Adventures in Paradise - ZelmerOz.comAdventures in Paradise EM Loveday, reproduced from the Ted Ward...

EM Loveday (c 1997). Adventures in Paradise

Modelling the Railways of Queensland Convention 1 Reproduced from the Ted Ward Collection, e&oe

Adventures in ParadiseEM Loveday, reproduced from the Ted Ward Collection, 2011

General view of the Port Douglas Station with loco shed (rails removed) on left and carriage shed justfaintly discernible among bushes beyond loaded wagons. 'Douglas' loco boiler in foreground, 'R DRex' on line to wharf, 'Faugh-a-Ballaugh in front of workshop. Photo: E M Loveday.I arrived in Mossman in the midst of theSecond World War after a three day trip fromBrisbane in company with a crowd ofAustralian and Yankee servicemen on the'Sunshine Express' to Cairns and fifty milesservice car drive on to Mossman. The warwas at a critical stage, both Darwin and PortMoresby had been heavily bombed by theJapanese and the physical invasion of theQueensland coast was a distinct probability.Being country bred I was plucked out of thearmed services and assigned to rural work tofeed and clothe the troops, not exactly myidea of having to fight a war. It soon becameclear to me that I would be more useful in thedefense of this country by being where theaction was most likely to be and somewherewhere my pre war engineering training couldbe given more scope. So, when the chancecame to serve in a civilian capacity in farNorth Queensland I did not hesitate.Furthermore, I suspected that as I had beentrying to get away to enlist for some time, offand on, the Victoria Barracks bods inBrisbane took the opportunity to get me offtheir hands. No doubt, in their opinion asmen were wanted to go north, should the

Japanese have landed, people like me wouldbe eminently expendable.I was first sent to Mossman and then later tofirst the Mulgrave Mill at Gordonvale andthen to South Johnstone where I fell in withsome good blokes who were mostly driversand firemen, on their extensive tramway,who gave one the impression they sufferedfrom a form of high speed dementia and amania for being somewhere else in theshortest possible time. However, for most ofthe war period and for many yearsafterwards, I remained in the Mossman andPort Douglas area.The set up in the Douglas Shire was theMossman Central Sugar Mill owned thetrackage from South Mossman to thenorthern end of rail and the shire council linefrom Port Douglas to South MossmanJunction together with the Mowbray andCassowary Valley branches were owned bythe Douglas Shire Council. The Council alsoowned the wharf installations at PortDouglas, the shunting yard there, as well asthe workshops, tramway station, engine andcarriage sheds.



View from station roof showing new council wharf with S.S. Carroo loading. Loco shed on left, 'R DRex' loco shunting loaded wagons on to wharf. 'Faugh-a-Ballaugh' in front of workshop. Remains ofold Irvinebank tramway passenger coach frame just visible behind loaded wagons in foreground,1957. Photo: E M Loveday.

Mossman 1946. The photograph on the left was taken from the mill stacks (photo next page) andshows the council station in Mill Street and the trackwork. The rear of a council train with loadedtarped wagons can be seen heading out of the yard. Loco smoke is drifting back over the train.Photographs: E M Loveday Collection.



The sugar mill also had a fairly extensiveshunting yard in Mossman, but little elseoutside the town. The shire council had looplines, a station and goods shed I Mill Streetand exercised running rights over the mill-owned track from South Mossman Junctioninto the town. The mill was charged oneshilling a ton to haul their cane over the shirecouncil tracks and the shire council chargedfreight on goods traffic, mostly raw sugarand parcels rates for small items, groceries,orders from the butcher, bread and otherhousehold supplies etc.

At that time the council ran two trains a dayto and from Mossman and Port Douglas, andduring the slack season, January to June,only one service was run. Each Wednesdaythe tram ran a service that took in a run upthe Mowbray branch to the terminus atBallyhooley to the head of that valley for theconvenience of the farmers in that neighbour-hood, then return to Ferndale to pick uploading left on the main line there to take onto Port Douglas. During a rush of shippingdue at the port an extra train was run in theevenings.The shire council at one time ran a servicefor children from the Cassowary Valley also

but that had ceased before my time when theCassowary State School was opened.

Mossman Mill Street crossing fulls and emptiesPhoto: E M Loveday collection.In the mid nineteen thirties the MossmanMill ceased running their service out toSaltwater Junction in conjunction with alocal contractor, William Aubrey Frost, whoran the Wyanbeel and Bamboo Creekbranches for some years before confining itstraffic to cane haulage; Bill Frost then onlycontracting to haul cane into SaltwaterJunction for the mill loco to pick up.

'Faugh-a-Ballaugh' in Mossman c. 1909.Fireman, Charlie Gregory, Driver unknown.Small boys Phil May and Norton Buchanan.Photo: E M Loveday collection.

'Pioneer' on the Mango Park Branch, c. 1925.Photo: E M Loveday collection.



When I came to Mossman there were fourmill owned locomotives, all built by the JohnFowler foundry in Leeds, England. The'MIALLO' was the mill's newest and biggestengine. It normally ran the SaltwaterSyndicate run and picked up the cane left byBill Frost at Saltwater Junction also, excepton Mondays when 'MIALLO' was 'on shed'.The Cassowary Valley and Mowbraybranches were run by the 'PIONEER' locoexcept on Tuesdays, 'PIONEER's shed days,and the third, the yard loco, 'IVY' went intoshed on Wednesdays. The 'MIALLO' didshed on Mondays, the lightest day of theweek when the light weekend loading couldbe left to 'WEMBLEY', the loading wasbecoming stale, being loaded the previousSaturday morning needed to be crushed earlyon the Monday morning so 'WEMBLEY' theyard pilot did the Saltwater run that day. Atthat time the locos were working three shifts,the drivers and firemen changing over shifteach Sunday evening; the 'WEMBLEY' wentinto shed on Thursdays unless there wassome interruption in the routine.

'Wembly' on Mowbray branch May 1925. Photo:E M Loveday collection.The oldest loco at the mill was the'PIONEER', dating from 1899. She was a 0-6-0T with side tanks, 24 inch drivers and 81/2 by 12 inches cylinders and carriedFowlers' builder's number 8047. An earlierengine of the same make and class, the'MOSSMAN' lay in pieces down the creekbank behind the mill and had builder'snumber 7980. Like all engines in the DouglasShire, the 'PIONEER' was a wood burner andhad a short four-wheel tender.

The 'MOSSMAN' and 'PIONEER' were sidetank locomotives. The next engine, named'IVY' was acquired in 1922. Like the otherpre-World War II locos, she had panniertanks. 'IVY' was a 0-4-2T and the first locoto be acquired after World War I. The nextengine bought by the Mossman mill was the'WEMBLEY', the John Fowler exhibit in theWembley Exhibition in London in 1925. She,like the 'IVY', also had 8 1/2 by 12 inchescylinders and 24 inches driving wheels.

'Miallo' in Miallo township 1944. Photo: E MLoveday.In 1934 the Mossman Mill bought its finalFowler locomotive. This came in 1934 andwas considerably heavier and more powerfulthan the mill's previous locomotives. Itcarried builder's number 20276, was a 0-4-2T, had 9 1/2 by 14 inches cylinders and 28inches driving wheels. The Mossman Centralnamed her 'MIALLO'. This design waspopular in Queensland prior to World War IIand proved to be economical in fuel andwater, excellent steamers, very easy tomaintain and were fast and long lasting. Theywere rated at 90 horsepower as againstFowler's rating of 60 horsepower for thesmaller engines. One might mention that this'rating' should be taken with a grain of salt asvery conservative.The next Mossman Central locomotiveacquisition was from the BundabergFoundry, builder's number 2 of 1952, named'BUNDY', was a 0-6-2T with 28 incheswheels and 10 by 14 inches cylinders. TheBundaberg Foundry company obtained alicence to build locomotives to Fowler designin about 1950.



'Bundy' and four wheel tender arriving atMossman Central Mill c. 1958. Photo: E MLoveday collection.Another Bundaberg Fowler locomotive ofthe same class, builders number 6 and aHudswell Clarke 0-6-0 tender engine,builders number 1838 were acquired secondhand for the planned extension of the touristpassenger services but this was eventuallynot to be. The managerial guiding hand ofthe venture depended on relinquished controlwith a change of corporate policy.On the shire council at the time the tramwayran two locomotives. The oldest bought newin 1901 from the Fowler works was 0-6-0Twith 8 1/2 by 12 inches cylinders and 24inches driving wheels, was builders number8733 and was a sister engine to the twoprevious locos owned by the sugar mill andcarried the Gaelic name 'FAUGH-A-BALLAUGH'. Like the two sugar millFowlers she weighed about 12 tons. Thename was bestowed by Mr Andrew Jack, thethen shire chairman.The other locomotive was an articulatedcompound on the mallet principle that camefrom the German works of Orenstein andKoppel. She was a 0-4-4-0T wheelarrangement and came new to Port Douglasin 1903. She had 8 3/8 and 12 by 12 inchescylinders and 24 inches driving wheels andwas named 'DOUGLAS'. These twolocomotives ran the council services until1949.In that year the 'DOUGLAS' compound wasbeing given a general overhaul when achange of council policy decided a newlocomotive should be purchased; one fromthe Perry works in Adelaide indented for andpurchased. The compound engine was then

laid aside after being repaired and ready forre-assembly. It lay in the carriage shed inpieces until the line closed in 1958.The new engine, Perry works number 7650-49-1, although well built was never aseconomical with fuel nor as generallyefficient as the Fowler design from eitherLeeds or Bundaberg. Unlike the Fowler withbalanced 'D' valves this Perry loco had pistonvalves. This would have been advantageoushad the piston valves been, say, 5 inches indiameter instead of the 4 inches they actuallywere, much too small for the 9 1/2 inchescylinders. In addition the piston valvesthemselves were not provided with pistonrings. This resulted in the valves developingserious leaks in a few thousand miles ofrunning. The boiler itself could have beenrather bigger in the barrel and this coupledwith the engine refusing to run with a shortcut-off, the exhaust was not as free at speedunlike the equivalent Fowler design whichhad moderately long valve travel, with amplesteam and exhaust passages and ports, albeitwith only plain 'D' valves. The Perry productwould not steam well when notched up andwas heavy on fuel and water compared withthe Fowler engines from Leeds.

'Douglas' at Port Douglas with passenger trainabout to leave for Mossman 1909. Photo: HenryEuhus.This was an unfortunate case of spoiling thelocomotive 'for a ha'worth of tar'. Theengines were fairly common on two feetgauge Queensland tracks until tramwayoperators found the Bundaberg Fowlermachines, coming out in 1952, so much moreeconomical, but the Bundaberg enginesappearing right in the closing years of steam



locomotive production, were overtaken bythe diesel 'invasion'. Rather obviously thePerry works had designed a machine forpottering around industrial plants rather thanto suit the long distance, long haul dutiescalled for in the Queensland cane country.I had remained over long in the sugar millemploy in Mossman apart from locomotivedriving I had at different times been incharge of the crushing engines, the threeheavy Bellis and Morcom vertical compoundengines driving the big DC generators thatsupplied the power to the auxiliaries andlights; and been water tender in charge of theboilers. During slack seasons I was rigger,steeplejack and general handyman. I was onthe lookout for a better job as I could see thesugar mill would not be providing anyadvancement and when the chance came, Imoved over to the shire council tramway toassist the tramway engineer and to do anyextra driving when required.

Mowbray Trams headed by 'Douglas', Mill StMossman, 1947. Photo: E M Loveday.The shire council no longer ran passengertrains by that time, so my work was mostlyrepairing wagons and building new stockswith occasional days hauling extra loadinginto Port Douglas or track maintenancerequirements, ballast, sleepers, rails, andbridge timbers. Then each locomotive was,as soon as the sugar traffic was indeed overfor the year, pretty thoroughly overhauled,boilers checked and new tubes put in whenrequired, safety and other auxiliary valvesground in, the smokeboxes and ashpanschecked over for air leaks, the wheelsdropped out, the horn cheeks and 'brasses'renewed. The tyres would require building

up, remachining and reprofiling and the bigend brasses renewed and the valve gearrepined. The brakes, couplings, both tenderand engine and front and back would bemade good and the injectors and sanderslooked at. The fusible plugs should berenewed each year. Finally, the stuffingboxes were repacked with packing soaked incylinder oil and the glands adjusted.Building new four wheel wagons was mainlyroutine, bogie wagons less so because of theextra work on the bogies, although on eachbogie wagon only the same ends andcouplings as a four wheeler, so there wassome gain there. Supposing a four wheelerwas to be built, Jack Wolfe, the wagoncarpenter took the timber from the stack andcut it to size while I sorted over thescrapheap to pick out suitable steel, makingup any shortfall from the steel rack. Havingstacked the steel beside the power hacksawand cut up the components for angle bracketsgussets, hinges, stanchions and the rest of thesteel fittings, there are at least 125 steelfittings in a four wheel 4 tons capacitywagon. I know, I have counted them.

'Grover' bogie wagon, built at the tramwayworkshops Port Douglas. Photo: E M Loveday.The pieces were cut out from various oddpieces of scrap and stacked beside thewelding bench. Flats like coupler faces andaxle guards would be oxy cut from heavyplate. When I had everything ready I wouldset to and fabricate the components by arc-welding. This would take a good several dayswork. When the components were ready theywere handed to the carpenter who hadcompleted preparation of the underframe andgiven all the woodwork two coats of red



oxide mixed with boiled oil. The steel partswould then be painted with bitumatistic paintand bolted on to the underframe which wasresting upside down on horses. The axleguards and draft gear were put on then, or ifthis was not ready from the blacksmith thedraft gear brackets were mounted and thesprings and draw bars left to later.

'Faugh-a-Ballaugh' at water tank, Port Douglas.On the retirement of 'Douglas' the O & K tenderfrom 'Douglas' was attached to 'Faugh-a-Ballauagh' 1957. Photo E M Loveday.While the carpenter was doing all this I hadsorted out suitable wheels from the heapoutside and choosing matching wheels andchecking the size of the bores turn axles tosuit on the small lathe. Jack Wolfe and Iwould heat the wheels on a fire outside theshop and drop on their axles. The axlediameters and the bores of the wheels variedfrom 3 to 3 1/3 inches. On a 3 inch axle weallowed .003 inch shrink it, .001 inch perinch of diameter. On a 3 1/3 inches axle weallowed rather less of a shrink fit pro rata.We did not allow any guess work; we werenot that good. Every wheel bore and everywheel seal were carefully 'milked' to theintended shrink fit and we never had anyloose wheels. After the first heated wheel ofa set was dropped onto its axle and wascooling, the first wheel of the next wheel setwas in turn dropped o its axle. By then thefirst wheel will have cooled sufficiently forthe first axle to receive its second wheel andso on depending on the number of wheelsetsrequired.Then the process of 'buttering' to build up thewheel treads, flanges and fillets was taken inhand. This done, I'd machine the wheels toprofile and diameter on the big lathe. We

really needed a proper wheel weldingmachine like other tramway shops but we didnot run to that extravagance so the timewasting use of a welding hand piece wasresorted to.While I was machining the wheel profilesJack Wolfe cleaned the axle boxes andbrasses and tinning the latter to take theantifriction white metal. By then theblacksmith had the axlebox springs ready,also the drawgear, springs and couplers, butif not the drawgear could be put on later. Theaxleboxes were put on the journals and thewheelsets lifted by a 'handy billy' rope tackleand the axle boxes dropped into the hornslots after the springs were put in place. Theaxle guards were then put on.When the wagon frame had been lifted offthe 'horses' by the overhead gantry andturned over right side up on its wheels, theend posts, pockets for the door staunchonsand hinges were bolted on and hung. If theblacksmith had not done so before, he wouldhave finished the drawgear, springs,couplings etc., and the draft assembly put onand the floor boards put down. The doorstaunchons were dropped into their pockets,the doors bolted on to their hinges, the finalpainting done and the wagon numbered.Driving and firing a wood burninglocomotive differed considerably from a coalburner. With coal the fire is carried muchthinner and you fired more often. Differentclasses of boilers on different locomotiveswere best fired according to experience,boilers with long narrow fireboxes oftensteamed best with pitches along each side. Ifound a Yankee engine with a wide Wootentype of firebox was best fired with alternatepitches, one each side and one each back andfront on the first firing and the next pitchesbeing one each corner and one in the middleof the grate. Locomotives like the Fowlerdesign, with moderate grate area were betwith the coal spread evenly over the fire.With wood firing one kept a full fire well upto the crown sheet. Wood had only about aquarter of the heat that coal has so requires athicker fire as you fire less often but kept a



thicker fire. On an undulating road one triesto fire going down hill while the injector isworking, putting the blower on and thedampers closed and as soon as the fire isbuilt up the dampers are opened and the firedoor is closed. Unless the steam is high theblower is kept on until the next rise isapproached. You try not to fire more thannecessary on banks.To keep a stack coupled rake buffered upfrom the top of a long bank the summit isapproached fairly smartly as the couplingsare light. As the engine comes over the topthe brakes are applied, lightly at first thenwith increasing pressure as the rake bufferedup. The trick is to have the trucks or wagonshave their slack run in one at a time as therake comes over the summit. The slack isallowed to run out again as the rake reachesthe bottom of the bank. To prevent any jerkor a coupling breaking, the rake is allowed tostretch out just before the bottom of a bank.Unless a downgrade is very short, when it ispermissible to approach the summit slowlyand pull the rake down with light couplings,a bank should always be taken down withrake buffered up right from the top of thegrade.One has one's moments of excitement whendriving over a long period of time as onemight expect. Once during World War II, Iwas taking the 'IVY' locomotive out towardsSaltwater and coming up the street from themill I was flagged down by a couple ofsoldiers who had obviously spend the day inthe 'Queens' bar. They asked to ride on theengine. I was not keen about that as riding onthe mill trams was not permissible andanyway these chaps were a bit drunk andmight fall off the loco. However, against mybetter judgement I allowed them on. Wewent out about as far as Saltwater Junction,running different branches and spur lines.With the to and fro-ing and backing andfilling the passengers became quite confused.A couple of miles from home I had the rakemade up with 50 or 55 loaded cane trucks.As I oiled around the engine and the firemanwalked back along the rake to check the load

for loose chains I mentioned to ourpassengers that we were set to go home. Oneof the soldiers said he thought we werefacing the wrong way. We had turned theengine around at different triangularjunctions and he and his mate had lost theirsense of direction. I said I thought I wasrather familiar with the road and said 'Allright, which way is the direction for home?'The soldier pointed past the rake towards theway we had come. 'That's the way home!You're lost, mate! Come on Bill' and withthat the pair began walking back towards therear end of the rake. So we came homewithout our passengers. I don't know how farthey walked until the truth dawned on themor how far they went before they turned backor if they were in time for roll call nextmorning.

Accident 11/9/1941 'Douglas'. This photographclearly shows the leading inside framed powerbogie and the rear outside framed power bogie.With the cylinders of the rear power bogie underthe cab the potential for additional heat in the cabis readily apparent. Photo: Noel Beard.Another time, again when driving 'IVY', Ihad the misfortune to knock over theReverend Edward Taff, the rector of St.David's, Mossman, our parish priest. He waswalking along the street with his back to theengine and reading the Cairns Postnewspaper. The fireman was not keeping aproper watch on his side and I of coursecould not see the left side of the loco frommy side. Luckily only the corner of theengine on that side bumped him and he wasonly knocked down with some bruises. Acrowd quickly gathered and, although the oldgentleman appeared not to be seriously hurt,I insisted he go to the hospital for a check. At



the time of the accident he was eighty-seven.He continued to hold services at St David'suntil he was 94. It was a mercy he was notbadly injured.Some time before this another driver, againinvolving the 'IVY' loco had the misfortuneto run down old Mr Broad who, years beforewas the tramway engineer running the PortDouglas workshop. Poor old Mr Broad wasnearly blind and really should not have beenwalking on the street unaccompanied.

'IVY' on her side, the result of an accident.Clearly visible are the outside frames andflycranks. Photo: Cyril Gray.One moonlit night during the war years TedEddleston and I had been out to theBallyhooley terminus up the Mowbrayvalley, and on our return when passingthrough the Robbins farm a soldier standingin the beam of our headlight hailed us. Wepulled up and the soldier, young lieutenant,said, 'Do you know you have pulled up aconsiderable length of our telephone line andcut our communications?' 'I know' Tedreplied. 'We have just spent a good half hourpulling out the tangle from our rods. Whatmade you lay a telephone line across the tramtracks? Don't you know this line is andalways has been in everyday use?' Theofficer said that he did not know that therewould be any traffic at night and the linewould be removed before daylight and wasthen informed that the tram line ran trafficday and night, seven days a week and therewould be another train that night. Oursnagging the telephone line probably did notaffect the course of the war, but caused ussome inconvenience.Then there was the time one year I wasrunning the 'MIALLO' out to Saltwater onday shift and the eight mile on afternoon and

evening shift turn and turn about withanother crew. Mick Assman, the caneinspector's brother was my mate that year, agood bloke and a good fireman. I don't knowwhy he did not at that time bother to pass asa driver. He was better than many drivers Iknew.Anyway, one evening we were approachingthe South Mossman River with 75 or 76loaded cane trucks, say about 175 or 176 tonsgross load. As we came down to the river therake became uncoupled about halfway back.We pulled the front half well up the far bank,well clear of the see-sawing rear part of therake. When things settled down Mickdropped off the engine and went back torecouple.Just then Mick's brother, Otto pulled up inhis car, returning from a day in Cairns andthe line being roadside just there, walkedover to the engine to enquire what the holdupwas. I told him and mentioned that Mick hadgone back to recouple. Otto said, 'What is hedoing that for? You won't be able to lift therake over Pringle's Hill in one. You'll have todouble to the top.' 'I don't think so,' I replied.'If we work it right I think we can get'MIALLO' to lift the lot in one go.' With thatOtto drove off into town to tell the trafficoffice we had been held up. His remark to uswas, 'Hell, you'll be here all night!' as hedrove off.Mick, returning to the engine said he heardwhat Otto had said and looked forward tosurprising him when we arrived in the Yardwith the rake intact. While Mick had beenback coupling I had built up the fire. We thenpushed the rake back up the hill as far as theengine would take it. Then holding theweight on the brakes I eased the engineforward with the lever in first notch. Thenracking the regulator open, I had the loadmoving down towards the river. As thecouplings began tightening I gave the enginemore steam. As I saw the last truck comearound the last bend and knew the rake wasstretched out I pushed the reversing leverright forward and the regulator wide open.The exhaust bellowed in the funnel as



'MIALLO' thundered across the bridge to thefar bank and roared up the bank ahead.'MIALLO' must have been a grand sight inthe gloaming. The safety valves lifted as theengine felt the weight of the load and thespeed dropped to about ten miles an hourwhich she maintained to the top of the bank.She was still showing a feather as she cameover the top. Mick did not touch the fire thenas there was ample steam to see us into town.We rattled down the slight two mile grade infine style and blew for Crawford's levelcrossing and again at Parker's Creek bridgeto make sure Otto knew we were coming.When we stormed into the yard Otto was justleaving the traffic office where he had justbeen telling them we would be very latecoming in because there were two fools stuckout on South Mossman bridge who didn'tknow their own limitations or that of theirlocomotive. He looked surprised and comingover to the engine, asked us if we had enoughwater to go back to South Mossman to pickup the remainder of the rake.I said, 'What rest of the rake?' Otto replied'The trucks you left on South Mossmanbridge.' I replied 'There are no trucks left onSouth Mossman bridge. We brought the lotin at once.' I thought Otto was going to countthe trucks in the rake but in the event heforewent doing that.

Rail Motor at Port Douglas. This high standardpassenger unit was built in the Port Douglasworkshops utilizing a coach bogie, componentsof an international truck and other locallysourced material. Photo: Roy Richardson.Another time, when I had changed over tothe shire council employ, I put in a dayhauling ballast from the loading point atCassowary Junction out to a relay out

towards the upper end of the Mowbraybranch. To get the most ballast out on site atthe relay with the least unnecessary runningover a day's work, we'd pull as big a load asthe engine would pull as far as FerndaleJunction, leave half the rake temporarily onthe main line and pull the remainder into theangle and left that there. Then the locomotivewas run light engine around the back leg ofthe angle and coming back onto the main linecoupled the rear half of the rake onto thenose of the engine, went back into the frontleg of the angle again, coupling on to the firstpart of the rake to the tender, proceed up thebranch pushing the first part of the rake onthe tender and pulling the rear half on thenose.On banks that were to steep for the engine topull the whole load the back part was leftbehind until the first part could be propelledover the summit and the loco taken backdown the hill to pick up the latter half. Thefront half was then coupled on and the wholeload propelled along to the next summitwhere the proceeding was repeated. We onlywent through this propelling and pullingbusiness because the steepest banks requiredto be dealt with this way and there were onlytwo. After delivering the ballast the emptywagons were pushed and pulled back to theangle where the reverse process of shuntingthe engine around the first part of the rakeleaving the rear half until the engine has runthe angle, brought two parts of the raketogether and hauled them along the main linein the normal way.On one occasion, the afternoon being hot andthe navvys electing to ride on the tram out tothe junction where they had left their motorlorry, they rode in the front wagon in thecool. They had their tucker box in the wagonwith them, carrying their crib tins, tea billiesand their rain coats. They spread a blanket onthe lunch box and began a game of cards.One navy, becoming bored with the cardgame stood up and began shying large stonesleft on the wagon floor at the paper waspsnests in the lineside trees. Being in the frontwagon of course and the wasps immediately



taking umbrage, with their tempers carriedon short fuses and red hot stings at the readyswarmed down to attack the attackers, asthey thought. Of course the engine hadmoved ahead in the interval and the wasps,thinking we were the culprits moved in toattack in no uncertain manner. This happeneda couple of times. The navvy ganger whowas riding with us on the engine wanted meto stop so he could walk ahead andreprimand the stone thrower for hisirresponsibility. I said, 'No, I'll fix it.' I knewthat not far ahead was a large paper wasp'snest in a big Leichhardt tree. He sure enoughthrew an extra big stone at the wasp's nest.He scored a beautiful bull's eye. As he did Istopped the tram short on the brakes wellclear of the angry wasps who swarmed downonto the front wagon. The navvies vacatedthe wagon in record time. They were runningbefore their feet touched the ground; sufficeto say there was no more stone throwingwhen they climbed back into their wagon.The navy ganger was still laughing when wereached the junction.Bill Frost had at one time three small steamlocomotives and a railmotor to run hiscontracting business. There was a very small0-4-0WT engine he bought from Pleystowesugar mill near Mackay who in 1916 boughtit new from the Baldwin Locomotive Worksin Philadelphia, USA, who bestowed thename 'HABANA' on it before leaving theirworks; Habana being a cane growing areabelonging to Pleystowe. Bill's next enginecame from the Cairns Shire Council in 1930,an Orenstein and Koppel well tank ofuncertain age. The Baldwin engine'HABANA' carried works number 42771.Bill Frost's last locomotive was another 0-4-0WT, this one coming from Arnold Junghaving works number 1052. It was reportedto have worked at a mine in South Australia,leaving Arnold Jung's works in 1906; andwas acquired from South Australia byMarwick and MacDonald for their MariaCreek-Japoon tramway circa 1910 and soldwith the rest of their tramway's effects toSouth Johnstone Mill in 1914/5. It was

number 5 on the South Johnstone rosterbefore Bill Frost acquired it in 1930.Ted Eddleston and 'Bruiser' Hume ran thefinal revenue tram from Mossman to PortDouglas during one forenoon in March 1958;taking the Perry loco 'R D REX' andreturning later that day. A few weeks later Ilit up 'FAUGH-A-BALLAUGH' and withyoung Wally Butler took out several wagonsto run the Mowbray branch as far as Hockleyloop and returning picked up old sleepers andrails.We were all day occupied with this salvagegetting back to the Hardwick Farm where westopped to have lunch under a lineside treeafter boiling a billy in the firebox. While thusengaged Bill Hardwick and his offsider,Harold Burton, came over for a yarn. We toldthem we were running the Mobray branchprobably for the lat time as the MossmanSugar Mill was taking over.After finishing our sandwiches and swillingout the billy, we continued working until itwas time to return home. On arrival at theSouth Mossman depot, we parked the loadedwagons and filled the loco tanks. Then afterthrowing out the fire, raking out the ashpanand smokebox, we put the locomotive in theworkshop in front of the Perry engine. As thedepot workforce had gone home early therewas no one at the depot to see us return.After picking up our crib tins and tea billywe closed and locked the workshop door infront of the two locomotives. Then in asombre mood we went home. The councilline was dead.

The last train of sugar from the Mossman CentralMill to Port Douglas, March 1956. Photo:Lancini Studio.



BibliographyEarly Days in the Douglas Shire – ValdaPrince.Trinity Phoenix – Dorothy Jones.Port of Promise – Glenville Pike.The Cane Railways of Mossman NQ – E MLoveday & C C Singleton (ARHS Bulletins221 March 1956, 222 April 1956, 240October 1957).Douglas Shire Tramways at Mossman – C BThomas (ARHS Bulletin 58 August 1942).Mossman Central Mill Co Ltd – GerryVerhoeven & E M Loveday (ANGRAMSStack Talk No. 4 July 1971).AcknowledgementsThe original, page numbered 65-82, likelyappeared in convention or workshop notes c1997-8. The text has been retyped andimages scanned from an unidentifiedphotocopy in the Ted Ward Collection.Errors and omissions excepted, this docu-ment contains all of the text and images fromthe original, however pagination and layouthas been changed in the reformatting.Images have been restored as much aspossible but quality was limited due to thephotocopied original and image transfer frompages sticking together. Images, includingthe plans on the final pages, have beenresized to fit the new page format.More recent higher resolution versions of theplans can be found in the main rail heritageimage collection accessed from theModelling the Railways of Queensland website: http://www.QldRailHeritage.com/mrqc/.

MV Karara and 'Faugh-a-Ballaugh' CouncilWharf Port Douglas 1958. Photo: E M Loveday.

SS Toorie, the last steamer to call at PortDouglas, 1957. Photo: E M Loveday.

M V Konanda loading sugar at Port Douglas.Photo: E M Loveday.

Adventures in Paradise - ZelmerOz.comAdventures in Paradise EM Loveday, reproduced from the Ted Ward...

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Transcript of Adventures in Paradise - ZelmerOz.comAdventures in Paradise EM Loveday, reproduced from the Ted Ward...