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Chapter 28 - 21/05/2008
 

OK, so with the last few chapters being full of “do this” and “do that” I thought we might have a break and go and photograph some trains.
The handy part about taking photos on the Summiton Range is that you don’t have to wait to long between trains.

So here it was one afternoon when I spotted 1741D heading down grade from Summiton on its way to Brisbane.
Then we happened across 2333 with 2312 leading twenty seven VAK coal hoppers up grade through Holman towards Summiton.
We managed to get a brief snap of Beyer Garrett 1009 heading to Summiton as well. As you can tell the restoration project on 1009 is somewhat less than complete. I am told however that this should be rectified over the next year.
After having a chat to the Summiton Workshops boys, we were told that now the sound unit is fitted (these new styrene boilers just don’t make as much noise as the originals) the rest is pretty much cosmetic.
The boys also told us about the lack of rollingstock available from the Heritage Division. At present there is only a DCG Dining Car, a CL sitting car and a BBV to bring up the rear. They told me that if they had their way then there will be around 14 coaches to make up the train.
Word is that the commissioner for railways (Hon Jade Wuiske) has advised that 10 will be enough.

We did spy a partially restored AL in the back of the shops.
At this point of our tour of Summiton Yards, we had our attention drawn to the rather imposing overhead bridge that is (partially) spanning the yard. Obviously, this bridge has stood for some time as the old timbers are starting to fade so much that they really do resemble styrene strips.
We were told that the commissioner would be on the war path if this wasn’t painted soon. Also to have the steps at the Southern end added as it is a public liability nightmare at present.

After completing our tour of the yards, we headed up the hill to have a cold one at the pub.
Imagine our surprise at finding the pub completely absent. Apparently the town planning office headed by the Hon Jade Wuiske (she has a lot of titles and we believe there is corruption running rife) have not given complete planning permission for this structure… yet.
Despite the fact that the pub has yet to be built, there are several “friendly” locals having celebratory drinks at the prospect of new digs being built near their stumbling grounds.
So when all was said and done, we walked two blocks over to Craig’s Fisho to have a cold bottle of rot gut… And some chips.

Maybe next time we will actually get something done, now that we have seen how much is still dwelling within the dark recesses of my mind.

We shall see how we go.


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