Monday, December 6, 2010

Internal rearrangements

Back to the carriage itself. This time I thought I’d review what I’ve been up to on the inside.


I took the above pic on the very first day that I saw 1072 and, as you can see, the original layout of these carriages was nine compartments separated by full width bench seats and the whole length of the carriage was open above the seats. There was a door on either side of each compartment and you can see that two of the doors on the right hand side were not attached when I got her but luckily they were inside lying on the floor. You can also see that the toplights had been panelled over by QR so a big part of the restoration so far has been making the frames and glazing them (all 46 of them!) to bring her back to something like her original condition.


I didn’t need 18 working doors and so 14 have been screwed shut. This in itself has been a problem in that all the doors have drooped a little over time. For the now-permanently shut doors, this was simply a matter of jacking the door back up until square and screwing into position. But the working doors took a little more attention. A mate of mine who’s handy with a welder took some T-section steel and formed up braces like this one. The doors were then jacked up into square and the braces attached using some hefty screws. They’ve been in for over 2 years now and look to be holding well. These will all be covered over with interior lining, hidden away but keeping the doors square and true.

The T-section steel came from the backs of the seats. I didn’t need 18 seats and I certainly didn’t need them going the full width of the carriage so most of them were removed completely. I have retained one at each end and two have been shortened to form a dining area with an aisle down one side.


Which brings us to the last pic in this post. Taken earlier this year looking in the opposite direction to the first pic on this blog, you can see a lot has happened! Most of the seats have gone, walls going in for the bathroom and main bedroom, walls being lined ready for the kitchen and, most impressively, the original floor professionally sanded and polished. That floor has come up beautifully – 80-year-old Hoop Pine with a deep honey colour and a frame of some reddish hardwood that I can’t identify. You can also see the new toplights as well as most of the drop-lights that have been reinstated. When we go her, around half of the windows had been smashed so they have all had to be reglazed – mostly with thick glass recycled from a skip at Macquarie University!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Some QRR crockery

Leaping ahead in the renovation process to the day when we eventually move in and use 1072 as a home away from home. As part of that long-dreamed-of day it is my intention to deck out the carriage with as many period QR bits and pieces as possible and collecting to that end has begun in earnest. That includes crockery, silverware and just about anything else that I can get my hands on.

I picked up these three items as a job lot on Ebay for the astonishing price of $20. In fact the two plates were on offer with the cup thrown in for free because it was stained. A quick wipe with a plastic pot scourer and it came up good as new!

“QRR” stands for “Queensland Refreshment Rooms”. There were a number of these dotted throughout the network in the days of steam at major stops and junctions along the line. The idea was that, as the loco was being refreshed, recoaled and watered, the passengers could do the same with a readily available food and drink service. While there are many fond memories of these rooms there are several contemporary reports complaining that they were expensive and offered poor-quality food in a monopoly situation.

These particular items were made for QR by the famous pottery firm of John Maddock and Sons of Burslem in England. While they are more famous for producing highly decorated fine china, they also had a division specialising in hotel ware. Among their more famous clients was the White Star Line, making all the crockery for the Titanic.

The 1896-1906 mark
One of these marks indicates that the two plates were made between 1896 and 1906 while the mark on the cup has proved to be harder to date and is probably much younger. A list of potters marks as used by John Maddock and Sons can be found here. The plates are 8.5 inches and 8.9 inches in diameter and all have the QRR Crest and a margin of double chequered pattern.


I don't know when this mark refers to

That’s as much as I know about these items and, if you can add more details, please let me know. I’m also after more plates, cups and other QRR crockery so if you have some knocking around that you don’t need, please get in contact with me!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A look inside

Here's a recent photo looking at the inside of 1072. Specifically this will be the dining area made from two of the original seats. These used to run the full width of the carriage but I shortened them so as to create an aisle down one side of the carriage.





The varnished wall is the bulkhead that will separate the dining area from the bathroom. It's constructed of panels of solid recycled maple given to me by one of my wife's mate Bob set in a frame constructed out of maranti from the local Bunnings. The empty rectangle in the middle of the wall accommodates an original NSWGR pair of photographs of Jenolan Caves; not QR I know but I remember these carriage pics from the trains I caught home from school and, having a geological background, how could I resist this little masterpiece! There's even a good chance that the photographs were originally taken by Frank Hurley.

The side wall shows the toplights that I've had to remake but, unlike the originals, the toplights in the main cabin area have clear glass instead of green or red coloured glass (although we have gone for this touch at either end where the bedrooms will be).

The internal colour scheme is based on colour matches to the original paintwork and inspection of 1074 which has been restored for display at the Ipswich Carriage Works. The best match for the interior yellow is a colour called King's Gold from the British Paints range while the red trim is Deep Indian Red from the Solargard range by Dulux. I didn't appreciate that this is a different colour to the Tuscan Red of the exterior, the closest match I've found being Headlands also from the Solargard range.

It wasn't until after I'd repainted a sizable area inside the carriage with the King's Gold and Deep Indian Red that I realised this was the original state colours for Queensland and the master bedroom was looking like the locker room for the Brisbane Broncos! But once I'd got over this minor shock the effect inside the carriage looks just right. I've also gone for a gloss finish on all interior paints as well as being exterior quality paint.

I'm currently working on a table cut from a single slab of silky oak. More on that in a later post. You can also make out a little bit of the original floor which I had professionally sanded and coated earlier this year.



Friday, November 5, 2010

Welcome to Collecting QR

This blog is all about collecting items once owned by or manufactured for Queensland Railways. I welcome contributions from any other collectors of QR material out there to share their knowledge and expertise here.

Personally, I started collecting QR when I purchased a 1924 Evans Car in 2005. My intention is to restore the carriage (number 1072) to a condition suitable for a holiday home for my family but, in the process, I've been collecting whatever original QR material I can find (and afford!) to fit her out with.

While collecting QR memorabilia it has become apparent that there is very little information readily available on various items and I hope to start a repository of such information here that will be of interest and use to other collectors and those interested in railway memorabilia.

So welcome to the Collecting QR blog! I hope that you find something interesting here and invite you to add your knowledge and expertise to this fascinating area of collecting.

1072 before I got her. She's standing in the back-blocks of Ipswich Carriage Works, neglected for the best part of a decade and about to be auctioned off. A friend at Zig Zag Railway took this pic.

A more up-to-date shot with renovations in full swing. Currently she's standing in a relo's sheep paddock near Wellington but we're hoping to move her closer to Sydney so that we can work on her more easily.