Chapter 19 & the Lake Goldsmith Steam Preservation Association (LGSPA) had the privilege to host 32 Caterpillar & Dealer representatives and participants of the 45th Dealer Top Apprentice Program (DTAP) for their feature event on Sat 24th February, 2024. Unique within Caterpillars global operations, the DTAP event seeks to challenge dealer apprentice representatives from around Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia by way of theory and practical test stations, to acknowledge and reward the best of the best. The program has been running for 45 years, and has developed prestige with the dealer network, such that representatives from US based dealers have also travelled down under to compete. At the conclusion of the weeklong event at Caterpillar's Service Training Centre, in Melbourne all persons involved are invited to attend a feature event, and this year we were proud to have been given the opportunity to host the event.

Despite an official awards dinner and celebrations, the night before, a coach brought our guests in from Melbourne to be greeted with bacon and egg rolls provided by APEX, and a local coffee van. The super friendly fly’s just added to the Australian theme, with some overseas visitors soon picking up the traditional 'Aussie salute' during morning tea. Once briefed on the event schedule Neil Clydsdale 'held court' providing a brief overview of the Holt & Best amalgamation that became Caterpillar, while showcasing his Best Thirty tractors. Our own Eddie Bedwell then captivated the audience with stories of his 2 TON and Thirty restorations, before giving a hand crank starting demonstration. A quick lesson in the difference between supercharging and blown, air intakes and the audience were treated to a history of the D337 engine and how it was saved by Ed, before a pilot motor starting demonstration. With the smell of diesel in the air, we called on one of the US apprentices to help prime the D343 'black start' engine starting accumulator, before our young guests got a true whiff of a bygone era when the gen set sprang to life!

Outside Mark Hutchings described rope start pilot motor technique on the D4 7U and benefits of this arrangement, before one of our Aussie apprentices took the challenge to start the pilot motor in front of an audience, which he did first pull! A walk through the Lake Goldsmith grounds and a quick talk on his work experience as a Cat Service Tech in USA & Australia by Peter Mekis, before a wonderful fully catered lunch was served. 

Next, we braved the warming Aussie sun to, what for many with be their once in a lifetime opportunity see the 1903 Bucyrus 65C and 124 Ruston No.4 shovels alive and operating under real steam. This was no mean feat given the bushfires in the area on days before, but was a highlight for many of our visitors. A meandering walk back to the ACMOC shed, enabled us to showcase Australian made engines and engineering, alongside of the famous Harris engine, with ties back to Daniel Best before Mark described the birth of his custom D8 with D17000 engine. Then a working demonstration was given of cable scraper operation before concluding thank you and speeches. Each participant received a Lake Goldsmith showbag.

As always, this event would not have happened with the hard work of a few key people, poor Mark Hutchings was up defending his house from bushfires 2 nights earlier, yet was on site and helping during set up and event day, it wouldn't have happened without him! Thanks too to Ed Bedwell and Darryl Robins for their help on the Friday moving tractors, set and clean up. Neil Clydsdale and Peter Mekis for their talks and support on the day, and of course the LGSPA committee and volunteers. Cat donated $2000 to LGSPA as well as covering their cleaning and catering costs. As a Chapter we can hold our head high for the professionalism of the event, and for continuing to build relationships with Cat and dealers, while delivering on the Clubs mission statement.