MERCURY SERIES - Making A Difference
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John Glastonbury and Peter Abba are among more than 100 volunteers who love nothing more than sharing their passion for trains with others.
But they and everyone else involved in 3801 Ltd are finding it hard to access working steam locomotives that bring so much joy to so many, after the iconic 38 class locomotive 3801 was removed from their care in 2006 and handed to the Rail Transport Museum.
At the time the then transport minister John Watkins said the state government (Labor at the time) would co-operate with the museum to preserve what Mr Abba and Mr Glastonbury described as a "world iconic steam locomotive".
As chairman of the company that looked after 3801 for 20 years, Mr Glastonbury said it was now very difficult for its volunteers to provide a steam locomotive for community events.
"One of the things that we do each year is a special children's Christmas party where we take some 500 handicapped children from Central Station to Rosehill Gardens but we always endeavour to have a steam locomotive," he said.
"It was the inability to find one that resulted in us bringing this locomotive [3016 built in 1903] up from Canberra. There is hardly anything in NSW that is available for this sort of thing."
Not one to point the finger, all Mr Glastonbury wants is for 3801 Ltd to have the opportunity to fix the problem at minimal expense to NSW taxpayers so it can support charitable and community events.
In recent decades its large group, mostly made up of retired rail industry employees, has volunteered thousands of hours keeping rail heritage alive.
Group members have restored and lovingly cared for everything from old carriages to steam and diesel engines and are committed to maintaining working examples of Australian rail history for the enjoyment of others.
They have a petition with more than 2150 signatures but remain frustrated by the continuing challenges they face.
For men such as Mr Abba, a Dapto pharmacist, and Mr Glastonbury, who grew up beside the railway line at Austinmer, there is romance in rail and all 3801 Ltd's volunteers want to do is help keep people's love affair with steam trains alive by making them available for the community to enjoy.
But they fear there may soon be a day when no-one gets to experience the magic of steam.
3801 Ltd was recognised as the only private enterprise in the world to have successfully run a main line steam locomotive continuously for two decades when 3801 was taken from its care.
Mr Glastonbury said it was sad to think 3801 might be sitting in pieces.
Many of 3801 Ltd volunteers were from Wollongong, Mr Abba said.
"We did a lot of trips with 3801. It was not just the Cockatoo Run but a lot of other country trips which have not been done since."
When the present state government was elected 3801 Ltd pushed for an inquiry to review rail heritage in NSW.
At an Illawarra Business Chamber executive lunch Mr Abba asked Minister for the Illawarra Greg Pearce when the recently completely Azarias Report would be released.
Mr Pearce said he would raise it with the transport minister.
Mr Glastonbury does not believe Premier Barry O'Farrell or NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian are opposed to getting heritage trains back on track.
Mrs Berejiklian said she was aware that many dedicated volunteers were involved in rail heritage.
"As minister I am committed to making sure it has a bright future in this state," she said.
"The NSW government has been undertaking significant reform of RailCorp ... I will have more to say about rail heritage shortly."