FEATURE
Music to their ears: Above, Gerald Spoor, left, and former Frankston “Blue Note” music shop owner Ray Martin, once a sheetmetal worker, make parts for the boiler project. They and their mates will put in $1 million worth of labour at $25 an hour. Right, head of the engineering group Gerald Spoor with K163.
The iron men of Moorooduc By Mike Hast THE stuff in a “men’s shed” at Moorooduc is measured in hundreds of tonnes, not kilograms. One of several “sheds” is 100 metres long and eight metres high. The pile of timber in a corner of the yard contains 2500 pieces stacked higher than two men. It’s the Mornington Railway Preservation Society’s base off Moorooduc Hwy near the coolstores, and blokes from the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula area have been coming here to learn or perfect new skills for almost 15 years. It’s the granddaddy of men’s sheds and was up and about before the phrase had been applied to a movement that is sweeping Australia; a phrase used to describe places where men hang out and learn new skills and revive old ones. The 70 or so volunteers of Mornington Railway keep alive the tradition of steam trains and their 11-hectare (27acre) site was a hive of activity when The Times visited for a barbecue lunch and inspection. The group runs tourist trips between Moorooduc and Mornington and return three Sundays a month as well as special occasions. At Mornington, a bus operated by the chamber of commerce and Mornington Peninsula Shire takes people into the centre of town for lunch, shopping or lazing on the beach on warmer days. Trundling down 11 kilometres of track are four restored, red country line carriages filled with excited youngsters, amazed young adults and nostalgic older people. They’re hauled by the pride of the society’s fleet, K163, an 18-metre
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long, 63-tonne, fully restored steam locomotive built in Newport in 1941. On Tuesday the blokes were restocking their boilers with hamburgers cooked by the head of the engineering group, Gerald Spoor, a retired BlueScope engineer who started at the then-new Hastings mill in 1974 when it was called Lysaghts. Everyone here is a former “something”. Some continue their trade, like Peter Reyment, a retired fitter and turner with Victorian Railways, who was restoring big bolts using a lathe rescued from the old Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation factory at Fishermans Bend. Earlier, Ian Wilson, another retired BlueScope man, and Peter were driving the Trak Chief shunting locomotive (donated by BlueScope) to move the four carriages to be washed by former banker Roger Townshend and Michael Smith. The site is full of rescued and donated equipment – milling machines, band saws, a power hacksaw, metal presses – and rail carriages waiting to be restored. Nearby in another shed, Ray Martin, who owned the Blue Note music store in Frankston until about a year ago, was making widgets for the restoration of another steam loco, reliving his days as a sheet metal worker. In yet another shed, one end blocked off to keep out winter winds, former undertaker Lee Hayes and ex-hydraulics expert Steve Perkins were attacking a huge project – refurbishing of a giant boiler that will go into the society’s next K class steam loco. Gerald Spoor said it should be ready by the end of 2012 and would be good for another 30 to 40 years. “Refurbishing the boiler for K163
Mornington News 25 August 2011
Cash and carriage: Retired banker Roger Townshend washing the four-carriage country train.
took two years. I worked out that if we paid the blokes $25 an hour, the boiler cost $1.5 million. You’d never do it commercially; it’s a labour of love,” he said. Ex-Victorian Railway fireman Maurice Clarke drives a desk at Moorooduc, taking care of admin tasks and preparing work sheets, but was happy to show The Times the heritage signal box, rescued from Somerton when the wider standard gauge went through many years ago.
Society president Malcolm Swaine, an educator and administrator in his previous life, said the enthusiasm of the men was inspiring. “They’re learning new skills in the later years of life; they turn up early, work hard all day and the only reward is seeing the railway operate efficiently,” he said. Gerald and Malcolm nod vigorously when asked if it was exciting when the restored boiler was lowered into K163 just over a year ago. It was the culmination of months
of work and Mornington Railway’s pride and joy was back on the job last October, hauling up to 200 tourists on a Sunday, blowing its whistle as it passed through crossings on the way to Mornington, smoke pouring from the loco to evoke the days when steam was king of railroads around the world. Politicians and VIPs clamoured to be on K163 that first day. While the loco was being restored, one of two T class diesel locos was pressed into service. They and other