2010 Wentworth Junction Rally

[Roderick Smith]

The 2010 rally featured the first public cruising aboard PS Ruby.  The survey certificate was granted on Thurs.8.7, to take effect from Sat.10.7, and I was on the first public cruise in 82 years (10.00 from the Darling River town wharf, past the rally site, up the Murray to round up, and return to the town wharf).

There were also 15 visiting paddleboats, with 13 visible in this photo (left to right):
PS Tarney.  This had had bearing trouble positioning to the site; the owner spent the weekend working on it, and not parading.
PS James Maiden: This is an oil-burner, from Echuca.  It had been away from home for several months, and would continue down river (juggling around lock-maintenance schedules).
PV Iraak
PV William Albert
PV Impulse
SWPV Chalka
SWPV Risbey
PV Evangeline
PV Settler
PV Shiralee
PV Miralie
PV Florence Annie
PV  Merlin.  This one doesn't carry its name, so I am relying on the matching the program with the remaining vessel.

Missing from this view:
PS Minimus: still moored at the caravan park.
SWPV Rusty: there, but on its trailer.

The fleet had assembled through the week, and spent Friday night at the rally site.  There was a fleet parade up the Darling on Saturday morning.  An afternoon parade was cancelled when the wind started gusting.
On Sunday there was a second parade from mid morning, clearing the rally site for the large fleet of small steam launches and wooden-hull boats to be put on display.  There are always some at Junction Rally, but this was more major than most: Steam Boat Association of Australia was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and so many more owners than usual trailed their boats to Wentworth.  On Saturday, they tended to make ad hoc journeys, carrying friends and guests, with one semi parade.  On Sunday they assembled at the rally site, then half went down through lock 10 en masse at 12.00 for a downriver picnic, returning with a 14.30 locking.
The rally also featured a selection of portable machinery, vintage farm equipment and other vehicles, and food stalls.  Rivers & Riverboats Historical & Preservation Society had a display tent, with portrait photos of most surviving paddleboats, and albums of events and long-vanished vessels.  It was a great rallying spot for paddleboat people, in between visits to each others vessels.  I spent most of my visiting time aboard Florence Annie, including cruising in the Sunday parade.

I didn't take Jessie II, and so had the time to catch up with lots friends from many events, and make new ones.  Two other Paddleduckers were present.

The fleet for the 2007 rally was listed at:
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic]=2566.msg12789#msg12789

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I have prepared eight photos of PS Ruby in action.  There others in Paddleducks already.  The official recommissioning was at the 2004 Junction Rally, when Ruby was propelled ceremonially by PV Impulse.  There was still a lot more work to be done.  There was another appearance at the 2007 Rally.  Thereafter, there was a lot of frustration meeting irrelevant rules, and ever-changing rules from the NSW department responsible.  At a rally to celebrate the Wentworth 150th anniversary, PS Ruby was able to carry the work crew and civic members, but not general public, and was required to operate at reduced boiler pressure.  There was also an event to mark its own centenary.  IIRC, I have photos from all of these events, and several have been posted before.  There are also photos from its houseboat era (when I was aboard as a 17 yo), and its era in Fotherby Park.

Captain Leon Wagner has had a very frustrating time bringing the project to fruition.  He shows in one of my photos.  In the engine room photo, the young engineer is normally working PS Marion; the one in green is a trainee; the man on the catwalk is John Norris: he has been engineer on almost every surviving paddlesteamer, and has trained almost every current engineer.

Yesterday's lineup photo was taken looking across the spit separating the Murray from the Darling: it is shallow, and so weed covered.  One of today's photos shows PS Ruby rounding the end of the spit, turning from the Murray into the Darling.  I'll post in two groups of four.
See also:
http://www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2709.msg11014;topicseen#msg11014
Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I was unable to turn my four brief video clips (MOV files) into shorter AVI (2 MB blew up to 40 MB), and was unable to post anyhow.  Eddy has done this on my behalf, with clickable links in the books & videos forum.  The first Ruby one features the whistle and the exhaust beat.  There is also a Minimus clip; I have yet to reach preparation of the photos of the one vessel being operated by a Paddleducker.

Here are the other four photos of PS Ruby.

One of them shows near-new wooden-hull MV Emu: built in Goolwa, and trucked to Waikerie to be crane launched to voyage to Wentworth.  It was a hit of the show, but I never did have the chance to go aboard.

I will try to winkle out the links to the remaining photos of Ruby on Paddleducks.  There is one photo in the random selection which you see when you log on.

Also yet to come: the planned cruising program, including a 4 day voyage to Renmark in 2011 for the centenary celebrations for PS Industry.

The program may well be on the website already.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[suesboy]

Good to meet you Rod,another top weekend at Wentworth,pity the weather was lousy on the saturday,but good weather for a classic Port.
Don't forget there is a mooring available anytime your in Morgan.

Cheers Bruce

[Roderick Smith]

Now from the largest paddlesteamer at the rally to the smallest (but not the smallest steamer).

PS Minimus has been to Wentworth before, and has done a campout voyage up Darling River.
For this rally it was carrying newly-built feathering paddles: something which I have read about extensively in one of the Paddleducks forums.

I enclose four views, including a tricky one against the light.
The small fourth is the title frame to the video clip, which also has a whistle captured:
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=342

Post edit as I add a fifth photo: the two in steam (and the video clip) were taken on Sun.11.7, not Sat.10.7.  On Saturday, Minimus wasn't cruising.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

Today's selection shows the fleet at closer range.

Most of the single-deck boats have a combined lounge/living area, with a galley to one side and a settee making a double bed.
The two-deck boats vary: some have a lounge upstairs and bedrooms downstairs; most have a lounge kitchen on the lower deck, and bedrooms on the upper deck.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I am now into miscellaneous paddleboat photos, and will continue with more of the steam and other launches.

On this occasion, I spent Saturday chatting with the owner of PV Florence Annie when the afternoon fleet parade was cancelled, and was back aboard for the Sunday parade.
The boat was built in 1974 or 75 or 76 (Parsons is out by a year), with a ferroconcrete hull (rare on the river, but common for seagoing fishing boats).  The name was recycled from an earlier paddlesteamer.
It is about 12 m long.  Although shorter than many others, the intelligent layout makes it quite spacious.
Front: wheelhouse cum lounge & dining saloon, above a large bedroom running to hull depth.  The bedroom is accessed via a ladder, which sits under the step to the wheelhouse.  It has windows just above deck height.
Amidships: a kitchen and heater and toilet/head above the engine.
Rear: a second bedroom at deck height.
The stepped design gives a good all-round view from the wheelhouse.
I had seen the boat when it was for sale at Deep Creek Marina (near Echuca).  I met the new owner when he had it slipped there for checking, before heading downriver to his new property on Darling River.
On Sunday, while the parade was pausing at the town moorings, one of the two builders came aboard for a visit and chat, and gave me a lesson about the advantages of ferroconcrete, and some building tips.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

As I added yesterday's selection, I found a fifth photo of PS Minimus in action, and edited into an earlier post, where it may go unnoticed, so have this alert.

Today's selection shows various parade photos.  Except at Goolwa, most parades which I have been in have been fairly spread out.  Boats pass a public viewing point in line astern, then round up and return.  This gives all the boat operators to photograph each other.  Unlike Swiss lakes paddlesteamers, we don't do ballet formations: possibly the result of current, wind susceptibility, and the diversity of vessel sizes.

With these photos I have tried to convey also the impression of Murray River scenery: the vegetation along the banks, the constant curvature, the snags (dead trees) close to banks.  One gives a good impression of the confluence, showing the spit as the two rivers merge.  Both rivers here are widened (and deepened) by being in the pool of weir 10, which was built just below the confluence for that very reason.

Yet to come in this series: some more close-range photos of various paddleboats in action, and a set of the steam launches in action.  They have engines which are often home built, using all of the techniques which Paddleduckers use in a smaller scale for models.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I am trying to finish the 2010 rally selection before the 2013 rally is held.

Today I am placing the last of the photos of the paddleboats in action, also the pdf of the catalog pages for all of the boats (1.5 A5 pages).
Yet to come: a selection of steam-launch photos, and PS Ruby's coming program, including a voyage to Renmark in 2011.  I have already made my booking, so I won't be left ashore when Paddeduckers book en masse.

PS James Maiden has an oil-fired boiler, capable of raising steam very promptly, and arranged for solo skippering.  The rear is a large living saloon, with an antique Belgian stove for heating (and boiling a kettle), and sleeping settees on each side.  The kitchen and toilet/shower are recessed into sponson boxes adjacent to the paddleboxes.  The clerestory roof is quite effective for providing internal illumination.  James Maiden was an Echuca pioneer, and ran a punt across the river.

I had a brief inspection of PV Shiralee, which is smaller than most two-deck paddleboats, but is beautifully appointed.  It is lined with polished pine lining boards (walls and ceilings), which looks smart and conveys a vintage appearance.  I have done the walls of my house extension with an identical treatment.  Upstairs had just the wheelhouse and a small lounge, plus the main bedroom.  Downstairs was a large living area.  I suspect that guest bunks were settees to either side.  I have written something about this boat in an earlier thread.  The name is an Australian one for a a swag (a bedroll plus a few cooking utensils) taken on a journey by itinerant workers.  It was used as the title of a 1957 UK film made in Australia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shiralee_(1957_film)), and again as the title for a 1987 miniseries.

I was aboard SWPV Risbey at an earlier rally, when the fitout was still being completed.  It has an external gas barbecue sitting on the paddlebox.  Risbey was a pioneer settler in the area, and the owners are descendants.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I have prepared a lot more launch photos than I will post.  The construction techniques for the small steam engines used (and the small boilers) must have a lot in common with the techniques used for live-steam scale models.  Some were gas fired, some were char-pellet fired.  IIRC one was wood fired.

This was the 25th anniversary rally for Steam Boat Association of Australia <www.steamboat.com.au>, so many more steam launches and putt putts were present than at earlier Junction Rallies.  I have seen quite a few of these boats at various rallies, notably Goolwa.
Some of the boats have been covered in my existing photos of the paddleboats in action.

I enclose three of SL Flaming Galah.  It is based at Clayton (SA), and I have seen it in action in Goolwa.  The owner was staying at the same motel, so I was treated to a detailed explanation of its design.  The hull has a much leaner aspect ratio than most: it started life as a yacht.  The steam generator came from an industrial carpet cleaner; the two cylinders are from an air compressor (but only one is in use?).  The engine had just been overhauled, and the boat came to the rally untested.  The owner had trouble with valve settings, and was unable to operate the boat that weekend.
The others today show a few more of the launches, and part of the assembled fleet.  With cunning interworking, the large paddleboats went upstream to the town moorings on Sunday morning; the launches then used the cleared display moorings at the rally site.  The launches then divided into two groups: half paraded loosely between the two sites; half went downstream on a 12.00 locking for a picnic lunch, and returned on a 14.30 locking.  Meanwhile, the paddleboats paraded, and returned to the rally site.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

This is my final selection of steam launches (and putt putts) from the 2010 rally. 

One of the steam launches is a steam outboard motor, mounted on a tinny.
Two levels into the SBAA site <www.steamboat.com.au> there is a full catalog of members' launches, with lots of photos, and all tech specs.

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

I have attached a readable pdf of PS Ruby's coming program.

Here is the text, with no formatting, so it  is something of a puzzle to align the event with the date.
JULY 2010 TO JUNE 2011
Please note this schedule is subject to change at any time. Unless otherwise stated
all cruises will commence from and return to Wentworth Wharf.
I Month I Davs 1 Steam UD Event and Cruise Type
July 2010
Saturday 10 and Junction Rally - 1 hour cruises commencing
Sunday 11 / from l0am
1 September Friday 24 September to Country Music Festival - 2 hour afternoon 2010 / Fridav 1 October cruises from 2am
1 October 2010 1 Saturday 30 and I Wentworth Rural Women's Gathering and 4 1
Sunday 31 October day Wentworth Melbourne Cup Race Carnival
- 1 hour morning and afternoon cruises.
(overnight accommodation available on board
November
2010
December
2010
March 2011
April 2011
Monday 1 November
May 2011
EasterIAnzac Day - 3 night cruise
during this period also)
Wentworth Melbourne Cup Race Carnival - 2
hour morning cruise
Saturday 27 and
Sunday 28 November
Saturday 4 and Sunday
5 December
Saturday 12 to Monday
14 March
Sunday 27 to Thursday
31 March
Friday 1 to 4 April
Friday 22 to Monday
25 April
Friday 20 May
Saturday 21 and
Sunday 22
Dates to be confirmed
June 2011
Rotary Caravan Cruise (date to be confirmed)
Steams Up Weekend - 1 night Cruise
Christmas Party Cruises - Group Bookings
available
Christmas Party Cruises - Group Bookings
available
Victorian Labour Day - 2 night cruise
PS Industry loothB irthday - Renmark SA
Wentworth to Renmark - 4 night Cruise
Renmark to Wentworth - 4 night Cruise (PS
Ruby will depart Renmark Wharf)
Saturday 11 to Monday
13 June
Voyage of Discovery - 4 night youth leadership
cruise *
*Special group booking
Queen's Birthday - 2 night cruise 1
Issued: Friday, 9 July 2010

info@psruby.com
www.psruby.com

The four video clips of Wentworth are at:
PS Ruby:
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=343
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=344
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=345
PS Minimus:
www.paddleducks.co.uk/smf/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=342

Regards,
Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

[Roderick Smith]

The 2013 rally is happening this weekend (Sat.13 & Sun.14.7).  There will be all of the usual ingredients and camaraderie.  It is just a little late for Sydney members to head south, but Melbourne, Merrigum and Adelaide members have a chance.  I have a clashing event, and won't arrive until late on Saturday night, or early on Sunday morning, without a boat.
There have been complications this year for boats trying to voyage to/from the event: a lifting bridge unavailable; lock 10 out; water too shallow at the notorious Warrakoo reach.  PS Cato was going to make its first voyage upriver to be present, and had to turn back.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor