Upper Blue Mountains Bushwalking Club. The Greater Blue Mountains National Park- Blue Mountains National Park-

Wallace Bros and the steam traction engine at Hat Hill-Monday 16th March 2020- Track Notes

Mysterious metal ring with loose attachments. Use unknown. Wallace Bros site. Photo: Brian Fox

Title Wallace Bros Steam Traction EngineDate Monday 16th March 2020Leader Brian FoxMaps etc Department of Lands, topographic map, Mount Wilson 8930-1N,

1:25,000, Third edition, GPS setting WGS 84Walk description and route

A marked change in weather conditions determined that the planned walk was too risky. A visit to the Wallace Bros Steam Traction Engine and historic site was visited instead.

Rating 3M

Gear issues First aid kit, 2 litres of water, electrolytes, GPS PLB, Appropriate head and footwear. Wet weather gear

Numbers Max 12, 6 places left Meeting point TBATransport Club Cars Close of Bookings

Contact leader

Enquiries Brian Fox brianandelaine@aapt.net.au

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The Party

Brian Fox, leader, John Fox, John Anderson, Michael Keats, Harold Thompson, Yidan Saladine, Geoff Fox, Heni van der Hecht and Andrew Ford, 9.

The Weather

Misty rain all day with occasional slight drizzle. Very wet underfoot. Temperature range 8 to 12 degrees C.

Background information

The following notes were written by Michael Keats and Brian Fox and appear on pages 122-128 of “The Upper Grose Valley – Bushwalkers Business.”

Notes prepared by the authors after a fortuitous visit to the scene of the Wallace Bros former operations. The visit followed the bushfire in the Upper Grose Valley of November 2006. Local weather on the day of the visit was a thick mist with some light rain. The previous 3 days were deluging rain.

Andy Macqueen in “Back From the Brink” writes of the Wallace Bros, “Tim Wallace, possibly with his brother Eric, hatched a plan to gather timber in the Grose, or rather from the Govett Gorge and bring it up by flying fox through a spectacular gulch in the cliffs between Pulpit Rock and Clarke Head. …

Wallace had already found access to the bottom of the cliffs, using a relatively easy but dangerous pass at what the locals referred to as Surveyors Gully1, beneath Clarke Head. To negotiate this pass, one must walk along a very narrow shale ledge with an enormous drop beside…. Wallace somehow obtained the several hundred metres of thick steel cable required for his enterprise as well as a steam engine complete with winch…

Old fuel drums Wallace Bros site. Photo: Brian Fox

“There is no doubt that all the requisite hardware was put in place. At the head of the gulch, GR 524 774, may still be found some excavation and steel bolts

1 Also known as Orang Utan Pass.

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associated with the head works. To stand there and gaze downwards is simply hair-raising….”

“The cableway in descending the tremendous gulch and waterfall and part of the slope below, fell no less than 300m in a horizontal distance of 350m: an incline of almost 45 degrees…”

“Ted Ryco, a Blackheath resident wrote in June 1935 that Wallace was building a flying fox… He also mentioned he had been down a ‘most interesting and thrilling’ route just north of Wallace’s Flying Fox. He was referring to the Surveyors Gully route. This route acquired the name Orang Utan Pass in the early 1930s after the ‘Orang Utans’ of the Sydney Bush Walkers…. stumbled on the route in 1932.”

There was no point in hanging around. Drove down Hat Hill Road to the turnoff at GR 518 777 and as far as the current (temporary?) roadblock. Walked a few more metres down the road and then struck off NE into the residual burnt vegetation and swirling mist.

After about 100m we came across the foundations of former buildings. A square perimeter stone wall, maybe 75cm high at maximum, and back filled with rubble to make it level. Strewn around the area were pieces of roofing iron and all manner of metal pieces ranging from nuts and bolts to broken cooking pots and all those offcuts that are kept by handymen ‘just in case they may be useful.’

When a steering wheel is an optional extra. Wallace Bros site. Photo: Brian Fox.

Took lots of photos. As the mist moved more was revealed. A vehicle? (We really were not sure what it was)- about 3metres long, it was of very heavy construction, had 4 solid rubber tyres (that had survived the fire) and a large vertical steel plate 1m x 1m fixed at one end with two vertical slabs of timber bolted to it. It looked

as though it may have been used for pushing logs or something very heavy. A steering wheel and assembly lay nearby. Were the two items related? We could not determine.

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The fire that had swept through here had been very hot. The ground had been burnt and many items of iron were now just exfoliating rust. We moved further into the area, where there were more buildings. Brian turned over a sheet of roofing iron and upset a very sleepy (and very fat black snake). It did not bother to even come out and challenge us. Too wet!

Location of the hauling point- Wallace Bros site. Photo: Brian Fox.

Next, we came across rusting old fuel drums. They were of the period when such drums had external reinforcing rings, 4 to each drum. Photos, photos. Touch one and it all but collapsed into rust. Incongruously and leaning against a tree was one of the head posts of an old iron framed double bed. It was about 6 feet high and still beautifully preserved. All the detailed railing work and cast joining pieces were there in profile on the ground. Two elegant cast iron infill bed ends

had to be photographed. All around was a treasure trove of artifacts that will not survive another fire before they return to the soil forever.

Then we saw it. The huge 30 ton plus steam traction engine. Wow! What a sight. One of the 6 foot + diameter cast iron road wheels lay fractured and broken on the ground. Two gaping holes in the boiler top were where all the brass work should have been (removed by scrap metal vandals?). The engine is ‘on display’ now like never before. The fire has seen to that. We photographed it from every angle. A steam engineer would have been over the moon. The item is still one of great importance and should be moved to a steam museum.

The following comments about the traction engine are provided by Tony Le Breton (a steam engineer). They were compiled following an inspection of the engine on 29th April 2007. [Note: the parts of the traction engine missing and not located on the site are written in blue]

 The traction engine has three main parts. From the front these are, the smoke box, the boiler and the firebox. Behind these sections is the driver’s cabin.

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Remains of the Steam Traction Engine. Photo: Brian Fox.

The front of the vehicle contained the smoke box. There was a hole on the top that would have been the location of the funnel. The smoke and used steam would have been ejected through the funnel. On top of the smoke box were the remains of the pistons and cylinders, which drove the traction engine. Underneath the smoke box was the chain-driven steering mechanism and axle to which two small wheels would have been attached.

Device -use unknown. Wallace Bros site. Photo: Brian FoxBehind the smoke box was the boiler with a number of boiler tubes and a couple of stays passing from the front to the rear of the boiler. The stays hold the back and front of the boiler together.

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What the steam traction engine would have looked like when it was driven along the Bells Line of Road. Ipswich Museum. Photo: John Fox.

Behind the boiler was the fire- box (underneath was an ash tray), then the cabin. At the rear of the vehicle is the bunker or fuel box (as timber was readily available this would probably have been the fuel source rather than coal). At the very end was a tow ball. Underneath the bunker was a cavity that probably was also another storage compartment for water.

Sitting on the cabin was a metal shield that when fitted would have protected the operator from the driving cogs on the right hand side. These cogs operated a large flywheel, which used belts to operate any machinery.On the right hand side of the vehicle was a brake lever that used wooden blocks as brake pads. The right driving wheel with its steel tyre is still intact, whereas the left hand steel tyre lies in two parts a short distance in front of the vehicle. These driving wheels were almost 2m in diameter. The right driving wheel bears the words: “Wallis and Stevens Ltd engineers, Bassingstoke” – this indicates the vehicle was manufactured in Hampshire, England and no doubt transported by ship and then in parts to Blackheath where it was assembled2.

The cabin contains a hole that was used for shovelling the fuel (coal or wood) into the firebox. The firebox would have had a door to protect the operator from the heat and also to ensure that most of the heat was used to convert the water to steam.

2 It is known from documentation elsewhere that the traction engine was illegally driven to its location up the Bells Line of Road following the refusal of a permit by the then Department of Main Roads.

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On the ground to the side of the vehicle is a water tank. It would have been bolted onto the vehicle’s right hand side near the boiler. The brackets holding this tank were clearly visible. As a great deal of water would have been required to keep the engine operational, it would probably have been piped in – perhaps from some nearby dam or large storage area.

There were a number of cogs that would have been used for the drive wheels or for hauling – perhaps interchanged via some clutch mechanism.

How the traction engine worked:

Heat is generated in the firebox. Flames (and heat) go through the boiler tubes to heat the water to steam. The steam drives the piston and is then expelled through the funnel, creating a draught to keep the fire going. The piston then operates a large drive rod, which turns a crankshaft, which would have been housed on top of the firebox sitting in the semi-circular section – this crankshaft had a bow to provide circular motion to drive the traction engine and/or any attached machinery. The piston operated in both directions. At the end of each stroke, valves opened at one end and shut at the other to allow the steam to enter and eject from the cylinder and hence and reverse the piston’s motion. Small rods similar to the main drive rod operated these valves.

Other paraphernalia found nearby

* Household water tank* At least a dozen drums in various stages of rusting decay that would have contained a liquid of some description. * Remains of a four-poster bed.

Back at the ruins is what appears to be a steering wheel bearing: “BSM G463T”. Tony is uncertain whether it has anything to do with the traction engine itself.

We moved on over to the cliff edge in alignment with the engine. We could not find any evidence of direct hauling from the Govett Gorge from this point despite going down the steep slope some 50m. We then circled to the north up the slope where a shallow valley is enclosed by steep rocky cliffs. At the top we headed north and then northeast. The mist was

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now matched with a wild and noisy wind blowing with some force. There were intermittent views of what seemed to be a huge but narrow chasm.

Michael and John A work the 2 man saw. Looking on, left to right, Andrew, Brian, Heni and Harold. Photo: Geoff Fox. The saw collapsed when we had finished.

On top of the ridge there was evidence of an excavation – a more or less square cut cube 1.5m x 1.5m. – and, lower down an embedded steel spike. We had found either the Wallace flying fox anchor point or less likely the site of his ladder. The wind was now really roaring, and the mist now had a heavy rain component. Just great when you want to take pictures! We persisted and did capture some good shots. Even got a look over the edge where Andy Macqueen so graphically describes the drop. It is a jaw dropper.

Plaited steel cable. Wallace Bros site. Photo: Harold Thompson.

I have not mentioned another very important fact. Connecting all these sites is a former road. It is only after the scarifying effects of the fire that the road profile can be seen cut into the earth. It provides the logical link between at least three distinct sites of the Wallace Bros

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activities along the escarpment. Also, on the ground everywhere are rusting lengths of steel cable. One touch and the cable dissolves into rust.

Michael, Brian and John F near the foundations of a Wallace Bros building, c.1920. Photo: Geoff Fox.

Under building ventilation foundations of a Wallace Bros building, c.1920. Photo: Geoff Fox.

We followed a branch of the road that went inland from the cliff face. Here was another site of importance. Someone had gathered together a number of items, most significantly, 5 x two- man saws. These 1.5m long saws have a standard saw handgrip at one end and a large ‘peg handle’ at the other. They operate on a ‘push pull’, principle. I know, I have one stored in the garage. The teeth on these beauties would

have been at least 1.5cm deep and would have been lethal if they slipped. More pictures. Whether the Wallace Bros were into coal may be debatable. Into timber they certainly were.

As we moved back along the track, we discovered other items. It was a curious mix of domestic and workshop stuff- a melted glass jar with safety pins and a couple of bolts now embedded in molten glass.

One can surmise that there were not any women here. Yet strangely, closer to the road and at a possible dwelling site there are trees circled with stone edging – gardens? Not the sort of activity that would be engaged in by timber entrepreneurs of the Wallace Bros reputation.

Track Notes

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Workshop items. Wallace Bros steam traction engine site. Photo: Yidan Saladine

Although I took my trusty waterproof pad and pen, I cannot but marvel at the consistency of what Brian and I recorded in 2006 with what we saw today- 14 years later. Everything from the earlier fire to the weather conditions on the day were identical. Rather than regurgitate the words I will let the pictures do the talking.

As a result of a much hotter fire we did find additional items and we could trace the complex road network. Finding two horse shoes confirmed the use of horses to move the logs once they were brought to the top.

An unsolved mystery is where Wallace Bros found water for the operation. Apart from some domestic tanks we could find no evidence of a supply sufficient to operate the steam traction engine.

The site is extensive covering more than a hectare. Detailed mapping of all structures and remaining items would be a great idea.

Feed- back on this report is welcome. All participants were stumped in trying to work out a use for the strange device shown on page 1.

Michael KeatsBushexplorers17th March 2020

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The haul way channel, Wallace Bros site, Photo: Yidan Saladine

BMBWC Wallace Bros Steam Traction Engine – track Notes 160320/MK

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