Boilers fire up for 2020

CONTINUED FROM PG 1

SARI HYYTINEN

Boilers Fire Up for 2020

THE sickly-sweet smell of bagasse being burnt has been wafting through the streets of Tully for the last couple of weeks as the Tully Sugar Mill have been working hard preforming steam trials to get the factory ready for the crushing season to start.

“There is a huge amount of maintenance and preparation that goes on throughout the factory as we plan to start,” said John Edwards Chief Operating Officer, Tully Sugar Limited. Everything was ready to go Tuesday June 2 and then came the rain. Unfortunately, due to the 600ml of heavy rainfall that occurred in late May the ground has not been able to dry off due to the consistent lighter rainfall of the last few weeks. This resulted in the Tully Sugar Mill then delaying their first crush until June 11.

Despite the delay to the start of the crush the Tully Sugar Mill believes that the expected forecast of the crushing season will be maintained,

“We still expect the 2,400,000 tonne cane crop to achieve the long-term average of 12.8 ccs.”

The late start means that a few of the days that the Tully Sugar Mill budgets for each year to cater for Tully’s rain have already been used, but they still have plenty more up their sleeves. There original forecast that the crush will finish in late November remains.

Traditionally the Tully Show is the time of year that signifies the wet season has finished. Even though the show has been cancelled for this year. Hopefully the Tully Sugar milling district is able to crank up and get some reliable tonnage through the factory.

The mill is a lot noisier now that the crush has started, and the carparks are full. The extra eighty staff needed in the crushing season predominately live locally, though some do come in from out of town. The local businesses will enjoy the extra income brought into town by the seasonal staff.

Whist the mill is crushing they are currently exporting 10 megawatts of power to the grid 24 hours a day seven days a week. The mill is currently installing a new turbine alternator to replace aged, end of life equipment, the work of which will not be commissioned until the start of the 2021 crushing season.

“The plan is that with the new turbine we are installing that we will be able to generate (electricity) in the off season,” said Edwards.

Mill worker oiling crushing house equipment in perpetration for commencement of crushing.

John Fair: Longest Serving Locomotive Driver

NOW in his 41st season John Fair is currently the longest serving locomotive driver at the Tully Sugar Mill.

When CCIN asked him why he wanted to be a locomotive driver he responded,

“I just like the outdoors.” He also liked meeting and spending time with men he now considers good friends.

Fair works as a locomotive driver for the Tully Sugar Mill during the season and in the maintenance team during the off season.

His father was a locomotive driver back when they were steam driven and firing up the engine was literal.

When Fair first started the engines no longer ran on steam but were diesel engines and have changed “a lot” since when he first started. The current engines have double the towing capacity of the engines from when he started.

When reflecting on the biggest changes that have happened over the years Fair acknowledged that they were changing over the type of locomotive to an engine that has twice the capacity of when he first started.

“It is always a challenge out there. Every day is different,” said Fair when describing his workday.