The Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway Spring Raffle is now underway, with tickets at $2.00 each now selling.

A fabulous first prize has been donated by the Mudgee Miniature Railway Co-op Society. This comprises two return tickets, Mudgee-Gulgong-Dunedoo, travelling by historic CPH railmotor between Gulgong and Dunedoo. Three course meal at Dunedoo Bowling Club, with a Murder Mystery Show. Two nights’ accommodation for two at the Wanderlight motel, Mudgee on the long weekend of 2nd/3rd October.

The 2nd prize is a value-packed basket of local Oberon produce – not to be missed!

The 3rd prize is a mouth-watering meat hamper from Oberon Farm Meats – value $50.

Prizes are to be drawn on the Saturday, 4th September.

Contact the Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway if you would like a ticket. Contact details are here

All members are asked to consider donating to the local produce basket mentioned above. We particularly need local jams, honey, cakes, etc.

Diesel Locos arrive at Oberon!
Click here for all the details and photos

Shiny Halo Award – click here for more details

Station Access
Due to continued wet conditions, workers and visitors and reminded to use the previous access to the station area by way of the large gates off North St, near the “Rail Trail” sign. There is now a “board-walk” across the tracks.

Become a member of Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway and receive the full version of the newsletter! Membership details can be found here

We think everyone involved enjoyed themselves and should be proud of another combined team effort from a number of rail preservation organisations to help make the transfer to Tarana a success. For the record those involved to make the transfer trip happen included:

Lachlan Valley Railway: Tony Healey who gave the initial approval and Gavin Knowles who organised the timetabling and liaison with ARTC & RailCorp.

Jason McIntyre, David Matthews, Ray Morris, Steve Davis and Steve Preston who volunteered their time for various train crew and maintenance functions.

Goodwin Alco who coordinated the activities in Sydney and donated the use of loco 4501 and the fuel used for the transfer to Tarana.

3801 Ltd who provided access to and storage for the locos at the Eveleigh Large Erecting Shop.

OTHR members and others working on the locos at Eveleigh including Graham Williams, Rick Fletcher, Tim Arnison, Shane Moorhead, Jason McIntyre, Dave Matthews, Bob Gioia, Col Parry, Dave Rostron and Steve Preston.

Kevin Grubb and Trevor Kaminski from KG Rail who managed the worksite protection at Tarana.

OTHR would like to extend a special mention and thanks for the enormous support provided on the weekend by Lithgow businesses Turner & Central Crane Services, and Henry Plant & Equipment Hire. Without the generous support of businesses like these this project would not see the light of day.

Graeme Jenkins of Turner & Central Crane Services for donating the use of his 55t crane. They operate in Lithgow, Bathurst and Orange.

Bill & Peter Henry of Henry Plant & Equipment Hire for donating the use of low-loaders and trucks used for transporting the locos from Tarana to Oberon on Sunday.

Barry Hughes for use of his yard for temporary storage of the two locos.

Read the Oberon Review article by clicking here

More photos provided by Col Bembrick and Doug Booker
(click on the FS icon to display the photos full screen)

Click here to read the story and watch the video about Oberon Tarana Heritage Railway – Breathing life back into rail at Oberon.

The video is also on YouTube – watch it below.

Shiny Halo Blog – an initiative to encourage action for a more resilient future.  Each week They put up new articles about  the inspiring and often groundbreaking actions being taken by Councils, Businesses, Community Groups, Organisations, Schools and Individuals in Central NSW.

Welcome to the July newsletter. Keep watching the local papers for reports of OTHR events as we plan to continue featuring OTHR as much as possible in the local media. A major announcement this month is that the lease for Oberon Station is approved!

Diesel Locos at Eveleigh
As you all know by now, OTHR is now the proud owner of two 73 class diesel locomotives – recently purchased from Patrick Corp. These two diesel locos (7307 and 7321) are in very good condition, requiring only a few minor repairs to put them in running order.  They have been moved from Port Botany to the Eveleigh workshops of 3801 Ltd for inspection and maintenance.

July Working Bee: 10th – 17th
If you can help please contact Track Manager Peter Culley on  0427 042 448 as soon as possible. Free accommodation is still being generously donated by the Big Trout Motel and the Titania Motel.  Please let Peter know as soon as possible if you require accommodation

Workbee Catering
Any OTHR member who can donate food items for the hungry fettlers of the working bee crew is asked to contact Lynette Ireland on 0428 490 809, prior to the working bee. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and will help OTHR conserve some precious funds.

Station Access
Members and fettlers are again reminded that, other than special events such as Open Days, our regular access to the Oberon Station is now via a dirt track off Albion St. On-site parking is just west of the line near the northern boundary fence.

Carriage Repairs
The two historic carriages will shortly be receiving the attention of some expert carriage builders. These volunteers have the skills to enable some minor but very necessary repairs to be carried out to put these historic carriages in tip-top working order. Some seats will be repaired, period luggage racks installed and appropriate light fittings replaced. All this work will commence in August. In the meantime the carriage roofs have been covered to protect them from the winter weather.

Become a member of OTHR and receive the full version of the newsletter!

Welcome to the June newsletter. Keep watching the local papers for reports of OTHR events as we plan to continue with our policy of featuring OTHR as much as possible in the local media. We have several exciting events to report in this issue – see our website for more details and photos.

NEW Members
We extend our warm welcome to many new members this month. We welcome Malcolm Currey from Springwood, George Clark of Rockley, David Mason from Inverell, Alan Ward of Queanbeyan, Wayne Dempsey of Chatswood, Ken Downey of Sydney Sth, David Farr of Caringbah, John Driver of Smithfield, Peter Goodman of Chipping Norton, Alan Whitmore of Valley Heights, and Christopher Smart of Werris Creek.

NB: Unfortunately, for those members who are still unfinancial at this time, this will be your last newsletter. We don’t like to lose valuable members, just because they’ve forgotten to renew their subs, so please check your membership status and renew if you are in arrears.

June Working Bee: 12th to 19th

Working Bee Dates for 2010

June: 12th – 19th
July: 10th – 17 th
August: 7 th – 14 th
September: 18 th – 25 th
October: 16 th – 23 rd
November: 13 th – 20 th
December: TBA
At the June working bee we will be concentrating on re-sleepering at Hazelgrove. Alternatively, if the sheds from Burraga are ready to erect at the station then this will become a priority to enable our two carriages to be placed under cover out of the weather.

If you can help please contact Track Manager Peter Culley on 0427 042 448 by Thursday, 10 th June. Free accommodation is still being generously donated by the Big Trout Motel and the Titania Motel. Please let Peter know as soon as possible if you require accommodation

Workbee Catering

Any OTHR member who can donate food items for the hungry fettlers of the working bee crew is asked to contact Lynette Ireland on 0428 490 809, prior to the working bee. Any donations will be greatly appreciated and will help OTHR conserve some precious funds.

Diesel Locos Acquired!!
OTHR is now the proud owner of not one, but TWO, 73 class diesel locomotives – recently purchased from Patrick Corp. (see photo above). These two diesel locos (7307 and 7321) are in very good condition, requiring only a few minor repairs to put them in running order. They have been moved from Port Botany to the Eveleigh workshops of 3801 Ltd for inspection and maintenance prior to their journey to Tarana station by mainline rail. From there they will be trucked to Oberon station to be made ready for running on the Oberon-Hazelgrove line as soon as appropriate training and certification can be arranged.

OTHR has received generous assistance from a number of heritage related organisations in this regard. Our thanks go to Lachlan Valley Railway , Goodwin Alco , 3801 Ltd , and Patrick Corp for their time and effort in providing personnel and equipment.

These two locos are 485KW (650 bhp), diesel-hydraulic units of Bo-Bo configuration (ie two twin-axle bogies) and were built by Walkers Ltd in the 1970s. Fifty units were built (nos. 7301 – 7350) and each weighs approx 50 tonnes. Further technical details and a history of these locos will appear in future issues of the Newsletter. Watch this space!

Open Day Success.

OTHR held an open day for the public and Oberon community on Sat May 15 th to inspect the two historic passenger carriages and the Oberon station precinct. A steady stream of interested visitors made the most of a fine autumn day to see the progress of this community heritage project, and many favourable comments were received. The TV station WIN was in attendance to record the event and an item subsequently went to air on the following Tuesday night.

CPH13 for OTHR
Recent developments have culminated in OTHR and Goodwin Alco finalising a lease agreement for the “tin hare” rail motor CPH13. Built in 1925, this railmotor was used on the Illawarra Line during its final years of operation, before being withdrawn from service in 1984. It will be restored by Goodwin Alco and leased to OTHR for a nominal sum, for which OTHR is extremely grateful. This will enable smaller groups to be catered for on the Oberon Hazelgrove run. CPH13 comes from the fleet of the ACT Branch of the ARHS (see photo below) and will require significant restoration work.

Station Access
Members and fettlers are reminded that, other than special events such as Open Days, our regular access to the Oberon Station is now via a dirt track off Albion St. On-site parking is just west of the line near the northern boundary fence. This means workers and visitors don’t have to cross the line to access the station.

Burraga Sheds
These large sheds have now been dismantled and are ready for re-erecting at Oberon station when permission is granted. These will enable us to protect the two historic carriages from the inclement Oberon winter. To Harry Cole and his crew we say a big Thanks!

Wood Raffle Winner
The lucky wood raffle winner was John Crichton of Oberon – congratulations, John. Once again thanks to all our volunteers.