Within the last few years tremendous strides have been made in popularising railway services in New South Wales. There have been, also, equally important innovations within the Service itself.
     A few years ago no one dreamed of sealed railway carriages with a regulated supply of cleaned air at a fixed equable temperature in summer and winter. But already a trial car has been fitted with an air-conditioning plant, and the work of building air-conditioned carriages for the new Diesel trains is well in hand at Eveleigh workshops.
     More than one generation of servicemen heard a talk of a projected huge building to house most of the administrative offices and thought it little more than a fairy tale. To-day, however, Railway House, No. 19 York Street, with its modern lines and green and gold facade, is one of the most prominent buildings in Sydney's towering skyline. Air-conditioned throughout, there are many improvements to make it comparable with the most modern block of offices in Australia; and it is an achievement of which railwaymen might well be proud.
     And that leads us to the latest development in the Service — the Wynyard underground railway refreshment rooms, which were officially opened by the Acting Premier last month before a large gathering representative of the city's commercial and professional men.
     Situated on the right hand of the concourse platform as one approaches the ticket barriers from George Street, the restaurant immediately catches the eye by its strikingly modern design in green and yellow tile and stainless steel.
     Modernity has been the architects' watchword. Straight lines, gleaming silver-like stainless steel, natural grain, unstained native timbers, and the terra cotta and cream colour of the waitresses' uniforms dominate the whole design.
     The restaurant is divided into three sections: milk bar, grill room, buffet.      The milk bar is the main exterior feature of the building, because it opens on to the concourse platform. On either side of it are entrances to a central lobby, off which are swing doors leading, separately, to the buffet and to the grill room. Besides milk, all sorts of soft drinks are sold at the bar. Attractive etched mirrors form the background of the bar. Sparklingly clean drink pumps and other "gadgets," and smiling busy girls in coloured uniforms complete the scheme.
     Conforming to the most modern in this class of refreshment room, the buffet can accommodate 200 people. The bars are built U-shape, and fixed, comfortable rubber-cushioned swivel chairs provide the seats. Along the eastern wall are a number of loges. Decorated with dogwood panels inset with bands of blue duco, the buffet is the last word in comfort and modern design for those who wish to have a quick lunch at a most reasonable charge.      In the grill room the architects have followed an entirely different design from the buffet. Here the decoration is more ornate, as befits a room in which the diner makes a leisurely meal; 300 can be seated at the tables. Chief features of the room are white holly wall panels banded with contrasting timbers set on a skirting of black glass; oak and blackwood parquetry floor; and in the beamed ceiling concealed lights which give pleasantly diffused soft light.
     Perhaps the most striking departure from everyday restaurant construction is the kitchen. It immediately claims the attention as one enters. Behind plateglass screens white-coated and capped chefs go about their workaday tasks with delightful nonchalance. This "kitchen under glass" never fails to attract a large crowd, all deeply interested in the age-old job of cooking food. But there is another attraction in the kitchen. It is all-electric. Revolutionary changes have been made in the cooking apparatus.
     For instance, all cooking is done at a maximum of only 32 volts. At this voltage dangerous shock is well nigh impossible. This in itself is a wonderful advance from the days when all domestic electrical appliances were handled gingerly for fear of a shock; Some electrical "highlights" are a new method of camp-fire grills, rotating spits, soup and vegetable peelers, coffee and tea urns, bakers' ovens, fish fryers, plate-warming magazines, tin openers, and potato peelers. All this equipment was designed by officers of the Chief Electrical Engineer's branch, and is a great tribute to the inventive genius of these men. There is little doubt it will be adopted in many kitchens here and abroad, because it has successfully come through exhaustive trials and is an economic proposition commercially.
     On the second floor are a private dining room and a staff dining room. Here, too, is the dream of every housemaid come true — an electrical dish-washing and drying machine. It does everything but growl about the water being too cold, because the water never is too cold.
     Added to all these improvements in restaurant management, an air-conditioning plant supplies "washed" air to all rooms. Maintaining an even temperature and pleasant circulation all the year round, this equipment fills a long-felt want in rooms where many people are gathered.      Mine host of the establishment is Sub-manager L. A. Cummings. Assisted by his lieutenants — Vince Rose, Fred Lewis, and Miss E. Charlton — he supervises the smooth working of a large staff of 150. The work is fast and furious. On an average day 2,000 people are served in the grill room and buffet. It is an old and, in this instance, a particularly apt saying that the proof of the pie is in the eating. Well, 2,000 people every day prove that the Wynyard pie is worth eating — and 2,000 Australians can't be wrong.

Reprinted from Railway and Tramway Officers' Gazette, 20 May, 1936

     Since Port Pirie became the coastal terminus of the second narrow gauge railway to be built in South Australia, it has been a source of great railway interest.
     On the 10th December, 1875, the first section of the narrow line that eventually stretched from Port Pirie, on the eastern shores of Spencers Gulf, to the New South Wales mining centre of Broken Hill, was opened as far as Crystal Brook. Four small "U" class locomotives, Nos. 1 to 4, were transported by sea to Port Pirie to work this 18 mile line. The locomotive depot was located at Port Pirie.
     The line was eventually extended to Gladstone on 7th December, 1876, and to Petersberg (now Peterborough) on 17th January, 1881.

INITIAL ADELAIDE-PORT PIRIE ROUTE

     In order to give a through connection by rail from Adelaide to Port Pirie, a narrow gauge line was built from Petersberg to Terowie, and opened for traffic on llth May, 1881. The broad gauge line from Adelaide had reached Terowie by December, 1880, having been extended from Burra by the Government as an unemployment relief.
     The South Australian Government, realising the importance of the metalliferous discoveries at Broken Hill, passed an Act in 1886 authorising the construction of a narrow gauge railway from Petersberg to Cockburn. The Silverton Tramway Company was subsequently formed to construct and operate a railway from Cockburn, on the South Australian/New South Wales border, to Silverton and Broken Hill, as the New South Wales Government was not interested in constructing an isolated railway in their far west. Thus, Port Pirie became the outlet port for the concentrates and other products of the Broken Hill area, without which it may have remained a relatively small wheat port.      A shorter rail route from Adelaide to Port Pirie was opened on 2nd July, 1894, via Hamley Bridge and Brinkworth following the completion of a narrow gauge link between Blyth and Gladstone. This link also facilitated the passage of ore trains from Broken Hill to the smelters at Wallaroo.
     Further improvements to services on this route were inaugurated with the broadening of the Western Division, i.e. the narrow gauge lines between Hamley Bridge and Moonta, Wallaroo and Brinkworth, and Balaklava and Gladstone. The change-over to broad gauge took place on 1st August, 1927, giving the Adelaide-Port Pirie service, by the shorter route, a break of gauge point at Gladstone instead of Hamley Bridge.      Rail history was made at Port Pirie on 23rd July, 1937, for on that day the broad gauge line from Adelaide to Redhill was officially extended to Port Pirie, whilst, at the same time, the Commonwealth Railways standard gauge Trans Australian Railway was extended from Port Augusta to Port Pirie Junction. So Port Pirie became a three gauge terminal.      This unique arrangement of the S.A.R.'s broad gauge trains terminating at Ellen Street with trains standing in the centre of the street, continued until 22nd July, 1967 — just 30 years. Narrow gauge trains had terminated at Ellen Street for many years before the broad gauge arrived at Port Pirie.
     With the construction of a new Port Pirie passenger terminal at Mary Elie Street, both broad and narrow gauge passenger trains ceased to work along Ellen Street, and the Ellen Street Station was officially closed on Saturday, 22nd July, 1967.
     From and including Sunday, 23rd July, 1967, all broad gauge passenger trains (except through services to Perth and Alice Springs) have arrived and departed from the new passenger platform at Mary Elie Street. Narrow gauge passenger movements work to and from the narrow gauge tracks adjacent the new broad gauge platform.
     The rail tracks down Ellen Street, Port Pirie, have been regarded by some as somewhat of an atrocity, disrupting road traffic, and being generally a nuisance, whilst others realise the value of it as a tourist attraction, this latter point being emphasised by the number of souvenirs available in local shops featuring a 520 class steam locomotive at the head of a passenger train in Ellen Street.
     Passengers used the Ellen Street station for the last time on Saturday, 22nd July last, the last regular broad gauge passenger train to use the station being the morning train from Adelaide which arrived at 11.43 a.m., while the last regular narrow gauge passenger train arrived from Peterborough earlier that same morning.

The last broad gauge passenger train from Adelaide unloads at Ellen Street.

     The Australian Railway Historical Society's special trains to and from Ellen Street were run as a grand finale to passenger train working in the main street of Port Pirie. The broad gauge train from Adelaide was hauled by a 620 class steam locomotive, No. 621, which has historical associations with the broad gauge working to Port Pirie. While still new in its green livery and sweeping silver lines. No. 621 conveyed the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. Lyons, from Port Pirie to Adelaide after the official opening of the broad gauge. The last passenger train to depart from Ellen Street Station was a narrow gauge one hauled by Beyer Garratt No. 409 which departed for Gladstone shortly after the arrival of the special train from Adelaide.
     At least one person on that last passenger train remembers trains rumbling down Ellen Street in the early days. He was 95-year-old Mr. Bill Sweetland, Port Pirie's oldest resident, who travelled on the train to Gladstone.
     Next, the Port Pirie Junction platforms will be just a memory with the opening of the new Port Pirie station at Mary Elie street to both broad and standard gauge trains.

Reprinted from South Australian Railways Institute Magazine, September-October, 1967

     A number of up-to-date vessels have been placed in service by the German State Railway Company for the ferry traffic between Germany,

A later photo of the Schwerin, showing motor cars also being carried.

Denmark and Sweden, the newest being the ocean-going ferry steamer Schwerin. This vessel has a displacement of 3,600 tons when fully loaded; her length is 600 meters and breadth about 18 meters. The hull is divided by bulkheads into eleven watertight compartments and is provided with rolling tanks to reduce the pitching and rolling motion when under way. Bow and stern are armored for resisting ice. The ship will be driven by two reciprocating steam engines of an aggregate of 4,500 horsepower, and the four boilers are constructed for oil-firing. The speed is about 16 knots.
     The Schwerin is provided with a bow rudder in addition to the stem rudder, for safe steering in the ferry ports. Both rudders are manoeuvred electrically from the bridge. The carriage deck of the Schwerin has rails on either side of the engine shaft, running the whole length of the vessel, and capable of taking seven four-axled passenger (D-Zug) cars or 18 two-axled freight cars. The cars are entirely under cover and are firmly lashed so as to prevent all movement even in the heaviest seas. This is done by means of hinged eye-bolts built into the deck, to which the couplings can be attached. The cars are also secured in a transverse direction by bolts.

Reprinted from Railway Age, 23 April, 1927

     The United States is still far from treating the Negro citizen as "a man and a brother." On a good many of the railroads separate waiting-rooms are provided for whites and blacks. A negress, who was refused a meal on a St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad dining car while a passenger on a first-class ticket between St. Louis and Little Rock, sued the Railroad company for damages, and the judge declared that the duty of railroads to keep their passengers safe from injury would permit them to establish separate dining-rooms for the races, on the ground of trying to avert race conflicts in which injury or death might result, and that negroes cannot be barred from dining cars when travelling on first-class tickets when stops are not made at meal stations for meals, but to overcome the prejudice against their presence the judge of the United States Circuit Court at Little Rock decided that separate hours for dining for white and black passengers must be established.

Reprinted from Railway Magazine, February, 1907

     The first steam turbine locomotive actually constructed was designed in 1907 by Professor Belluzzo of the Ecole Polytechnique, Milan, Italy, and given its initial trial run in 1908 at the works of the Societe Anonyme Officine Meccaniche, Milan.
     An old four-wheel standard gage switching locomotive was employed for the purposes of the test, the cylinders and other parts of the reciprocating engine being removed and turbines and necessary control mechanism substituted. This engine had 47¼-in. driving wheels, a wheel base of 6 ft. 6¾ in., a heating surface of 646 sq. ft. and carried a boiler pressure of 145 lb. per sq. in. The weight after conversion was 57,300 lb.      Four turbines were employed, one turbine being geared to each end of the two axles. Steam was admitted from the boiler to the forward turbine on the right hand side, and after passing through this turbine it was further expanded through the rear turbine on the right hand side, then passed to the left hand side of the locomotive, where it expanded through the turbines geared to the rear and front wheels and finally exhausted to the front end and stack. The turbines were spring supported as shown in the illustration and in addition flexible piping was used to connect the turbines. The maximum rotative speed of the turbines was 2,400 r.p.m., which with a gear ratio of 12 to 1 corresponds to a locomotive speed of 28 miles per hour.

Special blades for running both forward and backward

     As will be noted from the drawing of one of the turbines, it consisted of a steel disc rotor having three sets of blades. Between the rotor blades were two sets of stationary blades and on the inlet side a series of short guide blades which acted as nozzles for directing the steam to the first set of rotating blades. In order that the locomotive might be run in either direction, the blades had the lower portion curved in one direction and the outer portion curved in the opposite direction, the steam expansion being through the lower portion when the locomotive was going ahead and through the outer portion when it was backing up. An illustration of one of the blades shows the novel arrangement employed.
     Each turbine was provided with a steam chest in which three cylindrical distributing valves were fitted. One of the valves furnished steam for running forward at the maximum speed, one for running forward at reduced speed and the third for backing up. The valves on the four turbines were so connected together by rods and levers that each set of four were controlled in unison by a main lever in the cab convenient to the engineman.
     All developmental work was necessarily suspended during the war. Although this locomotive was fitted up a number of years ago and tests were not completed or the locomotive placed in regular service, the work which was done is of especial interest at this time in view of the fact that experimental turbine driven locomotives are now in operation in Switzerland and also in Sweden.
     This early Italian locomotive has recently been dismantled. However, sufficient information was obtained to induce the builders to bring out a new design for a 1,500 hp. locomotive using superheated steam and an air cooled condenser. The new locomotive is of the Pacific type and it is estimated that the weight will be about 70 tons. Experiments would indicate that the condenser can maintain a vacuum of 28 in. The turbines are rigidly attached to the frames and drive a transverse shaft through double reduction gears. This shaft is provided with cranks from which connections are made to the driving wheels by the usual main and side rods.
     The success and economy of the turbine has led to its extensive use during recent years in the stationary and marine fields, this progress being made possible by the improvements in reduction gearing. The steadily increasing cost of fuel, which was already high in many countries, recently has caused a number of engineers to attack the difficult problem of the application of a turbine drive to the steam locomotive. The results of the efforts in this direction will be watched with the greatest interest.

Reprinted from Railway Mechanical Engineer, February, 1922

     The 25th anniversary of the Twentieth Century Limited - twenty-hour train of the New York Central between New York and Chicago - occurs on June 15 and, to celebrate the event, the railroad company has issued a handsome pamphlet, lettered in silver, containing six full-page colored reproductions of the six notable paintings which have been used on the calendars of the road for the past six years, showing this train in different situations.      In 1902, the "Century" was made up of three sleeping cars, a smoking car and a dining car, and on the first trip, westbound, the number of passengers was only 27. At the present time, an average of three trains of ten cars each is run each way daily, and the annual gross earnings of the train are about $10,000,000. The cost of the first train of five cars and one locomotive was about $115,000; and 21 cars and seven locomotives, then in service, cost about $525,000. In service on these trains today are 87 sleeping cars, 15 observation cars, 12 club cars, eight dining cars and 24 locomotives - representing a gross cost of $8,000,000.

Reprinted from Railway Age, 11 June, 1927

     This suburban peak hour train left old Redfern Station sometime about 6 p.m. The first stop being Rockdale then all to Hurstville. It was made up with a very light engine and the old type of American carriages that had the coloured glass windows on the roof. About three hundred yards from Sydenham Station on the Tempe side was a level crossing and seldom used and then only to take cattle across to graze in a paddock. A few yards further on from this crossing started a fairly steep cutting. It was between these two points that the engine left the rails and took the leading carriage with it. After leaving the rails the engine turned completely around and faced back towards Sydney and came to rest on the road outside the rail crossing. It faced a two-storied house in which was seated an old gent (a cripple), I knew him very well by sight. He gave evidence at the inquiry. Seven people were killed and I am not quite sure, but I believe one was either the driver or fireman. That night I was a conductor on a train [?tram] that left Dulwich Hill soon after the accident. Coming along Marrickville Road were people from all directions coming for the scene. I finished my shift sometime after midnight and it was a matter of walking home (no night trams in those days). I lived near Sydenham and Newtown was the tram depot. With some mates we decided to go to the scene of the accident. We arrived there about 1 a.m. The workmen were burning the woodwork of the wrecked carriages to give them light to see to clear line for the a.m. traffic. A policeman on duty there said to us, come over here. He led us through some long grass to a gutter running along a split rail fence. He then lifted a sack and there lay a man's foot in a boot, it had been torn off just above the ankle, as clean as you would break a carrot. Although it is now nearly 47 years since I saw that sad scene my memory is just as clear today. When I pass there in the train I think of that night, of the little engine out on the road with its beautiful polished brass dome almost cut in two. I look at the old fence and think of the unfortunate victim who lost his foot, and the misty rain that was falling on that early morning. One of the victims (named Darnley) is buried alongside my parents grave in Woronora cemetery and when looking after their grave I give this man's grave my attention if needs be. He was 22 years old at the time. A little further away another victim George Goulder 15 years old. His father was a Detective and lived at Rockdale, he died recently.
     An exhaustive inquiry was held as to the cause. The member for St. George, Joey (Cocky) Carruthers later Sir, was the leading Council for the people out in his electorate. Various theories were put forward as to the cause, but nothing definite was arrived at. It seemed an act of providence. No blame attached to anyone. In the midst of life we are in death and that came to pass with those unfortunate victims. Tom Dean.

Reprinted from The Retired Rail and Tramwayman, December, 1947

NEXT WEEK INDUSTRIAL SPUR OPENED IN ADELAIDE BUS THAT CAN TRAVEL ON RAILS OR ROAD RAILWAY RIVALRY PASSENGER SERVICE ENDS ON GEORGETOWN LOOP ZOELLY TURBINE LOCOMOTIVE FOR SWISS RAILWAYS WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF THEIR RAILROADS ARCHER PARK HAND-OVER MORE SHUNTING TRACTORS FOR COUNTRY STATIONS