My name is
John (Johnny) Masson born 9th May 1941 at Stepney in Adelaide though Dad was
stationed at Goolwa where he took
his first railway position in late 1940, then at Naracoorte, Stepney, Woodville Park, Mannahill, and Auburn.
My father was a
Station Master from the mid 1940's and most of my
childhood days was living on, or very near the railway station premises. I
left primary school grade 7 at
Auburn when 14 years old and went off to Adelaide on my own to board and started work as a
Carpenter and Joiner at Kensington, as my father said I needed to do a trade as
he was happy about me
having a railway career. I always wanted to work "hands on" with
trains, one might say was in the blood. I had to bide my time doing 4 years in the carpentry trade at Kensington
for T.A.Cook and Co and left after Tom Cook the boss passed away and his brother
and daughter then put the business on the market. Being going on 18 years old and
National Service was due which I was balloted out. I then volunteered for it and
was called-up for the very last old intake of National Service in August 1959. I
might add this was best thing I did as was great for some character building. After finishing
my three months service at Woodside camp I then started for Horsell Jayman
& Sons on South Road Hilton as delivery truck driver and a year later was their only
crane driver. Actually enjoyed doing that till I turned 21, as once 21 I now was no
longer subject to my father's wishes and could now do as I liked.
As soon as I was 21 and as Dad was still with Railways at Bowden. I then asked
him if he could get me an interview to join the Railways. Still remember
his reaction just saying "Well your determined aren't you" So it was
off to do the railway medical and joined the South Australian Railways
on 21st May 1962 and as there was no railway school started, so in meantime it meant
starting out my rail career in the Adelaide Car sheds working shift work round the clock cleaning suburban and country carriages
while at same time each day doing my train working papers by correspondence. After 2 months and had
passed the basic porter's entrance exams Porters1 and 2, and Train working part1
and part2, then passed "tickets". I was then
put into porter's uniform at the Adelaide Station (Hector Goodman was the
Station Master on my shift, nice bloke) as was then qualified enough to work on the
Suburban Red Hen railcars collecting tickets. That was quite an interesting time.
In November 1963 the rules school caught up, so did last 9 weeks through the
Institute school till qualified.
Click HERE to
view the "Certificate of Competency".
When I had finally passed all the
required train working examinations in January 1963 as there were a total of 12 exams
to pass with the
South Australian Railways to become fully qualified in all train working rules and
duties. Three position
signaling and Westinghouse air brake I left those the very last, as these exams were a little harder
and I did these exams through the railway school that was running by then. Working on the suburban "Redhens"
ticket collecting gave me good
insight into the 3 position signalling as between collections I'd ask the drivers
to explain what each signal meant and why. So that made it a little easier to understand when at the
railway school. I was fully qualified by January 1963 within 8 months of joining the S.A.R.
Once qualified, I was asked, no, was told in uncertain terms that I had to take a country position, and
was given 6
country locations I could chose from. I took a transfer to Jamestown, which is 210 Kms
North
of Adelaide in the Mid North of South Australia as a station porter. Most fellow
railwaymen stated to me then, "You'll be sorry" you will work your arse off
there but to this day I never ever regretted the move. Shifted to Jamestown in
April 1963 there was a lot of shunting
carried out with
the main line
engines. Jamestown was on the main narrow gauge Peterborough Division which ran
from Cockburn on the S.A./ N.S.W. border, (near Broken Hill) to
Peterborough thence through Jamestown onto Port Pirie. The main loading was the Silver,
Lead, and Zinc concentrates from the Broken Hill mines railed to the Port Pirie
Smelters. It was all Narrow Gauge
track 3' 6". At Jamestown we worked 3 shifts around the clock, except Sundays,
odd times trains would run Sunday evenings as well. When I first started work at
Jamestown it was ALL steam trains made up of Bayer Garratt's 4-8-2 + 2-8-4
and "T" class 4-8-0 engines, and later in 1964 came the first of the 830
class diesels.
I had spent my childhood around steam, now I was
finally was let loose with trains, and I loved every minute of
it. Jamestown was a reducing station for the notorious Belalie
North bank. Was a 1:60 grade virtually straight off the
Jamestown ashpit towards Belalie North, then down the other side
1:80 to Yongala, then about 6 miles across flat country to
Peterborough, the main Depot. All UP (that is towards Peterborough) steam trains took on water at Jamestown and reduced excess loading for the Belalie North bank. Every second day or so an
engine and brake van (guards van) would be sent down from Peterborough to
pick the excess loading, usually empty bogie ore trucks (auto couplers)
and any four wheeled Pyrites trucks (hook couplers). All the ore
wagons had automatic couplings fitted, and all other local loading
had hook type couplings and side chains, so we had to use a very
heavy auto coupling adapter, see
illustration real finger busters that fitted onto the
hook couplings so the automatic couplings could couple to the
hook loading. All hook loading was ALWAYS marshalled behind the auto
coupling loading and had a limited tonnage of 600 tons.
Lot of shunting went on with nearly every train, and 95% of the time we were always
shunting with very long strings of wagons as the hook local loading was always behind
the automatic couplings at rear of the train. I was at Jamestown for seven years and the
last five years the Goodwin Alco 830 class diesels appeared, but we still had mixed Steam
and Diesel right up till the line
was closed down completely on 9th January 1970 and replaced with the
Sydney - Perth 4' 8½" standard gauge track became operational. A
very sad day for me personally, like I lost a very close family member. The S.A.R was great
railway to be with, but the narrow gauge was like the icing on the cake so to speak. Many others who
worked on this line have told me they felt the same. The last 12 months or more
1968/69 the Garratts came back into their own as the diesels were being taken off the
narrow gauge to use elsewhere.
Jamestown these days the only trains to stop are to shunt grain trains with a shunt movement
down to the
local wheat silos opposite where the old Narrow Gauge station is, now a Museum. The new
Standard Gauge rail track bypassed Belalie North, out around Mannanarie some
19kms north of Jamestown and the 3' 6"
Narrow Gauge track over Belalie North is now as though it never existed, only in pictures and
memories.
I had a drive of the Garratts
quite a few times during those 7 years, (not officially of course). The drivers who I knew
personally and got on very well with, when I knew they were on the down trains,
that is towards
Port Pirie, when I was off duty. I would get on in the cab at Jamestown and go to the cross at
either Caltowie or Gladstone, where the Peterborough crews would then change
over with the Port Pirie crews, and as soon as we would change
trains and were ready to head back to Peterborough, I would at times get to
drive back to Jamestown
(under supervision of course) as it was all basically uphill with engine working hard. This was, and still is, the real highlight of my life to
have one's hand on that throttle of a Beyer Garratt. Wonderful, a
never forgotten and a once in a lifetime experience.
I witnessed the closure of the 3' 6" Narrow Gauge as on the 9th January
1970, when I said goodbye to the last steam train Garratt 401. and on the Monday morning
12th January 1970 we started out
in the big paddock of the new 4' 8½" Standard Gauge station.
Stayed on in Jamestown till end of May 1970, relieved at
Peterborough for few weeks while they were sorting out of the Standard gauge
yard,
then I put in for a transfer to Mount Gambier 5' 3" Broad Gauge and started there on 1st June 1970 as an Assistant
Shunter, 3 months later as a Supervising Shunter. I'd have preferred to have
gone to Port Lincoln as an assistant Shunter but that was a hard to get slotted
in over there. Most shunters usually went on to be a
guard or higher, but I never wanted to be a Guard as I did never fancy those tucker box jobs and staying in
barracks. Around 1990 the Railway
(Australian National) was diminishing, as it was furiously shedding staff like a bad case of
dandruff, and A.N. was giving everyone a very hard time to get us out of the job by
any cheap means.
One blessing was that we were fortunate that in February 1987 we bought our Railway House
from the railways (at market value too, not cheap handout) we were living in as I could see the writing was on the wall,
that the job was getting iffy. It was not "IF", but,
"WHEN" this will finally happen. Progress was catching up with me again and this
time it was heading towards getting pushed out of the job, or, take a shift to Adelaide,
(Yuk) which
also would have had no further job prospects either anyway. For me, it would have been like getting out
of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak. So in late April 1992 I took
the voluntary redundancy package and got out of the job on my own terms. The S.E. line here was finally closed down 3 years later on
12th April 1995. The Mount Gambier history is another story, but nothing really did
ever match those great years I had
on the S.A.R Narrow Gauge. A big
extended family is only way I could describe it. Broad gauge was a slight
different baby in character.
Yes,
I can still hear the Garratt's ghostly sounds of No 108 up through freight taking a drink
at the Jamestown water column at 5 or 6am on a heavy frosty still
morning at the crack of dawn. Can still see the steam rising up from
all around the Garratt, its smoke drifting high into the heavens, the
whining of the steam headlight generator, watching the engineman with his oil can going
around checking the engine rods. The fireman with his foot on the water column spout
filling the tender, the crisp clang as the fireman let the water
column spout swing back away from the engine. Then the steam pressure building
up ready to head off, the sounding of the Garratts whistle
saying, "we are ready to go folks" and then hearing the Garratt's
whistle echoing all around from off the surrounding low lying hills that surrounds
Jamestown. The Guard then waving his green flag, or at times a sandwich to say okay to
go.
Then,,,,, the hissing of steam shooting out both sides of the engine some 100
yards each side, first at the front of engine, then the rear of engine and
slowly the the engine moves and one hears the empty ore wagons as the coupling
slack is taken up all the way to the guards brake van. The guard waving 2nd
right and the engine now starting
to build up to a tremendous roar as the Garratt unleashes her mighty
power and she moved off with a roar as she struggled proudly out the yard and
round the curve with black smoke
billowing high into the sky (what a wonderful sight and sound) and getting
stuck into the notorious Belalie bank and after 10 minutes or so, then she
slowly disappeared around the
hill curve and out of sight still hearing her roaring.... Yes, gone, but definitely
not forgotten by those who witnessed this first hand. That itself was a
memorable experience to be taken in everytime I saw it. I would often get told off by
odd Train Controllers because I was always about 10 to 15 minutes late booking
the train out, but I always made up good excuses so I could savor the
experience. This was one of life's very pleasurable moments
and yes I got paid to stand, listen, watch, and enjoy it all everytime.
Peterborough itself employed a lot of employees, heard it once said, there were some 700 plus in its hey days. My wife and I
re-visited
Peterborough in November 2000 and was totally shocked as it was totally deserted of
railway employees. Was told then that only ONE employee who does a track
inspection run. How sad it was in 2003 was then told there is no rail employees at
all. But that's what in today's language
it is
called PROGRESS............... or,,,,, is it really.
For those of us who were fortunate to serve on the S.A.R. Peterborough Narrow Gauge division, it was a very special way
of life, now all gone forever into history and now only precious memories,
rail pictures and sounds on a hard drive these days.
Heading into history. (pic:
unknown)
Now-a-days
just about every trace of the old Narrow Gauge track etc is now gone,
one would hardly know the narrow gauge ever existed these days. The old Jamestown railway station and Goods shed is all that remains at Jamestown, as
both are now museum pieces.
Only the standard gauge track is visible at Jamestown, that now
traverses the Australian Continent from Sydney in NSW, to Perth in WA.
One can even now also travel from Sydney to Melbourne, then to Adelaide, onto
Perth, or even to Alice Springs and onto Darwin, all on one gauge, Standard 4'
8½in. But
all said and done this will never be nowhere near as great an experience as those GREAT steam narrow gauge days, a very special era in a
time now long gone by..... and I consider myself very, very fortunate to have
had an opportunity to participate in a small
part of it.
Added
info: As at 2004 the once new Jamestown standard gauge station and goods
shed and offices built in 1969 have now been totally demolished and removed said
because of
vandalism. Jamestown standard gauge station is now, but an open paddock with
just a siding to service the silos.
My first
(unofficial) ENGINE DRIVE of a Bayer Garratt
Here I would like to share my very first
memorable experience of actually being allowed to sit in the driver's seat and drive one of these
Beyer Garratt engines. The first drive from Caltowie back to Jamestown
had great impact on me.... Might say in one way was the highlight of my
life......... When I came to Mount Gambier later I raced two speedboats
for 10 years very successfully, but that very first drive of a
Garratt was the absolute tops.
This particular day in Spring 1964 I went for a
cab ride on a down train No 275 hauled with Bayer Garratt
travelling from Peterborough to Port Pirie. All Peterborough and
Port Pirie crews worked trains to the cross of each other and
returned to their home stations. The Down train 275 to Port Pirie
crossed another Up train 274 to Peterborough ( remember uneven numbers for
Down trains, even numbers for Up trains) with the Garratt at Caltowie.
Caltowie was the next station on from Jamestown towards
Port Pirie only some 7 miles, but it would take about 25 minutes
to get to Caltowie, (virtually down hill) and it would take some 30mins to come from Caltowie to Jamestown.
Uphill all the way,
except for a one short down hill run at Slattery's hill, then run up into the Jamestown
yard. When we
got to Caltowie we changed over with the crew of 274 UP train
from Port Pirie, as this was the normal procedure. On the trip to Caltowie I
commented a couple of times as to what it would be like being in the driver's
seat, driving one of these mighty Bayer Garratts.
Here engine 400 hauling
train 275 entering the Passing siding at Caltowie, with Garratt 406
heading train 274 sitting on the Main line.
The train crews
including the guards would both change over trains, and return
home to their own depots.
The cross usually took place at
Caltowie or Gladstone, sometimes even at Jamestown.
After
the crew change completed train 275 was off on its way to Port Pirie,
and we were all now settled in on train 274 ready to head back to Peterborough, the crew had their 20 minutes
crib (meal break) and then the engineman said to me "Johnny, how
would you like to drive this train back to Jamestown". "Really",
I said with eyes the size of saucers, thinking he was joking. He said, "yes
really" I was totally stunned, this was the last thing I expected. With that, the driver got out of his seat and said
"okay Johnny, she's all yours. I'll tell you what to do" as I climbed onto the
drivers seat, and the awe,,,,,,, of just looking down the length of this steaming
beasty engine was just fantastic in itself and I was now going to finally get to
drive it. WOW........... well not let
loose totally, under supervision of
course. The engineman told me a few things
as to what to do and to look out for. So here I was sitting in
the engineman's seat now, a dream come true, and as I looked around to the fireman,
he was grinning at me like
a Cheshire cat. Can still see this like it was only yesterday, not 40 years ago, such
was all this imprinted on my mind. Now I was looking back down the train for the Guard at the
rear
of the train of equal to about 90 four wheeled vehicles, it was a full
load for the Belalie Bank out of Jamestown, no reducing needed.
I sounded the whistle as we were ready to go. The guard appeared
and looked out of his guards van and waved his flag (well his hand) to tell
let us it was okay for us to go. We already had the
correct staff for the Caltowie - Jamestown section, (the most
important thing) so I waved back to him, at same time gave the
engine's whistle a quick tug (nice sound) to acknowledge the
guard and that we were about to move off. Released the brakes, the sound of the air compressor pumping, wound the wheel
forward, hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss to set the direction and stroke. Winding this
Garratt wheel forward and backwards would be hard work if shunting a lot. Now I
understood why the driver would get upset at times when trying to place sheep
vans behind a big string of loaded ore wagons to a side loading sheep ramp that
had to be placed spot on. One only had about 2" space each side.
Now this was the best bit......... reaching forward I put my hand
on that long regulator lever, squeezed the regulator set lever on
the main lever, and tugged the lever towards me a fraction and now it all now
started to happen. It was like the engine took a deep breath and
then we were beginning to move and slow enough to gently take up all the slack up of all the couplings on every
wagon behind the engine back to the
guards van.
Being on the ground doing shunting operations I only knew all too well about
the slack in couplings and what damage it can do by being too over enthusiastic on the
throttle, especially a Garratt. Also as not to jerk
the Guard around in the Guards van at the back of the train as
the slack is taken up between all the couplings down through the
whole train. Some Guards over the years were badly hurt again through an over
enthusiastic driver not thinking about this, especially in a hurry
to get home.
The sound was fantastic, this enormous steam power under you, you
can feel it up through the seat of your pants and your whole body, the feeling to have with
your hand of that throttle, to feel all this steaming horse power
under your bum through your body. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck was
standing up. I could hear the steam power on at the front first,
and then the steam power on at the back (drive wheels at both
ends, as Garratts steams both ends) as we got going, then we were
starting to really roar, as we started gathering a bit of speed all 10 to 15mph of
it.
As the Garratt started to get a little speed, the engine was now
beginning to synchronize into one gigantic roar. I remember
looking out the window down towards the fire box at one point and you could
see, even in broad daylight, the fire (oil fired) leaping out keeping
in rhythm with the engine, it was like a huge synchronized orchestra and you
were the conductor. I do not think there is anything like this on earth to match
this.
At night while on duty I would stand on the Jamestown station platform as 482 (9pm)
or 108 (5am) would come "roaring" up the hill from Caltowie into the Jamestown yard, a
magnificent sight of this firebox at night from a distance was really something to
witness and to hear when these engines in full flight with a
full load, it's mind boggling stuff. I've had an odd drive of
"T" class steam as well and a few diesels, including a
railcar over my time, but nothing, no nothing, NOTHING literally compared to this. It's like "WOW". Even tearing across the water in my
Hydroplane at 84mph did not quite touch this wonderful experience.
Here I was, it was a warm spring afternoon about 1pm,
with my hand on the regulator and this beast roaring its head off
and hearing this mighty Garratt's engine's heart pounding away
and the steam oily smell,,,, of the steam engine, nice. As I kept looking around
at the driver and his fireman they were ginning at
me as they could easily see I was really for want of a better saying, " over the moon" doing
this. The whole trip to Jamestown was 95% uphill, and took some
30 minutes. Coming up the hill into Jamestown the distant
Permissive signal was off (meaning OK to proceed) I closed the
regulator off a bit and let the train's momentum carry us on, the
home absolute signal was off (meaning OK to enter the yard for
the UP main) a blow of the whistle (one long, one short, one
long), for the main railway crossing from Adelaide to Orroroo and
up over the crossing we went into the yard.
The look on the station clerk's face as I exchanged the electric
staff with him. Another slight touch of the regulator up the yard a bit to ease
the train into the yard, for it was uphill right to the very entrance of the
yard. Then close off the regulator, an small application of the train brakes and the train starts to slow as
we approach the water tower on the ash pit to take on water for
that major climb up the 1:60 Belalie North bank. Okay, I miss
timed a bit and stopped a tad short. Released
the train brake and a touch of the regulator and slowly edged
the engine to the exact water point for fireman to take on water, closed off the regulator,
applied the train brakes a little, and came to a nice stop. WOW
!....... I could hardly believe I had actually done that..... Of
course with the very helpful pointers from the engineman. I asked the guard how
was the trip over from Caltowie he said was fine. I was happy.
Well I can tell you this first trip I will never forget, and am
always very thankful to that crew for allowing me the
chance to actually drive the Garratt engine. Still feel quite
excited even when I think about it, or listen to the
Garratt's recorded sounds. After that trip, I did manage a few more Garratt drives, a couple of times from
Gladstone back to Jamestown.
These days I may be retired
and out of the Railways, but since MSTS MicroSoft
Train Simulator was released in May 2001, I now get to drive and still
shunt
with trains on my computer. Since Train Simulator was released the
Simulator has come a long way and now there is some good South Australian and
Australian routes and S.A.R.
and Victorian Rollingstock to re-live those good old golden train days of the
past.
INFO 2010: Now many thanks to MSTS
and to a South Australian Route and Engine/Rollingstock builder Allan
Lownsborough, (sadly now since passed away) one will be able to drive full load T's and Garratts from
Jamestown up to and over Belalie North to Yongala and onto Peterborough and vice
versa, also to Quorn.
The old computer era has now allowed one to relive those Narrow Gauge
experiences, though in virtual reality some 40 years later. It's great to be RIDING
THOSE NG RAILS again and driving those loved NG engines as well.
Y and
T class at Yongala
'T'
class and Garratt at Yongala
THE MIGHTY GARRATT 4-8-2 + 2-8-4
401 at Belalie North 1954 in her fresh paint
job of "invisible green". (pics: unknown)
(Note hook
couplings and side chains. A little later in 1962/63 these were changed over to
auto-couplings)
This was the
South Australian Railways "400" class, the mighty Garratt. The most powerful narrow gauge steam locomotive in Australia. The second most powerful steam locomotive (excluding boosters) on the South Australian Railways.
Based on a highly successful metre gauge design built be Bayer Peacock for the British War Department during World War II. the '400' class was identical in main specifications to the 60th class of the East African Railways. The design was also built in 1952 by Henschel of Germany for the Great Western Railways of Brazil and S.A.R.'s ten locomotives were built concurrently with an order for Pakistan. The design has been described by one authority as one of the best light Garratts ever built.
Small they may have been by Garratt standards, but on the Peterborough Division they were truly mighty. Few steam locomotives were loved by their crews as were the '400' Class
Garratts. When introduced in 1953 they had to live down the unfortunate impression created by the Australian Standard Garratt
(ASG) of sorry memory.
(see ASG picture below) This they soon did and in no time they had gained a reputation for reliability and guts.
Built by Beyer Peacock's European assoiciate Societe Franco-Beige De Materiel De Chemins De
Fer, of Raismes, France, the locomotives were of the 4-8-2 + 2-8-4 wheel arrangement. Although built as oil-burners the oil bunker was removable and provision was made for the fitting of a mechanical stoker should conversion to coal firing be required. The locomotives were also designed for conversion to either 5ft 3in, or 4ft 8½in gauge if necessary.
However, probably no other class of locomotive on the S.A.R. was so restricted to the one area of operation. They plied back and forth between Port Pirie and Cockburn with only occasionally the relief of runs to Terowie, 14 miles from Peterborough.
So proud of their Garratts were the Peterborough men that they painted them green, strictly against instructions. They poured a little green into the approved black and called it "invisible green". When newly issued to traffic they were immaculate to the last nut and bolt. Although they lasted only 17 years, it is fitting that they were not run until completely worn out. A worn out Garratt would have broken the heart of a Peterborough engineman.
And so it was right to the last, for in the final week of steam operation the
Garratts that took part did their jobs without faltering. Uploading their reputation as the noisiest engines on the S.A.R., their famous roar as they accelerated up the ruling grades was as strong as it ever was.
Cylinders (4): .............................. 16 in. x 24 in.
Boiler Pressure: ........................... 200lb.
Diameter of Driving Wheels: ............ 4 ft.
Tractive effort: ........................... 43,520 lb.
Roadworthy Weight:...................... 149 tons.
Length over couplers: ................... 87 ft. 5 in.
Want to hear the realistic sound of the mighty
400 class Bayer Garratt.
To hear the sound
as realistic as it really was in those great steam days" Then
turn your sound volume well up
as these were,,, very noisy engines under heavy load.
This sound recording was taken standing in railway yard as Garratt starts off
and goes past microphone
and heads off into the distance.
Sound
file: 1.4megs
Click here to play
South Australian Railways Narrow gauge Bayer Garratt
4-8-2 + 2-8-4
( MP3 file is 1.4megs in size, so may take a bit of time to load-up with a 56k modem.)
CLICK to hear Garratt engine sounds and
go back to 1964.
Garratts working in reverse was not normal procedure. Because of new standard
gauge preparations, the Port Pirie turntable was out of use in very late 1960's,
so Garratts had to travel back to Peterborough in reverse, they could be turned
at Gladstone though. (pic: unknown)
ASG's
Two 300 class ASG's Nos. 303
and 304 at Peterborough in January 1953. (pic: unknown)
The S.A.R at Peterborough needed motive power to fill in till the new 400 class Garratts arrived in 1953. To fill in 6 condemned
Australian Standards Garratts
(ASG) were purchased from Western Australia to keep the freight moving. These engines briefly fulfilled a useful function, but were quickly scrapped on delivery of the new 400 class
Bayer Garratts.