win-win solutions! Fred was one of those chaps who was very approachable and willing to assist on any task, even if it meant disrupting his work at the time. This was odds on to happen on a Monday morning after a trip when reported minor carriage problems had to be attended to. Fred's thoroughness in his work ensured that all carriages were as safe and presentable as could be and once any part of a carriage became suspect, he had no hesitation of taking it out of traffic until the necessary repairs had been satisfactorily completed. All of us who had any association with Fred wish him all the very best for a long and healthy retirement. No doubt this will include many card games with his partner Dawn and their friends.

    Facilities

A substantial workshop facility was established at Mt Barker Depot in 1996 following the transfer of our operating base from Dry Creek. Most maintenance,repair and overhaul work is undertaken "in-house" by staff and volunteers under direction of appropriately qualified team leaders. Some more complicated tasks or those requiring special facilities or certification are outsourced. A smaller running workshop is maintained at Goolwa Depot, staffed mainly by local volunteers.

The facilities are described in some detail on our Locomotive Mantenance page

A comprehensive records management system has been established to cover work procedures, servicing and maintenance tasks, worker competency and occupational health a safety. All workshop work is required to be fully documented, carried out in accordance with agreed rail safety and industrial procedures,and formally inspected. Ongoing quality assurance and audit proceduresare mandatory. Certificates of competency are issued where appropriate

    Personnel

Rolling stock management is the responsibility of SteamRanger's Mechanical Services Manager, Craig Dunstan.

He has access to a number of qualified volunteers in the fitting and turning, carpentry, upholstery, painting and decorating, welding and electrical trades.who typically contribute from a half day to several days of effort each week, at mutually agreed times.

Those not qualified in a trade commence by assisting with tasks such as cleaning, painting, assisting tradesmen and general housekeeping and are progressively supervised and trained to undertake more significant tasks as their level of competence rises.

Workshop activities fall into two major categories;

Running maintenance      All rolling stock is mechanically inspected prior to their use on a train service. A schedule of required routine maintenance tasks must signed off to meet accreditation requirements.

Volunteers under the general supervision of the carraige maintenance team are also responsible for necessary internal and external cleaning of cars following movements.

Repair and heavy overhaul      Selected carriages are taken completely out of service as necessary and as part of a forward looking programme to conserve and upgrade rolling stock. Specific components are identified for major maintenance or rebuilding. In extreme cases the vehicle may be completely stripped down and rebuilt. A number of wooden passenger cars have undergone major rebuilding in recent years.

Our photo shows volunteer Ross Vonow working on refurbishing a centenary car interior

Becoming Involved

Current Maintenance Programme

Wooden Passenger Cars

SteamRanger has an operational fleet of seven wooden bodied passenger cars and three baggage/buffet cars dating from the 1910's and which formed the backbone of the SAR's suburban and country fleet up until steel bodied cars were introduced in the 1940's. Up to three cars are based at our Goolwa Depot for use on Cockle Trains whilst the remainder are based at Mt Barker for use on trains from there to Victor Harbor or Strathalbyn

Current Program

• Guards van 82    (used extensively on Cockle Trains) is now positioned in the carriage restoration area and the core restoration team of our tradesman carpenter Fred Valstar is being assisted by a number of other volunteers in working on the car with the aim of returning it to service later in the year.
  
  
• Car 66    is undergoing a complete repaint of all exterior surfaces due to its dull appearance. Volunteer Phil Leonard is painting new numbers ion the car.
  
  
• Baggage 83   , our only operational wooden baggage / buffet car, has had a cracked bogie centre bolster replaced and is currently working Cockle Trains, but will require transom rectification works in the near future at MB depot.
  
  
• Composite brakevan 4420    has not run for many years had been at Goolwa Depot for some time where Ben Greeneklee had been coordinating a major refurbishment of this car including extensive rebuilding of the framing. The roof has been re-coated with fibreglass resin.

  Work is continuing on interior and exterior fixings with most exteriors battens fitted. Slight alterations to the running board to platform heights are being performed along with alterations to the side guard's steps to allow for easier access from ground level. Work to complete the addition of a concertina and door, to access to the train via the freight end are being performed. When complete, he car will be useful as a lightweight brakevan for shorter movements.

• Car 73
  
  During a recent accreditation inspection of car 73, an axle had been noted as having excessive lateral movement of the axle in the axle boxes brought about by wear in both the bearing brass and the end flanges of the axle. This required the axle to be changed out with a spare axle from our stock.

  The replacement axle required the removal of its axle boxes and bearing brass for cleaning and inspection and the removal of many years of heritage mud. The replacement axle also required magnetic particle crack testing of the axle centre as well as longitudinal ultra sonic testing for any internal cracks. With the replacement axle given the all clear, jacking of car 73 took place to roll out the required bogie in order to change out the worn axle.

  Wear in the axle box horn guides had also been noted during the inspection and the photo shows volunteer David Groves performing welding repairs to the worn sections prior to the sections being dressed back to original specifications. With the bogie removed from the car several other routine task were performed. .
  
  

Car 710 is finally receiving it’s finishing touches by Phil Leonard. Phil has recreated the original S.A.R. style lettering as worn by the steel cars for many years in service.

Many hours have been spent hand paining the letters onto adhesive vinyl backing before being cut out and fitted to the car. Phil canvassed many computer sign writers to recreate the lettering but after little success in producing the correct colouring, Phil decided to paint it all by hand.
Phil is no stranger to this type of work as he had created lettering for SteamRangers sleeping cars in the mid 80’s which includes the current lettering on Sleeping Car “Finnisss”. Phil is currently painting the original black and red striping on 710 which will put the finishing touches to the well refurbished car.
After undergoing an accreditation inspection, 710 will again grace the rails of the SHR.

Here is an edited version of what he wrote together with some photos contributed by a number of volunteers.

From time to time our fleet of carriages is upgraded with a newly out-shopped and gleaming car. At first glance you might say "that looks nice" and take it for granted that someone did their job well. Beauty and strength however is much more than skin deep as Daryl Simon and Fred Valstar will attest if you can corner them and ask a few leading questions. Daryl and Fred are the key members of the Mt Barker Depot carriage restoration team and a car is out-shopped only after the thorough and rigorous overhaul/improvement of all of its component parts is complete to Daryl and Fred's satisfaction.

At ground level. The items to be looked at are the two bogie units. Bolsters must be in top shape, pivot pins renewed where necessary and brake rigging thoroughly overhauled and modified to accept commercially available brake blocks. Incidentally, if you are observant you will note that in the floor of each overhauled car is a screwed panel which when removed allows the pivot pin to be pulled - this enables future removal of bogies without having to jack to carriage halfway to heaven (clever thinking!).

The underframe then comes under review with crack tests on the trunnion and repairs/reconstruction to the point that sagging end-frames sag no more, and the couplings at each end are true and level with their package assemblies in working order again - just like Mr Bagshaw made them back about 100 years ago. No slack or slop here!

Now the carriage itself. After many decades of movement and weather, the woodwork in general has seen better days; so most of it comes off. Stripped bare (left) , it looks like a house before cladding, as the framework is invariably rotten in vital areas and rather rickety.

So steel cross bracing and corner angles are fashioned from flat bar by Daryl (above) , angle iron, and square steel tubing as appropriate and by the time this is all installed the frame is in an acceptably rigid shape. This thought and effort is put into every item right to the top of the roof which is waterproofed, preferably with fibreglass.

Cladding.
Steel sheet is used extensively, with joints carefully sealed, in order to keep water out of all the places where rot had previously done its worst.

Then Fred turns to his carriage building skills to re-create the heritage facade.

New car floors are fitted, with close attention to guarantee flatness, rot resistance, and strength. Linoleum or vinyl is laid and sealed and timbers are oiled appropriately.

Windows receive careful attention so that they slide easily, and innovative SteamRanger designed drop-down safety stops are installed so that no-one inadvertently jams their fingers. Seats are repaired or recovered and installed, and fittings and labels complete the job.

Finally the paint work is attacked by Daryl (looking like a spaceman) along with Rex Hoppo (right). Rex is a retired commercial painter who has painted everything from milk floats to wheat silos in his lifetime. The result is a job sprayed or brushed to perfection!

So there you have it, thousands of hours of thought, planning, and plain hard work so that all you have to do is sit and enjoy the passing scenery, and hopefully admire your stately surroundings!

Updated Nov 2009