Really useful engines

That remarkable class of 145 suburban tank locomotives built from 1903 onwards has been occupying my mind of late.  More so, the 77 converted to tender locos for branchline workings, but the whole class is worth considering over a beer or two.  I have posted a lot photos of 30s and 30Ts, but there is always room for one more installment.

Lets start with the class leader, which is soon to get a new lease on life. Here is the beastie, about to get away from Picton in 1990 working the loopline.

I will try to do this in number order. 3013 is apparently in Canberra, incomplete and in bits.  Good luck to whoever has that job.  Its life post service hasn't had too many high-points, but it has somehow lasted 50 years.  Once the collieries in the Hunter were finished with her, this is what she looked like in 1970.

Another Canberra resident has fared better. 3016T wore a startling blend of royal blue with red tyres which I would show you, but we managed to not photograph clearly.  Instead, here it is at Central in December 2012.

Incidentally, no 30Ts were harmed in the taking of that photo.  3016T got pushed by a couple of mainliners.

My favourite Easter ever was spent with 3026T at Cowra in 1994.  Best. religious. experience. ever. Even got to wish it goodnight and tuck it in to bed on Easter Saturday.

This brings us to Dorrigo, which I will never bash in case Uncle Keith wants to leave me a 30 or a 30T in his will (I will also accept a 24 or 25).  He and his compadres have kept 3028T, 3046 and 3090T from the oxy torch.  Thank you. First up, 3028T, then the other two.

Still on the 'stuffed and mounted' side of the class, 3075T resides, sans boiler tubes and a few other bits, at Parkes to this day.  Always good to give the old girl a pat.

Back to the tanks - 3085 has looked a little forlorn recently but better days are ahead.

We have cracked the century now. Time for the last surviving tender loco. Here's 3102T in a pleasing aqua-marine livery, celebrating 1980.

It is fitting that we finish up with a couple of the original designs. 3112 lurks at Goulburn, and is always a joy to see when passing through.  Here it is sneaking down into the near-abandoned Rozelle Goods Yard in June 2002.  

Last up, 3137. When nothing else steamy seemed to be moving in NSW, it was plying that loop line like it was 1909, not 1979.  A favourite, definitely. 

Until next time!

Don 

The lost children of Wollongong

The last two posts have been rather sombre affairs so I thought I would take it up a notch before the month is out... this time covering the motley collection of vehicles which seemed to congregate on the eastern (down) side of Wollongong station.  

I had started planning this post with a question - which wagon or carriage are you aware of that stayed in (some sort of) service but remained in the same place for the longest.  I had been thinking the diner parked near platform 15 at Sydney Terminal - it always seemed to be there in the 1970s and 1980s.  I have surprised myself by apparently taking a photo of it (AB91 methinks) in 1981, and then being able to find it for this post.

But I digress, Wollongong. This next shot was taken sometime between March 1961 when the Budds were introduced to the Illawarra, and mid-1965 when steam had disappeared.  The photo was taken from one of Dad's favourite family-dinner-out locations, the top floor of the Sydney Wide Discount store on the corner of Crown Street and Gladstone Avenue.  We got hundreds of chip dinners on the top level of this store, so Dad could snap shots like the following.

From the shadows, I am guessing this was a midday sojourn.  My interest is only for the three vans in the left of the picture, but I guess other readers may be interested in what was squatting around the turntable.  This next shot gives you a better view of its inhabitants.

But I digress once more... back to the vans.  Rolling into 1966, 3014T did a week or so of relief work in the Illawarra whilst the usual 30 tank was serviced.  On dusk on 28 April 1966, 3014T can be seen pulling past one of the more unusual vehicles in the collection.

One day I will Photoshop that slide.  OK, by 1969 when the NMRA visited rainy Wollongong and points south in CPH19, the line up may have changed somewhat.

I have nothing from the seventies to add right now, but the following snap from the favoured location in 1980 shows the collection of vans had been joined by an FO-type carriage.  And yes, not ot digress again but those orange things in the yard are AIS diesels.

It only took me two years to get around to it, but I did manage to photograph that carriage.  I could be totally wrong but I think it was carrying the title of L875 at the time.

And here is L875 with its collection of six runty orphans.

I suspect the line-up didn't stay together for long.  By December 1983 L875 had been joined by a number of cream-coloured vehicles.

And then the great leveler, electrification, came.  This final shot show Wollongong yard under transformation.  The little collection of vehicles have gone - most likely trundled at a slow speed to the back of Port Kembla, then torched. Oh dear, ending a blog on another sad note.

I will try to devise a cheery post over the next week or so.

Don

3137 on the Loop

Just found another series of shots of 3137 on the Loop Line in the late 1970s.  A bit more pork barrelling is needed from the upcoming State election so that 3137 plies its trade honourably along those rails once more.  If we in NSW are to get a railway to Eden surely it can go via Hill Top?

Cheers!
Don

Bound from South Australia

In December 1979 I was part of a group trip to Adelaide.  Unfortunately my fellow travellers had little time for railways so it was only as we returned to NSW that my persuasive arguments won through.. hehe.

The first place I made the travelling troop stop was Olary, on the Barrier Highway in eastern South Australia. This photo pretty much sums up Olary - just add 9 million blowies and open the oven door to get the full ambience.

Even after the Olary stop, I was allowed to choose the caravan park in Broken Hill that night.  I think the one I chose had a small selection of steam locos quietly rusting behind it.  If the photos seem blurred its because I was more worried about the local snakes than framing the perfect portrait (all of my photography in the 1970s was done in thongs). I am not sure of the identity of the loco in the first shot, the middle shot is of Y82 and the final shot is No.99.  Nearly 40 years later, I am not even sure this was Broken Hill!

Once we were back into NSW proper, things got more familiar.  Like at Dubbo.  Here we found the Comet and a couple of 44s lurking in the yard.

Then it was home via Forbes and the railway high-point of the trip - the Lachlan Vintage Village.  As the other tourists participated in convict floggings and generally tried to avoid the 110 degree heat, stupid here was snapping away at the following.

Nothing quite like an undressed tank loco...

And then there was a selection of narrow gauge beasties...

And that was about it!  Can't believe it was 40 years ago - maybe that caravan park was Peterborough?

Until next time, 
Don

Preservation is not for ever

Was cruising through some shots from 2007 this morning and was just surprised by how much things have changed in the 'heritage' or 'preservation' scene in NSW.

It has to be said. I miss the Cocky. A regular heritage train, keeping the momentum of preservation alive. 4908 and 4833 on the Cocky on 14 March 2007.

A few from Koolewong on 14 April 2007 as positioning runs were made for the Maitland Steam Festival that year. Will start with 01 doing what it had done for 60+ years.

Thankfully (at least one) 01 is still going. And looks better than ever.

3112 is a terrific little loco. Hope it runs once more.

While we are in Koolewong, here's a resplendent 4918 on 4 August 2007.

Some other things were different in 2007 - like the cameras in mobile phones were truly crap. Here a night shot of MZ1432 at Gosford on tour on 7 May 2007 tested my phone's capabilities and found them wanting. 

So, jut like the 'real thing', photograph the preservation scene before it too has gone.

Cheers,
Don

Newcastle's 30 tanks

Here is the third installment of photographs from Frank Barrett. This time a series of shots from around Newcastle, including the Toronto branch.

First up, a semi-blurred 3086.

And then 3034, bum end leading.

The front end of 3067.

3046 with a 5 car set.

Finally, a 30 tank with a headlight! 3134 with a four car set.

 Two now from what was probably the same afternoon: bunker-leading 3067 on the way out and 3114 with a substantial carriage set.  

And finally, down to the shoreline of Toronto to find the crew climbing aboard 3067 on what appears to be a nice, sunny afternoon.

Until next time - cheers!
Don