Club Day, April 2014, Crookwell

As part of the Train Safari, on Sunday 13th April we visited the layout of David who lives in Crookwell. It was a good turn out on a beautiful day. With all the rain the southern areas of NSW has had the countryside all the way down to and including Crookwell is just beautiful, so green and lushous.

Here is the (ir)rationale behind the Davidsland Railway, according to the owner, David.

Set in Davidsland, where roads are virtually non-existent, the railway has to provide the principal means of transport. The principality is not very rich so locomotives and rolling stock have been purchased from a diverse range of suppliers and countries that have provided them at the lowest cost. All of the locomotives are steam because they provided the best deals as they had been superseded by most other countries.

There are four destination stations on the railway:

• Davidstown is the station for the main township in the country. The station is set at a small distance from teh twon itself so there is not much habitation around the station. Davidstown is on the double main line that services most of the country.
• Johnsonville is the station for another large town which is, again, set at a small distance from the station. Thus, there is also not much visible habitation around this station which is also on the country's double main line.
• Little Eric is situated on a loop-line that diverges from the dobule main line. It has a village that houses the workers from the Metal Foundry owned by Pong & Smelt. There are a couple of small stalls near the railway station itself to cater for those who do commute to work each day. One stall is Fred's Hotdog & Burger Stand that does a roaring trade at around breakfast time. The other is a Flower stall known as 'Daisy's Bloomers' which generally does a good trade in the afternoon for those purchasing flowers to subdue irate wives.
  The foundry is actually bigger than the village in which its workers live. It is serviced by a siding on the double main line known as Pong Siding.
  The village, though small, nevertheless has some shops which supply some of the needs of the inhabitants.
  The Grocery Store is run by Mr. I Explodopoulos, a gentleman of greek origin - the store advertises itself as the place where 'you get more bang for yor buck!!'
  There ia slo a Bakery run by Burn Brothers. They are renowend for their dark-brown, crispy bread rolls.
  The local Butcher's Shop is known as 'The Silly Sausage' and will always meat your needs!
  Finally, the Pharmacy is run by Miss A Quak and she claims that she can cure anything. The village has a turbulent religous life. A few of the inhabitants attend the little church of St. Agatha in Acrimony where Rev. D Bacle is the priest in charge. No changes happen here without a good deal of argument and controversy.
  Not far from the village is a huge windmill that was put in place by those not ripe for climate change. The main instigator of the project was a gentleman who was related to a Mr. Don Quixote, an immigrant from Spain who had much experience with such matters.
• Francisvale is an up market little township situated idyllically at the beginning of the countryside where there is a single branch-line that has been diverted from the main-lines. The houses here accommodate executives from various parts of Davidsland. The most prominent residence is a mansion called 'Pong House' where Mr. Pong, one of the owners of the foundry lives. The nearest business to the residential part of town in the Beer-Garden and right next door is The Farmers Bank (even though non-one here is a farmer).
  There is a General Store, a Hardware Store, The Post-Office and the 'Daily Grind' Coffee House. Finally there is Hoo Flung Dung's Laundry to cater for the needs of overworked housewives.
  At the end of town furthest from the residences it the very handsome Collegiate Church of St. Agnes in Agony, presided over by Rev. Canon D. Mented, who drives himself made trying to get interested parishioners. On the other side of the tracks the town has a large Goods Depot to cater for the huge material needs of the residents.