Bendigo Swap find

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Euan,

Nice going! Good to see it is not all chrome, plastic, and non-automotive nick knacks for some of us. Ah, heaven, rusty old stuff!!!

Bumped into Bevan Fenner too there.

Cheers,

[colin jones]

Jacques, I would say the "R" on your pick means Right Hand.
Colin.

[Jacques Reed]

Darn!
Back to the drawing board. Was looking for a left handed pick.

Cheers,

[Euan McDonald]

R^D could be for Rail Department or Rob & Dad instead of Dad & Dave!

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Euan,

"Rail Department" sounds as good as any at this stage for the marking. Always thought the broad arrow was for marking military items only but I believe it also meant any commonwealth government owned equipment.

If so, were all the state railways under commonwealth government control during WW2? It probably was so, but they would still not own the state railways.

That would account for the markings perhaps, but if not, it would be unusual for a state owned utility to mark their equipment with a commonwealth owned mark.

Over to the Australian railway enthusiasts amongst the MLU Forum.

Cheers,

[Lynn Eades]

In north Africa during WWII did the Aussies have dedicated units that built railways?
The Kiwis did as far as I know, so don't see why the Aussies wouldn't have.
Maybe thats a possibility?

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for your suggestion. Another avenue to explore.

I see you are from Tauranga NZ. Nice spot. I ran there fairly regularly in the mid 90's on a self-discharging bulk carrier the MV Portland unloading barley and wheat.

Had my first, and almost last trip, in command there. The harbour pilot came in real hot and fast and it took full astern and maximum power on the thrusters for what seemed like an eternity to stop and berth her.
A real "Captain Ron" berthing if you ever saw the movie.

Lesson No1 for new skippers: Pilot is only an advisor and over-ride him if in doubt.

Cheers,

[motto (RIP)]

I see you got the short handle version of the pick Jacques.

I would have thought that Roads Department would have been the most likely. The various states sent road builders up north during the war for the construction of the North South road etc but there was obviously an overseeing body. The first of them was DOMF, Darwin Overland Maintenance Force but it didn't operate very long under that name. Could be a link there somewhere.

David