Re: Dorrigo 19th Century Treasures

[James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au>]

John Kerley wrote:
> 
> I find the slagging off of railway preservationists by those who want to
> play trains extremely tiresome. 

Who said I was "slagging off"? All I have said is that maybe Dorrigo
should stop collecting everything in sight until they are in a position
to preserve their collection properly, ie: undercover. I think it is a
valid suggestion that maybe Dorrigo should put their resources into
their extensive collection, rather than leaving it out in the open as
they aquire more items that are already preserved elsewhere in NSW.

> 
> After all the bad press, I was very pleasantly surprised to see how
> extensive the collection was and especially how well preserved it was,
> through the use of copious amounts of grease etc.
> 
> I have been involved in, and getting my hands dirty in, the railway
> preservation movement for nearly forty-three years.  When we started out we
> believed, rather naively, that we would have the first eight miles of our
> railway reopened in two or three years and the remaining six or so a couple
> of years later.  In fact it took nearly 41 years to achieve our mission of
> restoring the whole railway.  The point here is that "Rome was not built in
> a day" or that railway preservation and restoration takes a long time, but
> that you will get there in the end.
> 

I am guessing you're involved with Puffing Billy, as you haven't
actually told us which group you are with. Puffing Billy has been much
more selective in what it restores when compared to Dorrigo. Puffing
Billy has only saved narrow gauge items and this is where it differs
from Dorrigo. Dorrigo seems to think they can preserve everything even
remotely significant in NSW. Dorrigo hasn't concentrated on just
mainline, branchline, industrial or any other type of railway. It is
touch and go as to whether one museum for the whole state will be
viable, without having two like in NSW.

>  Please note the order of the words "preservation" and "restoration".  If
> you do not preserve in the first place, you will have nothing to restore.
> On our railway we still have several locos and numerous items of rolling
> stock, which were saved in the fifties and sixties, awaiting restoration.
> Indeed one carriage returned to service this year after a forty year wait.
> 

And if you collect too much, you will never have enough resources to
look after all of it.

>
> Another example of the need to preserve first was the Barry scrapyard in
> Britain (Wales to be precise).  For years after the initial "good" locos had
> been salvaged, there were many who said "scrap the remaining hulks - they
> will never be able to be restored".  Some of those in the clamour were
> existing restorationists and preserved railways who mistakenly thought that
> this would reduce competition.  Fortunately the scrap yard owner ignored
> these philistines and eventually all the locos from Barry were saved, thus
> giving Britain an unparalleled collection of steam locomotives.  Also
> fortunately, the older preserved railways woke up to the fact that new
> preserved railways actually add to their market.  Having travelled on one
> railway, the punters say "I liked that, lets travel on another railway."
> The opposition is other leisure activities, not other railways.
>

Comparing Britain and Australia is like comparing tomatoes and rocks.
The two countries are completely different in the amount of resources
available for railway preservation. In Britain, railways seem to be much
more popular than out here in Australia, both in the numbers of railfans
and with the general public's attitude. We have the problem of railways
being a very specialised interest without much support from the
government or the public.

Our population is also spread out over a much larger area. It wouldn't
take that much to drive from one end of the UK to the other. As they
have a much higher population density and a much lower amount of
travelling required to reach the preserved railways, they are likely to
get more visitors and more volunteers. In Australia most of the
population doesn't even go outside the capital cities, which is a
problem for preserved railways in regional areas. It is also partly the
reason for Puffing Billy's success in Victoria as it is the only
preserved railway in Australia with minimal travelling time from the CBD
of a major city.

The attitude that we can copy the UK is ludicrous as we don't have
anywhere near the level of resources of the UK.

> 
> I believe future generations will thank the foresight of the Dorrigo
> preservationists for persevering against overwhelming odds to maintain the
> unique collection that they have acquired.
> 

This is only if they are able to maintain the collection in a better
environment than out in the open. If they continue to collect a large
number of items then they may not be able to fully maintain their
collection.

-- 
- James Brook -

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