XPT retrospective - part III

I hadn't realised I had left my XPT retrospective untouched for two months.  I think I left things in Melbourne around 1994.  The next big thing in my on/off XPT relationship was the 1995 Tilt Train, captured here in March of that year in Goulburn.

The real star was at the other end of the platform.

The late 1990s was a time of comparative stasis - few innovations, just millions of XPT miles.  There was that time I arrived at Orange East Box 10 seconds too late to take a photo of a crew in a hurry to get to Sydney.

And I always thought that this accidental capture of XP2008 in 1998 highlighted its HST heritage nicely.

And then we all went rather colourful.  First the Olympics....

And then a color that should never adorn anything, unless it is a vegetable. Or in Bundanoon on a grey day in 2002.

By 2004 I was pretty much over rides on XPTs, nearly always late, overloaded and prone to mechanical failure.  Here is a 2004 snap of one such delay at Gloucester.

It was time for a change, so I was pretty happy on 26 April 2006 when the new livery of the XPT was unveiled at Central.

The next and final instalment will cover the XPT up to its present autumnal years.

Cheers,

Don

XPTs, Act II

Here is the next XPT installment, starting around 1992. 

1992NP067A 2 car diesel set and the North XPT eye each other off at Maitland on 22 August 1992.

The up Riverina XPT rests for a moment at Moss Vale in 1992.

On 25 March 1992 the down West XPT nears Spring Hill.  Thank you work for sending me to the country on this day.

The up Muwillumbah XPT rolls across the bridge just north of Gloucester on 11 February 1993.  This is one of my favourite train watching locations.

Getting bored yet? I will try to mix it up a bit.

Here's an XPT at platform 16 at Central, due to close-down of the Sydney Terminal yard, on 1 October 1994.

Another one of my favourite places - Urunga, late 1994.

And the big thing that happened to the XPT in the 1990s was that it went south - sadly replacing the loc hauled overnight trains.  But I rode it anyway.

Here's A76 and the XPT at Spencer St Station on 2 August 1994.

And two days later... the City of Cootamundra soon to depart.

Cheers!

Don

40 years of XPTs

Given it has been 40 years since XPTs starting earning their keep on NSW rails, I thought I would pin up a selection of photos from their service.  I have always been pretty ambivalent about XPTs - their Pommy heritage, the lousy food, the crappy seats and particularly poor sleepers, the fact that they were used to clear out mail trains and reduce services in regional areas - I could go on.  

Over the years my opposition to them has mellowed somewhat. They were given a task to do which was beyond them basically because they are unsuited to our rail system. And the alternative was a Greyhound or a Corolla so I think you could call me a fan out of necessity.  I am probably responsible for wearing one of them out, through work and holidays. And the crews have always been fantastic, charming and willing for a chat or to give help when I needed it. 

Anyway, onto the photos.... here's a few from the first decade.

Exiting Sydney Steam Terminal on 28 November 1982 (and obscuring 3214 in doing so).

Memory suggests that this is the down Riverina Express - at Gib Tunnel in October 1982.

Crew change at Bathurst in 1983.  Shortly after I stuffed the shot of the goods train.  But always liked this shot for the way the guys are chatting calmly.

Photographed while avoiding frostbite off the footbridge railing on a bitterly cold July day in 1984.

West XPT about to head to the sheds at Meeks Road, around about the time that the West Mail was heading off.  Mid 1980s, before the Greiner purge.

Up North and West XPTs at the end of their journeys. Mid 1980s again.

I am about to jump on this service to return me to Moss Vale, after a kangaroo stuck its head through the radiator of my Holden Gemini in February 1985. 

Possibly the time I was happiest to ever see an XPT. This is Sodwalls in July 1986. Sat beside the line for seven hours to this this train and a fuel train.

Here's a Canberra service on 11 March 1987, running through the then rural setting of Wilton.

On 22 June 1988 I stepped off this XPT, trundled around Tamworth for about eight hours, then climbed about the North Mail to return to Sydney.  A great day on the rails.

Four months later I did the same day out, but headed to Dubbo this time.

An April afternoon in 1989 on Piton Hill with Dad included the up Riverina XPT.

By 1991 the Countrylink livery was starting to make an appearance. Here is a mixed bunch of liveries on the up North XPT absolutely flattening it through Blandford on 25 October 1991. We had spent two days photographing 48s, 44s and 45s climb Ardglen bank - very slowly.  The speed of the XPT caught me right out, hence the going away shot.   

But, thanks to track alignments and speed restrictions, we did catach up with this train at Maitland.  A huge electrical storm rolled through Maitland just after this photo was taken.

Might leave this edition right here, after a neat 10 years.

Cheers,
Don