By STEVE GRAY
FROM ticketing to shovelling coal, from maintenance to train driving, Southern Downs Steam Railway keeps puffing along, thanks to its all-volunteer crew.
They’re qualified, they’re dedicated and they love what they do.
Their first passenger service ran to Clifton in 2009 and the C17 locomotive now hauls vintage carriages from its home base in Warwick south to Stanthorpe and Wallangarra, north to Hendon, Clifton and Toowoomba and west to Inglewood, Goondiwindi and Toobeah.
Gary Summerville was a carpenter joiner by trade, became a manual arts teacher and now hobby farms.
“I find the old girl very interesting to work with,” he said as he did maintenance on the C17.
“I’m more mechanical in my old age and I spent enough of my time working with wood.”
David McInnes had a varied working life, from retail to farming to food processing.
Like some other volunteers he has graduated from model trains to the C17 and other big boys toys.
“I’ve had an interest in model trains since I was a nipper,” he said.
He had a technical school education which is proving useful for maintenance on the refurbished locomotive and rolling stock.
Ed Diery taught science at Warwick State High School before retirement. He was roped in to the steam railway by a former railway fitter six years ago.
“He knew I was interested in trains and needed to be got off the streets,” Ed joked.
They all do it for nothing but the joy of steam and the camaraderie to be found down near the Warwick railway station.
Southern Downs Steam Railway volunteers’ continual goal will be to provide the region with a regular tourist railway.
