Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally
by steamtug on May.03, 2011, under Steam engines
With 2 rallies per year, it seems we just packed up from the last one and here we were again! I was keen to try out the whistle from my old tugboat “Lyttleton II” which I had just aquired and we had a plan to mount it on the boiler in Rabbit’s shed. Tom and Philip assisted by making me up an adapter flange to fit the boiler’s whistle pipe. We finally got to blow her filling the rally ground with the deep organ pipe so ominous with old steam ships. (For the story of the tugboat, look to the tab at the top of this page)
Not much had changed since the last rally… same things, same faces, but what did change was the great Bucyrus Steam shovel had moved under it’s own steam after sitting dormant for 60 years! How’s that for a big change! The team, led by a rascally Rabbit cheated a little by mounting the steam cleaning portable boiler (Clayton’s… the boiler you have when your not having a boiler) which normally lives out the back of Rabbit’s shed on the firing platform of the old face shovel. It was plumbed into the main steam line and with a string of electric leads powered up to give steam to the main winch engine, used to pull itself along the rails.
The original boiler was the downfall to this shovel being abandoned when a big crack was discovered by the boiler inspector 60 years ago. Now with modern welding methods, our boiler inspector has given the OK to grind the crack out and weld it back up. But first Rabbit has been busy for months drilling out all the studs which hold the boiler fittings; some as large as 7/8’s of an inch! “Only 1 stud in the whole boiler screwed out the way it should!” Rabbit told me.
With all this repair work done, the boiler could be under steam by the next rally in 6 months time, and of course everyone should try to be there for the 100th rally in November 2012! It will be a great party!!! Follow this link…
http://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/
As I was happily blowing my whistle, proudly reflecting on the fact it was the largest whistle at the rally, a well known collector of whistles in the district turned up and asked if we could put his whistle up too. It was a naval siren, the type navy ships and big liners used in fog. When he pulled it out, I nearly fainted! I have seen sirens before, but this one was about 10 times bigger than any I had ever seen!! Philip mounted it up and when we let her rip, (Sounds like this!) what was left of my hangover was soon shaken out as my brain reverberated within my head. This was the loudest thing I have ever heard in my life! I was disappointed now only having the second biggest whistle!
