Episode description
Christmas time and the school holidays would bring back memories of long train journeys to far flung parts of Queensland, for many people. The link between country and regional towns, and the smaller townships, was the railmotor. For many decades in Queensland, the small red painted 45 horsepower AEC motors (based on a London bus design), ‘red rattlers’, or the later incarnations of the ‘Tin Hares’, through to the streamlined 2000 class ‘Silver Bullets’ provided an important connection for many Queenslanders to the railway townships. School children made their journey to school on the ‘RMs’, special stops in regional towns were made for intending passengers, and places such as Cooktown, and Normanton became a ‘railmotor’ dependent railway from the late 1920s. Our Queensland Rail History podcast, ‘Red Rattler’s and ‘Silver Bullets’, will look back on the distinctive petrol- and diesel-powered railmotors that were such an iconic part of the Queensland Railways throughout the 20th century
In this episode of the podcast we talk with Glen Watson who at the time was Officer in Charge at Normanton and driving the Gulflander. He shares many stories and personal experiences to do with his time both in Queensland and around the world for Queensland Rail.
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Podcast transcript
Introduction
Annette: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Queensland Rail History podcast. I ‘m Annette, and today, we ‘re discussing how a little over a century ago Queensland led the way with the introduction of the self-propelled rail cars. For many decades, these rail cars and rail motors were a major part and parcel of the railway landscape of country Queensland, providing a low-cost and speedy alternative form of transport in the era of steam locomotives.
Greg: The McKeen rail cars and things like that, they were big and they were powerful, and they were technologically too advanced for the period at the time.
Annette: We ‘ll also chat with a passionate rail motor specialist who ‘s been working with them for over 40 years.
Glen: Looking out for wild animals, pigs, cattle as well as – we ‘ve got a couple places where we try and stop and look for a couple of crocodiles that rear their head occasionally. I call them David Attenborough moments. We ‘ve had some with a flock of pelicans out here at one of the lagoons, and we ‘ve got the red-tailed black cockatoo out further, and when they get startled, they fly in front of the train, and it ‘s like your ultralight aircraft that are flying with the birds. Yes, it ‘s special that you ‘re doing something for these people who ‘ve got something on their bucket list.
Male 2: Be that as it may, we in common with the whole community, hail with pleasure the inauguration of the railway in Queensland.
Female 1: An old woman in our carriage was very proud of this little bit of railroad.
Annette: Good day, Greg. Welcome to another episode of our Queensland Rail History podcast. How are you?
Greg: I ‘m really good, and thank you so much, Annette. It ‘s a wonderful opportunity again to sit here today in Toowoomba and talk about the story of the railways in Queensland, and also enjoy some lovely jam drops that were brought up from Brisbane today with marmalade and that. I think that keeps in the spirit of the old Queensland Railways ref rooms that we spoke about previously. So thank you for that offering. It ‘s great.
Annette: You ‘re welcome, Greg. So what ‘s our topic for today ‘s podcast then?
Red Rattlers and Silver Bullets, the railmotors of the Queensland Railways
Greg: Well, this is one that came up a little while ago and it followed through on the one where we were talking about Normanton, when we did some of our earlier podcasts. But today we ‘re talking about Red Rattlers and Silver Bullets, and for those who are listening out there, they might remember the rail motors or rail cars that they grew up with on the many branch lines throughout Queensland in decades past. So we ‘re going to talk about the internal combustion, or infernal combustion as some of the drivers and that would have referred to them, on the Queensland Railways. And that ‘s what we ‘ll talk about today. The rail cars, the rail motors, tin hares and quite a few other things that were all part of the rural landscape of Queensland and the railways for so many decades.
Annette: Yes, the moment you say rail motor I see the Silver Bullets or the Gulflander. They ‘re the two instant that pop into my head.
Greg: They really are icons both of those, Annette, yes. Well done, as always, well done. Okay, so here we go. Let ‘s start our journey. Well, going back, I think the first thing we need to talk about, Annette, is exactly what is a rail motor and what is a rail car. So, the purpose of the rail motor or rail car, it was to provide a passenger service on a branch or main line where passenger numbers didn ‘t justify that expense of running a steam train service; and steam trains are expensive, especially when you ‘ve got a driver and a fireman and a guard on them as they did in the old, the old days. So, you required the crew of three, the driver, the fireman and the guard.
Now, many railways in Queensland, however, in country areas and that, there were only very small passenger numbers, so it wouldn ‘t provide a financial return for operating a steam train service or anything like that. So that ‘s what they had to do. So, very early in the 20th century, they started exploring that idea of basically a cost effective or efficient way of providing that passenger service that didn ‘t require anything like a more expensive steam train service or anything like that. So, yes, that ‘s how we began.
Annette: So, you talked about the expense of the crew. What about the actual running of the train, the coal or the wood? Was that also expensive?
The McKeen cars a futuristic form of motive power
Greg: Oh, Annette, as I said, you really should be in finance areas and things like that, or maybe a future chief financial officer. But you ‘re bang on the money there, because steam locomotives were expensive from that angle. There was the labour content, as we spoke about previously. Three hours to raise steam on a locomotive before you could actually go anywhere. Coal, coal was expensive. Wood, timber. So there were all these other costs that went behind, whereas the beauty of the rail motor was, it was internal combustion. It was one driver. And virtually at the turn of a key or the engaging of a clutch or something like that, you ‘re able to go, and go immediately. So that was what you ‘re looking at when they talk about those cost efficiencies of a century ago that they needed to address. So bang on the money. So, that was it.
But the interesting thing is, if we go back 110 years ago now, Annette, that was when the Queensland Railways experimented with their first rail motors or rail cars. And the first true rail motors were the McKeen cars that were imported from the United States in 1913. Now, these were remarkable. You may have seen photographs, or we hopefully will be able to share photographs from our podcast today, of the McKeen rail cars. They were interesting machines. They were large; they were futuristic; they were streamlined. They were really something that looked and spoke of the future when they were built and when they came to Queensland.
Now, there were five of those that were originally important. They were powered by 200 horsepower petrol engines. But unfortunately, it was one of those cases, Annette, where the future, the idea, and the present didn ‘t quite catch up because the technology available for the engines and things like that, it was too advanced for the period. They were imported from the United States, and they operated here in Queensland, those McKeen rail cars, until, I think it was the early 1920s.
Annette: So, they didn ‘t last very long at all then.
Greg: No, they didn ‘t actually, Annette. They came in 1913, but they had – there were a lot of problems with them. It was obviously an idea or a design that hadn ‘t been completely thought through by the Queensland Railways. They came in to provide that passenger service, but they were actually fairly unwieldy in that. Although, after about 1915, they were taken and used as special tourist runs and things like that, for a special excursion use. They were very – Annette, when they were done up, they had nice lounge seats and everything like that. And they were very popular for those sorts of things.
There ‘s a photograph, of course, that I ‘m very familiar with, and it ‘s here in Toowoomba. It was taken in February of 1923 here in Toowoomba, and it shows a McKeen car here at Toowoomba Station that was on a special excursion for the Samford Tennis Club. It came up from Samford, and it ‘s quite a remarkable photograph. As I said, when you have a look at that, you can see this absolutely modern beast here at Toowoomba. Unfortunately, they were a failure. And there ‘s an entire back story to that one, of course.
Annette: I was going to say, we had our steam trains have a life of 85 years. We know our DELs have a life of about 35.
Greg: That ‘s right.
Annette: So for these guys to only have a 10-year life on our rails, not a great option for us.
Adapting a road vehicle for use as a rail vehicle
Greg: Not a good one at all, Annette, unfortunately. But I think it was the experience of something large and modern like that, and also the expense that went with it. And Queensland Railways, after that experience, I think they went back to something a bit more homegrown, a bit more true, tried and tested. And I think the other thing, possibly even a way of feeling a bit more agricultural, as I call it, which is basically building on something that can be done by Queensland Railways themselves in their own workshops. And basically, based on motor vehicles, road motor vehicles, and using the chassis, which would be adopted for operation on the rails and everything like that.
Annette: So, we know there wasn ‘t manufacturing capacity in Australia at the time. Where were the converted buses from? Or what did we change out of the motors of the original ones?
Greg: Well, since the 1920s, QR operated many of its country passenger services with a varied fleet of small rail motors. Now, these vehicles, as I said, they were based on road vehicles that were converted for use on the rails. They initially were petrol, and then they were later diesel-powered rail motors. And these were constructed by the Queensland Railways at the North Ipswich Railway Workshops. And they were homegrown, but they were adapted, as I said, from road chassis vehicles. The early ones – this is really interesting – those very early rail motors, they were actually built on motor vehicles owned by the Queensland Railways themselves.
And so, the Commissioner for Railways, chief engineers in the early part of the 20th century, they used to get around to places, of course, where there were no railway lines, to do inspections for surveys and things like that. And even when those road vehicles were no longer required as road vehicles for Queensland Railways, they were taken, those chassis, the bodies taken off, the wheels taken off, and then they were adapted, and then they were changed, and then they were used as the basis of those early rail motors.
Annette: So even back then, reduce, reuse, recycle.
Greg: You betcha, Annette. Yes, so that ‘s the story of how we, the railways started out the great experience or the great experiment in the use of rail cars and rail motors.
Annette: We just talked that they were constructed at North Ipswich Workshops. Was this from scratch, the bodies and all, or did we source some of the material?
The AEC cars – a bus chassis on the railway lines of Queensland
Greg: Yes, well, that ‘s a great one again too, because you ‘ve got to think about – you ‘re basically looking at a converted road vehicle chassis. Later on we might, we ‘ll cover off – we ‘ll talk about the AEC cars, which were based on an early 1914 London bus. So it used to run around London. But there was the chassis, which is basically the engine and everything like that, and instead of road wheels, they put bogies and drive wheels on them. But they used to basically take those road vehicle chassis and things like that, and then build on top. So they ‘d actually have the addition of the body of the rail motor on those. They ‘d have the addition of the seats and whatever you have. But again, it all came out from the North Ipswich Railway Workshops. So basically, they could turn carriages out and things like that. So they turned their hand to fashioning something around the chassis and things like that of the internal combustion engine.
The very early railmotor
Annette: Fantastic. Do we have any examples of those ones still in our museums?
Greg: Oh, Annette, this is a good one today too. In fact, we ‘re very fortunate because here in Queensland we had two great rail motor only operations. And that was the Normanton Railway, Normanton-Croydon, which is today the Gulflander. And the other great survivor, which lasted from until 1960, ‘61, was the Cooktown Railway, which is based at Cooktown in far, far northern Queensland, and ran out to Laura and the Palmer River Goldfield. And they were actually the two great rail motor operations that were there solely because of the basis of very low population providing a service. And the Normanton Railway is probably the one today with the great number of rail motor survivors that went there as well too.
So I guess we ‘ll backtrack. We come back to that thing about expense and difficulties of maintaining a steam service. What happened in the case of the Normanton Railway was, the line was built there, opened in the 1890s. It was a steam train service. But the Croydon goldfields where it was built to, they eventually declined in importance and population. And providing a steam train service was expensive, getting coal and things like that to places like Croydon; three-person operation and everything. So it actually was very early in the rail motor story that they decided to experiment. And this is one of those great survivors that we ‘ll talk about, of course.
That was RM14. And it was – RM14 was the early rail motor, I suppose you ‘d say the early Gulflander in this day and age, for the Normanton-Croydon Railway line. Now it was – it actually went to Normanton in about 1922. And it was converted from a Panhard Levassor road wagon. So it was like a ute, a truck. It had a little 20 to 24 horsepower engine in it. So, it was built or converted in 1918 at North Ipswich Workshops. It was converted from that road vehicle. It cost £745 to do it. And originally RM14, as it was, it originally entered service as RM No. 23. So it was the No. 23 rail car that came into service and everything like that.
Annette: Sorry Greg, I ‘m just going to interrupt here.
Greg: Please.
Annette: So, the first rail motors we brought out had a 200-horsepower engine. Now we ‘re talking about a 20 to 24 horsepower engine?
Greg: Exactly, Annette, yes. Well, as I said, the McKeen rail cars and things like that, they were big and they were powerful and they were technologically too advanced for the period at the time. So these things, of course, were a much more humble variety, converted for something at hand. And as I said, these things were built basically to provide a very basic service, is probably the best way of putting it. And that ‘s what they were built for.
Annette: So do we know passenger numbers? If the originals, the McKeens were 200 horsepower, how many passengers did they carry, versus how many this one carried?
Greg: With the McKeen cars, I think they could get in about 50 or 60 per vehicle. They also had trailers behind them as well, but they used to work hard in Queensland with those trailers behind them, so I think you ‘d be looking around about 100 to 150 passengers. RM14, I think you ‘re looking, at a stretch, about 12 to 16. But it had its own trailer as well so you get an idea of the different sorts of services that were anticipated and were going to be provided as well, of course, Annette, as you know. So Normanton to Croydon railway line, introduction of a – they decided to go with a cost saving measure and that was RM14, as we called it later on.
So it was sent to Cairns originally. It went up there on the 12th of March of 1920, and then after being in Cairns for about two years, it then did a big trip in October of 1922, and that was on board the SS Calatina to the isolated Normanton-Croydon Railway. So to get there it had to go by ship. And I was just having a look through my notes here before, and guess what, according to the notes, it could carry 10 passengers on its journey between the two gulf towns. So, even less than the numbers that I quoted before for you, I ‘m sorry.
How to get a railmotor to an isolated railway like Normanton
Annette: Wow, that is a nice small number. So we ‘ve talked about our patchwork network; could it not go on the rails out there, even back then?
Greg: No. Still can ‘t in this day and age either. No, the Etheridge Railway opened out to about 1910 as far as Forsyth, but no further. And you had Normanton-Croydon the in the gulf country, and there was never – there was no connection between the two, so to get to the Normanton-Croydon Railway, if you couldn ‘t do it overland you had to go by ship, and you went to the Norman River port. There ‘s actually some very interesting photographs that Ken Fairbairn, Officer in Charge of the Normanton-Croydon Railway came across, and it showed actually the delivery of rail motors to the wharf on the Norman River for Normanton as well. So they ‘re wonderful photographs, which we ‘ll share with you one day, of course anyway.
The Panhard RM14 and its life on the Normanton railway
Annette: Oh, we ‘re going to have some beautiful photographs for this episode.
Greg: We certainly are, Annette, we certainly are. So that was it. So that ‘s the Panhard, the locals called it, and it was the one – it became for many years the internal combustion, it became the Panhard, as the locals called it. There were a few concessions to creature comforts with it. It had pull-down canvas blinds on it and everything like that, and it really became the lifeline to the bush. So the steam locomotives became very infrequently used, and eventually were condemned and things like that, and that ‘s when the rail motors really became the mainstay of the service up there and they ‘ve been doing it now for over a century on the Normanton to Croydon railway.
Annette: I can imagine during the wet season it wouldn ‘t be too much fun sitting in there with just canvas blinds.
Greg: No, not at all. I guess you ‘ve got heat and dust and everything like that to worry about, of course, but yes that that was the story with it. So, canvas blinds, natural air conditioning of course, I suppose you ‘d say. And there would have been the thrill, of course, of being able to actually operate it sitting up with the driver, when they ‘re driving with the – going through the gear changes and everything like that. So that was it, and the Panhard pottered about up there for many a good year. Interestingly enough, it demonstrated its capabilities and things like that, because after 1929, RM14 became the spare rail motor for the service.
It ran at various times until 1936 when it was withdrawn from service. It was given an overhaul in 1938, officially written off the books, no longer for service, in 1941. But it was tucked away in the railway workshops in Normanton until 1969, and for the few visitors who made their way up to Normanton and the workshops, who were interested in the railway history, it was a little curiosity tucked at the back and everything like that. And then, surprisingly, it was actually selected for inclusion in the Queensland Railways Locomotive Museum at Redbank, and in 1969 it made a long road trip from Normanton over to – and eventually down to Townsville, and then I think it came down by – I can ‘t remember how it came down, whether it was by truck or on a train – but eventually it came down and it was actually overhauled at North Ipswich Railway Workshops, not for service, but for inclusion in the Redbank Museum.
Annette: So, it really had a short life again, only 20-odd years.
Greg: Well, it certainly is, because it always got – I think the thing is, the service demanded it and everything like that, it got better and better. So we mentioned about it going to the Redbank Locomotive Museum. With the workshops for our museum when it opened in 2002, RM14 was actually included as part of the exhibits there. So the lovely blue Panhard Levassor RM14, it ‘s now on display at the Workshops Rail Museum at North Ipswich. Yes, it ‘s quite a remarkable little thing, and some of the photographs that show it on its transport down to Redbank, taken in late 1969 and that, it obviously had seen better days, before it did the – when it was doing the big road journey down, anyhow. So, great survivor that one, and a wonderful little thing.
The AEC - Associated Equipment Company railmotor chassis
Now, the rail motors as they continued on – ‘20s and ‘30s they built a number of rail motors, and that was on the truck chassis of the Associated Equipment Company, AEC, and also the Associated Daimler Company – so, Daimler cars and vehicles and that – the ADC. And buses in London had actually built on that same type; it was a No. 506 chassis. They ‘d been built since 1914 – these were the London buses, the red buses as they were – not the double deckers, but the single ones. They ran around for many, many decades there in London. We mentioned power before – that was a four-cylinder 45 horsepower engine.
And 38 of those chassis were imported into Queensland between 1927 and 1931, and eventually they built 38 rail motors. And they were fitted out to enter service between 1927 and 1931. Part of the conversion was, they had seats and they had bodies attached, and they became for rail use. And what they called the little 45 horsepower, 45 HPs, the AEC cars, they really revolutionised the rail services in local and regional Queensland.
Annette: So, were they all done at Ipswich?
Greg: Yes, they certainly were again, yes. So, it was quite the program. They imported from London and they had that – there was a story went around for years they were actually London buses that were imported here to Queensland. Well, they weren ‘t, actually. It was just the chassis and things like that. But yes, it was literally the basis of it imported, so you had a London bus design, the basis of it, and running around in country rural, in everywhere Queensland. So, places like Cooyar or Cecil Plains or so many other places in Queensland, Ravenswood or whatever, they actually saw what was a derivative of a London bus providing that passenger service, on rails however, anyway.
Annette: Yes, in my head, I do see a red bus on train tracks.
Greg: Exactly. So that was it. Now, how they were built. Yes, they were originally built – you could have 28 passengers in four little compartments in the rail motors. One of the them actually, RM28, it was built to operate the service on the Mary Valley Railway down to Brooloo, and it went into service in the 1920s, and actually, the Mary Valley Rattler, the Rattler Railway based in Gympie, that ‘s where the name comes from; the nickname the Valley Rattler was from that rail motor. It was called the Valley Rattler, that was RM28.
A wild way to travel
Annette: So did they literally rattle along?
Greg: They rattle, they roar. The experience of travelling in one of those was quite unique. There ‘s no two ways about it. You ‘ve got winds whipping through, and as I said it ‘s a rather uncomfortable ride, even though you ‘ve got the old horsehair seats that they used to have, you were open to the elements and things like that. You ‘ve just got the single set of large driving wheels at the back, you ‘ve got a bogie on the front and the driver up front, and they could get along. They certainly could get along with that. But yes, definitely it was – as I said, levels of comfort possibly maybe not fully appreciated by modern society and things like that.
The great thing about them was the fact they were reliable, and they provided that service. It was a cost-efficient service, and to get from country places to your large regional centres, from Rockhampton to Toowoomba, places like Warwick, so many places in regional Queensland, they were able to provide that service. Toowoomba and Townsville actually had a sort of suburban service in a way, but the rail motors that used to run out from those large towns and that, they used to have stopping places on the way that weren ‘t stations. So they ‘d stop at road crossings; they ‘d stop at special rail motor stops and things like that. So it was sort of like a suburban service in a way, without being a proper suburban service anyway for those areas.
Annette: I can ‘t imagine they went a long distance. though. Did they go a long distance? Like when we look at the travel trains today, they go a long way. Would these have gone a long way, and why would they have them divided into four rooms basically? You said four little compartments. I can ‘t see that being comfortable, because in my head, if it ‘s a standard bus chassis, that ‘s not a lot of room to convert into four compartments. And then 28 passengers makes about seven people per compartment. It seems really, really squishy.
Greg: It does seem squishy, but it ‘s not like the compartments weren ‘t actually sectioned off or anything like that, to that extent. It ‘s sort of like you could hop on with the side opening doors and that, and the crossbench seats. They were fairly good, apparently, the seats, if you needed to stretch out and everything like that, which you could. For those who are really taken with the experience, RM60, which is on the Normanton-Croydon Railway, is available and does operate up there, which is – you get the full experience of the old Red Rattler in that case.
A more modern version, I guess you ‘d say, is RM76, which does operate today on the Mary Valley Rattler. It was a later development of that, but RM60 is really the one that gives you a full-on experience of those vehicles as well. When you were talking about special runs and things like that, my grandfather, who was in Bundaberg, he was transferred to Cairns in the 1920s and he was classed as a rail motor driver. They were an elite, actually; they were a bit of an elite, the rail motor drivers, because they held themselves above the normal steam drivers and that. A lot of the time, the drivers were it. And so the rail motor drivers, in some cases, they had their own uniforms that they ‘d be wearing.
My grandfather was actually transferred to Cairns. He qualified as a rail motor driver out of a place called Almaden, out on the old Etheridge line. And they used to run down to places like Aloomba and areas south of Cairns as well. They used to run up to Kuranda and other places on the way as well. It provided an intermediary service as well too. Great for school kids getting to school and things like that, not having to rely on the steam train as well, going to school, bush schools and everything like that.
Annette: You said that the rail motor drivers considered themselves elevated. Is that like saying a limo driver versus a taxi driver kind of feel?
The Queensland Railways railmotor drivers – their own 'link'
Greg: An excellent analogy, Annette, an excellent analogy, yes. The rail motor drivers, they had what they called their own link. Links in the steam era, driver, fireman, they worked with only certain –within a certain link, providing a certain service. The rail motor drivers based in Mayne used to do special rail motor services as well in the early period. I might also say that the Commissioner for Railways and General Managers used to have these little inspection cars they used to run around, the smaller rail motors. One great survivor is RM16, which is in the Rockhampton Railway Station on display. That was the General Manager ‘s inspection vehicle.
So the General Manager of the Central division of the railways based in Rockhampton used to get around in their own inspection car. It was a marvellous thing. They ‘d go out on special inspections, one driver, special driver for that, thank you very much. It ‘s a marvellous thing because it actually had its own ice chest in there, had its own crockery, its own picnic baskets and picnic set that went with it as well. So the inspection vehicle would go out, and as I said, have your own ice box and everything, Annette.
An inspection vehicle as well
Annette: Now Greg, I ‘m thinking I need to get me a trip on the RM16. I could go out and inspect the rails and have a nice picnic lunch somewhere.
Greg: Well, that was actually part – the inspection cars were literally to be used for inspections. General Managers had to go out annually, going out doing inspections in central Queensland in the 1940s. They ‘re wonderful because it shows that. They used to have to go out for inspections of the line, as you mentioned, Annette. There was the annual inspection General Managers had to do, so it was basically to enable them to get out to do their job, to inspect places, to look at things, to make sure things were being done properly. And that was the inspection motors as well. Yes, quite a remarkable thing. I think it was a Dodge conversion, that one anyway, RM16.
Annette: You know what I ‘m thinking, Greg? Going back to our previous podcast again, when we were talking about the gardens of Queensland Rail, would the Commissioner have got round in one of these rail motors to go judge the garden?
Greg: That ‘s a very good point. I ‘ll have to look into that. But there are lots of other things they did do their own private inspections with, and yes, it ‘s quite possible. I think later on though, when they brought in the more advanced rail motors, heading towards the Silver Bullet era, I think that might have been more the opportunity there. But I ‘ll have to have a look at that for you one day, for sure.
Podcast interviewee Glen Watson, Acting Officer in Charge of the Normanton to Croydon Railway (2023)
Annette: Our special guest for today ‘s episode is Glen Watson, currently the Officer in Charge of the Normanton to Croydon Railway, where the surviving rail motor operates as the Gulflander. We thought he ‘d be great to chat to for today ‘s episode. So we gave him a call up in North Queensland.
Hi, Glen. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today on the Queensland Rail History podcast. I ‘ve been chatting with Greg about our rail motors and how and why they were so successful for Queensland. Do you have a favourite class of train to drive?
Glen: I ‘ve got to be passionate about 2000 Class rail motors because that ‘s where I was in my early years. Something that can do 100 kilometres an hour that was built in the 1960s was way ahead of its time. But probably the one that sticks out the most is the AC16 steam locomotive, the Yank. When you pull out of Ipswich Station and head towards the west, up beside Darling Street, up under the Waghorn Street Bridge, and you can hear the exhaust of that loco thumping and echoing back through Ipswich, the hairs on the back of my neck always stand up with that sound. Probably put so much time into the AC16 as well. Little bit passionate because, yes, it ‘s a unique loco to Queensland Rail ‘s design of the other locos that are part of the heritage fleet. And then of course, English Electric locos are different again than our traditional Clyde locomotives that we still have as diesel electric locos. So yes, rail motors, AC16, and English electric locos.
Annette: I feel like I ‘ve just asked a parent who ‘s their favourite child. Did you get to see the AC16 on its 80th birthday run?
Glen: No, no, I didn ‘t. I was up here. I had planned to be at home for Father ‘s Day, but that didn ‘t work. So I missed out on it. I would have been a spectator.
Annette: Yes, it would have been good. Tickets sold out really, really quickly for that one. Everybody ‘s happy to see the steam trains coming back. So hopefully there ‘ll be a lot more runs.
Glen: Yes. We ‘ve got to get them back out there and running. You ‘re preaching to the converted.
Annette: Let ‘s see if we can get it happening, right? So, what are the specific rail motors you ‘re using for the line up there?
Glen: So, we ‘ve got rail motor 93, or RMD 93 and the rail motor – D just simply means it ‘s a diesel-powered rail motor. And RM 93 was one of 10 streamliner-class rail motors that were built at Ipswich Workshops in 1950 and 1951. And it was the last of the rail motor fleet that was built, that sort of rail motor fleet that was built at Ipswich. Many others were built before that, but they were based on a truck chassis. So, the streamliner class were built on a specific rail motor chassis. We ‘ve got rail motor No. 60, which is still in its original condition, built in 1932. And it has a AEC petrol engine in it that I had rebuilt at Redbank workshops. So that engine is still running.
We can ‘t use RM60 at the moment, we ‘re waiting on some new wheels for it. So it ‘s sitting in the goods shed. And then we ‘ve got a little diesel mechanical locomotive, DL4; it ‘s an 18-tonne diesel loco that can be used if 93 is out of service through a breakdown, repairs or overhaul. And then we ‘ve got the two trailer cars that run behind the rail motor, which is TP1811 and TP1809. 1811 was a rail motor. I can remember it being the Commissioner ‘s car. We modified it at Redbank workshops and took the power bogie out of it before it was sent to Townsville to become a carriage. And 1809 has always been a carriage. So the rail motors ran as a rail motor and a trailer car. So that ‘s the Gulflander fleet as such. So it ‘s like five very unique pieces of rolling stock that ‘s up here as part of the fleet.
Passenger comforts on an early railmotor
Greg: Okay. Well, let ‘s get back to the elements. So, the original body, it was open to the elements, above the level of the rear of the seats. So sitting in a seat today, you can basically imagine, no windows or anything like that. The doors opened out on either side. The seats were in full bench style, right across each compartment. We mentioned before about protection from the rain and the sun, that was with pull-down canvas blinds. They actually had running boards on the sides so passengers – because it was step up from ground level to get into these, there were no platforms or anything like that – so that was built so the passengers could get up into the rail motor off ground level, off the dirt off the side.
Annette: Was the seating more comfortable than the steam trains of the time? Also, I bet it would have been fun to be in a rail motor in the wet season.
Greg: I imagine it would ‘ve been a lot of fun, yes. Seating was probably more comfortable. It depends. Well, I guess the big – what made it probably more pleasurable was no soot and cinders coming in through open windows and things like that. So that would have been – that was a big benefit for a start. I imagine it would have been a bit of a – very much of a rough, enjoyable ride. But I guess if you ‘re coming in from country areas and things like that, it was a reasonably fast way, compared to the length of time that a steam train would take or anything like that.
Annette: Do we know what speed the rail motors went?
Fast and powerful machines for their size
Greg: Yes, so the maximum speed for the rail motors was about 30 miles an hour in the old currency; that ‘s 50 kilometres an hour. Those rail motors were actually – they were designed to be able to haul a six-wheel passenger trailer, and that had 30 passengers and a goods trailer as well. So it made up its own little – it made up its own train as well, Annette. They added later on a bogie passenger trailer that could just seat 50 passengers. So a complete – and they called them motor train, with all those extra passenger trailers and things like that – it could actually handle about 108 passengers all up. And it weighed in just on 24 tonne as well.
Annette: So are we at the 24 horsepower engine, or are we at the 45 horsepower engine now?
Greg: Oh, great, Annette, you ‘re going to get under the bonnet of these things. They were actually – those were the 45 horsepower and bigger ones. One other thing too, when you mentioned about creature comforts, after 1932, a number of the rail motors were converted to have full sides and then glass windows. So, after quite a number of years travelling, I think you ‘d appreciate those creature comforts, for sure. Travelling on some branch lines, especially during a whipping – a westerly wind in winter – I ‘m thinking of places in western Queensland and things like that – apparently it was just too much for the passengers or the drivers to bear. So they did put in pull up and down windows and things like that. The windows they got were actually wind-down ones, similar to cars, with the little winder and things like that. So they incorporated those as well, for passenger comfort as well.
Annette: Yes. Warm in winter and cool in summer.
Greg: Well, hopefully a lot better, that ‘s right. And the seating capacity, actually they reduced it; because you said about the cramping experience and things like that – they actually reduced that back to 24, Annette.
Annette: Okay. So from 28 down to 24. Definitely quality over quantity.
The railmotor and the railmtor driver an important part of country community life
Greg: Oh, that is so true, Annette, that is so true. Now, those little 45 horsepower rail motors, the Rattlers and that, they lasted in service until the early 1960s. So they had a very long life, about 40 years and that. They were reliable and rugged machines. They had the ability to be able to be repaired quite easily, should anything go wrong with them. And the working lives, well, that was spent on branch lines, generally on a timetable run, a daily motor service or something like that. Leave at a certain time, go to somewhere, come back at a certain time. And they really became an integral part of the life of so many country communities.
I mentioned before, rail motors, they ‘d go to special stops near road crossings, farm gates or school yards. Passengers, mail, cream cans, parcels, so much travelled on that rail motor. And many of the rail motors were worked from a home station or a terminus. And they spent years working specifically on one branch, and that was oftentimes with one dedicated driver. Dayboro, when the line was opened through to Dayboro before its closure in 1955, it had a rail motor station there. It had a rail motor driver who was there for many years and things like that.
And the other thing was, because the rail motor driver and the rail motors were so much a part of the local communities, they actually also used to take shopping lists. So, in places like Toowoomba and many other country centres and that, the rail motors would come in and local people would be able to give the driver a shopping list and money. And in the turnaround time, when they were here in places like Toowoomba or other places, they ‘d go out and do the shopping for the local people and then come back. And when they came back, the shopping would be done by the driver and the money returned as well too. So it was always – that was another one of the – that local service that was provided as well.
Annette: Can I request that service now? Seriously, can someone take my shopping list and I ‘ll hand them over and then they can bring it to my house?
Greg: Well, that ‘s exactly right. I think they do it all online in this day. Well, it was on line back then, wasn ‘t it? Although a railway line in that case. I ‘m going to lose my job for sure, Annette.
Annette: Yes, it was all my doing. Greg, Greg, Greg.
Greg: Yes, that ‘s right.
Annette: So we ‘ve established now a steam train has 85 years; the DELs have about 35 years. So the rail motors are about 40?
Greg: Yes, that ‘s what they did with those AECs there, Annette, anyway. But as you know, things do tend to wear out and everything like that. And that ‘s when they started looking, in the post-war period, about bringing in more modern machines and everything like that.
Annette: I ‘m interested to know, were they economical at 40 years?
The Normanton railway's varied railmotors
Greg: Well, I think it was one of those things that passenger expectations would have increased, of course, to what was being provided. And they did provide that economic service, but at the same point, roads improved in country and rural Queensland, and people started to get their own motor vehicles and things like that, and didn ‘t have to be tied to timetables and things like that. And probably the standard got a lot better as well too. So yes, that was the story with those rail motors. You mentioned survivors before. I ‘ll quickly list off some of the survivors that are on the Normanton-Croydon Railway, because that ‘s really your rail motor – that ‘s the great place to tell the story of the rail motors.
RM31 was up there, it went up there in 1929. It went to Townsville in 1945, and then it was written off in 1946. RM32, it went up there for 1929. But initially it went to that isolated Cooktown Railway. It was transferred in 1945 to Townsville, went to Normanton in 1945. Normanton, as I said, it operated until 1960, so it had a 15-year operating life. The chassis of RM32 is actually on display within that station environment at Normanton. I mentioned RM60 before. Now that ‘s one – if you want to have your Red Rattler experience at Normanton – that ‘s the 45 horsepower AEC. It went to service in Normanton-Croydon in 1960 and ‘64. In 1993, interestingly enough, it went to Townsville workshops. It was overhauled; the motor was actually overhauled at Ipswich Railway workshops. And then RM60 went back to Normanton in 1994. And it ‘s still used today for those excursions and special charters. Another one of the Normanton ‘s was RM74. Built in 1934 at North Ipswich; converted in 1942 to that 102 horsepower Gardner diesel engine. It actually went to Normanton-Croydon 1964 to ‘82. It was transferred back to Ipswich Railway workshops in 1982, and it ‘s now on display at the Cleveland Redlands Museum.
Annette: Yes, that one ‘s just near me. I need to go in and have a look. I wonder if they would give me special permission to pretend I ‘m the driver for the day.
Greg: Well, I ‘m quite sure, Annette, if you went anywhere, anyone would be more than happy to make you welcome. I think at the Redland Shire Museum there, it ‘s got Normanton on the headboard or something like that. It ‘s a long way from home, anyway. And of course, the great survivor, RM 93. It ‘s the present Gulflander.
Annette: Actually, I want to pull you up for a second.
Greg: Please do.
Annette: The Redlands is now a city. You ‘ve got Redland Shire written here. We ‘re a city, Greg!
Greg: I apologise for that, because obviously when it went to the museum, it was the Redland Shire Museum anyway. So, I stand corrected, as always. So, thank you for that.
RM93 – The Gulflander in the twenty-first century
Anyway, well, back to the other survivor, in my case, we ‘re talking about RM93. 102 horsepower engine, it ‘s a Gardner diesel, a lovely big Gardner. It ‘s a marine engine, actually. Marine Gardner diesel engine used in – marine engine used for boats and things like that. RM93 was built in North Ipswich workshops in 1950. Now, it works in the southern and northern divisions of the Queensland railways. And guess what, Annette, RM93, another General Manager ‘s inspection car. So, it was converted for that in 1972, ran around for the General Manager in the Central division based in Rocky, modified back to full rail motor in 1981, went to Normanton in 1982, and the name Gulflander was painted on the sides by 1987. So that ‘s when it officially became unofficially as the Gulflander.
Annette: It was dedicated to stay there.
Greg: And it ‘s still there today, still churning out the miles between Normanton, Croydon, Critters Camp, and a whole host of other places.
Annette: Oh, wow. So RM93 is the busy one that we ‘ll hopefully get to go on.
Greg: I think you should, anyway. So another wonderful experience indeed. Still running very much today.
Podcast interviewee Glen Watson, Acting Officer in Charge of the Normanton to Croydon Railway (2023)
Annette: While driving the Gulflander, Glen encounters all kinds of wildlife. He was kind enough to share his experiences with us on his adventures between Normanton and Croydon.
All right, so what ‘s it actually like driving the Gulflander? Can you tell us about the experience and what the customers are like?
Glen: Oh, well, it ‘s always good to see fresh faces and people enjoying the trip. But I don ‘t know, it ‘s on a lot of people ‘s bucket list. And to be part of fulfilling someone ‘s bucket list is pretty special, I suppose. And people travel from all over Australia, as far away as Perth, Tasmania, and we ‘ve got a couple of people I was talking to on the platform before from New Zealand, and it ‘s been on their bucket list. So yes, it ‘s special. You ‘re doing something for these people who ‘ve got something on their bucket list.
And the run over to Croydon, we do a commentary. Slowly but surely I ‘m coming to terms with what is out there. I could talk you from Ipswich to Toowoomba, no worries at all. But Normanton to Croydon, slowly but surely we ‘re getting the commentary pretty good. I ‘ve got Ken ‘s old notes that he used for his commentary. So just driving, commentating, looking out for wild animals, pigs, cattle, as well as – we ‘ve got a couple of places where we try and stop and look for a couple of crocodiles that rear their head occasionally. So yes, it ‘s special.
Annette: We ‘ve spoken with Jen Cahill, who drives trains in Cairns and Kuranda Scenic Railway. And she was talking about it, saying that they ‘ve got cassowaries and pigs and crocodiles too. Like it ‘s amazing to me, the wildlife that you guys get to see when you ‘re out there.
Glen: I call them David Attenborough moments. We ‘ve had some with a flock of pelicans out here at one of the lagoons. And we ‘ve got the red-tailed black cockatoo out further, and when they get startled, they fly in front of the train and it ‘s like those ultralight aircraft that are flying with the birds. They ‘re flying just in front of you and just beside you. It ‘s a David Attenborough moment. We don ‘t get that every trip, but yes, quite regularly we get that sort of thing.
Annette: So what are some of the landmarks along that journey?
Glen: Landmarks?
Annette: Are there any landmarks along that journey?
Glen: Yes, there probably are. And it ‘s relative. The Normanton to Croydon railway was originally supposed to go Normanton to Cloncurry, and there was a big decision made back in the 1890s, when gold was discovered at Croydon, to deviate the track from going to Cloncurry across to Croydon. So there ‘s one place there where you take a great big left hand bend. If the track had gone straight ahead, it would have gone to Cloncurry; take a big left-hand bend and head off towards Croydon.
Tomorrow – not every week – but tomorrow we do a mail drop at a place called Haydon Station. The gateway to Haydon Station is on Gulf Developmental Road, but the homestead itself is some 25 kilometres of dirt road from the highway. So we ‘ve got parcels and packages here that get dropped off at Haydon. Just out of town – well not just out of town, but a bit out of town – we ‘ve got the big lagoon at Clarina, big freshwater lagoon sits in there. The Norman River Bridge. We stop for morning tea at a place called Blackpool. It ‘s a bit over halfway, but it was a significant site during the peak of the gold era, and open cut gold mines as we get closer to Croydon.
Annette: So what do you think makes it so special that people have it on their bucket list, that it ‘s one of those things that they really want to do?
Glen: Well, one, that it ‘s not connected to any other rail network in Australia, whether it just be Queensland, that it ‘s out on its own. And it was built in the 1890s. 90% of the sleepers and track is still original. So, it was a civil engineering feat in itself that it ‘s still there. And the design, or the surveying and the design was done by an engineer by the name of George Phillips. And to his credit, most of it is still out there, even though they get the bad wet seasons. Well, more than 90% of it ‘s still out there that they first laid to his design. He was a bit revolutionary in the fact that it ‘s laid on steel sleepers. The steel sleepers at the time were very unsuccessful in the United Kingdom, but he modified the design. Most of the sleepers were either made in Toowoomba or at Woolloongabba, and like I say, 90% of them are still out there.
Annette: Wow. So it must be some of the oldest railway line in the world then.
Glen: Yes, yes. And most of it was just laid on ploughed or harrowed ground. So bullock teams or horse teams would pull the plough through the ground; sections of track were laid on the loose dirt and the steam locomotives at the time, as they run backwards and forwards, they pushed it down, packed into the dirt.
Annette: It ‘s been very compacted then, in the last 140 years.
Glen: Yes.
Annette: I know you ‘re fairly new to the role in Normanton, but do you have any memorable moments, anything that ‘s making working on the Gulflander special?
Glen: Probably the first time I did a solo trip without someone sitting behind me as a tutor driver, was probably the special run. The fact that I ‘d worked my way through all the qualifications and was able to do it on my own, on my own up front. Yes, that was probably the special moment pulling out of here on that first qualified trip. That I was no longer in training.
Annette: Yes, that ‘s okay. So can you tell me about your first run? How did it feel?
Glen: Because you ‘re not talking about a traditional gearbox here, it ‘s a crash gearbox, which means you ‘ve got to get all your speeds right. And the fear, the fear of not getting something right on that first particular trip. But yes, just the sheer – and getting across to Croydon fairly well on time, like normal. Well, probably the highlight would then be pulling into Croydon Station intact, in one piece, all passengers with a smile on their face.
Annette: That ‘s Glen Watson, Officer in Charge up in Normanton.
New railmotors for the middle of the twentieth century
Greg: Okay, so we covered off on the Red Rattlers and that. Now, 1945, it ‘s that post-war period, Annette. Queensland Railways are embarking on that major construction program for country passenger services, improvements after the Second World War. As we spoke about, air-conditioned rolling stock was to be built. New rail cars were part of it. And this is when we step into getting towards the Silver Bullet era. So in 1954, QR placed itself at the forefront of rail motor design. It ordered two self-propelled diesel rail cars, or SRCs as they were known. They were built by Commonwealth Engineering Company in Sydney, or Comeng. And they were based on a design that was actually developed by the Budd Company of the United States.
And QR had actually ordered the rail cars because similar ones had been purchased for the Commonwealth Railways. They were used on the Trans-Australian Railway, which at that stage was between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta across the Nullarbor. So, they were used for that service. And then Queensland, we took the next big step, one of those little rail revolutions, in ordering two of those for our uses.
Annette: And I love that they ‘re now being made in Australia.
The 1900 class railcars
Greg: Mm-hmm. A very important thing as well too. Now, they were designated the 1900 Class. They came into service by 1956. And Commonwealth Engineering, with the Budd Company, they actually designed three rail cars for specific passenger purposes. So they were made and designed for services here. Queensland Railways, we ordered one for suburban use and one for branch line or country services. So there ‘s SRC1, self-propelled rail car No. 1 design; and SRC2 design, self-propelled rail car No. 2 design. That was used for branch lines.
Annette: Okay, so you said we ordered three. What did we get two of, a 1 or a 2?
Greg: We got two. So, we got 1901 and – I think we got 1900 and 1901. I ‘ll have to check and see if we actually got the third one or not anyway, but I think it was just the two we got anyway. They were another step up again. They weren ‘t air-conditioned but they were self-propelled. They were stainless steel, stainless-steel construction. They could carry 58 passengers, or 50 passengers, depending which one you travelled in. Each could carry two and a half tonnes of luggage. And rail motor in 1900, it was the first rail car to be constructed of stainless steel in Australia.
Annette: So, are we talking full silver, flashy, reflection hurt my eyes?
Greg: Well, we ‘re talking about something that was very comfortable and a powerful little beast, for its size and everything like that. Yes, so that was then – they introduced service. The interesting thing was when they were first brought into service, they were going to operate a service from Brisbane to Toowoomba and they were going to call it the Downslander. That was the name it was going to operate under. But they provided a real valuable service and RM1901 still survives today. It ‘s used as an inspection car for the city train area as well, and from time to time you can see it out for driver training and also route tutelage and those sorts of things as well. So 1901 still survives today.
Annette: Wow, still survives; and still in use today is even, wow.
Greg: Yes, it certainly is too, yes. I was told years ago, when they first came into service they were nicknamed the buzz bombs because that was after some of the buzz bombs that were used during the second London Blitz on London, but they were called buzz bombs because of the noise they used to make with the diesel engines apparently, anyway. So that was another nickname I heard about them. Yes, so that was the 1900 Class and that led the way for the more modern class that was to come in, the Silver Bullets, which are the 2000 Class, Annette.
Annette: So how much did these ones cost? Because we spoke earlier about our first one costing £745.
The 2000 class 'silver bullet' railmotors
Greg: I ‘ll have to look up the numbers on that one, but I can tell you with the 2000 Class, when they came in, which is the Silver Bullets, the full contract for those first ones was over half a million pounds. So that was a considerable amount of money. It was a big investment, of course, for those sorts of services in Queensland. They went for two designs, Annette, because they had that one built by the Budd Company, Comeng. The 2000 Class was actually a more homegrown design again. It was very much a design by the Queensland Railways. It was drivers at either end and everything like that.
The first of those were actually built at the North Ipswich Railway Workshops. They entered service in 1956, and the idea was these 2000 Class, or the Silver Bullets as they became known, they were intended to provide a modern, fast and comfortable service for country passengers. Now, originally when they came in, they had Rolls Royce engines as well. So they were very nice machines. They had a top speed as well of 100 kilometres an hour, or 60 mile an hour in the old currency as well. So they were quite fast and very well-powered beasts as well.
Annette: Yes, definitely getting up there now, starting to move along.
Greg: Oh, they certainly were. They were a real success because, again, although not air-conditioned or anything like that, they had water coolers on them as well, toilets and things like that for country passengers. So they were a real step up again. They were so successful, the Queensland Railways in 1958, they placed another order, and this was with Commonwealth Engineering Company, Comeng, and as I said, this was for more of those rail cars. And that contract was, as we mentioned before, half a million pound. Those came into service in 1960, ‘61 and they were No. 2002 to No. 2021, and these could carry up to 54 passengers.
They were so popular, they built more. So, what happened was the old Red Rattlers we spoke about before and everything like that, they were actually withdrawn from service, as we said, from the 1960s. I think you can see now that those rail motors that are withdrawn from service, these new 2000 Class are coming into service to replace them. And so they built more of these. There were four more two-car units that were in that earlier series in 1963, and then they became 2022 to 2031. So popular, guess what, more, thank you very much, for numbers 2032 to 2056. The last of those entered service in 1970 to 1971, and they were re-engined, as I said, later again with Rolls Royce motors.
They were very popular, Annette, those 2000, 2020 class motors. They were used on suburban trains, country services. They also operated the five-day daylight rail car service between Brisbane and Cairns as well, which because the – I think they called it the Sunshine Rail Experience or something like that – five days daylight travel organised to run between Brisbane and Cairns on those motors, during the cooler months of course, anyway.
Annette: I ‘d say, five days to get to Cairns. That ‘d be a whole thing. You ‘d get up there and you ‘d go, oh, now I have to do it back again.
Greg: Well, exactly, exactly. Again, it was accommodation overnight and things like that. So, it was done very much as a tourist experience and everything like that, Annette. Lots of country services and suburban trains in Brisbane, before the electric trains came in on weekends or Sunday nights and things like that. A lot of the places, the rail motors provided that service, when the passenger numbers weren ‘t so great. They had a long life as well, and the last of those 2000 Class of Silver Bullets, they were officially withdrawn from revenue service 30 years ago in 1993.
Annette: So that ‘s actually a short life then. That ‘s only a 20-year one, roughly.
Greg: Well, for some of them as well, but some of them going back to 1963, or even 1956 and that, you ‘re looking at about nearly 40 years again, about 30 years and that. But it also depended because, again, changes were made. There was always that changing environment outside of Brisbane in country Queensland; reduction of passenger services, line closures and things like that. So it did reduce the demand for those. And, of course, in Brisbane, with the introduction of the electric trains and that starting from 1979 – which we ‘ll be talking about in our next podcast – again, the service and the need for them, it lessened as well too. So it ‘s 1993 they made their last runs, and, yes, they ‘re officially withdrawn from service.
Annette: Greg, now this is a really random, and you may not know this.
Greg: There ‘s never a random question with you, Annette.
Annette: There is. They ‘re all random. I ‘m wondering, so from time to time, we actually hire out the trains, and people can book a service, like if they ‘re going somewhere dedicated. Do they ever let people use the rail motors that are around?
Do any 2000 class railmotors (Silver Bullets) survive?
Greg: Well, there ‘s still a couple of surviving rail motors, actually, that various heritage groups do have. There ‘s two 2000 Class motors that operate on the Mary Valley Rattler I mentioned before. So they ‘ve got a nice link there between one of the earlier – like RM76 up there, and then you ‘ve got the 2000 Classes. The DownsSteam group at Toowoomba actually got two of the Aurizon inspection motors, and were able to purchase those from Aurizon, and they ‘re currently working towards having those restored to operation as well. And hopefully at some point in time, they might be available for charters as well, too, on the network and everything like that.
So there are quite some survivors still around. They ‘re very popular. And I think the wonderful thing about those 2000 Class motors was the service they provided to places like Helidon, the old Brisbane Valley line, up to places like Toogoolawah, and that, when that was open. Plus of course, in the 1960s and ‘70s, as I mentioned, the Sunday trains to places like [unclear] 00:57:51 and things like that, on the south side of Brisbane. So, yes, they were very well known, and they were very popular as well. So, if we go back to our earlier podcast, Annette, Matthew Bushnell, he loved driving those 2000 Class motors, I remember him telling me, as did his dad, Graham Bushnell as well, when he was based in Ipswich.
Conclusion
Annette: Thanks so much for listening to today ‘s episode on the rail motors. We hope you enjoyed the episode. A huge thank you to our special guest, Glen Watson, Officer in Charge, Rail Operations, Normanton to Croydon. If you ‘re enjoying what you ‘re hearing, please leave us a review. We would love to hear from you what you love about the podcast and what you ‘d like us to feature on a future episode. You ‘ve been listening to the Queensland Rail History podcast, hosted by our historian, Greg Hallam, and myself, Annette, with a new episode every month.