Esmo & Rach

Choo choo.... Chugga chugga chugga chugga.....

29 Oct 2006, Sunday - All aboard!!!! Once again the Daw Power Family + W + R + ML are out again on a trip together. This time we left our car behind and travelled in style.... We took the steam train to Ipswich!

It's a real steam train, imported from the US during the Second World War. The AC 16 221A officially entered traffic on 9 July 1943 after undergoing many modifications and changes. It written off the books in 1968 and was subsequently placed in the Redbank Museum in 1969. However, in 1999, the QR Heritage Rollingstock Maintenance team restored AC16 221A afterwhich the steam train return to operation on 21 May 2003.

We've also been informed that it takes 4 hours to "heat" the steam train up before it can move off from the station. So for us to take the train and leave from Roma St station at 9.30am, the staff would have come in at 5a.m to get the train ready! Also, it takes 800 shovels of coal just for the 45 minutes ride to Ipswich Rail Museum! Talk about back breaking work!

We were allocated to Car B1 Seats 1 - 7, we have one whole cabin to ourselves!!

And it's the real thing, complete with antique emergency brakses, fans, lamps, seats etc etc

And the penalty for misuse of the emergency brake is...... AU$10.... hahahah....

We toured the whole length of the train and found that:
1) Cabins have different seating arrangements, some seats face each other, some without cabins, some with seats back to back etc etc
2) It's really noisy taking the train
3) There's really are soot when you travel in a steam train
4) We are the only "overaged kids" (because all the other passengers are parents with young children....)

When we got there, we were greeted by......

Bob the Builder~!

Man... the kids went absolutely crazy over this guy.... and they were willing to wait in queue patiently to take a picture with him!

There are also Legos and a sand pit!

What's there for big kids like us?

There're also model trains... mind you, these can only be played by big kids with big pockets. Each item, even the smallest (e.g. trees can cost more than 10 bucks each!)

Intricate work, steady hands, attention to details, sufficient funding is a must if you want to have this as your new hobby...

You can even do it with LEGO ...

There were two tours there... the Blacksmith tour and the Steam shop tour.

First stop, the Blacksmith Tour. Another back breaking job. Makes us appreciate these people for and thankful that we now have the necessary technology to ease the work.

Imagine having to be surrounded by metals and fierce fire, not to mention the 2 tonne pounder... They produce their own tools, nails and rails. The Blacksmith shop used to have 300+ workers but has since been downsized to a mere 65.

This fellow was made by Blacksmith staff from materials made from scratch and he has been hanging there for the last 14 years!!!

BIG workshops to accommodate BIG tools and BIG components, not to mention BIG machines...

Next, Steam Shop Tour... Here, it was explained how the steam engines work.... They've disected the "heart" of the engine and colour coded it for visualisation...

The engine is filled with water, which is surrounded by pipes heated up by coals, which ten produces steam which goes through a pressured pipe, "fueling" the engine, chugging trains along its track.

Somebody was very pissed off with the constant misplace of tools, hence the Rules of Tool Box was established.
1) Ask before borrowing
2) Return of borrowed tools
3) Non-compliance = Loss of LIMBS!!!

Not only do they have Bob the Builder, they also have life sized Thomas the Tank Engine as well as his friend, Percy!

The triangle shaped rails in front of the engine is called the "Cow Pick"... Why? Because in the past, stray cows that wandered off or had used up their time on earth and decided to die on the track gets 'picked" up by the train for a free ride.

And soon, we could no longer ignore our growling stomachs but to break away from the museum and make a run for the cafe...