Australia New South Wales - Private Railways Illawarra Region Coal Hoppers Version 1.0 BBS Files are dated May 2007 =========================================== Designed by Brian Bere-Streeter Email: bbss@bigpond.net.au Chief Executive Officer The Short North Carriage and Wagon Engineering Workshops Suppliers of Bespoke NSWGR Carriages and Wagons for Microsoft Train Simulator - =========================================== 1. Model Details 2. Installation Notes 3. Historical Notes 4. Copyright, Distribution, Terms of Use =========================================== 1. Model Details Original 3D models of Illawarra Region Coal Hoppers - by Brian Bere-Streeter These new wagons came about, because of a need to create authentic train formations for use on the Microsoft Train Simulator route – ‘Northern Illawarra' - by Brian Bere-Streeter New models were created for: - Corrimal Colliery (Corrimal Coke and Coal Limited) - South Bulli Colliery (Bellambi Coal Company) - Unbranded ‘generic’ Illawarra coal hoppers for other collieries A variety of coal hoppers in wood chassis and steel chassis, plain hopper, hopper with 1 top rail, hopper with 2 top rails, new paint, average paint and faded paint. A total of 19 different hopper wagons are provided - and a grand total of 38 in both loaded and empty versions. SPECIAL NOTE: All 4-wheel hopper wagons were limited to a maximum service speed of 35 mph over the NSWGR and 25mph over the private colliery railways. This is another venture into building new rolling stock from scratch. They may not be the most detailed or totally accurate, but in the absence of other better models, I hope you enjoy running them on your NSW Illawarra route in MSTS – at least it gives a bit more variety and authenticity to your train workings. These models are for your personal use only, and may not be sold or distributed in any way without the original creator's permissions. =========================================== 2. Installation Notes Create a new folder called << AU_Illawarra_Hoppers >> Unzip the files into a temporary folder, then copy and paste all of the files straight into the new << AU_Illawarra_Hoppers >> (check the name to be sure). PLEASE NOTE: These wagons are aliased to use the excellent 4-wheel coal hopper wagon sounds by Don Martin – you will NEED to download and install the << ctn-4w-coal-wagons Sounds >> set from the ‘Coals to Newcastle’ website – file reference << ctn_4w_coal_wagon_sounds_v1.exe >>. You will need to create either a new consist to use these wagons, or add them to an existing consist. Consists are made, or edited, using MSTS Activity Editor or Carlos Gomes’s ConBuilder. =========================================== 3. Historical Notes The private coal hoppers in the Illawarra Region of NSW were distinctly different from the private coal hoppers operating in the Hunter valley. The Hunter Valley coal hoppers required a crane-lift of the loaded hopper body off the rail chassis to allow discharge direct over the holds of the shipping at the coal wharves. The Illawarra coal hoppers were fixed to the chassis, as all the unloading facilities in the Illawarra used raised 'staithes' where the hoppers were discharged direct into elevated bunkers or conveyor systems. There were originally more than a dozen collieries in the northern half of the Illawarra between Wollongong and Helensburgh in the north. Many were worked solely by NSWGR locomotives and used typical NSWGR coal/coke wagons such as LCH, CCH, S-Trucks, K-Trucks and BCH hopper wagons. However, several collieries owned their own small wood hopper wagons – and some collieries had short ‘local’ private railway lines between the colliery loaders and the exchange sidings with the NSWGR. However, a number of these collieries closed during the depression of the 1930’s, and in the immediate post-war period. The two most prominent private railways that survived into the late 50’s and early 60’s, were Corrimal Coke and Coal (formerly Corrimal Balgownie Collieries Limited) and South Bulli Colliery. Both railways, as well as owning their own rolling stock, had small fleets of industrial steam locomotives. South Bulli also had one small brake van similar to the CHG type used on the NSWGR and the Hunter Valley lines. This brake van was only used for the ‘trip workings’ over the NSWGR lines between Bulli and Mt. Pleasant Cokeworks. A third private railway, the Old Bulli Colliery was worked totally by hired ex-NSWGR locomotives, but used NSWGR or Australian Iron and Steel (AIS) wagons only, and supplied coal only to the AIS steelworks at Port Kembla. In the earlier days, the NSWGR allowed the private colliery railways to use their own locomotives and rolling stock to run over the NSWGR metals between the colliery exchange sidings and the unloading facilities at Port Kembla. However during the 1930’s, a significant number of delays to scheduled NSWGR trains caused by ‘failed’ private trains, resulted in the NSWGR banning private trains over the NSW metals, except for some minor workings between the Bulli Coal sidings and the Mt. Pleasant exchange sidings. Onwards working to Port Kembla was then performed by NSWGR locomotives. However by the late 1950’s and early 1960’s this practise all but died out – the 1956 NSWGR Working Timetables shows only a single morning round trip between Bellambi and Mt. Pleasant worked by Bellambi locomotive - all other coal workings over the NSWGR metals were by NSWGR locomotives. The normal method of working by these local colliery railways was to propel the empty wagons from the NSWGR exchange sidings up to the colliery loading screens, and haul the loaded wagons back down to the exchange sidings – that is, the private locomotive was always at the downhill end of the train – brake vans were never used on these private lines – a flagman rode on the end wagon to control vehicle traffic where the local lines crossed the Princes Highway. More details of the operational nature of the local Illawarra coal workings will be provided in a series of supporting documents to be provided with the ‘Northern Illawarra’ Route for MSTS, by Brian Bere-Streeter. Prototype information for these models has been researched from the following sources: Transporting the Black Diamond – Gifford Eardley, Traction Publications, 1968 The Corrimal Colliery Railway – K. McCarthy, Light Railway Research Society of Aust, 1978 Gazetteer of Industrial Steam Locomotives – Illawarra District NSW – K. McCarthy, ARHS, 1983 Steam on the Illawarra – F Larkin, NSWRTM, 1979 Railway History in Illawarra – C.C. Singleton, Illawarra Historical Society, 1984 Other minor books and magazine articles. My own personal contemporary observations, photographs and recollections of the time. =========================================== 4. Copyright, Distribution and Terms of Use -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These train models are released as Freeware. Copyright (C) Brian Bere-Streeter As freeware you are permitted to distribute this archive subject to the following conditions: - These models are intended for private, non-commercial use only; - These models and any of their associated files may not be retro-engineered or used for any purpose other than its original intended use without the prior written consent of the author; - Persons wishing to repaint this model may do so by requesting copies of the original texture files from the author; all such repainted or modified versions must acknowledge the author of the original work; - This archive must be distributed without modification to the contents of the archive. Redistributing this archive with any original files added, removed or modified is prohibited without the permission of the author; in particular, this text in its entirety must not be removed or altered; - This model may not be distributed on CD without the prior written consent of the authors; - The inclusion of any individual file from this archive in another archive without the prior permission of the authors is prohibited; - No charge may be made for this archive other than that to cover the cost of its distribution. If a fee is charged it must be made clear to the purchaser that the archive is freeware and that the fee is to cover the distributor's costs of providing the archive; - This train is provided AS IS, I assume no responsibility or liablity for any MSTS or system hardware/software problems you may encounter after installing this train; - By downloading and/or using this model, you have agreed with these terms and conditions of use; - The authors' rights and wishes concerning this archive must be respected; - Copyrights: * MS Train Simulator, MS Windows: Copyright Microsoft Corp 2001-2007 * 3D Model: Copyright Brian Bere-Streeter 2007 * Textures: Copyright Brian Bere-Streeter 2007 All other copyrights & trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. =========================================================================