Towns link

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
JUST as the old tramway linked Powelltown to Yarra Junction, the restoration of old log bogies is forging a stronger link between the towns.
Upper Yarra Historical Society volunteers and the Powelltown office of the Department of Sustainability and Environment have been restoring and rebuilding two log bogies that were used to haul logs from the mountains of the Upper Yarra and LaTrobe Valley to the Warburton train line.
DSE Powelltown stewardship and biodiversity manager Wally Notman had informed the museum they were planning to restore a bogie, and the museum offered their technical “how to” drawings dating back to the 1870s.
Museum volunteer Lee Pannett said while preparing for the Crank Up, they had pulled out two old timber trolleys – or log bogies as they were known.
“They were rotten but we decided to rebuild them,” he said.
“We’ve kept nearly all the steelwork, it’s original, and the DSE cut us the chassis timber.”
Powelltown DSE cut the timber for both log bogies, milled it and delivered the timber to the museum.
DSE worker Richard Abbott volunteered his time last week to help Mr Pannett construct the museum’s log bogie and his children Hydee, Llewie and Bowyn spent the afternoon clearing the tracks so the bogie could roll.
Eight-year-old Hydee said she had uncovered a collection of historic bits and pieces, which could be cleaned and restored.
Museum volunteer Rhonda O’Meara said the idea was to have a bogie at each end of the logs, latched together with chains and pushed along.
“It was very precarious, and the timber men would take them over the gullies and sit on top of the chains,” she said.
Mrs O’Meara said, looking back at the photos and memories of the log bogies, she was in total awe of what the men were able to achieve.
“These men were either incredible, courageous or stupid to transport the timber out like that,” she laughed.
The Upper Yarra Historical Society will host the 29th Crank Up this weekend from 10am to 4pm at the Upper Yarra Museum in the old railway station at Yarra Junction.