Re: Dorrigo

["Gregory D. Young" <greggy@acay.com.au>]

G'day Eddie,
    My replies are in near your text
Eddie Oliver wrote in message <14123014$Eddie.Oliver@efs.mq.edu.au>...
>"Gregory D. Young" <greggy@acay.com.au> wrote:
>
>>    IThe restoration of the line is totally contingent upon the support of
>>the members. It will be fettled and rehabilitated again once the
settlement
>>is in place. It just taes work and people committed to do it. We have a
>>large broad supportive base of members who will be and are prepared to
>>support it. Really te only monetary constraints is/are having enough money
>>to buy sleepers and ensuring materials are in place when needed.
>
>I love to see positive thinking, but one often has to ask where the line is
>to be drawn between positive thinking and wild dreaming.
>
>Someone mentioned that there are track machines which can do much of
>the work.  Track machines (like tampers, for instance) are designed to
maintain
>track which is already in passable condition, and/or to assist in laying
new track.
>They are not designed to turn a forest into a railway.
Positive thinking nd positive actions are now very much coming to the fore.
The nature of te settlement agreement for the line means that there will
effectively be 2 groups on the line. The Dorrigo Steam and Railway Museum on
the top half (Dorrigo to approx Ulong) and The glenreagh Mountain Railway
(Glenreagh to Ulong)
The most afforested bits are as you say on the glenragh end of the line.
    You may be surprised on the top half of the line. Apart from sleeper
replacement the line isn't in too bad a nick. This is where the tamper
should assist and play a big part in hastening the reconstructon of the line
at least from the top end.
>
>Unfortunately that is what much of the Dorrigo line currently is - a forest
with relics
>of an old railway somewhere underneath. To "restore" that old railway
requires
>not only uncovering the old railway, but also restoring (or constructing
afresh) all
>the infra-infrastructure like the drainage, the track base etc. - before
you even
>get to the sleepers and the rails.
>
>I claim no expertise in costing infrastructure works, nor do I want to
start an exchange
>of wild guesses. However even with far more voluntary labour than I think
you
>would ever get for a sustained period, I think we are talking tens of
millions of
>dollars.
>
>Of course it might be more feasible to restore some shorter length. Dorrigo
down to
>Megan is much more open-country than are the sections closer to the coast,
and
>is presumably much less covered with the forest. Unfortunately it is some
of the
>most forested bits - especially around Timber Top - that are the most
worthwhile
>bits.
You have hit the nail on he head. Feasibly in the shorter term the plan is,
I believe, to open the museum first and then concentrate on reestablishing
the line to at least Megan in the first instance. Our feasability studies
have shown that about 2 hours is all most people want to spend on a train.
and this will fit nicely in with the majority of coaches visiting Dorrigo
for the rainforest etc.
>
>Eddie Oliver
>
>
>
Cheers
Greg Young