MINI STEAM JEEP (STEMKA) 2




Apart from the steering wheel, the instruments and controls consisted of pressure gauge, speed and distance meter, foot and hand brakes, foot and hand throttle controls, engine cylinder lubrication pump and feed-water metering and bypass valve. Other controls included a boiler scale-trap blow down, chimney blower jet valve, feed-water priming pump, engine reversing and notching up lever, cylinder drain cocks lever, fire door, furnace air control and excess steam release valve. The cylinder drain cocks were made in the form of pop safety valves with variable spring loading from the hand lever and notched quadrant. If they were momentarily set at below boiler pressure they went off like small bore rifle shots.

Main dimensions were, wheel base 52”. Track 40”. Overall length and width were 70½” and 46”. The furnace extended rearwards from the generator section with the hinged fire door on top. The cylinder drain cocks lever, the hand brake, and the furnace air control levers were grouped close to the reversing lever. Apart from lighting up there was no smoke emission. The occasional burning of macadamia nut shells did create a little brown smoke as well as plenty of heat. Touring around the local streets produced memorable events. One found one’s self leading two or three cars showing no tendency to pass and they would loiter alongside. On one occasion pulling into a friend’s home and treating him and neighbours to rides up and down the street the fuel supply ran out with still a kilometre to get home. No problem, kindly people rummaged in their garden sheds and enough scraps of wood and pine-cones quickly appeared to continue the entertainment and complete the journey. They were apologetic over the tree bark included but to Stemka’s boiler that was good hot ember producing fuel. A friend, also a steam buff who frequently rode with me shares the memory of a Sunday afternoon jaunt about the village when we had to stop at an intersection for cross traffic. There was a full head of steam causing the release valve to blow off the excess which due to the cool air temperature and no breeze, enveloped the vehicle in a fog much to the obvious astonishment registered by the occupants of passing cars.

After six years of enjoyable driving and tinkering I became dissatisfied with the temperamental characteristics in this application of the flash type generator. Schemes for various configurations of small volume boilers were studied. I wanted a generator of a type that was inherently stable without the necessity of cause and effect control systems. I also wanted to devise a steam generator that had the manners of time honoured volume boilers and firmly believed as I still do that this could and should be the path to follow. Records of the successes of Winslow boilers and their derivatives the Derr boilers brought me to favour these types for replacement. Time and circumstances caught up with me and I terminated my workshop activities to give fulltime care to my then ailing wife. Now since 2005 my steam interests and fellowship with steam buffs and my third generation younger families fill my daily life.

A fellow enthusiast who owns a museum in Northland bought the little steam jeep and keeps it among his display pieces. So that leaves me enjoying being a nonagenarian pounding out on my computer themes and schemes and things the way they were and possibly could have been. I hope to discuss some of these meanderings in future instalments.

MINI STEAM JEEP (STEMKA) 1




The steam-powered mini-jeep here described was not intended to be a contribution to the cause of motoring. It was the realisation of a desire to produce a steam-powered vehicle that gave a riding experience to its driver and passenger with freedom from the constraints of an earlier 7¼-inch gauge railway. The design was based on the American army jeep. No accessories requiring other installed power were included.

The actual construction time was 2050 hours spread over 5 years from 1987 to 1992. The total cost of materials and purchased trade components came to 2050 dollars, by coincidence a dollar spent for each hour of productive work. Double the workshop time was spent on scheming, planning and drawing. It was a labour of love, my idea of leisure and pleasure. Following the preliminary design work a wood and cardboard scale model was made and construction commenced with the details being determined as the project advanced. The objective was to create a fun machine relying on solid fuel firing, and not aimed at highway travel or commercial operations.

The flash type steam generator consisted of 65 feet of ¼” nominal bore steam pipe formed into a stack of ten zigzag grid elements located in the combustion gas flue of a wood burning furnace. The heating surface area was 9.2 square feet and the fluid content was 1.1 litres. The maximum working pressure was 600 pounds per square inch. The furnace volume was 1 cubic foot. The engine was a duplex open frame type with twin double acting cylinders of 1 5/8” bore X 2” piston stroke. The ¾” diameter X 7/8” travel piston valves were actuated by the Marshall variant of Hackworth valve gear that provided for expansive working and reverse. The 1 to 2½ ratio chain drive from crankshaft to differential gave an engine speed of 1100 RPM at 40 KPH on 16” diameter road wheels.

At start-up the wood chip fire was established and some water was pumped into the boiler by a few strokes of the foot pedal operated feed-water pump. Steam immediately generated and was blown through the engine to warm up. As pressure increased the car literally chuffed off. When the vehicle was running the boiler feed-water supply was taken over by the rear axle driven feed pump. 100 PSI was sufficient to motor on flat road.

It is important that boiler feed-water supply is matched as closely as possible to the steam demands of the engine. Ideally such control should be completely automatic but it was difficult to achieve a balance in this application because of the inexact practice of hand firing solid fuels plus the wide variations in demand on the road motoring. Various patterns of boiler pressure actuated feed-water control valves were made and fitted before being abandoned in favour of a manually controlled water metering and bypass valve that returned acceptable results providing that the driver remained alert to the cause and effect performance signals. The state of the steam generator was judged from the pressure gauge, the feel of the throttle and engine responses and the forces required on the priming pump pedal. With all of this in mind the furnace conditions had to be sustained by the frequent addition of wood blocks or pine-cones. Fuel consumption worked out at eight to ten pine-cones per kilometre. It was true seat-of-the-pants motoring.

The forty litres of feed water carried served about 2 hours of start/stop motoring around local streets, grassed recreation fields or on hard sand flats of the local tidal estuary. The car was driven on the hand or foot-operated throttle with high boiler pressure, or with minimal boiler pressure and the throttle full open with the speed controlled by the regulation of feed water delivered to the boiler. My wife and I once drove the car by this method in a town festival street procession. She was the fire attendant.

7¼ INCH GAUGE STEAM LOCOMOTIVE




Interest in steam engineering had never lingered far beneath the surface of my dreams. Things that breathed steam and the engineer’s lathe together with the odours of cylinder oil and cutting oils were as flavour enhances to good foods. The urge to build a 7¼-inch gauge steam locomotive with riding trucks and portable track converted to action and by 1961 became operational hardware that over six years enlivened social functions. The locomotive was loosely based upon a New Zealand Railways Baldwin built 4-6-0 tender engine. The chosen track gauge being close to one sixth that of our NZR standard 3’-6” became the scale for the model. The object of the project was to create a small locomotive displaying the character of a full-size engine. The necessity for portability by car trailer limited the amount of rail track that could be carried which on completion came to 210 feet (64m) consisting of thirty 7-ft (2.134m) lengths that laid out in an oval comfortably fitted around my house. The radius of the end curves was too tight to accommodate a sixth scale 4-6-0 locomotive so the design was modified to a 2-4-0 yielding the flexibility of a four-coupled engine. The leading axle was mounted in a swivelling pony truck. While the engine was built to free-lance concepts its visual features were to scale proportions. The boiler was of locomotive pattern formed from 3/16 inch (5mm) steel plate with copper fire tubes and super heater flues. The cylinders were 2¼ inches (57mm) bore by 3 inches (76mm) piston stroke with 1 inch (25.4mm) diameter by 1 1/8-inch (28.575mm) travel piston valves and the driving wheels were 7 inches (178mm) diameter. The fire grate measured 9 inches (229mm) by 4 inches (102mm). Fuel was kerosene fed by a steam atomising scent spray type burner aimed through an aperture below the normal fire door. Carbonettes were used to stabilise the fire. Boiler feed-water was by axle driven pump while travelling and injector while standing. The tender rode on two bogies and carried 8 gallons (36 litres) of water and 3 gallons (14 litres) of kerosene as well as providing the riding truck for the driver. The engine and tender empty weighed 563 pounds (255kgs) of which the engine accounted for 391 pounds (177kgs) with 317 pounds (144kgs) on the driving wheels and 74 pounds (33kgs) on the leading pony truck. The driving axle suspension was compensated so that axle weight distribution was not affected by track irregularities.

There were two 7 feet (2.13 metre) long riding trucks each weighing 196 pounds (89kgs) carried on bogies. The seating was central plank with footboards. Each length of track weighed 41 pounds. (18.5kgs). the colour scheme was hawthorn green boiler, cab and tender. The smoke-box, chimney and under frames were painted black and the headstocks red. The passenger trucks were grey seat boards and footboards with red side panels.

Raising steam from cold was achieved with a wood chip fire with draft induced by a hand-cranked extractor fan fitted on the chimney. After a few minutes when steam pressure showed 2 pounds per sq. inch the chimney fan was removed and the blower and kerosene burner were opened up. 12 minutes from light up was the normal time required to attain the working pressure of 90 PSI. When first placed in service the ability of the boiler to maintain full pressure on load was fairly poor and much heat was wasted in the smoke-box which scorched the smoke-box and chimney paint. This was rectified by fitting a feed-water-heating coil of copper tube around the inside of the smoke-box. The engine then became a very free steamer. Even under full load the boiler easily gained water level and steam pressure. The burner steam and fuel jets had long tapered needle valves that allowed fine adjustments and produced smoke-free combustion.

RETURN TO ENGINEERING 2




While engaged with the firm I did make a contribution that prolonged its dying agonies for another four years. The agricultural bulk fertilizer spreaders of the times carried five tons on a truck mounted hopper and hauled five tons on a trailer fitted with a V section hopper with a top mounted chain scraper and chute that was supposed to transfer its load to refill the spreader hopper. The process was extremely slow with dry fertilizers and failed completely if the materials were damp or wet. The operators were forced to hand shovel the loads across. My solution was to utilize a proven spreader hopper with its travelling mat floor. The idea was to elevate the rear end of the hopper by means of a tipping truck hydraulic hoist and a radius linkage between the hopper and a standard trailer chassis. This brought the discharge end over the truck hopper when the travelling floor mechanism was engaged and the load transferred in three or four minutes. Success was immediate and about four hundred units were constructed and distributed throughout New Zealand, Tasmania and a few to Victoria and South Australia. Indeed the concept became adapted to some field crop harvesting and provided a feeder appendage to packing house sorting benches. In fact load in the field and self discharge at delivery. My reward was, “go to it and make them faster”.

After four years in this rough and tumble I went into the trades teaching section of a secondary school and stayed for five years achieving nothing worth recording and failing completely to appreciate the politics of the system. I then joined an intermediate school to establish and teach in its new metal crafts workshop. I actually enjoyed the experience for a few years creating a break-away from the traditional forged poker and boot scraper approach. I guided the introduction of forms 1 and 2 girls to metal crafts when all boys and girls were initiated to the four craft subjects. The old time-worn idea of weeks to produce a work of art in metal craft was thrown out and indeed we produced a simple item the first day of the student’s contact. I stayed twelve years and for three years was senior and visiting teacher in the subject for the district education board of the time. I was approaching age 58 and resigned and gave myself three months holiday.

I enjoyed the liberty then without too much sense of compulsion went looking for a job, mainly part time employment. I landed three engineering orientated jobs and accepted one in a nylon yarns processing factory. I stayed there for four years as purchasing and personel officer. On the way I was able to resolve a few engineering problems, find sources of machine component supplies and fit staff to jobs and jobs to staff.

At age 62 I walked into my office one morning and noted the four walls just all too close so decided to call it a day and gave a months notice and happily walked away from paid employment. Then I really started work, that is work in my home workshop that I really did enjoy. A little money to cover costs, some barter and creative satisfaction. The pottery crafts people wanted pottery wheels, associated accessories and kiln oil burners all tidy work within my capacity. The wool spinners and weavers wanted wooden bobbins, needles, loom components, buttons and toggles. This was delightful work with added pleasures of the aromas of the various woods. This too called for the scheming out and making up of single purpose machines to facilitate production. But I get ahead of the story. Back in my school teaching days I had my home workshop up and running and I was preoccupied with getting a life and practicing engineering in the way I wanted to. There were interesting things to be done and it was time to get going.

RETURN TO ENGINEERING 1




I re-entered the engineering trade in 1944 in a works catering mainly to the agricultural industry. The war still had two years to run and imports were severely restricted. The existing fleet of pre-war farm tractors needed constant maintenance and repairs. By 1946 when the first of the British built Fergusson and David Brown tractors started to appear versatile workshop technicians came into their own. The Fergussons were a success from day one but the David Browns showed a propensity for shattering their differential gear carriers and it fell to me to fabricate and machine new replacements. The first models had no provision for front end attachments such as high lift platforms, loader buckets or grader blades so an exercise handed to me was to find a way to accommodate these essential attributes. With this resolved many David Browns that would not otherwise have left the show room were sold. Sales of new tractors meant that well used American tractors such as Internationals and Fordsons were traded in. Parts were difficult to obtain so many bits and pieces including sets of pistons were machined from locally produced castings. Also onto the market came a flood of imported powered row-crop cultivators for market gardeners. These presented an opportunity to scheme out and make up sets of high pressure spraying equipment that could be fitted or dismounted as required thus increasing the versatility of the machines.

As the war drew to an end some ex-service men with agricultural backgrounds chose to pick up rehabilitation business loans and set up as earth moving contractors. They purchased mainly second hand Caterpillar and International crawler tractors and had them overhauled and fitted with bull-dozer equipment. In those times winch operation was becoming outmoded and hydraulic actuation was taking over. Sets of this equipment were not imported so had to be locally manufactured to fit each application. I had a keen interest in this work and over five years made up many sets of hydraulic rams, control valves, pressure relief valves and gear pumps. I was head-hunted and offered a remuneration inducement to work for an automotive engine reconditioning firm. My first year’s wages for the same hours went up by 60%. My main work was operating a newly installed crankshaft journal regrinding machine as well as being given experience on cylinder reboring, piston finishing, engine block main bearing line boring, connecting rod bearing machining and fitting. Sandwiched among this was making engine components for vintage and veteran automobiles. The design and production of specialised single purpose machine tools to facilitate refurbishing of components was another sideline. On the way I added a trade certificate in automotive machining to my engineering turning and fitting certificate.

In answer to a job advertisement for a works foreman for a road transport equipment manufacturing company I took up employment that turned out to be totally out of my tree. Management’s appreciation of engineering was seeing sparks flying from electric welders and portable grinders. The firm was under equipped and under financed with disillusioned share-holders withdrawing. On my appointment I was charged with the task of guiding the works to manufacture freight trailer chasses as fast as possible. The managing director and his sales team would match the output. So after two months there were trailer chasses stacked to the roof and few sales contracts. Stop, stop went up the cry and we catered more and more for repair work that held no interest for me.

STEAM AT WAR 13




We put into Freemantle for thirtysix hours and had twelve hours shore leave. Most of the troops went into Perth to spend the time. A few of us teamed up, had dinner in Perth and took an afternoon train a little further inland to Midlands Junction where the Western Australian Railway workshops were located. We were welcomed and given a tour of the works and shown new locomotives for their railways and boilers under construction for mine sweepers. We were treated to a few social beers in the local pub and returned on the worker's train to Perth and Freemantle.

Next morning the convoy set off down the coast round the corner and across the Australian Bight and in a few days put into Hobart. We passed in through the submarine barrier that consisted of heavy steel netting at the sea end of the deep entrance bay and drawn aside by mine sweepers to make passage. A destroyer followed the ships through dropping depth charges prior to the closing of the barrier. We sailed up that scenic tree and farmlands bordered waterway to the town backed by snow-capped Mount Wellington. We were there for six frustrating hours with no shore leave and again set off across the Tasman for good old New Zealand. We passed south of Stewart Island and up the South Island east coast with the Dunedin contingent recognising the Otago Peninsular. It was a murky day so did not see any more land until arriving in Wellington Harbour on the morning of 12th of July 1943 to the overwhelming pungent odours of lush bush and ferns.

The Wellington and Hutt Valley troops were disembarked within a few hours of berthing followed later in the day by the Auckland and South Island people. The Manawatu, Wanganui, Taranaki and Hawkes Bay troops were off-loaded the next day. Adjacent to our quarters was a ships orderly room containing an extensive range of office equipment including thirty Remington typewriters. On the morning after our arrival only twenty-nine remained. What a witch hunt took place! But they were looking at the wrong people. No doubt someone's rehabilitation in the secretarial world got off to a good start. Those like myself bound for Palmerston North were disembarked in the early afternoon and within three hours reunited with our families.

The New Zealand Railways due to wartime pressures were very short of staff which was the main reason why the government wanted the railway battalions back home rather than being sent to another theatre of war. Thus, the companies were disbanded and the men returned to their jobs. I was retained in the army for three months while undergoing hospital treatment for my now very severe digestive disorder. The retention of food was an ongoing problem. Finally I was discharged on a war pension and unofficially warned that if I valued my pension not to take up any employment. At age 24 this was not news to my liking. I went back to work where I had left off as a locomotive fireman that did nothing for my health. The irregular hours of work, sleep and meals took its toll so after seven months I resigned from the railway and re-entered my first choice of trade as a turner and fitter in a small engineering works serving the district's agricultural industry and lost my pension. With the support of the returned servicemen's rehabilitation scheme I completed my engineering apprenticeship and gained trade certification.

I recovered my health, married my wartime correspondent and used my rehabilitation loan to build our home. We raised two daughters, moved on in my trade to leading hand, works foreman, works manager, secondary school teacher in technical subjects, middle management in a textile factory then retirement but not idleness.

STEAM AT WAR 12




As the active war zone receded westwards and the North African ports became operable the desert railway ran out of work as a supply line but continued in use bringing out the vast quantity of war wreckage. Our 16th operating company was relieved from what had been a long and arduous term of duty, and withdrawn to the New Zealand forces base camp at Maadi.

I was joined to a small detachment of eight men to be transported to El Kantara on the Suez Canal to pick up a fleet of diesel electric locomotives and ferry them up to Beirut in Lebanon. There we were to establish train-loading schedules over the routes from Beirut to Haifa in Palestine and Beirut to Tripoli in north Lebanon near the border with Syria. We also had to train South African engine-men to operate the new diesels that were displacing steam engines that in turn were being sent to work in Turkey.

We were based in a beautiful campsite in an olive grove with fourteen American technicians who maintained the locomotives and sixteen South African engine-men. There was excellent comradeship among this specialised group and life was idyllic. The north and south runs were right on the Mediterranean coast and we were given the superfluous advice to not permit night-time lighting that could be visible from the sea.

After four months in this beautiful part of the world the four married men of our group were recalled to base to prepare for furlough to NZ. We held a farewell party and gave those who lived near our homes messages to our families. We remaining single fellows carried on in apparent isolation but we were not forgotten and a week later in some urgency we were commanded to return to the furlough embarkation camp at Giza in the shadow of the Great Pyramids. Thus, after a four-day train journey we arrived and divested ourselves of everything that we could not carry in our sea kit bags. Four days later we were transported by road to Suez, loaded onto the 37000 ton New Amsterdam and at 16.00 hours that day weighed anchor and commenced the thirty day homeward journey. There were more than 6000 troops aboard. We enjoyed three meals daily and those of us who gained possession of one of the 700 library books read the time away. A few of them were good and some utter rubbish, but the possession of a book meant that one exchanged it hand to hand for another. There were frequent appeals for the return of all books to the library under threat of cessation of further issues. As the library was empty we did not fall for that one. They got them back at the end of the voyage. We were billeted up on an enclosed weather deck in rather more comfortable conditions than we had experienced on the outward journey nearly three years earlier. We actually enjoyed reacquainting ourselves with hammocks. After two days sailing down the Red Sea we put into the port of Aden and lay at anchor for two days within the perimeter of volcanic peaks surrounding the huge crater harbour. We were not ashore and by the look of Aden with its barren surrounds we did not feel deprived. Our ship was joined by thee more to make up a convoy that changed in structure at various points of the journey.

We departed Aden and steamed across the Indian Ocean to pass off Colombo and head down the Australian West Coast. By day the convoy travelled at moderate speed pursuing a zigzag course and at night speed was increased and a straight course followed. The Dominion Monarch was stationed off our port beam. In some heavy weather we were to see her plough through waves cresting higher than her bridge superstructure. Frequently our escorting destroyers and light cruisers would turn off and disappear over the horizon and hours later or next morning were back in their normal stations. When we reached the Australian coast the warships went off elsewhere and Catalina amphibian aircraft took over the escort duties. We noted members of the crews visible in their observation blisters.

STEAM AT WAR 11




Following a week of horrendous bombardment from allied artillery by night and aerial bombing by day the enemy was routed. As the railway track was repaired we followed up with supply trains, first with a field workshop train to which I was attached for two weeks to eventually arrive at the end of rail within sight of Tobruk. The Germans had built the final 19kms of track to the edge of the escarpment overlooking Tobruk by dismantling some of our sidings and balloon loops and transferring the rails and sleepers. Over the entire 560 kilometres from El Alamein to end of rail the war wreckage presented vivid evidence of a great long running battle. Burned out tanks especially Italian tanks all pointing west were still smouldering. There were destroyed road transport vehicles, half-track troop carriers and everywhere temporary graves marked by wooden crosses and German and Italian helmets. There were intact munitions supply dumps and airfields littered with self destroyed fighter planes. We passed through a rearguard action site at Fort Capuzzo where the defence emplacement consisted of nothing more than a metre high wall of rocks and rubble. The sight and stench of the shredded Italian clothing and equipment was appalling.

A winding road from the end of rail led down to the Tobruk port. Our construction units built several widely spaced railway spurs or curved back-shunts onto which we pushed the arriving trains then disconnected and moved out about a half kilometre while Indian labour gangs performed the 3 to 3½ hour task of unloading. We then backed up, hooked on and cleared out hopefully before enemy air attacks that by then had become few and far between. About 25Km short of Tobruk a large airfield was established at Gambut from where American Liberator bombers attacked targets in Italy. It had its own railway siding and we regularly delivered trainloads of bombs and aviation fuel. The sight of twenty-one of these heavily loaded bombers taking off in echelon formation was awe-inspiring. The dust from the surface would hang in the air for an hour or more. From the approaches to Gambut and Tobruk we were to watch these places come under air attack, especially the Tobruk port where the harbour was jammed with sunken British, German and Italian ships.

During their occupation the enemy had brought over about twelve diesel mechanical locomotives to work as much as they could of the captured railway. There were three sizes, 500, 350 and 250 horsepower. Most of them were rendered unserviceable by having their engine fuel systems destroyed. The few that were mobile soon became inoperable through breakdown and lack of spare parts. All were pushed to the ends of spurs and back-shunts to serve as end of track stop blocks. The Italians contributed about an equal number of ingeniously designed yard shunting locomotives that had tall central cabs with the engines mounted beneath. They were built on low slung chasses the ends of which carried traversing jacks which in the retracted position passed beneath the wagon headstocks. Evidently Italian railway working methods called for much preoccupation with re-railing of wagons. None of these were left serviceable and joined wreckage bulldozed clear of the tracks.

A great gift to the allied forces was the capture of large numbers of Italian Fiat and Lancia heavy-duty diesel lorries. These were most durable vehicles that stood up to continuous use. By contrast, the German trucks, especially those with air cooled motors soon joined the junk piles. Highly prized were the captured Italian Lancia and Alce motor cycles. They were the first sprung rear end motor cycles that we had seen. Their very smooth running motors had quite large external flywheels. The finely engineered German BMW motor cycles that came into our hands did not survive long in the desert conditions.

STEAM AT WAR 10




We were taken by ambulance to the casualty clearing station where we were able to witness the superb efficiency and dedication with which the staff dealt with the severe to not so severely wounded. I was in the latter category and received attention at 22.00 hours that night. I awoke next morning to find my burns skinned and dyed and dressed. There turned out to be small sutured areas on the balls of my thumbs and a skin graft inside one wrist. The largest visible wound was a relatively small area on one forearm from where the skin had been taken for the graft.

Next day my driver was flown to a hospital near Cairo and an ambulance train took me to the then forward hospital at Gerawla about 12kms east of my unit base at Similla. I vaguely remember my admission to the hospital and waking up in what seemed to be next morning feeling good. A patient in the next bed said, "Gee Kiwi what happened to you! You've been asleep for three days. They brought your meals and took them away again". I thought that such a thing could not have occurred, but some days later I was to see a British soldier with no apparent injury but in poor physical shape do just that. When he awoke the ward sister washed and shaved him, cut his hair and trimmed his toenails and fingernails. A man transformed! I used to admire these Tommy soldiers for when enemy prisoners of war were brought out they were escorted by some of the soldiers who captured them. Such escorts often looked more battered than their prisoners. After three weeks I was discharged back to my unit and following two weeks light duties rostered back onto the railhead trains. My driver of the incident a much older man than I did not show sufficient recovery and was returned home. For his attempt at rescuing me he was mentioned in despatches. The Similla-Mashiefa trains were given some protection with the addition of anti-aircraft gun equipped wagons marshalled next to the engines and guards' vans. The tender skin on my hands and wrists chafed and bled and I received dressing replacements at the regimental aid posts at the ends of the trips. Healing became permanent after about two weeks. .

During this time the allied forces commenced the withdrawal to El Alamein. We were the only loads travelling west with mostly fuel to sustain the retreating army. Came the final two days when we withdrew every locomotive and railway wagon possible with as many as five east bound trains occupying a single 13km section. Unclaimed petrol was set on fire and about 150 wagons were left behind. Following four days of start-stop progress over heavily bomb blasted and hastily repaired track the company arrived intact at Alexandria. Our train together with three or four locomotives was shunted into the absentee King Farouk's private station where we camped for a week then moved to a permanent site in a suburb close to the walled railway yards. We enjoyed the experience of living in a luxuriously grassed park that was alive with toads and small lizards that scuttled everywhere.

As the front line stabilised at El Alamein we commenced running supply trains to a temporary railhead at Burg El Arab 56kms west of Alexandria. About four trains a day were run during the early parts of the nights. In anticipation of our return to the western desert railway a fleet of American diesel electric locomotives was shipped to the vast army stores at Suez. 16th and 17th railway personnel were selected for training in their operation. For this group the companies chose the steam locomotive firemen who had accumulated long service on the railhead runs. I became a member of a detachment to a locomotive instruction school at Suez where we had about a month gaining handling experience shunting the rail network serving the stores yards spread out over several square kilometres. We then took several of the new locomotives via the Egyptian State Railways route along the western side of the Suez Canal to El Firdan and across the new army erected swing-bridge to the eastern bank. We then worked trains over a new military line constructed from El Kantara to El Shatt that was another military supply dump at the southern end of the canal opposite Suez. For about six weeks we worked supply trains over this route, some bound for the El Alamein front and others from El Kantara to Gaza on the first leg of their journeys to Turkey. Finally we delivered the locomotives to our base at Alexandria and set about training more drivers over the Alexandria-Burg El Arab section.

STEAM AT WAR 9




Back at the base camp at Similla our commanding officer had winkled out a recreation hut for the company. It was a prefabricated building about the size of a school classroom erected in short time by unit personnel. We were forbidden its use until a 1.5 metre deep slit trench had been dug right around it. A party of us was directed to dig the trench with the carrot that if it was finished to the satisfaction of the commanding officer the company could have the use of the hut that night. We commenced the formidable task with characteristic groans and moans. By 16.00 hours the trench was down to 30cms, and then a lone enemy twin engine fighter bomber made a low pass across the camp dropping a stick of 25kg bombs and firing its nose guns. We flung ourselves sardine fashion into our shallow trench, the men at the bottom feeling relatively secure but the top layer feeling decidedly vulnerable. We clambered out, shook off the dust and dug like hell to finish the trench before evening mess. With some banter, the major passed it OK and permitted occupation. Thus, we came to enjoy a spacious canteen and games room.

During the last few months before the enemy advance to El Alamein the railway had been completed to Fort Capuzzo on the Egyptian-Libyan boarder and set out with train dispersal yards and balloon loop on a smaller scale than the installations at Masheifa. Also, on a stop-go programme the track was extended from fort Capuzzo to within 19km of Tobruk. In the two months leading up to the allied forces retreat from the Western Desert the railway came under increased attention from the enemy. Messerschmidt 109F fighter planes carrying machine guns and 20mm cannon made strafing attacks against locomotives. The machine gum ammunition contained armour piercing bullets that penetrated locomotive boilers through to tubes and inner fireboxes. The cannon shells were explosive and blew fist sized holes in the boiler insulation sheet metal cladding as well as take out cab windows and boiler steam pressure and water level gauges. We had survived strafing runs when the targets had been troops on the ground at the sides of trains at crossing loops. On the night of 6th March 1942 we coupled onto a troop train at Similla and were warned that intelligence had advised that the enemy was about to commence a crippling action against the trains from that night on. We proceeded as usual exercising what vigilance we could and entered the crossing loop at Mazhud, two stations from our destination. We had only just come to a stop at about 10.30 hours when there was a slam that shook the locomotive accompanied by a horrendous roar of escaping steam. I saw my driver pass through a head-high jet of steam, cross the cab and leap out. I dropped to the floor and rolled beneath the coal-shovelling chute of the tender.

While I sheltered there a second plane raked the engine and passed over then I became choked out by billowing hot steam. I groped around until I felt cool air and tumbled to the ground, looked up to see a third fighter beginning its run in. I dived under the tender and clambered up onto an axle and listened to the hellish spat of bullets as the plane completed its run. I was prepared to stay there until satisfied that the attack was over but a rush of hot water from the punctured boiler flowed back between the rails and steamed me out. A plane was making a steep turn and again lining up, so I made a dash for a wheel rut in the sand and hit the ground and watched to be mightily relieved to see the plane fly over without firing a shot. I got up and noted clouds of steam billowing from all over the engine and my driver accompanied by a British officer attempting to discover if I was still in the steam filled cab. I grabbed his arm to make him realise over the noise that I was indeed alive and kicking. We moved clear of the engine and only then found that we had suffered some burns. His were quite severe down one side of his face and neck. Mine were relatively superficial about my forehead and forearms and into the flesh about my hands and wrists. My eyes were smarting badly and a piece of flesh stood proud on the bridge of my nose. The crossing station crew took us to their quarters, brewed us good strong sweet tea and with their limited resources attempted to dress our injuries. Reports came in that three more locomotives had been knocked out, one at a station ahead of us and two at stations behind us. Amazingly there were no fatalities among the engine crews. One driver suffered a severed tendon of a little finger. Of the firemen one lost an eye, one a deep slicing wound across the back of his thigh and the third slight burns to his head.

STEAM AT WAR 8




The frequent dust storms that blew from two to three days duration were a living hell with the only consolation being that the enemy could not operate against us. We kept going albeit a little slower and consumed lots of liquid that kept our innards working more or less normally. The wear and tear on the engine external machinery in such conditions was extremely high with some parts requiring replacement every two weeks. Piston rod packing glands and crosshead slippers suffered the worst.

Various trackside events called for attention. One was an evening raid by the occupants of two German short take-off and landing aircraft that landed beside the track and two crew members alighted from each leaving the motors running while they proceeded to plant land mines beneath the track. They were observed by a Bren gun carrier patrol that sped towards the scene causing the party to flee to the waiting aircraft one of which stalled its motor, so all boarded the second plane and flew off. Mine disposal soon cleared the area and order was restored. While I was not witness to the event I was to admire this example of a German specialised aircraft before it was taken away intact by our air force recovery team. Another track-side distraction was a 500Kg enemy aerial bomb that like many had failed to explode. One of the station crews watched it drop from a low flying bomber, hit the ground and bounce over and over before coming to rest about 20 metres from the track. It remained there for two or three days and we were instructed to proceed dead slow past it. We kept to the far sides of our engine cabs as we trundled past feeling sure that we could see it expanding. Much to our relief a bomb disposal squad eventually removed it.

Enemy activity against the railway was most intensive on bright moonlight nights and our journey times between Similla and Masheifa were slowed accordingly. Out and back trips usually took two days but in bad times four days on our engines were not unusual. After the first 24 hours our eating habits would go haywire and large quantities of sweet tea and coffee became the main sustenance. Train crews were issued with four days food rations at the outsets of their journeys and we supplemented these with tinned foods out of our most gratefully received food parcels. Our thanks went out to all those mothers, wives, sisters, girl friends, clubs and patriotic societies back home. Their tinned savaloys, beans, stews, spaghetti and soups were heated up on boiler back-heads and diesel engine exhaust manifolds. However, on such nights when danger was seen to be lurking we would slow down to a walking pace and listen for aircraft engines. If they were too close for comfort we would stop thereby eliminating the telltale exhaust steam from the engine and move about 100 metres away from the train to listen and watch until the threat had receded. On these nights the railhead would be subjected to repeated attacks and we would make the final seven or eight kilometre approach very slowly to the outer limit of the station yard from where we would observe the apparent mayhem taking place. We were well aware that daylight would reveal very little material damage. It amazed us that attacking aircraft seemed to fly blissfully through the incredible amount of flak being thrown up at them. High and low flying aircraft were met and followed by a barrage from heavy, medium and light anti-aircraft guns and pass out of range to fight another day.

Taking advantage of a respite we would draw into the arrival yard noting all likely shelters in the form of ground humps and hollows, slit trenches and bunkers for ready reference in anticipation of further attacks. We would take a brief spell while a servicing crew took charge of our locomotive, cleaned the fire, filled the lubricating oil reservoirs, turned the engine and reversed the order of the two 4000 gallon water batteries. When ready we would hastily resume duty, couple onto a waiting return train and roll out of there exceeding the regulation speed limit to reach the psychological if not actual safety of the wadhi 19 km distant below the escarpment.

STEAM AT WAR 7




The crossing station keepers were bunkered about half way along their sidings and about 100 metres out from the tracks. The greatest horror of the station crews was the arrival and stopping of troop trains when 500 troops who had been cooped up in box wagons would detrain en mass and stoop and crap. The drill that evolved was to stop and hold such trains outside the station yard limits until everyone had crapped out. In the full spirit of "not in my back yard" many ruses were practised by station staff to ensure that such trains were kept rolling past their territories. Station crews established for themselves reasonably good long-drop dunnies that were frequently invaded by passing troops who tended to leave them less than pristine. So the owners would plaster the door with prominent "Beware of the snake" notices and construct a second edifice with a "Safe for use" sign for the peace of mind of the visitors.

While on this subject, one of the stations bore the name "Gundagai" for which the staff had prepared and erected a large name board featuring a dog crouched in an ecstasy of relief over a wicker tucker box. I remember the staff of an ambulance train appreciating this example of desert art.

There were very few if any train crews that escaped without adventure of some sort. To add to my runaway ride from Mohalfa to Similla I was to experience a near miss on the same section but travelling in the opposite direction. The line traversed wadhis that were natural drainage channels from the plateau in the wet seasons. Where track embankments crossed the wadhis two or three 2 metre diameter concrete conduit pipes were laid through the earth fills to provide escape for the water that would otherwise back up. One very wet early morning we had departed from Similla with the usual fully loaded train with banking engine shoving at the rear. After covering 25Km with everything going well and first light of day showing features dimly I spotted an irregularity in the rail alignment about midway around a curve to my side. The track was hanging suspended across a thirty-metre gap in the embankment. I yelled this intelligence to my driver who suspected that I was kidding, and did not immediately react. I cranked on the tender hand brake and shut down steam valves that were my responsibility and clambered out onto the cab steps prepared to take my chance and jump off. He crossed the cab, saw and sprung to action. He slammed the throttle shut and steam brake full on. There was a tremendous surge through the train as the bank engine caught up with the slack. I jumped off and scrambled clear giving hand signals to the rear engine crew too far back to see me in the dim light. However they felt the mighty surge and thinking that we had derailed shut off and braked. Fortunately on coming to a stop they released their brakes to allow the compressed buffers to run out. I ran to the front of our engine and saw that the leading wheels were on the edge of the drop and that the earth was crumbling away. I yelled to my mate to back off which he did with some urgency. The culvert pipes had not coped with the storm water and washed away. A repair gang was soon on the scene with bulldozers and stacks of sleepers and in about four hours saw us on our way.

Camel thorn bushes grew sparsely on patches of the desert and small herds of camels and gazelles roamed in the distance. Other animals that we encountered were desert dogs, foxes, wolves and desert rats. Small snakes, asps, lizards of all kinds, huge beetles and colonies of very large ants were another source of interest. Some of our own aircraft, Hurricanes and Beaufighters returning from missions chose to fly so low that their propeller wash stirred up dust trails. They would pass close alongside our trains and when coming from behind the first we would know of their presence was the sudden roar of their motors as they flashed past at cab window height. Their crews no doubt enjoyed the anticipation of our startled reactions.

There were occasional engine derailments through track subsidence and one engine going into a bomb crater. Where these events occurred the rails were cut each side of the accident site and the ends drawn sideways by bulldozer and the gap rejoined with new rails and sleepers and it was back to business as usual.

STEAM AT WAR 6




The trains were generally made up equivalent to 60 to 65 four wheeled wagons. A double bogie wagon was counted as two 4 wheelers, thus the train gross weights were 1200 to 1300 tons. They were totally unbraked except for the steam-powered brakes on the engines and tenders. The brake vans had hand operated brakes that were rarely if ever used. Depending upon the tension on the coupling links and hooks and compression on the buffers the distance between adjacent wagons could vary by 18 inches which caused any train length to vary by a hundred feet depending upon whether the engine was pulling or braking. Starting and stopping always demanded careful judgement. Instant stops were not possible and the official train speed was limited to 40 KPH. On descending grades and approaching known stopping places preparations to take control were initiated about three kilometres out.

The locomotives and tenders weighed 127 tons, carried 9 tons of coal and 4000 gallons of water. Permanently coupled and piped to each main line locomotive were two 4000-gallon tank wagons known as water batteries. These supplies had to last the Similla-Masheifa-Similla round trip of 313km which depending upon the visitations of war could take two to four days.

For reasons of safety and to conserve the train engine supplies a helper locomotive was attached to the rear of each train to assist it up the 28km 1-117 climb from Similla to Mohalfa. At the all clear signal to proceed the pusher engine had to start first to close the buffers to the point of nudging the lead engine which then gradually opened up to take its share of the load. This avoided the possibility of snatching the bank engine and the risk of draw gear failure. At the top the grade the helper engine was detached and the train proceeded on it way over generally flat terrain with the horizon visible all around. In the final third of the journey the line descended into and traversed a wide shallow wadhi followed by 19Km of a one in two hundred climb to the railhead at Masheifa.

The opposing trains met and passed at crossing stations spaced about 12.5Km apart manned by small detachments of 16th ROC personnel who lived a fairly lonely existence, but those who wished were relieved at regular intervals. One of their staff met each train at the station outer limits and either directed us into the passing loop or gave us a train order to proceed into the next section. We surrendered the train order that we had carried through the section that we were vacating.

Naturally, half our operations were through the nights. There were no engine headlights and we covered the gaps between the engine cabs and tenders with tarpaulins to conceal the flashes from the furnace fire door openings. To view the steam pressure and boiler water level gauges as well as to make feed-water injector adjustments we carried kerosene bulls-eye lanterns with the lenses covered while not in immediate use.

Kerosene lanterns shielded within petrol can housings with tubular apertures facing approaching trains marked the crossing loop outer limits. The attendant at the points carried a shunter's signalling lantern which displayed a steady red light for stop, a green light for go on through the main line and a white light waved from side to side to indicate entering the crossing loop. On moonlight nights visibility was good but on really dark nights we got by with our interpretations of the shades of darkness. Our night vision became highly developed and by glancing away from the direct line of travel we could pick up the distant pinpoint signal lights. On clear moonless nights the brilliance of the stars helped. Under winter storm cloud cover the nights were pitch black, but our familiarity with the feel of the track, sounds, bumps, kinks, curves and grades kept us informed of our whereabouts.

STEAM AT WAR 5




In these early days the locomotives and rolling stock belonged to the Egyptian State Railways who maintained an engineering inspection staff at the point where the trains passed out of their control to military control. Their duties were to record the particulars and condition of all rolling stock outward and homeward bound across the demarcation point Changes in condition and perceived defects were charged against the war department. The situation was ready made for conflicts of interest between the army and Egyptian examiners. The latter invariably attempted to declare all vehicles in first class condition on the outward trip and almost worm-out wrecks on their return. In fact all of the locomotives and rolling stock that the ESR directed to this line were in generally rundown condition. We were grateful to be supplied with a fleet of brand new war department locomotives built by British works to the LMSR Stanier "8F" freight design. New 20 tonnes gross 4 wheeled and 40 tonnes gross double bogie wagons and boxcars and LNER pattern 25 tonne brake vans also came on the scene.

By Christmas 1941 railway construction had proceeded a further 128 Km past Mohalfa to Masheifa on the desert plateau 40 Km south in the desert from the small coastal village of Sidi Barrani. The route traversed generally stony desert with gentle descents and ascents across wide shallow wadhis with a final 19km climb to the railhead. A supplies and distributing depot was established at Masheifa with train arrival and dispersal yards and a balloon loop of about 3.5 Km diameter with four curved sidings for train unloading. This circular feature was chosen in order to present a relatively difficult target for enemy aircraft to align on. While I saw none of the trains occupying these sidings come under air attack I was involved in incidents when trains on the straight arrival, departure and shunting roads came under fire. Locomotive servicing facilities and an engine turning triangle were also installed. A spur line branched out to the north/west to a point about 6km away where there was established an elaborate dummy railhead manned by a unit of South African field engineers. From very secure bunkers they ventured out to continually change the positions of dummy rail wagons, motor trucks, armoured tanks and supply dumps consisting of stacks of empty petrol cans as well as genuine war wreckage and fake and real anti aircraft gun emplacements. During the many air raids the intrepid engineers set off most convincing explosions and fires. It is probably a conservative estimate that for every tonne of bombs dropped on the real railhead four tonnes were lobbed on the dummy. German propaganda broadcasters constantly reported the total destruction of the railhead complex.

The 16th Railway Company was moved from El Daba to Similla to work the now completed section to Masheifa. The El Daba to Similla-Mersa Matruh section was handed over to a British railway-operating unit. I became part of a small detachment transferred to Masheifa to run construction trains on a further 112km extension westward to Fort Capuzzo on the Egyptian-Libyan border. As the line progressed a detachment of the 17th company personnel was brought in to complete the section and run trains when required past Masheifa. Our detachment was returned to Similla to continue with the regular train workings. Five to eight trains a day were run each way. The westward loads were troops and their equipment, motor transport fuel, field guns, armoured tanks, food rations, NAAFI canteen stores and two or three ambulance trains a week to relieve the forward casualty clearing hospital. The homeward journeys brought out troops being relieved, war ravaged tanks and armoured vehicles, damaged aircraft and motor vehicles of all kinds and enemy prisoners of war and their equipment all under heavy guard. Prize enemy items of armoury were captured tanks, new long range mobile guns and a high speed eight wheeled armoured car that could be driven with equal facility in either direction. A notable item was a new German Folk-Wolf 190 fighter aircraft practically unscathed.

STEAM AT WAR 4




In the second half of 1941 the Western Desert railway was extended westwards by a further 155 kilometres in order to deliver supplies and armoury nearer to the action zones. Mersa Matruh was located at the foot of an escarpment that presented a climb from the port too steep for the railway; therefore a branch off point 13 Km back at a place called Similla was selected. From there the track took a more easily graded circuitous route of 28Km to the top of the plateau to arrive at Mohalfa. The grade was 1 in 117 with an easement half way at Siquifa to accommodate a passing loop. Mohalfa was the intersecting point with the north-south road from Mersa Matruh to Siwa Oasis 240Km south into the Egyptian desert and the guardian point that prevented enemy forces from advancing via a route around the southern extremity of the Quatara Depression, itself a natural barrier against an invading army. Enemy scouting patrols attempting forays via carefully selected tracks through the swamplands were countered by the famous allied desert patrols.

I was a member of a small detachment comprising engine drivers, firemen, guards and camp maintenance staff based at Similla to work the train loads of railway building materials and equipment to the 10th and 13th railway construction units on the extension. Their work included the setting out of the marshalling yards, locomotive servicing and turning facilities at Similla and Mohalfa. Similla also became a water supply centre with an underground reservoir kept topped up from tank wagon trains brought from Alexandria. Two British army engineers billeted with our detachment tended this point. They issued the water to small tank lorries that served the multitude of field units throughout the war zone. Their equipment consisted of a small petrol engine driven water pump as well as an emergency hand pump to transfer the water to the unit tankers.

As soon as Mohalfa was functioning as a rail head squadrons of 28 to 32 armoured tanks were brought up by rail and off-loaded for the road journey to Siwa Oasis. We ran several of these trains over a two months period always during the early parts of the nights. The tank motors were started while approaching Mohalfa and on arrival the trains were quickly divided in half and pushed into twin parallel tracks with loading banks across the ends. The tanks drove over the lengths of the wagons to the ramps and away to the Siwa road. Meanwhile we turned our locomotives, reformed the trains and hastened out of there on the return to Similla. As though on cue enemy bombers would fly in and plaster the marshalling yard. Enemy agents supplying the information on these operations seemed to slightly miscalculate the timings for there were no incidents of trains or tanks being caught in the target area. There were occasions when departing trains had only just cleared the railhead when the bombers homed in and the tail end brake van could be seen in silhouette against the light of bomb flashes. Even the outline of the vulnerable and lonely brakeman was visible through the end doorways of his cabin. Following one trip when the action was too close for his comfort he joined us on the engine for the next night return but inadvertently stepped out of the frying pan into the fire. On the downhill run the engine brakes failed leaving us with only the tender hand brake and the engine-reversing lever to arrest a total runaway. Our passenger did not enjoy the ride at all as he endured the hazardous journey out on the cab steps clinging to the handrails prepared to bail out at our slightest show of doubt. With the now unloaded train we did have a reasonable measure of control. The practice is very destructive to the engine cylinders and valves because large volumes of ash and grit laden air are drawn down the exhaust blast pipe and pumped through the steam system into the boiler. This air overcomes the normal boiler pressure and is released via the boiler safety valves that roar horrendously throughout the event. American railroaders with their penchant for descriptive language call it “chewing cinders”.

STEAM AT WAR 3




The 130Km length of railway between El Daba and Mersa Matruh was divided into six sections with more or less equally spaced passing loops and manned station hutments. Train separation was maintained by a token system similar in its workings to the tablet system used on our own NZ Railways. Egyptian railway personnel continued to man all stations and small detachments of our own people duplicated the staff. There were five trains a day each way carrying troops, war materials, petrol and water westwards and returning with troops going on leave, damaged war equipment and Bedouin nomadic tribes people being removed from what was to become an active war zone.

The trains were manned by Egyptian State Railway crews consisting of engine driver, fireman and guard covered by our own crew equivalents. Mersa Matruh was situated on a most picturesque harbour. It had been a newly developed holiday resort sponsored by the Egyptian Government. The public buildings and private homes were all of art-deco style architecture. It had been reduced to a ghost town from persistent bombing and all civilians had been removed. There were frequent nightly air-raids by single high-flying bombers that contributed to broken sleep rather than further material damage.

Prisoners of war taken in the fluid battle fronts were temporarily held in compounds bordering the town. The Libyans who loathed their Italian masters were cheerful in their fate, needing only token guarding and supplied labour gangs serving the allied forces. The Italian and German prisoners had no love for each other and were secured in separate compounds where the Italians sang and endlessly erected grottoes to the Virgin Mary. The Germans looked sullen, angered and shocked that capture and imprisonment had become their fate. These prisoners were brought out on heavily guarded trains.

At this stage of the operation the 16th Railway Operating Company's function was to oversee the railway workings and tabulate day to day procedures in preparation for our take-over of the system as the war zone extended eastwards.

Two fatalities struck the company quite early. The first was an air attack on a moving train one afternoon when a flight of Messerschmidt fighters made a strafing run from the rear disabling the locomotive, wounding the Egyptian crew and the NZ driver and killing the NZ fireman. The second occurred in the night at a crossing station where a train crashed into the rear of a stationary train loaded with petrol. The NZ fireman and both members of the Egyptian crew died in the inferno. The NZ driver who had opted to ride in the tail-end brake van escaped injury.

On a turn on this duty following a night run to Mersa Matruh my return train was booked to depart at mid-day. In the morning a mate and I went for a swim in the harbour. While disporting ourselves we noted a train departing an hour earlier than listed and guessed rightly that I should have been on it. I checked out the form and found that a second train was about to depart in the mid-day time slot so without drawing attention to the irregularity I boarded that one. Evidently, the driver of my rightful train was making the most of the opportunity to spin out the journey and collect extra time pay. On the other hand my adopted driver may have been having thoughts about the not unusual evening air raids and hurried things along. The result was that we were held at every station long enough for me to consult with our men on duty and faithfully copy into my log sheet their records of the preceding train. Immediately upon arrival at base I hastened my completed document to the orderly room sergeant clerk who shuffled these bits of paper and who warmly congratulated me upon my promptly delivered and excellently detailed report. Upon one's perceived diligence and devotion to duty are one's personal records are enhanced!

STEAM AT WAR 2




About ten days from Freemantle we arrived at Bombay to be greeted by a most terrific thunder storm. The rain pelted down in such vast quantities that it temporarily defeated the exposed decks drainage systems and flooded up to the doorsills. The shafts of lightning boring into the sea all around were staggering in their intensity. We had two days of shore leave and experienced our first culture shock. A party of six of us hired a taxi at a cost equivalent of 60 cents each for an afternoon and evening tour of the sights of Bombay. We stared in wonder at the great Victoria railway station with its teaming itinerant life. We walked very thoughtfully around the grim tower of silence and noted its sixteen human corpse gorged attendant vultures.

We noted the end of the day suburban steam hauled trains literally bulging and spilling over with passengers totally filling the carriages and festooning the roofs and the locomotive running boards and tenders. The roof riders executed giant Mexican waves as the trains sped under track over bridges.

On the fourth day we set off across the Indian Ocean for the Gulf of Aden and passed through the Red Sea noting its barren shorelines and red rock coastal hills. We duly arrived at the port of Suez with its overpowering reek of petroleum from the giant oil refineries. We were taken off the ship onto barges and ferried to landings where we boarded trains for the three-hour journey to Cairo and shunted 16 kilometres to our encampment at Maadi within sight of the Great Pyramids of Giza and the ancient Dead City of Cairo.

We were kitted out for the summer that was drawing to an end and given orientation and routine procedures. We were about three weeks at Maadi awaiting movement out to the Western Desert. In the meantime the company was generous with leave passes that enabled us to travel into Cairo, visit the Great Pyramids, museums and ancient ruins. We made acquaintance with the Brazilian coffee bars, wine shops and small restaurants where Greek and Jewish hosts gave us top quality treatment. In those establishments we could eat good food and drink good wine in quietness and dignity.

. Through our time in the Middle East and the rare occasions that we were in the towns we found the canteens and social rooms run by the NAFFI, the YMCA, the Church Army and various patriotic organisations very welcome for their good clean food and recreational facilities.

The 16th Railway Operating Company was duly sent on the 320Km rail journey to El Daba in the Western Desert. There we set up base from which to monitor and eventually take over the supply train workings over the 128Km section of the Egyptian State Railways to Mersa Matruh, the existing western railhead.

At our base camp the company embarked upon a programme of internal assessment with the object of identifying commissioned and non-commissioned officer material and examining the potential of all ranks to see that square pegs and round pegs fitted the appropriate holes. Whilst I bore the ignoble rank of "Sapper" all the way through which gratified my wish never to be placed in a position of authority over my fellows, especially in the army, I managed to enjoy as it turned out, periods of relative freedom of movement in some circumstances. Emerging from the interview covering previous work experience, because of my engineering trade background I was offered the choice of remaining with the locomotive running section or opting for the locomotive maintenance section. At the same time an officer invited me to become his batman. Of the three options, I did not want anything to do with engine maintenance work. It was dirty, repetitious and confined one to a fixed area. Of the batman's job, this officer was a respected man with high professional engineering qualifications. I probably would have derived some benefit from sharing his company, but I did not feel geared to such duty, therefore declined. I stayed with the locomotive running section for which I had joined the service.

STEAM AT WAR 1




This series is drawn from my unpublished memoirs titled “One Sapper’s War”.



Following on from the outbreak of war in 1939 the first and second echelons of the second NZ expeditionary forces had departed for the Middle East and United Kingdom. By early 1940 the third echelon to form the final grouping for the main body was being inducted. The Minister of Defence sent notices out to railwaymen calling for volunteers in forming a railway battalion to consist of two operating companies. The exercise was conducted in some urgency and the units thus formed became the 16th and 17th Railway Operating Companies of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. Each contained 380 troops holding the skills necessary for train running operations. I became a member of the locomotive section of the 16th Railway Operating Company. My proudly borne regimental number was 27452 and my rank, the ignominious title "Sapper". In fact we were field engineers and wore the field engineers' puggarees on that curse of our lives, our lemon-squeezer hats. Within a week we were in camp at Hopuhopu, a damp and foggy place on the bank of the Waikato River between Ngaruawahia and Taupiri. We were issued with kit, 1911 vintage Lee Enfield 303 rifles, given a crash course in parade ground drill and sent home on embarkation leave.

The sailing date was deferred following the sinking of the Auckland Vancouver liner Niagara by German mines laid off the Northland coast. Our destination looked set for France but two or three weeks later we were again prepared for embarkation when France was over-run and Dunkirk became a legend. There was talk of disbanding the railway battalion, however, another two weeks saw us onto a troop train for the overnight journey to Wellington to board the troop ship Empress of Japan, which in convoy with the then new Mauritania and Orcades carried the third echelon to the Middle East. Later when Japan came into the war the name Empress of Japan was changed to Empress of Scotland. She was a steam turbine ship of 26000 tons and there were 3500 troops onboard. Our unit was accommodated in a hold at the stern on "D" deck almost on the water line. The portholes could not be opened in rough weather because they frequently dipped beneath the waves. Access was via a cargo hatch with a jury-rigged timber stairway that spiralled down to our quarters. We slept in hammocks that had to be unrolled every night and slung from ceiling hooks so closely spaced that one had to squirm up between the others to get into one's own. Once having mastered the art of getting into them without tumbling out the other side it took three nights to adapt to lying in the enforced banana shape. Finally exhaustion took over and we actually achieved comfort in them. The noise from the propellers and drive system was horrendous and in the first few days we felt quite overwhelmed by it. We were fed three meals a day in one of five half-hour sittings. We took our places in the dining room in accordance with the code on our boarding tickets. We were in transit for thirty-one days and served thirty-one rabbit stews and sago puddings with a Sunday treat of sultanas added to the sago. For all of our waking hours we carried our life preservers that added to our personal bulks in the crowded conditions. Fortunately on the voyage we had no cause to use those much cursed encumbrances. After ten days of chronic seasickness for some, mild to none for others and reactions from three inoculations we arrived at Freemantle. We experienced withdrawal symptoms when the horrendous noise from the propelling machinery was replaced by the relative silence of the berthed ship. We were given shore leave for part of the thirty-six hours that the ship topped up with supplies, presumably more rabbits and sago as the diet continued the same for the remainder of the voyage. We sailed next morning into the Indian Ocean and heading generally Northwest celebrated the traditional ceremonial crossing of the equator and noted the shoals of flying fish leaping from the sea and gliding on their large pectoral fins away from the passage of the ship.