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Torbane, New South Wales
Torbane was a privately-owned village lying within the area now known as Capertee, in the Local Government Area of the City of Lithgow, within the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. There was also another village, Airly, nearby. Both villages were associated with the mining of oil shale. The mine associated with Torbane was known as the New Hartley Mine. and that associated with Airly was known as the Genowlan Mine. There were retorts that produced crude shale oil at Torbane. Both Torbane and Airly are now ghost towns. History Aboriginal presence The area lies within the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people. There are Aboriginal heritage sites in the area. Mining, oil production, and mining villages Torbane takes its name from Torbane Hill in Bathgate, Scotland, and shares a similar etymology with Torbanite, a type of oil shale that is found there. It was the mining of oil shale that first led to the establishment of the villages of Tobane and Ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capertee, New South Wales
Capertee pronounced ( ) is a village 46 km north of Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia. It is on an elevated site (808 metres) above the Capertee Valley. In 2016, the township had a population of 145 people. The Castlereagh Highway (previously known as the Mudgee Road) links Capertee with Lithgow to the south and Mudgee to the north. The township is surrounded by National Parks and grazing land. Principal employment is in coal mining, farming and tourism-related services. The Capertee Valley forms a part of the catchment area of the Hawkesbury River, but the village lies very close to the Great Divide watershed, with the Turon River catchment nearby to its west. History Prior to European settlement, the Capertee district was occupied by the Wiradjuri people. Early European explorers through the region were James Blackman in 1821, followed later the same year by William Lawson, seeking a practicable pass through the ranges to the pastoral lands to the north-west. B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fractional Distillation
Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions. Chemical compounds are separated by heating them to a temperature at which one or more fractions of the mixture will vaporize. It uses distillation to fractionate. Generally the component parts have boiling points that differ by less than 25 °C (45 °F) from each other under a pressure of one atmosphere. If the difference in boiling points is greater than 25 °C, a simple distillation is typically used. It is used to refine crude oil. Laboratory setup Fractional distillation in a laboratory makes use of common laboratory glassware and apparatuses, typically including a Bunsen burner, a round-bottomed flask and a condenser, as well as the single-purpose fractionating column. As an example, consider the distillation of a mixture of water and ethanol. Ethanol boils at while water boils at . So, by heating the mixture, the most volatile component (ethanol) will concen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Fell (industrialist)
John Wilson Fell (1862–1955) was an industrialist involved in the shale oil operations at Newnes, New South Wales and the establishment of two early oil refineries, on Gore Bay at Greenwich and at Clyde, both suburbs of Sydney. He was the principal of John Fell & Company and was, for many years, the Managing Director of Commonwealth Oil Corporation, which he revived from receivership. Early life and family background John Wilson Fell was born at Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. on 7 November 1862. He was the son of Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior (1825–1890) and his wife Margaret (née Ferguson) (1828–1901) He migrated to Australia, with his parents during the 1870s. Alexander Morrison Fell, Senior, was an important figure in the Scottish shale oil industry, at the time the most advanced and largest in the world. In 1860, contributing shale mining leasehold in lieu of capital, Alexander had become a partner in the West Calder Oil Company, and its manager. The company†... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newnes, New South Wales
Newnes (), an abandoned oil shale mining site of the Wolgan Valley, is located in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The site that was operational in the early 20th century is now partly surrounded by Wollemi National Park. The settlement was originally built by the Commonwealth Oil Corporation. History and description A major oil shale mine with two headings was started on the north side of the Wolgan River, opposite the works. It was intended to tunnel through the mountain to meet up with some earlier workings in the Capertee Valley as mining conditions in the Capertee were regarded as being much better than in the Wolgan. However, mining difficulties and the generally low quality of the shale in this area meant that mining became concentrated on the No. 2 mine and work on the No. 1 mine was eventually abandoned. Although construction of a tunnel linking the Wolgan Valley with the Capertee was proposed on numerous subsequent occasions, it was to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Placer Mining
Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (Alluvium, alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit mining, open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for precious metal deposits (particularly gold) and gemstones, both of which are often found in Alluvium, alluvial deposits—deposits of sand and gravel in modern or ancient stream beds, or occasionally glacial deposits. The metal or gemstones, having been moved by stream flow from an original source such as a vein, are typically only a minuscule portion of the total deposit. Since gems and heavy metals like gold are considerably denser than sand, they tend to accumulate at the base of placer deposits. Placer deposits can be as young as a few years old, such as the Canadian Queen Charlotte beach gold placer deposits, or billions of years old like the Elliot Lake uranium paleoplacer within the Huronian Supergroup i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales F351 Class Locomotive
The F351 class (X10 post 1924) was a class of steam locomotives built for the New South Wales Government Railways in Australia. History The locomotives were originally ordered in 1879, but the order was cancelled. A follow-up order in 1882 was made, the specification originally for locomotives with 5 ft 0 in diameter driving wheels made by the acting locomotive engineer Mr Scott. During his absence in England on official business this was changed by Mr T. Middelton to an type with 4 ft 0 in diameter driving wheels, claiming that such locomotives would be capable of 30-33 mph in service. Despite Scott's protests, Commissioner Goodchap approved the changes and six locomotives were designed and built by Vulcan Foundry. The subsequent 0-6-0 locomotives became the R(285) class, later the Z18 class. In August 1884, Scott informed the commissioner that more locomotives were required with the opening of the Illawarra extension. Mr Middelton wanted more of the R(285 class), but M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New South Wales Government Railways
The New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) was the agency of the Government of New South Wales that administered rail transport in New South Wales, Australia, between 1855 and 1932. Management The agency was managed by a range of different commission structures between 1857 and 1932, which reported to either the Minister for Public Works or the Minister for Transport. The inaugural Chief Commissioner was Ben Martindale and, following the enactment of the he became Commissioner of Railways. John Rae succeeded Martindale in 1861, and in 1877 Charles Goodchap was appointed Commissioner. The set up a corporate body of three railway commissioners to manage the railways and remove them from political influence, resulting in the resignation of Goodchap. This Board of Railway Commissioners of New South Wales was in place from 22 October 1888 to 4 April 1907, and was replaced by a sole Chief Commissioner of Railways and Tramways until 22 March 1932, when a panel arrangement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard-gauge Railway
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with approximately 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia, Finland, and Uzbekistan. The distance between the inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary/Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches" which is equivalent to 1435.1mm. History As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between the inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gwabegar Railway Line
The Gwabegar railway line is a railway line in the Central West and North West Slopes of New South Wales, Australia, which passes through the towns of Mudgee, Gulgong, Dunedoo, Coonabarabran and terminates at Gwabegar. The section from Wallerawang to Capertee was opened on 15 May 1882; the section from Capertee to Rylstone on 9 June 1884; the section from Rylstone to Mudgee on 10 September 1884; the section from Mudgee to Gulgong on 14 April 1909; the section from Gulgong to Dunedoo on 28 November 1910; the section from Dunedoo to Binnaway on 2 April 1917; the section from Binnaway to Coonabarabran on 11 June 1917; and the section from Coonabarabran to Gwabegar on 10 September 1923. Currently, the Gwabegar Line is operational between Wallerawang to Rylstone and between Gulgong and Binnaway. The line beyond Rylstone to Gulgong and from Binnaway towards the terminus at Gwabegar still remains booked out of use and rail traffic remains suspended."Signaling & infrastructure" ''Ra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pumpherston Retort
The Pumpherston retort (also known as the Bryson retort) was a type of oil-shale retort used in Scotland at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. It marked separation of the oil-shale industry from the coal industry as it was designed specifically for oil-shale retorting. The retort is named after Pumpherston town in Scotland, which was one of the major Scottish oil shale areas. The retort was commercialized by Pumpherston Oil Company. History The Pumpherston retort was invented and patented in 1894 by William Fraser, James Bryson, and James Jones of Pumpherston Oil Company. By 1910, 1,528 Pumpherston retorts were used in Scotland. In addition, the retort was used in Spain and Australia. At Newnes, in Australia, the Pumpherson design was used, but it was later modified—by adding more off-takes—to make it better suited to oil-rich shale, by John Fell. The resulting design variant was patented by Fell, and was referred to as a 'modified Pumpherson' or 'Fel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daily Telegraph (Sydney)
''The Daily Telegraph'', also nicknamed ''The Tele'', is an Australian tabloid newspaper published by Nationwide News Pty Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of News Corp. It is published Monday through Saturday and is available throughout Sydney, across most of regional and remote New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and South East Queensland. A 2013 poll conducted by Essential Research found that the ''Telegraph'' was Australia's least-trusted major newspaper, with 49% of respondents citing "a lot of" or "some" trust in the paper. Amongst those ranked by Nielsen, the ''Telegraph'' website is the sixth most popular Australian news website with a unique monthly audience of 2,841,381 readers. History ''The Daily Telegraph'' was founded in 1879, by John Mooyart Lynch, a former printer, editor and journalist who had once worked on the ''Melbourne Daily Telegraph''. Lynch had failed in an attempt to become a politician and was lookin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commonwealth Oil Corporation
Commonwealth Oil Corporation Limited was an English-owned Australian company associated with the production and refining of petroleum products derived from oil shale, during the early years of the 20th century. It is associated with Newnes, Hartley Vale, and Torbane, all in New South Wales. It should not be confused with Commonwealth Oil Refineries, which was a completely separate company, established in 1920, that refined imported crude oil from 1924. History The company was registered in December 1905. At that time, it issued £500,000 of preferred ordinary shares with another £225,000 of deferred shares. Another £150,000, in the form of 5½ per cent, debentures was raised, in January 1908, followed by another £265,540 of 6 per cent convertible debenture stock, in July 1909. In April 1906, it acquired the existing assets of New South Wales Shale & Oil Company, a company that was producing shale oil at Torbane and Hartley Vale. The Harley Vale retorts closed, around August ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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