Author Topic: Homebush Centenary  (Read 3227 times)

rustyengines

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Homebush Centenary
« on: 11 October, 2014, 04:09:43 pm »
Went to Ingham today for the Homebush Centenary

A sugar cane steam engine at the Victory Mill Ingham Queensland Austrtalia
built by Hudswell, Clark Colt Pty Ltd Leeds England 1914

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rustyengines

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Re: Homebush Centenary
« Reply #1 on: 11 October, 2014, 04:11:56 pm »
More Pictures
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rustyengines

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Re: Homebush Centenary
« Reply #2 on: 11 October, 2014, 04:13:46 pm »
More
plus a U-Tube
http://youtu.be/j-MMgtFEXcg 
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franco

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Re: Homebush Centenary
« Reply #3 on: 15 October, 2014, 12:52:56 pm »
Ian,

When I first knew Homebush in the fifties she was used to haul the portable line train because of an apparently undeserved reputation for breaking crank pins when hauling heavy loads of cane. The sections of 2' gauge portable rail were delivered to farms before harvesting a block, then picked up and taken to the next farm in rotation when the block was finished. Laying and picking up long leads of portable line was hard work, and its disappearance when mechanical harvesting came in was welcomed by all concerned.

The portable line gang rode in a rather decrepit carriage which had been built in the mid 1890s by Decauville in France, who also were the inventors of the portable line system. It had originally been the first class carriage used in passenger trains in the early days of the sugar industry in the Ingham district when road transport was difficult. The carriage when new was quite luxurious - it had swing-over seat backs so the passengers could always face the direction of travel and was even fitted with roll down blinds for weather protection which must have made it unbearably hot in the wet season.

The carriage still exists, but it was given a major rebuild in the late fifties or early sixties when, alas, the swing over seat backs and contoured seats disappeared, and were replaced by backless benches, which can be seen in the photo. Apparently the navvies did not need to be as comfortable as the original first class passengers!

The mill built a replica, I think for the centenary celebrations in 1983, which is a very close copy of the 1890s carriage after the fifties rebuild. It can be distinguished from the original because it is of all welded construcction, while the Decauville built one is all riveted. They still see occasional use on special occasions.

Frank.
Cairns, Queensland