Rusty town - Enfield in the 60s

As diversification is the spice of life, I thought I would shift focus away from the Illawarra for a post or two, to return to the city.  Actually, I was at Enfield just yesterday and I came across L 282 in the grass.  It’s a little beauty, silently rusting away. 

At least when the oxidisation process is complete the remaining bits can be tossed into the adjacent skip.

The pathos of seeing a 4 wheeler in the dirt reminded me of when Enfield was equal parts wonderment and decay for this writer, when in his formative years.  So prior to diving into a few closer-up shots here’s a few sights from Wentworth Street Enfield in the Sixties.

Starting off on the bank at Enfield in 1963, it was still possible to see a row of stored 57s and 58s. On the adjacent row, 3376, 3094 and a 19 obscure the view. And yes, the photo has deteriorated but it was always really smokey in these parts.

The next two shots are from 1965, looking towards #3 roundhouse.  It is still a working steam loco depot at this time as evidenced by the 60 class in steam in the background.  Two tank engines feature in the foreground of these photographs – in the first it is 3039 and in the next its 3116. Antiquities lurk throughout these shots – a 19 and a 24 sit to the north of 3116 while the 30T in the foreground has towed a 16 class tender.

 

The next photograph is also from the middle of the decade.  In it 5345 and 3334 sit in front of a 30, a 26, a 36 and a 30T. 

The next photograph moves into the second half of the decade.  Coal is still king, although its delivered in 19^th century thimbles which share a heritage to the L wagon mentioned at the top of this post. A plethora of standard goods class tenders sit ready for scrapping, to follow their locos.  Ominously, there are two orphan 38 class tenders around the turntable. Keen-eyed viewers will note two 35 class locos, apparently in working order in this shot.  I suspect they are 3526 on the left, and 3501 in the centre.  Around this time these two locos ran a couple of RTM tours.  The other candidates – 3531 and 3532 – were housed at Broadmeadow.  The splash of colour in this shot is that of 3830.

The next and final shot was taken in the late 1960s or even as late as the early 1970s.  There is no sign of steam; just the relics of the age of steam. Garratts are lined up for scrapping alongside standard goods locos and branchliners. Rust colours the afternoon. Not a bad place to stop this post...