From the RHRS President, Ian Wallace:
As there are several significant events coming up in April, I thought it appropriate to issue a short position report summarizing recent and upcoming events and issues.
1. Meeting with Gareth Ward MP on Thursday, 2 March 2017
Steve Carey, Neil Harvey and I met with Gareth Ward, currently member for Kiama and Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra & South Coast, at his Kiama office. The purpose of this meeting was to seek assistance from Gareth Ward in establishing what was really happening within Transport for NSW which was preventing train operator 3801 Limited from running the ‘Cockatoo Run’ heritage tourist train to Robertson and Moss Vale. It was known that 3801 Limited has been locked out of the Large Erecting Shop (LES) at Eveleigh since 1 February 2017 and has been unable to operate heritage (or any) trains since then. We emphasised to Gareth that it is important to RHRS and the Robertson community to continue receiving visits from the ‘Cockatoo Run’. These representations were in addition to those already made to our local MP Pru Goward.
Following Gareth’s representations to the Minister for Transport & Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, we were advised that:
2. RHRS Planning Meeting on Thursday, 9 March 2017
RHRS vice-president Neil Harvey led a thought-provoking introductory discussion to the RHRS management committee on possibilities for the future for RHRS - but no decisions were taken, neither have Minutes of the meeting been produced to date.
It is intended that one or more similar planning meetings be held and that a presentation be given to the RHRS membership and possibly to Robertson village – details yet to be decided.
Because of the considerable interest in the discussion held, detailed consideration of planning for upcoming events was deferred – but it is now timely to make the necessary decisions for our future.
3. Maintenance of grounds and gardens
Because of the recent wet weather, we have missed out on a number of visits by detainees from the Department of Corrective Services. Consequently, the necessary work on mowing the grass on the railway common has been undertaken by members of our management committee using our ride-on mower and whipper-snipping as required. It takes more than one day to fully do this task.
4. Garden working-bee on Saturday, 8 April
This will be the day before our scheduled Classic Car Day, so we will take the opportunity to make the grounds and gardens look as presentable as possible. The working-bee will commence at 9.00am and proceed until at least 12.30pm. As usual, morning-tea will be provided. Envisaged tasks are weeding (thankfully weeds are much easier to pull out following recent rain), fertilising shrubs and other tasks as required. Due to recent wet weather, progress on mulching and weeding of the fettlers shed garden has been slower than expected, but recently I and other volunteers have attended to weeding of this garden and to weeding and fertilising of waratah shrubs as well as tidying up these shrubs, some of which were affected by the prolonged dry period in 2016 extending into early 2017.
5. Next RHRS management committee meeting is on Thursday, 13 April at 5.00pm in the Fettlers Shed.
Ian Wallace
Hon. President, RHRS
1. Meeting with Gareth Ward MP on Thursday, 2 March 2017
Steve Carey, Neil Harvey and I met with Gareth Ward, currently member for Kiama and Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra & South Coast, at his Kiama office. The purpose of this meeting was to seek assistance from Gareth Ward in establishing what was really happening within Transport for NSW which was preventing train operator 3801 Limited from running the ‘Cockatoo Run’ heritage tourist train to Robertson and Moss Vale. It was known that 3801 Limited has been locked out of the Large Erecting Shop (LES) at Eveleigh since 1 February 2017 and has been unable to operate heritage (or any) trains since then. We emphasised to Gareth that it is important to RHRS and the Robertson community to continue receiving visits from the ‘Cockatoo Run’. These representations were in addition to those already made to our local MP Pru Goward.
Following Gareth’s representations to the Minister for Transport & Infrastructure, Andrew Constance, we were advised that:
- It is government policy that the LES will be made available for shared short-term use by heritage train operators (several were mentioned, including Transport for NSW, Lachlan Valley and possibly 3801 Limited).
- 3801 Limited is required to vacate the LES so that appropriate modifications can be made. (In fact, they were issued an eviction notice to be out of the LES by 31 January 2017).
- 3801 Limited continues to claim that it has nowhere else to relocate to.
- 3801 Limited is also reluctant to vacate the LES unless appropriate assurances can be given to them. To date these have not been forthcoming.
2. RHRS Planning Meeting on Thursday, 9 March 2017
RHRS vice-president Neil Harvey led a thought-provoking introductory discussion to the RHRS management committee on possibilities for the future for RHRS - but no decisions were taken, neither have Minutes of the meeting been produced to date.
It is intended that one or more similar planning meetings be held and that a presentation be given to the RHRS membership and possibly to Robertson village – details yet to be decided.
Because of the considerable interest in the discussion held, detailed consideration of planning for upcoming events was deferred – but it is now timely to make the necessary decisions for our future.
3. Maintenance of grounds and gardens
Because of the recent wet weather, we have missed out on a number of visits by detainees from the Department of Corrective Services. Consequently, the necessary work on mowing the grass on the railway common has been undertaken by members of our management committee using our ride-on mower and whipper-snipping as required. It takes more than one day to fully do this task.
4. Garden working-bee on Saturday, 8 April
This will be the day before our scheduled Classic Car Day, so we will take the opportunity to make the grounds and gardens look as presentable as possible. The working-bee will commence at 9.00am and proceed until at least 12.30pm. As usual, morning-tea will be provided. Envisaged tasks are weeding (thankfully weeds are much easier to pull out following recent rain), fertilising shrubs and other tasks as required. Due to recent wet weather, progress on mulching and weeding of the fettlers shed garden has been slower than expected, but recently I and other volunteers have attended to weeding of this garden and to weeding and fertilising of waratah shrubs as well as tidying up these shrubs, some of which were affected by the prolonged dry period in 2016 extending into early 2017.
5. Next RHRS management committee meeting is on Thursday, 13 April at 5.00pm in the Fettlers Shed.
Ian Wallace
Hon. President, RHRS