The Victorian Railways possessed a Marion Steam Shovel which they were using in 1909 on such projects as the regrading of the railway line at the Armadale Station, the purpose of which was to allow the Malvern-Prahran tram line an uninterrupted crossing above the railway at High-street. (1). The machine was manufactured by the Marion Steam Shovel Company of Ohio, U.S.A., (2) and imported in 1907, and assembled at the Newport Railway Workshops (3).
Caption: Regrading the Gippsland line at Toorak, Armadale and Malvern: the Marion Steam Shovel at work.
The Australasian, August 7, 1909 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/139684685
The Australasian newspaper in August 1909 had the following report, describing how the Steam Shovel worked, as well as the photograph above -
The Marion steam-shovel has recently been put to work on the regrading of the line at the Armadale station. It is the only one of the kind in Victoria, and the railway authorities state that it is giving perfect satisfaction. Excavating is effected by means of a bucket or scoop attached to a swinging arm. The bucket, after being lowered, is raided by powerful gearing, and at each lift a cubic yard of material is scraped off the face of the cutting. It is then swung round, so as to empty its load into the ballast waggons. When everything within reach has been cut away, a short length of portable track is laid in front of the shovel, along which it moves by its own mechanism, until it is in a position to make another start. Fifty waggons, holding six tons apiece, are being filled daily. The total weight would equal that of two average goods trains, but, working in a less restricted space, the machine could considerably increase this output. Providing it is not solid rock, the kind of material to be excavated does not seem to make any difference. Whether loam, gravel, hard clay, or schist, the four great steel teeth of the bucket bite this off in mouthfuls of nearly a ton, and with no more apparent effort than if it were so much butter. Money and time are both saved by the shovel, as compared with the old slow method of ploughing and scraping, for the consumption of fuel is small, and the only other expenses are the wages of the two attendants. Some heavy excavating still remains to be done, but the work ought to be sufficiently advanced two months hence to enable the down trains to be run in the cutting. The girders for the High street bridge are ready for placing in position, and this roadway, which will also carry the Malvern tramway over the railway, should be ready for traffic in November. An island platform is being built at the new station. and passengers will have access to this by subways (4).
Marion Steam Shovel. Victorian Railways photographer.
State Library of Victoria Image H1076/224C http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4192279
By 1911, Melbourne's rail network was in need of expansion, as The Herald in July 1913 reported -
Standing on Prince's Bridge, and looking eastwards, on a moonlit night one may see one of the most fascinating sights in the city, the railway grid-iron over which the inward and outward bound suburban and country trains travel towards or away from each other under the signal bridges. Two pairs of lines connect the city with suburban stations on either side of Caulfield and around, and run on to the Gippsland line and branches to Wonthaggi, and also connect with the line that skirts the Bay and finds its terminal point at Mornington. In short, these two roads represent two of the important arteries of the railway system. Both goods and passenger traffic has increased rapidly of late, and it became necessary to devise means of relieving the congestion. So the duplication of the Caulfleld line was decided upon, and the actual work was put in hand in December, 1911 (5).
The cost of the project was estimated to be £300,000 and the work was expected to have been completed at the end of 1914 (6). It was actually finished in December 1915, apart from a the new station building at South Yarra and the island platform at Caulfield. It also ran £100,000 over budget (7). One of the end results of the work was all the level crossings between South Yarra and Caulfield stations, were abolished (8).
The Herald report continued with this description of the project -
The scheme was and is the duplication of the line from South Yarra to Caulfield by providing
up and down "fast" roads and up and down "slow" roads. The "fast" roads for country, goods, quick suburban, and race traffic, the "slow" roads for trains, with suburban passengers, stopping at
all stations.
An important part of the scheme has been the reduction of the existing steep grades - the steepest being from 1 in 44 to 1 in 63. It was necessary to drop the lines from South Yarra to Malvern, thus doing away with level crossings, and to provide overhead bridges at some crossings. At Hawthorn the line has been, or will be dropped 12ft, at Toorak 13ft. 6in., and at Malvern 9ft. The greatest depth will be 18ft. below present level. On the other hand, the dip between Malvern and Caulfield is to be dealt with by the construction of an embankment, over which the trains will pass. Many bridges are in course of erection, and before the duplication could be entered upon land had to be purchased and expensive villas removed (9).
One of these expensive villas was the home of Carlo Catani, Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department. His house was at 4 Elm Grove, Armadale. I have written about this here.
In July 1912, it was reported that the Railway Commissioners had
purchased a second "Marion" steam shovel for use on the Caulfield line duplication and regrading works, and at other large excavation undertakings, and it is anticipated that the saving, which will be effected will be sufficient to cover the cost of the machine. The new machine arrived from New York in the steamer Star of Australia on Monday last, and the work of assembling the parts will be taken in hand at Newport workshops in the course of a few days (10). The cost of the Steam Shovel was £3200 (11).
At the end of October 1912, The Argus reported on the working of the Steam Shovel -
The new Marion steam shovel purchased by the Railways department, is at present working at the Toorak station. This is the model (No. 50) that the department put into commission several years ago, but in detail it has been improved upon. The Marion is of the same type as the Bucyrus shovels, that have done such good work at Panama. The new machine has a bucket capacity of two cubic yards. In a shift of eight hours 1,000 tons can be loaded on a ballast train, but in a speed trial 180 tons have been excavated in an hour. This pace, however, cannot be kept up, for it makes no allowance for shifting the shovel. The motive power consists of a hoisting engine, and of an auxiliary engine, for pushing the spoon and bucket into the material to be excavated. As the Marion can excavate at a height of 23ft., and at a depth of 3ft. below the rails, in both cases with a working radius of 22ft., it will be seen that it has great flexibility. When it has scooped up everything within range an 11ft. length of rail is laid. The shovel propels itself along this, and is then ready to remove another semi-circular section of material, measuring 23ft. across, and, if necessary, 26ft. in thickness. (12).
I actually own a postcard of this steam shovel, shown below, pictured at the Newport Railway Workshops.
Marion Steam Shovel at the Newport Workshop
Back of the postcard
It appears the postcard was sent to Katie by her brother. The card was said to be a product of Charlie's shop, along with the engine. I am unsure what this means, but maybe Charlie worked at the Newport Workshops; or did he take the photograph and produced the postcard? I cannot tell you.
What was the fate of the Marion Steam Shovel? Again, I cannot tell you. There is a short article about it on Peter Vincent's website, which focusses on Victorian Railway rolling stock, http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c215m.htm
Another Marion Steam Shovel was imported in 1913 by the Commonwealth Railways to work on the Trans-Australian Railway at Port Augusta, read about it here https://www.comrails.com/cr_locos/r_marion.html
The Marion Steam Shovel. Victorian Railways photographer.
It appears the machine is no longer in use. It may possibly have been put aside during the First World War and manpower and resources directed elsewhere.
State Library of Victoria Image H1076/38E http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/4192399
Acknowledgment
My research colleague, Isaac Hermann, actually found the postcard for me. Thank you!
Trove - I have created a short list of articles on the Marion Steam Shovel, access it here.
Footnotes
(1) The Argus, August 18, 1909, see here.
(2) More on the Company here https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Marion_Steam_Shovel_Company
(3) Peter Vincent's website http://www.pjv101.net/ Steam Shovel article here http://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c215m.htm Also Victorian Railways to '62 by Leo J. Harrigan (Victorian Railways, 1962) confirms that the Victorian Railways purchased two Marion Steam Shovels between 1907 and 1914.
(4) The Australasian, August 7, 1909, see here.
(5) The Herald, July 15, 1913, see here.
(6) The Herald, July 15, 1913, see here.
(8) The Argus, April 14, 1915, see here.
(9) The Herald, July 15, 1913, see here.
(10) The Age, July 25, 1912, see here.
(11) The Age, December 13, 1912, see here.
(12) The Age, October 31, 1912, see here.
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