Time for another blog post - I just lurve
being on holidays; gives you so much more time for the important things in
life.
Continuing with the theme in recent
postings of steam on the south coast, I thought I would show a few snaps of the
former Reid's Hill locomotive depot operated by the Public Works Department of
NSW, which had responsibility for shunting Port Kembla's wharves and
undertaking breakwater maintenance for the first half of the 20th century. This
responsibility was assumed by the NSW Government Railways (NSWGR) in 1949, and
to their credit largely kept these operations separate from mainstream railway
operations until the early 1960s.
The Public Works Department had
purchased or somehow procured a motley collection of former NSWGR steam
locomotives over the years, augmented by several locos obtained in its own
right. I will stand corrected, but all were tank locomotives with short
wheelbases - the latter aspect was needed to negotiate tight radius curves
around the Port Kembla waterfront. As an
example of this, in 1940 the NSWGR had sold tank locomotive 2002 to Public Works
for a princely ₤800. It became PWD 80
and was sent to the Illawarra for work on the wharves.
This post is not going to be able to
deal with operations at Reid's Hill, as I have next to no knowledge about such
things. I can however relay a little information about the demise of the depot
and its occupants, which will be shown to be somewhat timely and relevant to my
earlier posts on North Wollongong. Before
I go further please note that I will suspend my usual abhorrence for acronyms
to use the moniker ‘PWD’ throughout this posting in reference to the Public
Works Department.
Reid’s Hill locomotive depot was
closed 50 years ago this month, after the dieselisation of Port Kembla’s
wharves was completed by the allocation of all ten members of the 70 class to
the NSWGR’s nearby Port Kembla locomotive depot. While I have no shots of 70s on the wharves,
as this blog is supposed to include photographs here is a location shot of
double 70s doing their stuff in Port Kembla yard around 1980.
While Reid’s Hill depot closed in
January 1964, its occupants had been leaving town well before then. PWD 30 and PWD 78 had been scraped on site in
September 1955, while PWD 27 suffered the same fate in 1961. Luckier was PWD No. 29, which moved from Port
Kembla to Enfield to become Garratt shed shunter in June 1961.
In September 1963 PWD No. 79
stored at Thirroul depot, having been donated to the NSW Rail Transport Museum. Thirteen months later it was towed to Enfield
by 5593 to commence life as a very special museum exhibit. By 1982 it could be
found safely undercover at Thirlmere with its big cousin Bronzewing, and it
remains at this location to the current time.
While 70 classes had assumed an
increasing load of shunting duties throughout the second half of 1963, steam
did not subside until the very end of that year. On 29 December 1963, PWD 28 had the honour of
being the last steam to operate a shift on the wharves. ‘Kembla’ as it was known, disgraced itself by
failing mid-shift.
The family photograph collection
does have a few shots around Reid’s Hill.
First up is a sadly scarred photo of 1076 in situ, still worth
publishing in its reduced condition due to its content.
In its last days Reid’s Hill had a
fair representation of 26 class locomotives.
Here 2619 and 2612 bask outside the shed.
As a sort of a postscript, there was
some steam action at Reid's Hill after the depot’s closure.
Sadly it only involved the scrapping of PWD No. 34 on-site in June 1964.
And now to the link to North
Wollongong. According to the Railway Digest, on the second day of 1964
– 50 years ago this week - 2001, 2609 & PWD No. 28 were moved from Reid’s
Hill to storage at Thirroul depot. I
think that the following photograph, taken from the back door of my grandparent’s
home captures part of this working. 2609
probably worked north under its own power or as part of a regular goods working,
but it was necessary for PWD No. 28 to be towed to storage following its
failure four days earlier. So, unless contradictory
information comes to light, I think this is 2001 towing PWD No. 28 to Thirroul
on 2 January 1964.
