50 Year Final Copy - Optimised 1

Table of Contents
Page No.
Forward ................................................................ 2
Early Days of ILS................................................3-5
Track Work Begins .............................................6-7
Elevated Portable Track ......................................... 7
Lobby Arrives ........................................................ 8
Bitza is Born........................................................... 9
Magazine and Incorporation ................................ 10
West Wollongong Track ...................................... 11
Circular Portable Track ........................................ 12
Gas Engine ........................................................... 13
End of an Era........................................................ 14
First Student Member.......................................... 15
New Location ...................................................... 16
Lease Document................................................... 17
Clearing Begins ...............................................18-20
New Track .......................................................21-25
Official Opening................................................... 26
Further Projects ...............................................27-38
Floods and Storm Damage ..............................39-40
Government Grants .............................................. 41
Special Events .................................................42-47
Birthday Celebrations......................................48-51
Efficiency Trials................................................... 52
Badges .................................................................. 53
Exhibition and Special Runs ................................ 54
Social Events ...................................................55-57
Club Stalwarts ...................................................... 58
Honour Roll.......................................................... 59
Membership 2014................................................. 60
Celebrating 50 Years
50 years in the making Page No.

For a club the size of Illawarra Live Steamers to celebrate 50 years is quite an achievement,
considering we had to dismantle the original site and re-build it all over again approximately
2 years later. This has only been made possible by thousands of man hours, volunteered by
past and present members, along with their wives and friends. This has been spent working
at the club grounds, in members own workshops and living rooms and chasing up tools,
equipment and materials for various projects. A lot of the time these materials were donated
by various organisations and Companies from where volunteers worked and sometimes for
a nominal fee.
The information in this book is an attempt to piece together the history of Illawarra Live
Steamers and how it evolved into what it is today. Unfortunately, the very first minute book
is missing which has led to little information of the early years to be available. The decision
to document our history was not a hard one to make; with nearly all of our early pioneers
passing on to the steam train above, there was a chance that early history could be lost if we
didn’t do something about it.
We are very fortunate over the period of time that the club has had a magazine called
Axlebox Anonymous and the current one called Mixed Goods which has been a good
source of information for this book, along with photographs with dates attached. Members
contributions of photographs have also been a great source for the history of the club.
Unfortunately I am not a foundation member of the club, but have been a member since
1973 and have been heavily involved in the administration side of things, I hope you enjoy
the “Illawarra Live Steamers 50 Years in the Making” - A history of Illawarra Live Steamers.
Dennis Hamilton
Life Member—ILS
Printed May, 2014
50 years in the making Page No.2

In 1957 there was a Hobby Exhibition in the
Pioneer Hall, Church Street, Wollongong
when a group of steam enthusiasts got
talking about miniature steam trains. In
1958-59 a group of men got together in the
names of Jackie Rue; Bill Conrad; Ken
Plumb; Norm Horsfall, John Horsfall and
Tom Gawn.
Ken Plumb had a track around his Tennis

Court in Rosemont Street, which was
71/4” gauge. Bill Conrad and Norm
Horsfall had a 3 1/2” track around their
respective gardens, they regularly got
together and played trains. Jackie Rue
was the electrician and Bill Conrad drove
steam cranes at the Steelworks.

Jackie and Bill organised some land at Mt. Pleasant to set a track up. This land is now known
as the Rhododendrum Park. There were a few holes dug on this site, but due to the lack of
water and electricity this site was abandoned. The group drifted along and then went into
limbo.
In 1962 Barry Glover got involved in getting the men together and the evolution of Illawarra
Live Steamers at the Wollongong Workers Club grounds in Phillip Street, West Wollongong
became a reality. The Wollongong Workers Club had some spare land up from the Bowling
Club site and they generously allowed us to use the land on a gentleman’s agreement.
Bill Conrad who was a member of the Board of the Club had some influence in obtaining the
use of this land.
At this point in time the men held their meetings in the lunch room of Vernier Engineering
courteous of Tom Gawn at the bottom of Crown Street in Moore Lane.
During 1962 saw the start of weekends spent using picks, shovels, hammers and digging
equipment along with the felling of trees. The surveying for the elevated track layout was done
by Tom Gawn from Vernier Engineering. The elevated track was started, and the cutting near
the lobby which had a large amount of rock in it, had to be exploded for its removal. (Just ask
Barry how to use explosives.) After a hard days work, Peter Bowman and Barry Glover were
regulars down at the Grand Hotel, Wollongong reminiscing on the days work.

The elevated track was supported by concrete piers
with beams placed on top. The moulds for the beams
were manufactured at Vernier Engineering and
supplied to Monier Concrete at Port Kembla. At the
end of each day if Monier Concrete had some
concrete left over from a job that they were doing,
they would insert the reo into the mould and pour the
concrete over the reo. Each one of these beams cost
the Club the princely sum of 1 pound each. A couple
of members with trailers in tow would go down and
collect whatever beams had been made that week,
and take them back to West Wollongong where they
were placed on top of the piers. Around this time the
Bowling Club started up and after a hard days work,
the boys would go down and have a can of beer and
they used to keep the cans as this was the right size
for making the locking pin to keep the beams in place.
When we relocated to North Wollongong, the inner

circular track with the beams was transported and
erected at the new grounds and is now known as the
elevated track.
The 3 1/2” and 5” gauge steel was supplied by

Vernier and costs were to be repaid when the Club
was up and running. This was done in a fairly
reasonable time. The rails were transported from
Verniers to the track site and using a 240 volt welder,
assorted jigs etc., the track was formed on the top of
the concrete beams with wooden sleepers both
tapered and parallel fitted to the steel spacers.
Eventually the final joint was joined up and the fun
began. This gave the club a circle of approx. 450 ft.

Barry started a little black book, when finances were short, he would take the hat around to
each gentleman asking them to kick the tin so that he could go out and buy more supplies
that was required for the job. This was to continue until after the elevated track got up and
running.
By reading up on the various information that has been published over the years, along with
the various celebrations that have been held, the closest estimation that we can arrive at, is
that the Club had its inaugural meeting sometime in 1964 with the first AGM being held in
April 1965. Tom Gawn was elected the first President of the Club and later became its first
Patron of the Club.
Barry Glover was corresponding with Cliff McAlister who

lived in Liverpool, England, who was in the Crosby Model
Club frequently sailing model boats on a local pond. He then
started making model steam trains. His first loco was given
the name of “Lady Irene” being his wife’s middle name. It
was a 3 1/2” 4-6-0 tender arrangement. Cliff and his family
migrated to Australia in September 1963 and joined ILS.
Cliff McAllister at West Wollongong
Elevated Portable Track
During this time a straight 100ft. Elevated track was made and it used to travel around to
various exhibitions, fetes and Christmas trees. This was the only form of fund raising prior
to the completion of stage one of the inside elevated track. This was a combined effort by
a few of the members, eventually this was increased to 150ft.

In 1965 saw the arrival of the ‘lobby’
which was a work shed that seemed to
come from out of the blue on the back of
a truck. This was not very securely tied
down. During the journey from Port
Kembla one side of shed was coming
away from the building, it actually slid
down the side of the truck. Don
Reynolds, a Superintendent at the
Steelworks rode on top of the truck (not
“ T h e Lobby ” - West Wollongong
allowed today).
Fortunately it arrived at West Wollongong with all the pieces there, just had to have a little
repair. This was to become the home for the ladies to make billies of tea for the drivers and
the visitors that came from Sydney, as they had to rely on them for the use of their locos, as
the club was short on. This building was in use until the demise of the track in 1978.
Before the shed appeared Granny Horsfall and Jan made billy tea on a camp stove for the
members and visitors, but after the arrival of the shed it made life a lot easier.
The Ryde boys were regular visitors in the

persons of apprentices Ray Lee and Barry
Tulloch, John Mann and Neil Campbell, they
would come down and run. Johnnie Mann
supplied the steel for the 2 1/2” gauge track as
he had a small gauge loco. The club also had
some regularly visitors from other clubs including
Reg Wood, with his ‘Hielan Lassie’ and Jack
Harvey his ‘C38’ All these engines were 3 1/2”
gauge and Graham Sturday had his diminutive
2 1/2” C38 buzzing around the track. By this
Ian Summerville, Johnnie Mann & Barry Tulloch ,
time Dave Merrifield arrived on the scene.

“Bitza” is born
From early in the life of the club, there

was a lot of talk about the club having
its own loco. At a General Meeting
held on the 15th January 1966 it was
decided that the club would go ahead
and build a Porter Class loco 0-6-0
similar to that at the Steelworks. Mr.
Bill Nicholls was appointed the Project
Manager, he commenced by obtaining The original “Bitza”
wheels and producing a number of
drawings, but unfortunately due to ill
health he had to leave the project and
Dave Merrifield took over, this was in
March, 1966. He allocated work to
nearly every member of the club and
the project was ready for steam in
August 1967. There was a toss of a
coin to see who was the first to drive it.
Cliff McAllister won the toss for the
Cliff McAllister and Pam Bruce
‘first’ drive. Unfortunately “Bitza”
wouldn’t go, Cliff put it into reverse
gear and took off around the track like
a rocket! On its first running day it
earned $29. For anyone who learned
to drive on ‘Bitza’ they always turned
out a good driver as ‘Bitza’ had many
unusual peculiarities. At a later date,
‘Bitza’ saw a rebuild and that is in the
form of what she is in today. Almost
50 years on and she is still hauling
passengers. Bitza has been a
trustworthy loco and she has done
many, many portable tracks and
earned much revenue for the club.
“Bitza” today, 47 years on.

Axle Box Anonymous and Mixed Goods Newsletter
Back in about 1965 Axle Boxes Anonymous was started by Dave Merrifield, this was a good
source of information to keep members up to date of what was going on. This ceased
somewhere around 1969. After a few years had elapsed another magazine appeared on the
scene called “Mixed Goods”. This started in June 1977 and was produced by Dennis
Hamilton as he had access to printing facilities which was part of his job. The Mixed Goods
continues today and has had a few editors since its inception.
There was a column in the Mixed Goods, known as “Cynthia’s Corner”. It was a gossip
column that you had to be wary of what you were doing or where you were doing it, as Cynthia
may have been watching you. This is how you ended up in the magazine. Nobody knew who
Cynthia was ! !
Incorporation. . .
We have seen over the years many changes and probably the most important, from the
members point of view, is that on 15th February 1977 we were inaugurated as a Co-operative
Society, thereby giving members a very good legal protection in the case of accidents. This
started a trend amongst other clubs who adopted our set of rules and they also became
incorporated for their own protection.

During the late sixties and
early seventies a number of
new locomotives appeared on
the scene. Dave Merrifield
with his “Britannia”, Noel
Bruce’s “C36”, Ken Gifford’s
“57” were very welcome on
Running Days.
Also arriving on the scene
where Phil Gibbons in 1966,
Billy Nichols, Dick Delahunty,
Ivo Bunker and Bill Baumann.
Noel Bruce on C36 & Dave Merrifield
Graham Sturday—2 1/2” C38
on Brittania
In 1970 it was decided to extend the track in readiness

for the planning of the 1972 Convention, which was to
be held at our track. This was the first Club to host a
Convention outside of a capital City in Australia. This
was an ‘all hands on deck’ for this project to make
sure that everything was in readiness for Easter 1972.
Cliff McAllister trial run on “Deltic” electric loco
Outer track, West Wollongong During the early days we had a couple of resident
caretakers, in the name of Les and Danny, one of
them lived in the caravan and the other one lived in
the old house that was on the site. This house had
been extensively modified inside to make it into a
meeting hall and cooking area. This was used by a lot
of Clubs that were affiliated with the Workers Club, ILS
also had some meetings there from time to time when
any problems needed to be sorted out.
Ivo Bunker on modified “Bitza” - Outer track

West Wollongong

Circular Portable Track
Winter of 1977 saw a circular
portable track designed by Ivo
Bunker and with the help of Bill
Baumann and Dennis Hamilton they
got this project under way in the
back yard of Bill Baumann’s
residence with a jig laid out on a
couple of planks to give a
30ft diameter circle. We also have to
thank Barry Glover for the lend of his
drop saw for cutting the steel into
various lengths along with the
sleepers. The portable track was
carted around for many years mostly
on Dennis Hamilton’s trailer to
various venues and earned a lot of
money for the club, especially when
we were in limbo without a
permanent site. This track now has
a new home at Southern Highlands
Miniature Club at Moss Vale and is
still in use today. Over this time we
have had many a celebrity ride the
train at various functions, probably
more so at Spring into Corrimal in
the person of Gordon Piper alias Bob
Hatfield from “A Country Practice”,
also Wendy the Wombat from 2WL
radio station and Paddle Pop Lion.
Film Production
A few of the members decided to get together and become film producers and produced a
film called “Building a Loco”. This was carried out in various members workshops and was
eventually edited by Ivo Bunker. Unfortunately this film has been passed around to
various people and has somehow got lost.

Gas Engine
Early to mid 70’s, the Club heard of a “one-lunger” suction town gas engine being scrapped.
This was in service for many years powering the standby lighting plant at the Crown Theatre
in Keira Street, Wollongong.
In 1976 the Club approached the owners, Coles Ltd., for permission to acquire this engine
with a view to preservation. After many months, a few letters and personal visits by Tony
Scobie, we were finally successful. Tony Scobie and Ross Edmondson went to the engine
house late one night to remove all brass and working parts, since certain gentry had already
removed the top half main bearing brasses. Following this, one memorable Sunday
morning (early) Tony Scobie, Cliff McAllister and Ross Edmondson arrived on the scene
with a ute and a 5 ton mobile crane (kindly lent by a local contracting firm). The two
flywheels and crankshaft were first lifted through the roof and were loaded into the ute. The
engine bed and cylinder were then deposited outside in Burelli Street. The crankshaft,
crane, etc. then startled Wollongong’s church-going population with its progress to the track.
This was followed by the bed and
cylinder later. This was reassembled
along side of the overhead bridge at
W es t W ollongong and later
transferred to the outer car park at
North Wollongong where it remains
today.
We intended to set this up at the

track, restore it and if possible run it.
Anyone with information on the gas engine would be most welcome. The engine itself is a
Hornsby of approx. 20HP, 7” bore and 15” stroke. At least it’s got a crank and a shaft that
goes round and round. A little bit of Wollongong’s history which was transported to the
West Wollongong site
and now sits patiently
under our sign at the
front entrance waiting
for some kind engineer
to come along and
spend some time on it.
You never know, it
could run again some
day.

End of an Era
Sadly the Worker’s Club verbally notified us that we had to dismantle our permanent track to
make way for a car park for the New Club being built around the Bowling Club.
It seemed a shame that progress can undo all the blood and sweat which has been put into the
building of the track over the past 14 years, especially in the very early days. It took 14 years
to build and a couple of week-ends to dismantle it. The Worker’s Club offered us a piece of
ground on the western side of the creek on a verbal understanding as we had before. That
meant if the Club decided to build a Tennis court or some other recreational activity, they could
encroach on the area we had been given as it is now a prime piece of real estate.
The last running day at West Wollongong was held on 24th September 1978, it was a fine day
and there was a good roll up of members. All during the afternoon there seemed to be a
camera wherever you looked. There was Cliff McAllister, Barry Glover and Bill Baumann
reeling off the footage. Ross Edmondson took over the driving of Bitza from Ivo Bunker and
Cliff McAllister relieved Dennis Hamilton from driving so that he could take some photos.
There were a few birthday parties as well. The afternoon soon came to a close and after the
locos were put away, a flag lowering ceremony was held with Cliff McAllister playing the
bagpipes while John Horsfall lowered the flag for the last time at this site. This event was
captured on more than one camera, and so came to an end of the operation at the track at
West Wollongong.
Jan Horsfall and Corinne Bunker with the

Original flag

First Student Member
In November 1979 we had our first application for a Student Member, that member being
Robert Fox who became very interested in steam trains after we had a portable outing at
Woonona Public School. During the next year we ended up with four more Student members,
in the persons of Michael and Stephen Hamilton, Andrew Scobie and Leanne Fox. Over this
period of re-developing North Wollongong they were very active members. Since then we
have had many other young student members join our ranks.
What Happened after Closure of West Wollongong?

At a special meeting called at the residence of Ross Edmondson’s home to consider our
options as to what was to happen to the Club in the future. The options were:
1. Develop the site allocated by Wollongong Workers Club.
2. Shift operations to another site. ie. Council or State land.
3. Wind up the affairs of the Society.
The outcome was No. 2, shift to another site.

After the lowering of the flag at West Wollongong in September 1978, much work was done
behind the scenes with the Committee of that time in searching for a new location to set up our
new operations.
Late 1978 begins the task of a new beginning
During the next 18 months, ILS was held together by having monthly meetings at various
members’ homes, and also by visiting other Sydney clubs to give their locomotives a run.
There were numerous offers to join other clubs, but the members decided to remain in
Wollongong as the club awaits its future. In 1979 Ross Edmondson was elected Chairman,
Dennis Hamilton, Secretary and Ivo Bunker was our money man as Treasurer.
Also during this time, the portable track got a good work out at various fetes, Spring into
Corrimal, Christmas Parties, exhibitions held at Wollongong High School and other money
making activities, so that we could keep our Treasurer happy by keeping a few dollars in the
bank, so that when we started our next phase we would have some money to get started.
During the time in limbo there was a lot of sites looked at, but the one that came up trumps
was the land at Stuart Park, which we came about with the assistance of one of our life
members in the name of Ivo Bunker who had a work colleague in the mine by the name of
Jack Parker, who was an alderman of Wollongong City Council. This helped us greatly in
securing the lease. Between Ivo and Dennis, who was Secretary at the time, there was a lot of
negotiating that went on. In September 1979 we were given a verbal OK to proceed with the
parcel of land at Stuart Park. On the 4th March 1980 a 10 year lease was signed with
Wollongong City Council for a parcel of land at Stuart Park, North Wollongong, bounded by
Fairy Creek and Squires Way. The entrance to this land was via Virginia Street, next to the
Water Board pumping station. This lease was signed by Alderman Frank Arkell who was the
Mayor at the time on behalf of Wollongong City Council and also signed by Dennis Hamilton as
Secretary, and witnessed by Ross Edmondson along with Ivo Bunker who were Directors on
the 4th March 1980. On the 7th August 1980 our first payment of $50 for our lease on the land
at Stuart Park occurred.
The area called Stuart Park got its name from a prominent Politician during the last quarter of
the nineteenth century. His name being Sir Alexander Stuart, whose electorate comprised a
large amount of the South Coast. He became Premier of NSW in January 1883 and two years
later on 18th September 1885, by proclamation in the Government Gazette, “Fairy Creek
Reserve” was re-named “Stuart Park”.
A Special General Meeting was held at our site to discuss and peruse plans for our new track
layout at Stuart Park and Ivo Bunkers No. 2 plan was accepted.
After receiving the verbal go ahead, the
clearing began on Monday 25th February
1980 at 9am, Mr. Allen Booth climbed
aboard his Fiat FL 14 Traxcavator,
started the engine that immediately
roared into life, heralding the re-birth of
the ILS.
Graham Sturday and Ross Edmondson

were on hand to give assistance where
necessary and on one or two occasions
we actually lost Allen and his machine in
the jungle, but low and behold he would
emerge pushing a small mountain of
lantana and blackberry in front of him.
After two days of this backwards and

forwards and pushing it all into one big
heap, Graham Sturday and Ross
Edmondson were of the opinion that
someone had moved Mt. Keira!

The third day saw Allen and his machine
tidying up and putting the finishing touches to
the place. The next day we were fortunate
enough to have on hand a Kato, a low loader,
a road grader and a crane - at the end of the
day we had our car park half finished. The
pipes were laid in the creek and our new road
in was completed. Friday saw our
“contractors” building the wings on each side
of the pipes and low and behold we now have
a first class entry into our new site which,
believe me, is a prime piece of real estate,
approx. 8 acres.
Work days were every Saturday, starting at

9am, bring a cut lunch and something to sit on.
You will be advised accordingly as to what
tools will be required, but for the time being
bring a stout garden rake, light ladder, axe or
tomahawk, and shovel or spade. It was
amazing to see someone in a white boiler suit
up some of the tall trees, this was in the
person of Ken Gifford trying to remove some of
the vines that were choking the trees high up
in the canopy.
It was now time to level the ground in

readiness for some track work to commence.
At this time Ross Edmondson had a Holden
Ute with a tray on the back and a tow bar. He
attached a chain to both ends of a lump of rail
and hooked the chain over the tow bar and
proceeded to drag it all over the grounds to
knock off all the hills and humps trying to make
it level. Many kilometres were travelled in this
fashion. After this was done the grass seed
was sown and a last run over the ground to
cover the seed.

Bucket Brigade
While the men did all the hard yakka, the ladies and children armed with buckets formed a
line across the grounds and went hen picking to pick up broken glass, bottles, tins, and
much other rubbish. For this was a forgotten area by the Council and people used to just
dump their rubbish there, hence for the need of this clean up. Glass was a major problem
on the site.
After this was all cleared away, it gave us a canvas to work on for doing the survey and
pegging out where tracks, buildings etc were to go. Thanks to Graham Sturday for his
efforts in this field.
The Committee had the opportunity to buy a ride on lawn mower, this was the Clubs
Christmas present. Our trusty lawnmower complete with bulldozer blade was put to the
ultimate test with many loads of gravel being carried and bulldozed around the grounds to
level and fill in ditches that had to be dug for laying
power and drainage. Once the grass took off, it also
fell upon anyone (including the ladies) to keep the
grass in check often taking a whole day just to mow
the grounds.
In the early days, our ladies were also kept gainfully

employed boiling the billy and cooking BBQ lunches
Natalie cooking
over an open fire to provide welcome relief.
Transfer of Gear from West Wollongong
Maurie Cunnington supervising
In April 1980 the transport of the

concrete beams of the inner circle of
the track at West Wollongong along
with the track was transported down
to our new site in readiness for
re-assembling
.
In May 1980 still clearing up and

burning off saw the pouring of the
concrete piers on Saturday 24th, a
back breaking job, but a very pleasing
sight for all concerned. The following
Saturday saw a further two pours of
concrete and some of the beams put in
place. At long last the “Road Ahead”
Ross Edmondson and Dennis Hamilton surveying starts to take shape. Also in this
month a BBQ table was erected, the
first of many to come. The painting of the seats for the tables was left to June Edmondson and
Jean Cunnington. Each one of the tables were painted a different bright colour.

Construction of the elevated track continued with the completion of putting the beams into
place. This was achieved by Ken Fox (Robbie Fox’s father), who had the ability to weld the
jig-saw of track back together as it wasn’t quite the same shape that came out of West
Wollongong. A lot of cutting and shutting had to be done to acquire the end result. This
happened over three weekends to complete the project.
Joining up the elevated track.
Our first water supply.

Stephen Hamilton and Robbie Fox

One of the vintage car club members, Laurie Woods, worked for South Coast Equipment and it
was through him that we ‘borrowed’ a truck each Saturday morning to head off down to
21 Dump at Port Kembla to the Specified Concrete testing laboratory to collect a week’s batch
of concrete core samples. This chore usually fell to the first three workers in the gate and once
loaded, the ‘test pieces’ were then transported back to the club grounds. These blocks were
then used as edging for the road in, around the clubhouse and anywhere else that a small
brick wall was required. To this day there are still ‘hundreds’ of them all over the site. These
were placed along the side of the entrance road and down the sides of the road to form an
edging. Corinne Bunker, Jan Fox and Roslyn Hamilton then painted these white to tart the
place up a bit.
Collecting the core

samples.
Dumping the core

samples back
at the entrance to
the track.

Planting of Tree
During this time Jack Rue had nurtured a Macadamia Tree which had self grown at his place
and he planted it in the centre of the elevated track with the help of our President, Ross
Edmondson. This was to commemorate our first Anniversary. This tree struggled in its first
stages of life and was later moved to the ground level public area near the station and it
went on to flourish and now produces Macadamia nuts every year.
Ross Edmondson and Jackie Rue planting the nut tree
Meetings
At first in 1973 the meetings were held at the CWA Rooms in Wollongong before moving to
members’ homes. This was a family affair with the families getting together. The ladies and
children in one room and the men in another. Supper was a wonderful affair, especially the
peas pudd and corned beef at Bob and Dot Barningham’s residence. On 3rd February 1994
the meetings were moved to the Uniting Church Hall at Bellambi as the membership had
outgrown the homes. These meetings were held on the first Thursday of the month. A
number of members from Sydney were having trouble coming down at night to the meeting,
so a trial period of three months was held in January 2001, to have the meetings on the first
Saturday of the month at 1.30pm in our new Club Room. This was such a success that it
now continues today but the meetings are bi-monthly.

Club House begins
W ork then began on the

construction of our shed (now our
clubhouse) with the shed floor and
framework beginning. By the end
of September the floor had been
poured with concrete - a whopping
9.2 metres of concrete was used.
Some of the concrete core

samples were also used on this
project and can still be seen
today. After a curing time the
floor was ready to receive the
old workshop from West
Wollongong which was turned
into our Club house with a few
extensions to it.
This remained our Club house

for a few years until the white ants got to it and all the studs became paper thin and was only
just standing. On Saturday 8th July 2000 our beloved green tin shed bit the dust. There
were eighteen members and two wives to witness the historic moment.
This was replaced by a metal framed club house that we have today, incorporating the
canteen at one end and a large verandah in front of the canteen which allows us to put
plastic curtains up during the Hot Pot Run to create a soup kitchen.

Official Opening
On the 2nd November 1980, the

Vintage Car Club used the grounds
for their annual inspection of road
worthiness. It was decided to have a
BBQ lunch and a run of the track.
Running started a bit before 10am
after Graham Sturday’s loco failed Official train
due to a burnt out super heater. This

was unfortunate because at 11am we
were to have an official opening of the
track and Graham’s loco was to be
the official loco at the opening. So
Jack Rue, who had a newly painted
Australian Iron and Steel Diesel took
the lead behind the ribbon with newly
painted wagons. Then, after a short
speech by the President (Ross
Edmondson) the ribbon was cut by
Graham Sturday and the track was
Jack Rue on Official train with Graham Sturday cutting the ribbon.
opened.
We had some visitors from other

Clubs, Arthur and Rhonda Mears,
Dave Merrifield and Noel Bruce (from
South Coast Model Engineering).
Ken Gifford steamed his 57 and came
onto the track and not long after
retired due to loss of steam. After
lunch Cliff McAllister put his loco on
the track and was running. Jack Rue
retired off the track leaving the three
steam locos to it. After afternoon tea,
the coal supply ran out and we had to
crush some black coal by hand.

First Running Day
The 23rd November 1980 was our first running day since September 1978 and we took an
amazing sum of $12.20.
Connection of Power & Water

In December of 1980 the power and water was connected to the Club house area and down
as far as the Steaming Bay. This was rather a long dig, some 600ft approx. The water
actually came from the other side of the storm water drain on the south side of the pumping
station.
Around this time saw the arrival of two wooden out houses (thunderboxes). This was a
wonderful donation, for it meant that each member didn’t have to have their own tree. But we
did have the unenviable job of emptying the pans. They were located opposite the club house
area near the Eastern Main. These were in use for sometime before the toilet block was
completed in 1986. In those early days we had a group of pre-schoolers that used to come
down on a regular visit, the mothers would come early and clean out the toilets, put carpet on
the floor and supply potties for the little ones to use, thank heavens we don’t have to worry
about that these days.
Having completed the posts for the outer car park in December 1981, the next major job was
attaching the chain to the posts to form a fence around the car park, this was welded up by
Ken Fox. The original gates on the entrance were constructed by South Coast Vintage Car
Club. Corinne Bunker, Roslyn Hamilton and Jan Fox got their trusty brushes and paint pots
out and proceeded to turn ugly chain and posts into a nice white fence.
The elevated bays round house was constructed in May 1982. To stop it from floating away, a
1.6 metre diameter circle of concrete was placed around the base of the turntable.

Bridge
In 1982 the old bridge that was in place up at West Wollongong was transported to Stuart
Park. This was lifted into place by a rather large front end loader on loan from Waugh and
Joseph over the creek from us. The stairs had to be remodelled to fit in with the height of the
deck of the bridge, as according to OH & S the height of the bridge had to be above the head
of a person 6ft tall standing on the running boards of a wagon. This is why the bridge was so
high.
Roslyn Hamilton and Corinne

Bunker mixing concrete for the
footings of the bridge.
Positioning of the bridge

Toilet Block
May 1983 saw the start of the toilet block, which was not before time. The connections for the
toilets brought a new set of challenges in how we connected it up to the sewer, and it wasn’t
what you knew, but who you knew to get the job done as it was a very complicated job to get it
connected to the main. In early July plumber, Paul Cook, installed the sewer pipes. July 11th
saw Ross Edmondson, Ken Price, Dennis, Michael and Stephen Hamilton on hand early to
direct 3 metres of concrete in the right direction for the footings of the Toilet Block. During the
following week Ross Edmondson and Dennis Hamilton paid a visit to the local brickyards to do
some ‘fast talking’ to the Sales Manager and hey presto 5,500 Salmon Sandstocks at the ‘right
price’ arrived. After the completion of the floor, we approached the bricklaying section at
Wollongong TAFE to erect the rest of the building, to which they obliged as it was a community
project. After the apprentices had completed their task Ken Price began roofing the project.
The life for our two thunderboxes was now coming to an end and they were duly disposed of at
our next Cracker Night, where they went up in flames.
Around this period a homeless person

appeared on the scene by the name of
Raphael Luuke and took up residence
on the verandah of the club house.
Raphael was born in Mexico and spent
some time with the army in France.
He used to pack up his things and
move when we had work days or
running days. After the completion of
the toilet block he took up residence in
there for a while. He then eventually
built a humpty down in the bush. He
was an excellent caretaker for the
place and also had a couple of
“friendly” dogs. He would keep an eye
on the grounds and acted as our
security officer. Unfortunately he is no
longer with us, passing away in 2012
from lung cancer.

South Box
After the toilet block was completed we re-negotiated a deal with the TAFE again to erect
our first signal box, which is now known as ‘South Box’. This was built in 1983, the only cost
incurred in this project was to supply some goodies for the apprentice’s Christmas party that
year.
The name which now adorns the signal box actual came from the Mount Pleasant Signal
Box which was underneath the overhead road bridge that goes over the main rail line at
North Wollongong. This was in operation prior to the electrification on the South Coast Line.
When the line was upgraded the signal box was subsequently demolished. We were
fortunate enough to acquire the sign which needed some repairs doing to it. Bill Green
kindly offered to restore it.
The interlocking lever system used in

South Box was designed by Ivo Bunker
with the help of Clark Scobie who made
the frames. The points are operated by a
hydraulic system with use of town water
and a reducing valve to operate them.
Each time the points operate we use an
egg cupful of water. The decision to use
water to change the points was taken to remove a corrosion problem of wires in the ground.
The North Box electric system has since overcome the corrosion problem by mounting the
junction boxes above ground.
In 1998 the Club purchased a rain water tank to try and overcome the problem we were
having with our water supply in the locos as we were getting a calcification build up on the
fittings of the locos and causing problems. This tank was installed on the north side of
South Box with the water coming from the run off from the Station roof. The canteen kitty
provided for its purchase costs.

Station
In February 1994 it was decided that it was about time that we had a roof over our Station.
Work began with the digging of large holes to be filled with concrete for anchor points for the
uprights of the roof as this was a free standing construction. This was constructed with a lot of
heaving and shoving putting the roof trusses into place on the uprights. This was then all tied
together by fixing the rafters to the beams. The roofing was then attached to the rafters.

Steaming Bays and Nifty Shifty
With the completion of the elevated track in 1980, we needed some sort of Steaming Bays
for lighting up the locos. The design that was put in place, was in the form of a round
house, this is a turntable in the centre with lines leading off in different directions. One of
these had a swinging arm on it which allowed the loco to run down onto the elevated track.
Another one had an unloading ramp which moved in an arc to allow for adjusting of height
for the unloading of the locos.
These bays were later extended in 1992 to a

parallel system with a number of roads, this
was to allow for the volume of visitors that we
get for our Hot Pot and other special runs.
These were all welded up by Michael
Hamilton and his mate Michael Wunsch who
was co-opted as a volunteer as they were
both welders.
On the northern end of this two parallel rails were

concreted into the ground and a battery fork lift
was re-designed so that it travelled along these
rails to become our unloading device, which is
known as the Nifty Shifty.
In the middle of the steaming bays we had two

large gum trees, which were a nuisance and later
had to be removed. For some years some of the members were suggesting that we should
have a roof over the steaming bays. This came about in the mid 2000’s and today we have
an excellent steaming up area undercover from the elements. Unfortunately this roof did
not extend over the Nifty Shifty and you got wet whilst unloading your loco. The committee
decided in 2012 to extend the roof so that it covered the Nifty Shifty.

Roadworks
March, 1982 saw some
500 tons of Breckits Fines
delivered for the foundations
and laying of the road into our
site. We now have an all
weather road.
Canteen
In July 1982 the ladies opened up the canteen for the first time, and it was a great success.
This has continued over the years and has helped the club with their finances enabling
them to complete various projects over the years.
Significant Events
February 1983 saw our first serious bout of vandalism. First on the scene on workday was
Club Preso, Dennis Hamilton, who was confronted with the steel canteen shutter removed,
the window broken, the door left open, and low and behold nothing removed. At the other
end of the shed the double doors had the lock broken off and entry gained. After the local
constabulary came down Ross Edmondson and Dennis Hamilton had a look around and
our one and only lawn mower was missing and also the electric welder. The following
workday the lights were turned on - no power! ! ! There were four fuses missing. After
crawling around in the undergrowth for three quarters
of an hour the four fuses were finely located, so at
least we were back in business.
In October 1993 we were confronted with another

major break-in, where the vandals removed a sheet
of iron and came in through the canteen roof. Also
they damaged the porch roof on the end of the
canteen. On this occasion they destroyed everything
in the canteen and the microwave was later found in
the bushes. It is ironical that our caretaker was not
present and the guard dogs were in the pound.
Courtesy of this break-in, we now have an electronic
alarm system which was installed by Gary Gillam.

Ground level track
During 1984 the steel for our ground level track jig was kindly donated by our friendly
construction firm B & W Steel, Fairy Meadow. The construction of the jig went ahead at a
lightning pace. Our senior citizens namely Graham Sturday and Jackie Rue also started to
peg out the ground for Stage 1 of the ground level track during 1984. One of the things that
we had to be careful of with the survey pegs was that they didn’t get run over by the mowers
or accidentally kicked out of the ground after all the hard work our surveyors had put in.
In March 1984 there was a Special General Meeting called which was held on-site to sort out
a few minor problems with the track layout. It was decided to lay 5” gauge ground level only
and not multi-gauge as was previously decided. Work on the ground level track road bed was
progressing nicely with 3/4 of the bed completed ready for the track to be laid upon. The track
welding jig had also been completed. The supports for the ‘run off’ for the steaming bays had
been completed and awaited the rails to be laid.
One of our members had organized 3,000 steel sleepers cut to length for the start of
assembling our ground level track. The problem with these is that they needed a hole in each
end so that they could be secured to the wooden sleepers in readiness for track laying. So a
call to arms was put out for the members to take a batch home with them to do as homework.
Also at this stage the road crossings and concrete pads for points were put into place with a
lot of hard manual digging.

Stage 1 of the ground level track was completed on the 2nd November 1985 just in time for
our 21st Birthday. Then the big task began of heading down the bush into the jungle for
Stage 2. This proceeded with lots of people and lots of work days. Even Roslyn Hamilton and
Corinne Bunker were on the end of the concrete mixer while the men poured the concrete.
The running days were a little more fruitful now, so we could afford to do more projects. In
November 1987 the construction of a 60ft Viaduct built out in the swamp (frog hollow) area in
the bush began. This was a lot of hands on deck and donations from different firms around
the Illawarra area, with the addition of some extra trades people also called in to lend a hand.
Around this time Barry Glover and his willing gang of helpers started on the laying out and
production of the rails and points for the marshalling yards.

Early in 2005 the new outer ground level track that encompasses stages 1 and 2 was nearing
completion.
In 2007 the via duct bridge down in frog hollow was starting to rust and the board decided to
replace it rather than repair it. It was pulled out and a new design of bridging went in. The new
bridge was so designed to allow for two tracks to pass over it.

Carriage Shed
With the popularity of our running days
and having to increase our rolling
stock, Ken Mallinson put forward to
build a carriage shed with a saw tooth
design similar to that of a railway
workshop type building but in miniature
form. The shed was built with a total of
six roads and two stories high. This
project was completed in 1995. Prior
to this, the carriages were stored in
South Box down stairs and it was a lot of lifting to be done to place them on the racks that
were on each side wall. This was a mammoth task at the end of each running day.
In 2010 the carriage shed was transformed again by adding another story and another bay
on the western side of the building. The side bay has now become a workshop and storage
shed for our garden equipment.
North Box
North Box was another design that came from Ken Mallinson to build a replica of a normal
signal box in miniature form and make it look like a two story building. By using pavers as
bricks on the bottom half and a frame section on the top with cladding. This again in the
early design turned out to be too small
and it was doubled in length to
accommodate all the additional points
that have come into operation owing to
our magnificent track layout. The
operation of the points in this section
was originally done by electrics, but
owing to the area being so damp we
had trouble with corrosion which meant
failures from time to time. To overcome this an air operated valve system was put into
place for the points and the electrics were raised to above the ground. Pat and Peter
Chapman went to work digging trenches, pulling out redundant cables and calculating new
routes and sizes of conduit required. Richard Coleman would turn up on Saturday and
some Sundays to work on the project. Dave Merrifield worked on the lever mechanism,
complete with 3 way valves, interlocking and micro switches.

3 Phase Power
In 1997 it was necessary to upgrade the
power supply down to our Club Rooms and
Workshop with a new 3 phase power
cabling. The original one did its job up until
now, but it was only a light weight cable
and couldn’t take the load that was needed
for our operations. This was a big dig from
Concrete Sleepers the power pole at the inner cark park down
The last lot of river red gum sleepers that the to the workshop. Once again, it was all
Club purchased some time ago has just about hands on deck to dig the trench.
run out and the Board has lashed out and
purchased some of these “you beaut” plastic
sticks which can be sawn up to resemble
‘sleepers’.
In 2009 with some 30 moulds in place Helmut

Ecker and a couple of off-siders had started to
produce some concrete ones with approx.
400-500 already made. They look like the real
thing! We have given them a go and time will
tell! ! ! These are still being produced at a rate
of knots to upgrade the whole track. Helmut Ecker and Jack Kneller
Picnic Tables
The committee in their wisdom decided that we needed some bench type movable picnic
tables to be constructed out of treated pine. This was in the design of a crossed leg with a top
and seats out to the side being counter balance. The task for doing this job was given to Max
Taylor, one of our senior members who did an excellent job. They are still in use today and
come in very handy. We have now moved on from that and have got some aluminium tables
and seats with a roof over the top. This was brought about by a NSW State Government
grant that we received in the year 2012-14.

On Monday night the 11th September
1989 we had a terrific wind storm and the
big tree near the toilet block came down.
The only damage was to the fence which
was badly bent and no damage to the
track.
On Tuesday 5th December 1989 a violent

cloud burst erupted over the northern part
of Wollongong. Torrential rain bucketed
down and a raging torrent came sweeping
down the mountain on its way to the
ocean. Unfortunately a sand bar had built
up at the entrance to Fairy Creek which
caused the rapidly rising creek to burst its
banks. Flooding was inevitable causing
all manner of debris to be swept along.
The creek at the track had risen above the
elevated track. The crocodile infested
waters of “frog hollow” had raised its level
to be above and over the bridge. After the
waters receded there was little pools of
water left behind, there were mullet in
them up to 3 1/2” long. Damage to the
track was minimal with only a little loss of
ballast.

Over the years we have had many wind storms
which has caused minimal damage to our
buildings and track. We have also had many
floods, but the worst one occurred in 1998 when
we had cars floating down Fairy Creek, along with
quite a lot of garbage bins from the streets around
the track. The depth of water on this occasion
was 12” deep in the Club House and Canteen,
this meant that the actual depth of the water
covering the land was 4”ft. This left a horrible
mess to be cleaned up. Fortunately there was
minimal damage to the track, as it was just a
rising flood water not a raging torrent. The two
signal boxes had water damage, mainly to do
with the electrics. Another storm on January
2004 running day had winds gusting at 141kph.
This put an end to any Birthday parties that were at the track that day, as the committee
called running day off in the afternoon. Next
morning Ross Edmondson called in to survey
the aftermath, there was hardly any track
visible around South Box, trees down
everywhere and no power. This time we had
to enlist the aid of the State Emergency
Services to come in with chain saws and a
‘gung ho’ attitude.
Blow Fly Rally

Just after this time we hosted the Mudgee Blow Fly Rally, this is the first time that it had
been held outside the Mudgee Club. In the lead up to this prestigious event, there were
many hours of work involved behind the scenes, making sure that everything would go as
planned. Our Hon. Secretary Warwick Aston at the time, even made a special trip to get the
“Mudgee Mule” as one of the proposed events to go with the “Blowfly Shunt”. With the
lawns mowed and everything looked spick and span, one thing that we did not take into
consideration was the weather. This made camping rather damp and the comfort and
warmth from a nearby Motel was a goer. The rain poured down and visitors were advised
to stay at home, but some had come up from Victoria and it wasn’t long before the first
Blowfly was in steam. Appropriately attired in wet weather gear, and soon burning up the
miles. A grand total of three Blowflies ran at the event.
Foot Plate Grill
The Committee in their wisdom in 2009
saw the need for a Foot Plate Grill (come
BBQ). This has been a great asset for the
Club especially on Running Days, Hot Pot
Week-end, Oldies Day and other special
events that need BBQ cooking. It is also
very useful for serving the multitude of
visitors morning and afternoon tea.
NSW Government Grants

In 2010 one of the members, Peter Read, was browsing through the local paper and noticed
an advertisement requesting non profit organisations to improve their Club’s infrastructure by
applying for a NSW Government Grant. The club was awarded $57,000 for a range of
projects including the replacement of old and tired looking picnic tables with new awnings over
them and secured to concrete pads, the elevated extension of the Carriage Shed and gravel
pits adjacent to North Box.
The Club again applied for the Government Grant in 2011 and received $11,800. This was for
two new covers for the gravel pits, a two door glass refrigerator for the Canteen and six sets of
bogies for the new fibre glass carriages under construction.
In 2012 the club applied for and received a $10.000 grant to purchase and install more picnic
tables.
Funding of $8,200 was received in 2013 to purchase and install two awnings over the existing
picnic tables. We also applied for and was successful in securing funding of $4,000 for the
laying of concrete paths from the Station Entrance to the Canteen, Ticket Box and Foot Plate
Grill, plus the resurfacing of the Station Entrance with $4,416 being expended.
In 2014 the Club applied for funding of $5,000 for the purchase and installation of an awning
at North Box.
Whilst our Club received Funding of $106,000 under the Government Programs through the
sponsorship of Noreen Hay, our Local Member of Parliament, we expended the amount of
$114,531 with all of the money being spent within the Wollongong Region. Thanks must also
go to Warwick Aston, John Wilson, Ross Edmondson and Peter Read for preparing the
necessary paper work.

CONVENTIONS
1972 CONVENTION held at ILS—West Wollongong
With Easter coming up fast there was a lot of preparation work that had to be done, like
lawn mowing, general painting and cleaning up around the place for the Convention. This
was done by a band of dedicated modellers and their wives. This convention was the first
one to be held outside a Capital City, as they had always been held in Sydney, Melbourne
or Adelaide.
Ken Gifford was elected Convention Secretary and the

registrations started to roll in prior to the convention,
and by all accounts it looked like we were going to
have a good roll up. The catering side of the
convention was organised by the ladies and carried
out extremely well.
Over the weekend, if only the steam club could talk there would be a lot of humorous stories
to be told, but we know from a couple of present members, the story goes like this:
Barry Glover’s mum had a boiler full of peas, draining them in the
long grass was a problem. John Horsfall and her were draining
them, and whoops! ! ! The peas went down the hill. Quickly
scooping them up, no one would ever know the difference.
Another incident was. . . Barry Glover was cooking

the sausages on the Barbie and whoops! ! ! A
sausage went off the hot plate and onto the
ground. Scooping it up quickly he threw it back
onto the Barbie (and no one would know any
different). Fortunately no one died from these
incidents. (Why do we need OH&S?)

1994 CONVENTION HELD AT ILS—Stuart Park, North Wollongong
In 1994 ILS hosted the AALS Easter Convention. This was in the form of a split convention
with the 3 1/2 and 5” gauge being held at North Wollongong and the 7 1/4” being hosted by
Berry Model Railway Club at Berry. On display during the Convention was a variety of Model
Boats sailing on Fairy Creek. The convention Secretary on this occasion was Ross
Edmondson and all the organising was done by the committee and the food preparation was
done by the Ladies Auxiliary. We had a marvellous turn out with people coming from all over
Australia. The weather was kind to us. Our Official guest was our Patron, the Lord Mayor of
Wollongong, Frank Arkell, who officially cut the ribbon along with Dennis Hamilton and
Michael Kirby. Barry Glover drove the official train with the dignitaries onboard. Then
afternoon tea was served.
Official Train Boats on Fairy Creek
Charity Days
Prior to 1973, the Club held many charity events and one of these being for the “Bernado’s
Children’s Homes at Bombaderry. This took place on New Year’s Day and one of the
highlights of the day was “Jimmy Little”, Ballad singer of the time, entertaining the children
with his singing.
On 22nd August 1985 in conjunction with South Coast Vintage Car and ILS a special public
running day was held in aid of the WIN Television Telethon. This Telethon was to raise
money for the Wollongong Hospital Linear Accelerator. A cheque was presented at the
Television Station by Dennis Hamilton and Barry Glover. Over the years the Club has held
many charity days for various organisations within the Illawarra.

The Yanks
In September 1988 a group of visiting American Tourists paid us a visit and we had a great
turn out with 32 members plus families to bestow some “Southern Hospitality” upon them.
There was much talking, many photographs and a scrumptious BBQ provided by the ladies.
Prior to the BBQ all the visitors were ushered onto a passenger train for a tour of the track
hauled by 3521 with driver Laurie Love in charge. During the run through the ‘jungle’ lo and
behold the train was ‘bailed up’ by “Ned Kelly” and his gang of outlaws. In turn each outlaw
gave a brief description of their name and notoriety before ‘El Presidente’ Dennis Hamilton
officially welcomed the guests and presented them with an ILS souvenir badge to
commemorate their visit. The visitors were overawed by it all. Ken and June Mallinson
provided the costumes and information on Ned Kelly.
Dennis Hamilton (far left)
Ivo Bunker (left)
Barry Glover (right)
Presentation of “Burrawa”
On Sunday 28th August 1988 Jack Southern

came down to the track and presented the Club
with a name plate from one of the Porter Class
Loco’s from the Steelworks of which our Club
Loco was designed after. The name of this loco
was “Burrawa” which went into service in 1938
and finished its working life in 1971 and
scrapped in 1975.
This is where our current design for our badge came from and it also appears on our
Letterhead.

Traction Engine
On a couple of occasions in the late 1990’s, we had the pleasure of having a visit of a full size
Traction Engine which was lovingly restored by a then member, Stephen Deacon, from
Thirroul. To allow him to attend the track he had to leave home very early in the morning as
this was a very slow trip for him. Upon arrival at the track he would drive up and down the
driveway displaying the engine. This engine was also seen at Spring into Corrimal and other
community events.
Hot Pot
After the success of the 1994 convention Ian Kirby came up
with the idea of holding some sort of an annual event like most
other Clubs have a Birthday Run. So it was born to be “The Hot
Pot Run”. The first Hot Pot was held in June 1995 and to be
honest, it was a bit of an experiment. Each person attending
was asked to bring a mid-sized can of soup. Hot soup tastes
best on cold days, the club also bought buns and butter and it
was look after yourself. The long weekend makes it more attractive for visitors to travel and
stay over and the lack of rigorous organising, combined with self-catering, lets the local
members enjoy more of the visitors presence. There were some teething problems—burnt
soup! ! Big mistake. Next time we used water baths to heat the soup, and by magic a
couple of stainless steel beer kegs fell from the back of a truck and were quickly converted
into useful appliances. Initially we hired a tent in
which to put the soup kitchen in and while it was
OK, it was less than desirable. Today we have a
lovely new verandah on the new clubhouse with
clear plastic curtains which protect the kitchen
from the wind and rain.
Max Rainey in the soup kitchen

There have been various innovations introduced
over the years. Early on we saw the brewing on
Saturday night of “mulled wine”, a magnificent
concoction of red wine, boiled up with lots of sugar,
some cinnamon and cloves and consumed hot.
Helmut Ecker is the maker of the wine. This is a
popular drink on the European snowfields. Another
favourite is for people to sit near a wood-fired brazier
made from an old washing machine tub, sipping the
mulled wine and spinning yarns. Another innovation
has been the equally popular cooked breakfast on
Sunday morning, usually consisting of fried eggs,
tomatoes and sausages with toast. This has now
been blown out to Saturday, Sunday and Monday
breakfasts.
There is also display tables where projects under

construction are displayed, used book and magazine
sales, items of tools for sale or swap. There is also
camping on site for many of the visitors. In 2002 an
extraordinary roll-up of 75 locomotives arrived. We
have an enormous raffle over the weekend which
causes a lot of interest. Our chief organiser for the
Hot Pot these days is Warwick Aston who has taken
on the roll of Hot Pot Run Co-Ordinator.

Silver Dome Day
This day came about way back in 1999 at the last Christmas Party booking for the year
when the group that was supposed to turn up failed to appear. A somewhat concerned
Hon. Secretary, announced that a monumental error had occurred and that this particular
group was not coming. In the steaming bays there were six locos in steam plus the usual
six to eight members to act as guard, station master, etc. A concerned President Ross
Edmondson, asked “What do we do now?”. Secretary, Warwick Aston hopped into his car
and disappeared out of the front gate. Half an hour later he was back with a large bag of
bread rolls, 2 kilo of onions and about 2 dozen sausages stating that the “old farts” were
going to have a day for themselves and that is how it all began. This was originally called
Silver Dome Day and each month took on a different theme ie. September having a theme
of Olympics, October Scottish and November Black and White. Members could dress up
accordingly and decorate their locos. January took on the theme of Australia Day. In
January 2001 saw the wheeling out of our new BBQ trolley for cooking our lunches, this
was made by Col Jackson and Jack Kneller.
After some time the name of this day

changed and is now known as Old Farts
Day.
What’s in a name? Unfortunately the
above name does not rest comfortably
with some amongst us, whilst others are
quite proud of it. It stands for the Order
of Locomotive Drivers, Firemen And
Retired Trainmakers Society.
This group of retired club members, along with some wives, meet on the second
Wednesday of the month for a social day of playing trains, chatting and generally socialising
and it is on these days that the “wheel” has
been invented many times over along with
countless problems being solved. Whilst one
husband and wife team have been selected to
act as Catering Officer for the day, their job is
to do the shopping and to prepare a BBQ lunch
for those in attendance. On the day, those in
attendance contribute a small fee to offset the
cost of the BBQ thereby not interfering with
club funds, with any money left over going
Old Farts Christmas Party
towards the “Old Farts” annual Christmas Party.

10th Birthday. . .
On a fine sunny afternoon in April 1974, the 10th Birthday Party was celebrated by the
members and their families with a traditional fruit cake made by Roslyn Hamilton and bottles
of champagne supplied by the committee. Barry Glover, being a true army man brought along
his trusty sword, and President Ken Gifford cut the cake in a very ceremonial way. The
Secretary Barry Glover passed around glasses of wine along with some Birthday Cake.
Barry Glover and Ken Gifford doing the official thing. Barry pouring the wine
21st Birthday. . .
On the 3rd November 1985 it was time to celebrate our 21st Birthday. The Club had grown
from humble beginnings to now include 46 members and 5 honorary members. This was
celebrated down at the track with a birthday cake and many visitors from other clubs in
attendance.

25th Birthday. . .
To celebrate our 25th Birthday we held a day at the track on Saturday 28th April 1989. The
track was a picture and the atmosphere on the recently opened “bush loop” made you feel
miles from anywhere. How many other clubs can boast of a private swamp complete with
signs warning swimmers of crocodiles, and mosquitoes big enough to be in danger in the duck
season? The official train was driven by Barry Glover and carried the official party. The
Birthday cake was in the shape of a turn-table with a rotating centre cake made by Roslyn
Hamilton. The cake was cut by the Lord Mayor Frank Arkell and President Dennis Hamilton
who wielded a sword between them to do the job. Just after the official side of things the
heavens opened.
The next day on the 29th April 1989 a dinner was held on the MV Mirinda on Lake Illawarra for
members and their families. A total of 71 attended. There was a special members badge
drawn up and presented to those on board, including the ladies of the Canteen Auxiliary who
got their own name badges with a club badge attached.

30th Birthday. . .
In April 1994 we celebrated another
milestone in the Club’s history, our
30th Birthday. This was in the form
of an afternoon tea at the track with a
Birthday Cake being produced by
Roslyn Hamilton again. The cake
cutting ceremony was carried out by
Barry Glover and Dennis Hamilton
with “the trusty ceremonial sword”. Dennis Hamilton and Barry Glover cutting the cake
40th Birthday. . .
On the 22nd May 2004 a dinner for members and partners was celebrated at the Fraternity
Bowling Club with 70 people attending. Five women who had worked tirelessly in the
Canteen over the past 20 years were awarded an Appreciation Award by our then Lord
Mayor/Patron Alex Darling.
This also was a very special night to

introduce the Member of the Year
Award in remembrance of Cliff
McAllister. This is a memorial shield
and is presented annually by the
decision of the board. The first
member to receive the Cliff McAllister
Award was Peter Chapman for all the
work he had put into the Club over
the past year.

To commemorate the event a special gold coaster had been organised by David Bunker with
the ILS Club badge on it and ILS 40th Birthday and 10th Hot Pot Run engraved on it. These
were given to those who attended and sent to members who could not attend.
The next 40th celebration was a 40th Birthday Family Day at the track on the 8th August
2004. This was attended by 101 members and families, with the board cooking and serving
guests. A 40th Anniversary history book was produced by Anne Willis with the help of Ross
Edmondson and Peter Read just in time for the Hot Pot Run. This was given to all members.
50th Birthday. . .
This was celebrated with a play day down at the track on 30th March 2014. The weather was
kind to us, as the previous week had been raining. We had an attendance of 100 members
and families, who enjoyed a BBQ lunch and the cutting of the cake ceremony which was
served in the afternoon. The cake was a little different this time and created a WOW factor,
for there was a working ‘N’ gauge railway set up on top of the cake, which went around and
through a tunnel at the back. This was again made by Roslyn Hamilton with the help of
Dennis and son Stephen Hamilton. The cake was cut on this occasion by two of our junior
members, Jessie Marchand and Coen Simpson.
A dinner celebrating this birthday is to be held Saturday 14th June 2014 at the Fraternity Club
for members and wives. This will be in the form of a luncheon.
Past and Currant Presidents Jesse and Coen cutting the cake

Efficiency Trials
During 1973 it was decided to hold Efficiency trials at the club, but before this could be put
into operation a lot of thinking, trial and error went into designing a dynamometer car to
evaluate the drawbar pull of locomotives. In addition, calculations needed to be made to
work out the amount of fuel that was used. A new member by the name of George Bristow
was very good on calculations. He helped a lot in the design of the efficiency trials.
The first lot of trials was carried out on

21st October 1973 at West Wollongong and
a copy of the results is listed below. The
next lot of trials was held at Sydney Society
of Model Engineers and then returned to our
present site at North Wollongong.
Arthur Mears doing the trial with George Bristow behind
Score Board
Loco Trials
The second lot of loco trials was held on 13th August
1983 at North Wollongong with 12 starters and
wonderful weather. The overall winner was Arthur
Mears with a loco he had just finished which had just 2
hours of running before hand. Runner up was Ray
Lee with his C3506 and Novice Driver Michael
Hamilton who was driving ‘dads’ 0-6-0 “Anne”. These Ray Lee receiving his trophy from
Patron Tom Gawn
trials were conducted on the elevated track.
Embroidered Badge
The first badge to be produced by the Club, was made by
one of the members wives, Florence (Flo) Russell, wife of
Alex Russell. She was a very keen embroiderer and
produced a badge approx. 30mm square. It had a yellow
background and a border of red with black letters ILS in
the centre.
New Metal Badge

During our time at North Wollongong, the committee
decided that it was about time that the club had its own
badge. The idea was put out to members for a design.
The design that was accepted was a wheel and
pantograph on top of it. This was a green and red badge.
The current badge was drawn up in April 1989 for

presentation at our 25th Birthday Celebrations with the
loco “Burrawa” a Steelworks Porter Class loco. On this
occasion there were two badges struck, one with the word
member on it and another for the general public. The
significance of the loco stems from a member, Dave
Merrifield in organising the salvage of the name plate from
the loco which was being scrapped. One of them came to
ILS and the other went to South Coast Model Engineers at
Albion Park and then transferred to Albion Park Light Rail
Society. This name plate is now mounted in the Club
Rooms above the Canteen Door.

Exhibitions
In the early days, there were many exhibitions held in Shopping Centres, Schools and
Police Boys Clubs. This was an excellent opportunity to showcase our hobby and to attract
new members. Special racks and rails were developed to display the models on multiple
levels.
24 Hour Run
During 1992 we held a 24 hour run, which was a howling success despite the dreadful
weather. Visitors came from all parts of Australia. One visitor from South Australia had his
run in the early hours of the morning and the heavens opened up, but everybody had a load
of fun.
The Club has been very active in promoting the hobby and to create extra interest other
special runs have been developed. These include 12 hour runs, shunting days and poets
weekends. All these events have turned out to be very successful and generate a lot of
interest amongst the members.

Socialising
In July 1979 we held a very successful
ladies night at White Hall, this was in the
form of a music hall. Other dinner nights
were held at MacArthur Winery, Marshall
Mount Woolshed, Yallah Woolshed and a
Woolshed over the back of the mountain.
These all proved very successful and
brought the club closer together socially.
After all the efforts of cleaning our new site, there was a little R & R to be had by way of a
cruise on the Nepean River Paddle Boat cruise. The boat was the “Nepean Belle” where
68 members and friends took a 2 hour cruise up
the Nepean River, which included a 2 course
lunch. Of course the trip did provide some
entertainment with student member, Stephen
Hamilton who belted out a few tunes on the ‘on
board’ organ and everyone sang along. The
captain sat down at the pianola and rattled off
some tunes.
Another outing was the annual migration to a Motel at Sussex Inlet called “Bentley House”.
All 10 rooms were booked out by ILS, and the overflow of members had accommodation at
the Caravan Park next door. The weather was perfect and activities wide and varied.
There was to be no Trains on this weekend, instead, prawning and fishing were the talk of
the group.

Another weekend away was up to the Highlands to Bundanoon, were those attending
played golf, tennis and bike riding into Exeter in the fog. It was quite cool at 6am.
It was from these humble beginnings that the Members from the South Coast Vintage Car
Club (SCVCC) have become part of the activities of the ILS and we have enjoyed many
enjoyable years with them. In the early days at Stuart Park we held joint Christmas parties
with our families, sharing rides on our locomotives while they gave rides in their beautifully
restored vintage vehicles.
Many working bees were held with the SCVCC

members helping painting, welding and using their
machinery and vehicles to benefit the Club. Ted
Arntz, Denis Donald, Bob Harper, Garry Boge, Kevin
Moon, Laurie Woods and Rob Wormington were
some of the members along with many others who
willingly assisted our club.
Christmas Parties between the two clubs are still held

with Santa always arriving and distributing Santa Bags,
much to the delight of the many young children.
Fireworks nights were great fun. BBQ, bonfire and

crackers to let off and watch. Ray Ellis had a permit for
the fireworks display. Members and their families
arrived about 3pm, had a few rides on the trains and in the cars. About 5pm the braziers
were lit up to keep the mozzies and cold away, shortly after the BBQ was lit. When tea was
cooked the passenger hauling stopped. The area was flood lit with several flood lights
loaned to use for the night. After tea everyone gathered around the station area and
watched the bonfire being lit. Sparklers were handed around and soon the “Fireworks”
began. They started off with a lot of bangers, then came a drop of colour and then followed
by some coming down by parachute.

Afternoon Teas
In the early days at North
Wollongong, once a year the
Club would invite the Mayor and
Aldermen to come and have
afternoon tea with the members
to show them what progress had
been made to the grounds.
Fund Raising
Fund raising has taken many
forms over the years. The ladies
even had a street stall at Spring
into Corrimal one year to raise a
little extra money to help the
Club.
Web Site
Since 2003, ILS has had a web site to keep it’s members informed of what is happening
with the Club. It is frequently updated with news and pictures of members and their locos.
This was kindly set up by Peter Read. There is an ‘events ticker’ to show important dates a
month in advance.

Greg Coleman - President
Terry Cole - Secretary
John Wilson - Treasurer
Denis McAllister - Track Superintendent /Training Officer
Greg Szloch - Assistant Track Superintendent
1965—1966 Tom Gawn 1966—1967 Dave Merrifield

1967—1972 Barry Glover 1972—1975 Ken Gifford
1975—1979 Barry Glover 1979—1982 Ross Edmondson
1982—1986 Dennis Hamilton 1986—1987 Barry Glover
1987—1995 Dennis Hamilton 1995—1999 Ross Edmondson
1999—2001 Dave Merrifield 2001—2003 Ross Edmondson
2003—2013 Robert Robertson 2013—2014 Greg Coleman (current)
Barry Glover Dennis Hamilton

Ross Edmondson Ivo Bunker
2003—2004 Peter Chapman 2004—2005 Charlie Chauncey

2005—2006 Helmut Ecker 2006—2007 Peter Edwards
2007—2008 Peter Read 2008—2009 Bill Dyble
2009—2010 Warwick Aston 2010—2011 Denis McAllister
2011—2012 John Horsfall 2012—2013 John Wilson

ROLL OF HONOUR
George Watson Norm Horsfall Dick Delahunty

2.5.1971 8.11.1978 8.7.1979
George Bristow Tom Gawn Dick Malley

6.9.1986 7.3.1989 9.5.1991
Reg Wood Bill Baumann Gordon Lister

19.11.1991 9.3.1992 2.10.1992
Reuben Beaumont George Williams Cliff McAllister

22.11.1992 12.10.1993 19.2.1994
Jack Rue Bill Conrad Robert Barningham

9.5.1994 12.10.1995 24.4.1997
Les Smith Frank Arkell Ken Mallinson RFD-ED

23.5.1998 27.6.1998 8.7.1998
Lionel Wood Jerald Mosdell Max Taylor

9.9.1998 2.10.2004 17.1.2005
Graham Sturday Charlie Chauncey Peter Chapman

15.8.2005 5.1.2006 13.4.2006
Donald Marcy Arthur (Bert) Bruce Max Gay (Snr.)

16.5.2008 31.8.2009 20.5.2011
Corinne Bunker Jack Kneller Rex Saunders

14.6.2011 11.10.2012 26.3.2013
CANTEEN HONOUR ROLL
Lorraine Glover Jeanette (Jan) Fox

26.11.1999 6.3.2001
Lynne Kneller Joyce McAllister
23.8.2002 16.5.2011

MEMBERS IN OUR ANNIVERSARY YEAR 2014
Armstrong, Jeffery Graham, Neil Nash, Herbert

Aston, Scott Grills, Carl Nelson, Garry
Aston, Warwick Hamilton, Dennis Netting, Peter
Baker, Ron Hamilton, Stephen Parry, Glenn
Begg, Robert Herbert, Luke Poblete, Hugo
Bunker, David Herbert, Paul Prior, Raymond
Bunker, Ivo Hodgson, Harvey Pritchard, Simon
Caine Douglas Hogan, Peter Rainey, Max
Chapman, Pat Horsfall, John Rattenbury, Bill
Clifford, David Jackson, Colin Read, Peter
Cole, Terry Jessup, Warren Robertson, Robert
Coleman, Greg Kirby, Ian Robinson, Mark
Coleman, Peter Kirby, Michael Scobie, Andrew
Dyble, Bill Lawler, Glenn Scobie, Clark
Ecker, Helmut Lepre, Robert Seckold, John
Edmondson, Ross Macpherson, Ian Sheppard, Colin
Edwards, Peter Maguire, Ben Sheppard, Les
Foran, Ken Marchand, Jesse Simpson, Coen
Fox, Ken Martin, Christian Simpson, Nathan
Fox, Robert Mazonowicz, Doug Szloch, Gregory
Gant, Phill McAllister, Denis Trembath, Ron
Garaty, John McNaughton, Les Vormister, Scott
Gay, Max Mears, Arthur Warner, Derek
Gibson, Stuart Meezs, Nelson Wilson, John
Gillam, Gary Merrifield, David Wooley, Aaran
Glover, Barry Middleton, Ian Wolley, Lou
Glover, David Morris, Mark Wooley, Robert

A history of the Illawarra Live SteamersPage
50 years in the making
Co-op
No.61

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Table of Contents

50 years in the making Page No.

Printed May, 2014

50 years in the making Page No.2

Ken Plumb had a track around his Tennis

50 years in the making Page No.3

50 years in the making Page No.4

When we relocated to North Wollongong, the inner

The 3 1/2” and 5” gauge steel was supplied by

50 years in the making Page No.6

Barry Glover was corresponding with Cliff McAlister who

Cliff McAllister at West Wollongong

Elevated Portable Track

50 years in the making Page No.7

The Ryde boys were regular visitors in the

50 years in the making Page No.8

From early in the life of the club, there

“Bitza” today, 47 years on.

50 years in the making Page No.9

50 years in the making Page No.10

In 1970 it was decided to extend the track in readiness

Ivo Bunker on modified “Bitza” - Outer track

50 years in the making Page No.11

50 years in the making Page No.12

We intended to set this up at the

50 years in the making Page No.13

Jan Horsfall and Corinne Bunker with the

50 years in the making Page No.14

What Happened after Closure of West Wollongong?

The outcome was No. 2, shift to another site.

Graham Sturday and Ross Edmondson

After two days of this backwards and

50 years in the making Page No.18

Work days were every Saturday, starting at

It was now time to level the ground in

50 years in the making Page No.19

In the early days, our ladies were also kept gainfully

Maurie Cunnington supervising

In April 1980 the transport of the

In May 1980 still clearing up and

50 years in the making Page No.21

Joining up the elevated track.

Our first water supply.

50 years in the making Page No.22

Collecting the core

Dumping the core

50 years in the making Page No.23

Ross Edmondson and Jackie Rue planting the nut tree

50 years in the making Page No.24

W ork then began on the

Some of the concrete core

This remained our Club house

50 years in the making Page No.25

On the 2nd November 1980, the

due to a burnt out super heater. This

We had some visitors from other

50 years in the making Page No.26

Connection of Power & Water

50 years in the making Page No.27

Roslyn Hamilton and Corinne

Positioning of the bridge

50 years in the making Page No.28

Around this period a homeless person