Renmark-Paringa-Bridgewater

SAR714ROTARIAN · Beginner Joined: Sep 13, 2008 Last Visited: Dec 30, 2008

Hi all My name is Pete
I was put onto this forum buy a couple of friends who are members , I joined last night & spent nearly all night scoping the articles whilst learning new things ,Hopefully I will be able to contribute to these threads albeit I am not up to speed on things modern.

I will start with posting some curly ones , in my searching articles I notice there is an absence of pics or articles on Renmark - Paringa -Bridgewater , As I love all things Steam especial things to do with the SAR from its inception to 1970 , I have collected numerous pics from various era's , mostly 1930's to 1960's .
For my research into building an accurate prototyipical model of the SAR in Renmark - Paringa including the bridge on the Mallee line of Tailem Bend to Barmera & the station of Of Bridgewater the period of my layout is intended from 1957 imeadiatly after the big floods to 1968 last of the steam hauled frieghts int Renmark , Bridgewater is part of the same layout representing the south line to Melbourne .

I have tried picture Australia , Australian archives in Canberra using the John Buckland collection , I attended the South Australian Railway convention over the weekend & have approached a member of the National railway museum (Port Dock) for a search through their archives as well as some well known SAR enthuisasts who have large collerctions of SAR photographs, hopefully some interesting and valuable research pics will emerge.

I am hoping members may have in their collection of photographs of the surrounds , structures & yard shots of these stations & surrounding infustructure ,i.e. The Shell/Golden Fleece oil depot as a branch line , ran across the Stuart Hwy across this intersection into the oil depot , Engine Depot ,Stock yards , Really anything to do with all 3 stations , would be appreciated .
Also how do you upload pics to this forum
Cheers Pete

fabricator · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 3:09 pm

You should also try the State Library (SA) on North Terrace.
http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:1084/screens/opacmenu.html
search for "bridgewater railway"

I know there are some old pics of Bridgewater in there, not everything has been scanned yet so expect to have to go visit to find what you want.

Here is an example though:
http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:1084/search?/dbridgewater+railway/dbridgewater+railway/-3,0,0,B/l856~b1035217&FF=dbridgewater+railroad+stations+south+australia&4,,6,1,0/indexsort=-

allan · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:56 pm

G'day Pete.

Last question first...
http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11338686.htm
Not something that I've ever done, but we've got some clever geeks here!

You should have little trouble finding out heaps about Bridgewater, so I'd suggest a separate thread for that.

But Paringa - Renmark... that's a different story. There's not a lot in print, and some of what is is in obscure journals.

Lewis W. The railways of the Murray Lands. Notes from the MRSA Convention, 1998. pp1-60/85. Includes track plans and timetables.

Shields B. The Paringa lift span bridge. ARHS Bulletin, April 1998. pp139-142.

Hinks M. I remember when... Catchpoint, March 1998. p36.

Hinks M. Remember when... Catchpoint, May 1998. p34.

Barrington R. Renmark on the Murray. Australian Model Railway World, November 1962.pp12-17.

Barrington R. More about Renmark on the Murray. Australian Model Railway World, March 1963. pp7-11.

Allan Lees

David Peters · Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:45 pm

For a plan of the station at these locations you might have luck at Improtrans at Islington, they have nearly all the old SAR and AN plans on file.

Sorry I do not have a website address or a contact phone number handy, but I am sure someone will be able to supply them for you on here, with a bit of luck! Cool

National Railway Museum member.
The opinions expressed by my me in these posts is not the opinion of the N.R.M. and should not be construed as such.
Ferroequinologist and Microferroequinologist.
Photosite http://davidpeters950.fotopic.net

Dusty · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:20 am

G'day Pete.

I have had a gutfull of this particular mistake!!!!!

The Stuart Highway runs from Port Augusta to Darwin. The "Sturt Highway runs from Adelaide to Sydney! The Sturt Highway is the one that runs through Paringa & Renmark, Not the Stuart!!!!

I would have thought that a South Australian would know the difference between the two names. There is a suburb, a football team & an unknown number of streets carry the name of "Sturt" in South Australia & Victoria.

The old line through the district is still fairly easy to track. All of the old bridges are still there from the Berri side of Renmark to the Paringa side of the Murray. In some cases they are pedestrian paths & the railway section of the lift bridge is now a pedestrian/bike path. Earthworks in the surrounding districts wouldn't be too hard to find to track the lines in the district & don't forget that Port Facilities on the Murray were an extremely important part of railways right from the word go & the ports on the Murray were very important to SA at the time.

Hope this helps.
Cheers
Dusty.

http://dalwadesphotos.fotopic.net

allan · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:52 am

Renmark was of only minor importance as a port. The town was not established before the river traffic faded, and the station was well away from the river.

Pete's challenge is to find information about the surrounding structures as they were in the 1950s and 60s.

Allan Lees

lustychant · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:54 am

dylan · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 12:48 pm

Hi Pete,
If you go on http://cpdbear.fotopic.net/ and look around his site there is an album called 'Stations and Infrastucture' and it has a few pics of Renmark station in the 80s. Unfortunatly this building was burnt out in 1992.
Also look up The Recorder June 1982 issue if you have it. Contains pics of Renmark and Barmera stations, and also an article on the opening of the Loxton Freight Centre if you're inertested in that area.
Hope this helps,
Dylan

Pressman · Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 2:30 pm

SAR714ROTARIAN · Beginner Joined: Sep 13, 2008 Last Visited: Dec 30, 2008

Thanks Allen
for the info you pm to me appreciate your efforts but as stated , in earlier first post I have been to the Modeling the railways of SA ,have done so for Thirteen years ,I know most of the regulars as you would also Rodney Barington had given me a copy of the articles he wrote back in 1966 or so when he was just a wee lad ,Also as he grew up there he is lookig for pics for me as well as many other SAR pic collectors .

As for the town being only a minor town on the river it was bigger than Morgan in river traffic The line did go to the River to the Wharf stores it Branched of with a passing siding reversing behind the engine shed down the Sturt Hwy (Ral Ral Ave ) going through the Co.Op stores building at the end of Ral Ral Ave going onto the Wharf itself , now none of the original Wharf is existent only a couple of pics shown of it in a book I have about the history of Renmark

Dylan thanks I have seen http://cpdbear.fotopic.net/ Chris Drymailik site's it has only 2 shots of the station Building at Renmark & loxton Freight centre was of a branch line from Alawoona but have also some great Annual repot books of the SAR hitch show various things off importance in SA .

David Peters
I have a wonderful plan of Renmark Paringa & Bridgewater as well as all the structures planes of related railway infrastructure I secured these back in the early 80's from old friend of mine who was head of engineering for ANR at Keswik , thanks for the that Idea.

And Rusty oops! spelling mistake must be that Lusty charm used my computer to look up smeg and its software went hard making the keys stick Razz

Dusty I actually grew up on Tapio st Renmark by the entrance to the yard by the gangers sheds & station masters house ,It was my Grandparents home & as kids every weekend we worked the Glass houses & fruit propertys their with a very steady cliental of SAR train staff purcasheing fruit & veg as for the Bridges I have climbed as a kid both paringa lift bridges & as a big kid with my laser measure to get accurate details I would have at least 500 pics of the Paringa bridge alone

I have been to the State Library the Mortlock ,The National Archives in Canberra I have the few pics that they do have but the Photographs I have collected over the years are the same but of a much higher Quality , as well as a few obscure collections from private collectors , Even the War Memorial were able to supply pics of Japanese prisoners alighting for a march to just outside Barmera prison camp great shots with Victorian BW passenger cars in front of the station but the bleedin Jap prisoners are all in the way blocking the view down the platforms to view the station or any detail , very inconsiderate of them Laughing

, as with other pics I have all that have shown links to various library I have their pics but the same pictures usually pop up with no real detail of sights around the yard to use for modelling purposes.

I have Laid the track for the yard in Renmark (10Mtr long in the middle of the layout room) this is from the back of the (STURT Hwy) behind the engine shed to the flood bank start , the onto the the flood bank curving back down the side of the room with a gradual decline to this line laid to the Paringa Bridge make it into Paringa , This structure is well under way it & is the most visual structure on my layout being nearly 2.800mm long .
After leaving Paringa you then go into a hidden Fiddle yard under the main base boards of Renmark (Fiddle representing Tailem Bend) coming out other side into a scenic section arriving at Bridgewater , out the other side of Bridgewater you go into a spiral Helix gaining height coming back into Renmark from the Barmera end , or you can take the Branch & run Bridgewater as a layout on its own.
Thanks to all hopefully some Pics of the Railway & its infrastructure will surface
Cheers Pete
P.S can someone post a link to you photo uplinks how to's

lustychant · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 12:18 pm