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Ater meeting 'the beast' In Dargo friday arvo, we wandered off to our first campsite. The two mile flat on the upper dargo rd.
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Saturday morning dawned foggy and fresh, but turned into a beautiful day. Our first stop for the day was 'treasure huts'. A halfway point for cattle mustering between the Treasures Summer and winter properties.
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A quick stop at some private propery a little further up... Somebody's acre of heaven.
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Then Kings Spur Hut for some lunch, before hitting the mighty Blue rag ( or so I always thought)
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I am afraid, I dont have many of the track itself, as I cant shoot and drive.
Anyway, got to the top of Blue rag without any problems whatsoeva. To me, personally it was a huge disappointment, as the track is well maintained and could be driven by any 2wd. But it's a tick off the bucket list and was a weekend away, so not all bad.
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MT BULLER
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MT HOTHAM
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It was quite hot by the time we got there, so up went the shade.. You must take your own.. Shade is scarce and surprisingly wood is scarcer. What is there did not burn so well.
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After an extremely looooong night, after the wind picked up and the temp dropped, Hubby and I decided to pack up and find somewhere a bit more sheltered to wait for the late risers..
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We got under way, heading down Balsalt Knob Tk to check out a train carriage..
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Then Jane-O and I went and watched a game................
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All in all, yet another great weekend, out of the house, with fantastic people, perfect weather and no break downs...
God, I love this country.
If Blue Rag is on your bucket list, certainly do it. I dont know if they will keep maintaining it or not, but it is still a pretty drive, rewarded at the end by a beautiful view.
Awesome stuff Kat !, cool to still see wallpaper on the wall (in the first set of pics)
Great photos Kat. Awesome area, makes me itch to get back up there again. Been to long!
thanks for sharing Kat, great pics. I need to get over there for a look.
That train carriage was a refrigerated carriage back in the day, that tunnel on the roof was filled with ice, the doors and walls are heavily insulated too
My mate found this info from when we went up last time.
Quote:
Huts in Australia’s high country have been built primarily for shelter and usually follow a standard
form: one room, one door, several windows, a roof pitched high enough to shake off rain and snow,
and a large open fireplace with a semi-detached chimney – in profile, rather like the Victorian Govt
logo.
But the Railway Carriage Hut I surveyed for Graeme Butler, DSE and Parks Victoria in April 2004 had
none of these. It wasn’t even a hut – it was a bright red railway carriage. VicRail decommissioned a large number of railway
carriages in the 1970s, and some of these can be seen on farms throughout the state, as curiosities
and sometimes as storage – I’ve seen them packed with hay, for instance.
This carriage sits on the ground at the junction of three dirt roads in tall timber country, 40 kilometres
south of Mt. Hotham, miles from any private land. It has no seats and no windows: just a huge pair of
doors in the middle of each side, with a locking bar which hermetically seals the carriage when the
doors are closed. It is clearly a freight wagon, but what sort of freight?
The curious visitor can in fact work this out. A large steel trough, suspended from the ceiling,
runs the length of the carriage internally, with a drip-tray at each end going out through the wall to
a pipe running down towards the tracks. A large hole has been cut in the trough at one end to show
a trapdoor open in the roof above. The steel walls and doors of the carriage are insulated and lined
with hardwood inside and out. It can only be a refrigeration truck in the days before refrigeration.
Did you know that in the 1890s the Railways had a large ice-works in the yards behind Spencer Street,
and could “ice” (that is, load ice into) 150-160 trucks per week? The blocks of ice were made in
crates, tilted above a chute, hosed with boiling water to loosen the blocks so they slid out. Then
they were, “…broken up and shot through three chutes into the trough of the waiting truck, which is
docked alongside …” On one day in 1925 “…no less than 40 trucks were iced”. This ice-wagon
may be the last reminder of the complex industrial transportation process between local food
processing and sale, and the 20th Century’s widespread distribution of perishables in
refrigerated road vehicles.
But why is the ice-wagon in the mountains? How did it get there? What is its significance as
heritage? Should it be assessed as a hut or a vehicle?
Heyfield Park Rangers Wayne McCallum and Peter Duncan provided some of the answers. In the late
1970s, a property owner in Dargo bought four railway carriages at a VicRail clearance sale. All
four were cold storage carriages: he wanted to put two on his property, to store tools in. Where the
other carriages are now is not yet known, but this one, at Basalt Knob, is the most remote. It may
well be the most remote railway carriage in the country. Peter and Wayne think he brought them up on a
truck, and then took them to the high country on an empty timber jinker. (Log trucks take logs down,
but are usually empty coming back – perfect for railway carriages). The weekend he drove them
up the weather was terrible: he got bogged on the main road, and asked Peter for help. Can you
imagine the size jack you would need, in mud, at night, for a truck carrying four railway carriages?
Peter says drily: “He bent my jack”.
The exact origins of this railway carriage were established by Chris Banger of the Department of
Infrastructure Transport Major Projects area. It is a T-class ice-wagon, built in 1894 – the first year
that T-wagons were made. It is a short wheel-base wagon with four axles and eight wheels, weighed
12.5 tons and was used for carrying perishables: “…milk, butter, frozen meat and frozen rabbits”.
The Victorian Railways Register shows that T101 was put into service on 22 December 1894. It was
deregistered and broken up in May 1978.
In 1909, longer wheel-base ice-wagons were built, with three sets of axles and wheels, weighing 15
tons. One or two longer wheel-base ice-wagons are still preserved – one at Maldon, for instance.
Peter de Silva, President of the Australian Railway History Society, is still searching to confirm this,
but it seems likely that T101 is the only original short ice-wagon still extant.
Its heritage significance has yet to be assessed and decided, but the opening questions still need to be
answered: Is it a hut? Is it a railway carriage? Is it best conserved where it is, or brought in to the
hands of experts, for instance, at the Williamstown Railway Museum? To be continued….
If you would like to contact Anne Sedgley with any information please email
anne.sedgley@dse.vic.gov.au
Great Pics Kat Thanks for sharing
I will have to get down your way and share a trip with you & Roofy
Great part of the Country
Awesome pics :)
Thanks for the detailed write up too - I might have to start planning this trip!
Yeah, yeah. Sick of waiting !Quote:
Originally Posted by Stropp
Thanks Winnie. I was told the area where the carriage is was an Logging camp back in the 70's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Winnie
Cheers Bob. As long as long can put up with Roofy's loud music and Jane-O's drunken rambling, it'll be a blast !Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob
Very nice, be on the list to do, just need some 4wdrivers to do it with. Thanks for putting the pics up.
Thanks Kat,
Love these write ups and especially the pics, I need to get out there myself and have a look.
Thanks for the write up and pics! I'm looking to head up there after New Years, so was very helpful!
I see you are around our way too. ( we are in Rosedale) Any time you want to tag along, you are quite welcome. We try to get out and about quite regularly.Quote:
Originally Posted by SG1
I dont know what I enjoy more, is the driving or taking pics, I need to learn to do both. Or maybe give up the steering wheel sometimes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollofish
Sounds like an fatnastic trip and awesome photos. I think I've mentioned it somewhere else but Blue rag is my #1 to do, and plan to go and do it before this seasons closure. You were lucky with the view, mate of mine went a week or so ago and copped bad weather 2 days in a row, so the view was not there.
Beautiful high country!!! Thanks for the report Kat.
Looks like you had a bloody good trip guys, good pics especially some of the huts, need to do a bit more exploring up that way. Does look like they have graded the track pretty smooth, bit of a shame.
Great Pics, the Blue Rag Range Track was graded when they had fires there 2 years ago, to get the fire trucks up. There was a dead end camp site down the other way, but I believe they have closed that portion of road.
I have been to the Treasures old homestead and taken photos, but I have never driven in, as it is their private property, it is not public land. They might be okay with it, but if we walk in, I believe it shows a bit of respect. Also across the road from these huts is their old cattle yards that they still use today. Well worth a look.
In the photos is their original homestead, that the one falling down, next to it was the daughters hut and the one at the front I believe was built for drovers when they moved to their current location up the road.
John
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Done Blue rag track with the family in February. Was the first time out for my missus. Awesome views.
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Welcome back Bud. Where ya been mate?Quote:
Originally Posted by Paule
Earlier in the thread I promised my self to go there opening season 2014... Am yet to do it !
I never make promises to myself as I always break them. But one day I will get there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hodge
Hi mudski, I've been every where man. (Singing the song in my head lol). Has certainly been too long between posts. I've been on here looking at different things from time to time but havn't put anything up.Quote:
Originally Posted by mudski
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Don't be a stranger mate. Even if you just stick your head in and say hi.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paule
It's a nice drive mate. Was on my bucket list also, so had to be done. I done it with no other vehicles and it is a walk in the park, pretty much just a dirt road. But the views are breath taking. I felt like I was on top of the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hodge
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Received a notification from @NissanGQ4.2 about this thread, but no post Todd?? I can see all pics ?
And now I want to go bush......
Yeh @katwoman, I tagged you in the post 2 see if you could see the pics but AB answered saying the are showing so deleted the posts.Quote:
Originally Posted by katwoman
I downloaded your photobucket album for this thread and re-inserted your images so now the are permanently on the forum and don't get the photobucket error crap.
Hope I got them all right!
I was knew why there was no pics the other day when I read this ( photobucket issues ) but today they are there . No I know 😏