| How I became involved with Newnes: |
I first came to Newnes over 50 years ago; during Easter, 1951 in fact. I was a very young
lad at the time and this visit was with my family. As I recall, it rained for much of the
time, but the visit must have made a big impression, as I have been coming back ever since.
- In the adjacent photo, taken in 1951, I am standing on the
front of what then remained of Shay locomotive #4.
Click on photo for larger version - 29k.
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That other character in the above photo is my brother, who has his own video production
business. Does your business have video needs? Then have a look at:
http://www.vpsimage.com.
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I really started visiting Newnes in earnest in the 1960s, after I started working and had
purchased my own car. I had developed an interest in railways during my school years and the
railway to Newnes proved to be of particular interest. However, I soon expanded this
interest to cover the whole history of the oil-shale industry in New South Wales.
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As a member of the Australian Railway Historical Society, I served on the production team of
the book "Shale Railways of New South Wales", published in 1974. This book by Gifford
Eardley and Eric Stephens updated and brought together several earlier articles by both
authors, including Eric's popular 1959 "Bulletin" article on the Wolgan Railway. After some
years being out of print, this book has recently been reprinted with an addendum to update
and correct some of the details.
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For the benefit of the numerous railway enthusiasts who are
interested in the Wolgan Railway, I have added some railway-specific pages to this web site.
Access is through the Home Page.
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In 1979 I was again involved with another book published by the ARHS. This book was based on
Henry Deane's 1910 comprehensive article on the construction of the railway to Newnes.
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By the 1980s I realised that at least one item of rolling stock that had been used on the
Wolgan Railway was still in existence. However, by the time I managed to tackle the
logistics of doing something about it, the wagon concerned had been scrapped.
Never-the-less, I was able to obtain some parts from it and eventually three other wagons
(none of which had actually been to Newnes before) were purchased with the intention of
rebuilding at least one to resemble one of the Newnes vehicles. These wagons were trucked to
Newnes in 1984/5 and some preliminary work was undertaken, including the painting and
lettering of two of them.
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The wagons were sited opposite the old pub, partly for security reasons. Unfortunately the
pub itself was damaged in a big flood in August 1986, and the building was subsequently
moved to a new site in July 1987. Even worse, the liquor licence eventually had to be sold
and the pub sold its last beer in October 1988. As the family who ran the pub were moving
out, I could see the old building standing empty and possibly regarded as "abandoned" and
eventually vandalised by some of the more irresponsible people in our society. To keep up
some ongoing function for the hotel, I accordingly offered to operate a kiosk on weekends in
the bar of the old building and this was accepted. I started operating the kiosk on
Saturdays only from November 1988, but I have since extended it to operate on both Saturdays
and Sundays. All of this has meant that the railway wagons have received only limited
attention since 1988.
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- Here is a relatively recent picture of yours truly. Its at Newnes,
but some 48 years after the top photo. As I have been running the kiosk since late 1988,
it may well be that I have become a Newnes relic myself!
Well, I am still at Newnes and I now own a house nearby. The pub was sold in 2001 and the
new owner has since been upgrading the facilities there. We now have solar-powered
electricity and more improvements are underway. At this stage the kiosk will continue to
function as it has in the past and it looks as if I will still be behind the counter for a
few more years yet.
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I hope to see you at Newnes sometime real soon!
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