Railway Memorabilia |
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Charles Leski Auctions (CLA) has built up a reputation as a top seller of railway collectibles. Auction No.316, to be conducted in early December 2007, will contain a wide and varied range of material from a number of important collectors, including the late Travis Jeffrey who probably had Australia's finest collection of tickets (particularly tram and bus tickets) and especially ticket machines.
The auction is strong in material from N.S.W. and Victoria but all other states are represented as well as some material from overseas, in particular the UK. There are a number of interesting railway signs, particularly from NSW., including the large 279x42x9cm station sign from Kempsey, a painted platform timetable from Toronto (the southern extremity of the Newcastle suburban system), a large size Station Master sign (125x24x6cm), with three-dimensional lettering and ornate metal wall brackets. The headboard from the first electrified EMU set to visit Dapto makes a most colourful display. The Great Southern & Western Railway was a predecessor of the NSWGR and: "G.S.&W.R. NOTICE. ANY PERSON LEAVING THIS GATE OPEN IS LIABLE TO A PENALTY OF FORTY SHILLINGS", is from the 1880s or earlier, and is quite rare! )
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Should anyone temporally forget that the word, nipples, has two meanings, this British Great Western Railway sign from 1863 will soon remind them. Make sure you see the range of target-style station signs from Melbourne's now-closed St. Kilda line. A small St. Kilda target and large (81x142cm) targets from both South Melbourne and St. Kilda are being offered; a black patch on the latter, hides signs of attempted arson during the last days of the St. Kilda line. There's a range of other St. Kilda material, including pre-dated tickets from the last days of the line, 1st-15th July 1987. The plaque for the 125th anniversary of the St. Kilda line will certainly make an interesting display. )
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Evocative of another country, another culture and another era is a Russian wall-hanging or banner with a rail related theme. It's 250x70cm, with gold lettering on red velvet and gold tassles on three edges. One side shows a 1930s/40s diesel locomotive and the wording: "Ministry of Railroads of the USSR. Azerbaijan Department and Regional Trade Union Organisation of Caucasus Railroads. To the Winner of Socialist Competition." The reverse has a portrait of Lenin and the wording: "Proletars of all Countries Unite! Under the banner of Marx, Lenin. Under the Leadership of the Communist Party. To the Victory of Communism." )
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There is a large and varied range of railway lamps, mostly in good condition and with no dents. This includes many Fog signalman's hand lamps including nice examples from Victoria, Queensland and NSW, signal mast lamps, level crossing lamps and a few modern battery-operated hand lamps. The range of van marker lamps includes an unusual example from New Zealand and an “Adlake non-sweating lamp” made in Chicago and used on one of the Australian systems with major US influences, that is, either South Australian Railways or Commonwealth Railways . Look out for the NSW Way & Works Speed Restriction Lamp, marked as being used at Macksville. One of the most unusual looking lamps is a large, rhomboid-shaped kerosine lamp as used on unattended stations, complete with wall brackets, large flue, hour-glass chimney (255mm high), a burner with a brass base and with glass on three sides; the width at the front is 415mm, sliding to 208mm at the back. Also on offer is a range of table lamps which, although not of specific railway design, are believed to have all seen railway service. An interesting wall bracket lamp with a frosted glass bowl, was also most likely to have been used by the NSW Railways. )
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11 Home and Distant signal arms, most of them with their coloured light spectacle plates, are being offered. Other safe-working equipment includes signal box lever plates, glass and plastic aspects and an order wire telephone. Illustrated is one of two signal indicators with iron core magnets and a lever to indicate Caution, Wrong or Clear. )
Amongst the large range of tickets is a group of early Melbourne Edmondsons, mainly 1st or 2nd class (two-class suburban travel was dispensed with in 1958). This lot includes: various 1st & 2nd class Show Platform tickets; a consecutively numbered run of 4 Shenley to Camberwell 1st Class; various blanks from Prince's Bridge, Fawkner & Show Ground (note the early spelling as two separate words); a 1st Class Week-end Excursion Malvern to Seaford; a 2nd Class Seaside Day Return Flinders Street to Chelsea; and a 2nd Class Seaside Day Return Richmond to Brighton Beach - all but one are date stamped. There's also a lot of VR Platform Tickets including multiples of the Sunbury Concession Platform Ticket, with orange & green vertical "In" & "Out" sections and a red vertical stripe, which is believed to have been printed in the 1910s or earlier. From South Australia comes some Edmondsons printed especially for General Motors-Holden Sport & Social Club picnics in 1963 & 1964, as well as a 2nd class return on a Port Adelaide (Dock) to Gawler Racecourse Special Train on Sept 19, 1964; interestingly all these tickets are rubber-stamped as being the file copies of the "Comptroller of Railways". Talking of Edmondson tickets, there are also some complete Edmondson cabinets and other bits of Edmondson equipment. There's a range of flimsy tickets as used by the various tramways, many of them on their butts. For example, have a look at the butts of the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) “C” and “D” series tickets that were withdrawn in 1955. Also from the M&MTB is a leather Conductor's Wallet (Malvern Depot Outfit No.69) containing 13 flimsy butts with remaining tickets in pre-decimal values from 3d to 2/3. Then there's a group of three Geelong Tramway tickets (1d, 2d, 3d) believed to be from the 1930s or earlier. While we're talking about the smaller tramway systems, look out for the flimsies from Hobart, Launceston and Fremantle. The Brisbane Tramway Trust took over from the Brisbane Tramway Co in 1923 and operated until the Brisbane City Council took control in 1925. There's a group of 27 flimsies marked either "Brisbane Tramway Trust" and "Brisbane Tramways"; the latter appear to be from the early BCC period. These, and some other flimsies also have interesting advertisements on the backs. Also being offered are some Conductor's Bags, both the SEC type (as used on the Ballarat, Bendigo or Geelong) trams and an unusual semi-circular bag from Brisbane. Bound to create interest is the Melbourne Cable Tram Conductor's Journal No.88 from the former “Esplanade A” Depot which was used to hold paperwork & tickets. )
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The large collection of ticket machines includes a number of Setright Ticket Machines as used by various bus companies, including a number of the Melbourne suburban companies; machine number VO1 was used by the Melbourne-Brighton Bus Company and is believed to be the first Setright in Melbourne. TIMs (Ticket Issuing Machines, manufactured by Ticket Equipment Ltd., UK) were also used by a number of Australian and overseas bus companies and six examples are coming up in this auction. Most of them are in their original suitcases (including the examples from both Benders Busways and Corio Bus Lines in Geelong. However, the TIM, as used by Edinburgh Corporation Transport, is in its original metal box with gold paint and a nice black "ECT" logo on the lid. In Melbourne, Almex ticket machines were used by the stationary conductors on the “Z” class trams, but a second batch of Almex's was imported from Sweden for use on tramway buses – they were never used because of the new Melbourne ticketing system, introduced in 1983. This auction includes two examples of these never-used machines, one being offered with its original box and polystyrene packing. )
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Amongst the uniforms being offered are SEC uniforms (as used in Ballarat and Bendigo) and a Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramway's Board uniform from the 1950s. This auction will also offer a variety of locomotive parts, models, posters and prints, destination rolls and much more! Copies of the catalogue for this auction will be available from mid-November. The auction is currently scheduled for the 12th of December 2007 |
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Article by: Albert Isaacs |