PORT ELIZABETH MODEL RAILROAD CLUB Newsletter
January 2021
#01/2021
Modeller: Henk Wust, Holland; photo: Markus Tiedtke
In this issue: Committee PEMRC Calendar Traffic fine for a train! Show & Tell Yard Shunter Heritage Railway
Walmer Train Loco Maintenance Crane Snippets
COMMITTEE 2020: Chairman: Treasurer: Clubhouse: Layouts: Librarian: Editor: Workshops:
Roel van Oudheusden Attie Terblanche Mike Smout JP Kruger Carel van Loggerenberg Roel van Oudheusden Graham Chapman Mike van Zyl Mike Smith
roelvanoza@gmail.com terblalc@telkomsa.net ma.smout@mweb.co.za juanpierrekruger@gmail.com annie3@telkomsa.net pemrailroadclub@gmail.com chapman22@telkomsa.net carpencab@gmail.com ‘Shop’: mwsmi5@iafrica.com WhatsApp: 078 069 7699 Subscriptions for 2020 are R300 for the year. EFT is preferred, but the Treasurer may be persuaded to accept cash. Bank account: Port Elizabeth Model Railroad Club FNB Walmer Park, branch code 211417, Account no. 623 861 2205
Note changes in venue, time and host and host
PEMRC CALENDAR We will continue with our fortnightly gatherings whilst adhering to the prescribed pandemic precautions. Although larger gatherings are now permitted, the overriding factor still is the limit of 50% of capacity of the venue. Depending on the venue of the host, our capacity limit is 10 persons. Booking is essential; please book the day before Date
Meeting type
Venue
Sat 23
January 2021
PEMRC Annual General Meeting Venue to be advised
Sat 30
Jan 2021
Layout visit
To be confirmed (tbc)
Sat 20
Feb 2021
Layout visit
tbc
9-11
July 2021
National Train Show Santa Clara California, USA
29-30
Oct 2021
14-21
Aug 2022
Eurospoor 2021 Event & Exhibition Centre Jaarbeurs Utrecht, Netherlands NMRA National Convention 2022 Birmingham, UK https://www.nmra2022uk.org/
Time
Host 10:00
NOTICE OF PEMRC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING: The AGM of the Port Elizabeth Model Railroad Club will be held on: Saturday 23 January 2021 at 10am The meeting is open to all members of the club in good standing which entitles them to vote on any issue tabled at the meeting. Agenda: 1. Opening and welcome. 2. Apologies. 3. Minutes of the previous AGM of 18 January 2020. 4 Chairman’s Report. 5. Treasurer’s Report. 6. Shop Report. 7. Layout visits. 8. Club House. 10. Subscriptions for 2021. 11. Election of the Club Committee for 2021. 12. General. 13. Closure. It was announced on 28 Dec. 2020 that under adjusted lockdown level 3, all indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited. This will remain in force until the next review on 15 January 2021. It is our opinion that it is more likely that this will be extended beyond 15 January rather than being relaxed. Therefore, for the first time in the Club’s history, the AGM will be a virtual meeting via Zoom. You will be receiving an e-mail with a link to join the meeting from your home via your computer. No special software is required other than an active internet connection. To participate and enable others to see you, a microphone and webcam will be needed. This is built-in in most laptops. Others have successfully connected their cell phone cameras to their pc’s which may produce better quality image than some webcams. I recommend that where you don’t have internet, webcam or laptop, you meet with a fellow member in small groups to share resources. Please call or WhatsApp me for assistance with Zoom. Roel 041 367 3994 or 082 739 7679
Write to: pemrailroadclub@gmail.com Illustrated articles are preferred.
Port Elizabeth of Yore: Recollections of the Walmer Train By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Port Elizabeth of Yore May 30, 2020 The Walmer Branch Line, as it was known, would only operate from December 1906 to 26 th November 1928. During those 22 years, this narrow gauge train would wend its way through to Walmer from Station Road, parallel to Strand Street, in Port Elizabeth to 14th Avenue in Walmer via Humewood. In this blog, Anthony Longworth provides his recollections of this iconic railway, how it operated and what route it took. For a detailed technical blog, go to ‘http://thecasualobserver.co.za/port-elizabeth-yore-narrow-gauge-walmer-branch-line/
The terminus in Port Elizabeth was in Station Street outside the entrance to the main railway station. The steam engine with its passenger coaches and guard’s van occupied about the length of the present railway station building. There was a loop line to enable the engine to depart from the opposite end of the train from which it arrived. There were no goods trucks but parcels etc. could be consigned to a person at a particular recognised stop. Prior arrangement had to be made for the receiving of the parcels otherwise they were merely dumped on the side of the rails by the conductor. It was quite fun walking along the line quizzing what was being sent to whom by whom. Also there was always a chance of helping with the delivery – for a small gratuity. Pocket money was hard to get in those days. Passengers climbed into the train from the pavement level. Quite a haul up for senior citizens of whom there were many. Remember, there were no platforms at any of the places where passengers embarked or alighted. The pavement and kerb at the railway station today look no different to what they were yesterday. It all looks unchanged. Some of the coaches had seats running full length of the coach on either side with an aisle down the centre. Others had seats with high backs across the coach on either side, also with an aisle down the centre. These were more popular and usually occupied by adults facing each other. All club members can get 15% discount for December and 10% for 2021. Order through the club or just mention the club when an order is placed.
There were no compartments as such. All coaches were made of wood and varnished and had a special SAR & H disinfectant smell. A blast on the whistle and off we go.
Several more blasts and we cross Jetty Street heading south passing Fleming Street, across the bridge over the Baakens River and on to Humewood Station – better known today as the starting point of the Apple Express. This area is the home of the narrow-gauge railway to Avontuur of which the Walmer Train was a branch.
Dream trains No shipping costs for combined orders of R2000 or more. Shop online and fill your cart, even if less than R2000, then contact our Mike Smith, to combine your order with fellow club members and all will save.
On leaving Humewood Road Station, the train continued on South and then turned west across Humewood Road at the level crossing today, this crossing is bridged) under Forest Hill Drive past the South End cemetery and on to Valley Junction almost opposite First Avenue, Walmer. This was the junction for the Walmer Train to leave the main line and turn north into Second Avenue, Walmer and not First Avenue which is generally believed. After crossing Heugh Road, the train stopped outside two well-known and wellremembered houses, Manor Hastings and Talana. The former on the corner of Heugh Road and the latter on the corner of Villiers Road. After the first stop in Walmer, the train turned west again into Villiers Road, with a normal stop at Third and Fourth Avenues where passengers waiting were picked up and others dropped off. At Fifth Avenue, the train turned north again and continued along Fifth Avenue to Water Road, where it turned west again and continued along Water Road to the end of its journey at Fourteenth Avenue. Along Fifth Avenue, the train skirted Wellington Park and turned west at Armstrong’s Corner – I think named after the first owner of the first house on that corner. The train stopped at virtually every intersection of a road with an avenue along its journey, once it was in Walmer. It never stopped in the centre of a block for the benefit of lazy passengers. In Water Road, at Fourteenth Avenue, there was a loop line to enable the engine to change ends. This was always an interesting operation – watched very carefully by us kids. We thought the guard who changed the points was marvellous and – oh – so clever. The sound of three blasts on the trains whistle was well known to all Walmer folk within hearing distance. With a south westerly wind blowing, it was amazing how far the sound of the whistle actually carried. The three shrill blasts heralded the departure of the train from the “TOP”, the name of the Fourteenth Avenue terminus known to all. To the potential early morning passengers, it ruined their day. They knew exactly what the time was and they could calculate in minutes and seconds exactly, the length of time they had to get from where they were to where they wanted to be in order to board the train. The staff on the train were marvellous and most co-operative. The engine driver knew how many passengers he picked up each day at each stop. If one was missing, the train driver slowed down. It was seldom anyone missed the train. Contrary to the habits of most other railway operators – the train was always on time -it was the passengers who were late. The engine driver knew the culprits only too well. Crafty Arts 10% discount via their discount card scheme. Collaborate with Aubrey de Chalain on building dioramas and exhibits in their newly extended premises.
A ‘more recent’ photo of the same Hennie van Rooyen on the footplate of NG124 with Gerhard du Preez in the background. 6 Oct 2018
Mike van Zyl made these moulds and used resin for the castings. Effective weathering of the cast is what makes it stand out. You can see how the original items have now been turned into a heap of scrap! He shared this on the WhatsApp group in April.
Mini World Models Shop online and use this special coupon to claim your unique PEMRC member discount
CONGRATULATIONS to the British monthly model railway journal,
RAILWAY MODELLER, which has been voted the Winner of the 2020 MAGAZINE of the YEAR in the Special Interest category.
There is so much positive news in this Oct/Nov 2020 issue of
Heritage Railway, that I have taken the liberty to make the entire magazine available to you. Click on the cover to open the link to the PEMRC G-Drive. UK government grants help keep 43 heritage railway venues afloat. Hollycombe Steam Museum gets £1 million in double grant aid. Army track work saves Wensleydale Railway over £220’k. Steam to debut on Britain’s oldest public railway - again! Vale of Rheidol completes £531’k carriage shed project. West Coast extends “Jacobite” season yet again. Stockton & Darlington 2025 celebrations launched.
Click on the image to view the relevant video on YouTube
Victorian camera built by Josiah Chapman in 1886 returns to its railway roots Read the full article on page 28 of Heritage Railway.