Tumulla '63

For once, I have been scouring photos from the family collection for train composition, rather than what is up front. Must be getting old(er) and wiser. The quality of the photos leaves a lot to be desired - Dad certainly wasn't using Kodak! I have tried to remove the most egregious marks off the following snaps.

I love this first shot, which I believe is 3670 on a down goods climbing Tumulla Bank in 1963 (from the date of the slide).  Although the train is largely empty, It requires 5364 as a banker (more of that in a moment).  A CW cattle wagon is tucked in behind the Pig, then there are 10 G wagons.  I can't be certain that these are wagons returning to Broken Hill for the W44 ore concentrate run but might be. Then there appears to be an S wagon, followed by a K wagon, then a series of S wagons.  It is only this part of the train that is the 'revenue' service.

And to complete the picture, here is our banker! I may have posted this one previously. The country looks very dry and the shadows are short, so I am guesssing it is near the middle of a winter's day. This timing sort of works as Dad was never one to share a paddock with a snake.

In this next shot, 4904 in its original livery still looks to be under warranty - unlike the RU hoppers trundling behind. As these would almost certainly be loaded, the crew of the 49 would be in for a fun trip downhill.

Now this next photo is of 3812 or 3822, but not 3802. But it is the two wagons immediately behind the loco that are of interest presently, especially if they are filled with product from Arnotts Biscuits.

That reminds me, it is time for a cup of tea and a monte carlo.

Cheers

Don

Lithgow - 1964

 Just found a couple of snaps Dad took of Lithgow in 1964.  Sorry, can't be any more specific about when and why.  I just love the shot of 3227 and the Garratt.

A couple from Cowan (& not from me)

Just  quick one to clean out another selection from the camera of Mr Ian Brady.  These two shots apparently date from 24 November 1956 (the alternative offered date is 15 December 1956), and what great photos they are!

This first photo shows 3606 hauling a 4 car Pullman set up Cowan Bank, with what appears to be an EHO trundling behind.  I am always happy for esteemed readers to correct or add to this caption... going out on a limb to guess this could be the up Kempsey Day Train?  Just a stab in the dark but I seem to remember these carriages being used on this service prior to being condemned in 1960.  Glorious shot of a pig in its prime though.

This next shot perhaps eclipses the first? Here we have 3818 on an up Newcastle Flyer service. Gee it would have been something special to be line-side as it passed.

Anyway, this nearly ends my little cache of gems from the lens of Mr Brady.  There are a few more trams around Glebe to sort through, then a special collection of industrial locos in operation around Port Kembla in August 1955.  Will get them sorted and up here as fast as I can.

Cheers,
Don

PS for details on why I am displaying another man's (remarkable) efforts, please read my post from 12 October 2017.

Tumulla run-by

Evening all! In this edition I am returning to the family's vault of photographs, but maintaining the monochromatic flavour of recent posts.  And we are headed west... to Tumulla Bank, between Bathurst and Orange.

Thanks to the Senior Contributor, we have 3825 getting a bit of help from 3652 on the paradoxically called Down Central West Express.  The paradox, if not obvious is a train going up a hill being called a down service - but we all know better! 

I am not real sure of the date but the following set of snaps come from the 1965 period. Totally from memory, 3825 became a Dubbo loco around then (? maybe later). It is a 5 car carriage set, from my feeble eyes.

Here's the set of snaps as they were taken...

 

 

Enjoy!

A few more from the river

Every time I post photos from the collection of Ian Brady I feel a bit conflicted, but I figure that if you or your loved ones decided to sell photos then they are accepting of a somewhat wider audience.  And all I can see is the absolute public benefit in giving these five masterpieces an airing before their current owner shuffles away, in one form or another.

Public benefit? I think it is demonstrated by the following shots, apparently taken on New Year's Eve, 1956. Lets start with what I believe to be round top 3606 - though it could be the super pig(?) on what looks like a long distance day train - or it could be a relief given the time of the year.  Perhaps to Kempsey, Werris Creek or Cessnock? Just magic.

Next in the deck was a more prosaic P class - but these days it would be the stand out shot. An obedient BOB set trails? The loco crew may have decided to give the photographer a show.

Time for some Pacific action! First 3824 on an up service and then 3816 on what I guess is the down morning Flyer (going from shadows).

Lets wrap up this series with a return to the 19th century conveyance - the dog box! This train too is quite eclectic - LFXs, steel cars, R cars and a heavy van.

More from Mr Brady and yours truly later this month.

Cheers,
Don

PS - for the back story as to how I was lucky enough to receive these photos, see my post from October 2017.

From the vault, and probably should stay there.

I figure its about time to post some of our own photos for a change, especially as this is the 200th blog post. So here's a few from the vault from around Sydney in the early 1960s. Each snap has a little story or quirk (at least to my tiny mind), as well as a few deficiencies.

Lets start with a photograph that has at least two quirks. It would seem that the pig is 3670, but with 3646's tender. The second quirk is the white roof on the guardsvan behind 1941.  Its at Redfern around 1960, by the way...

And then there is this one of stored electrics.  I suspect its around Enfield somewhere. The first car is a Bradfield and the next two are run of the mill, but I have never worked out what the last carriage is in this line up.

This third photograph is straightforward - the mystery is that the 41 actually appears to be moving.  A class not known for movement.

Not much in question in the next shot, apart from the identity of the trucks loaded behind the 38.  The identity of the 38 is also in question - at least its not the 3-8-0-1.

And I am going to finish with a photo that probably can't be fixed until the 22nd century.  It highlights the frustrations of manual wind-on cameras in the 1960s.  In all the excitement of finding 3224 hauling a HG and a dead pig probably for scrapping, the film was not advanced for the next shot. 

So, I'll leave you with a big 'thank you' for persevering with me for 200 posts and a promise that many more marginal photographs are still to be published in the next 200 posts.

Cheers,
Don

Hawkesbury - October 1958

Another collection from the camera of Mr Ian Brady, this time collected on 11 October 1958.  These photos are perhaps my favourite batch of Ian's collection purchased secondhand by a mate, for reasons which will be obvious from the very first photograph.  Here it is, 4420 helped along by a 43, back to back!

There'll be more Alco goodness along the way, but lets move to a couple of standard goods locos getting things underway at Hawkesbury River.

On this day on the Short North, Ian photographed seven of the 30-strong C38 class, starting with the most-junior (and green) member on an up Flyer.

 

Next we have 38s 25, 16, 12,15, 10 and 07.

 

 

  

 

I was thinking about starting a competition to see which reader could explain what is going on with 3807 in this last picture.  It appears to be an up train on the down main, and then there is the issue of a gentleman standing in the permanent way, chatting to the crew.  Anyway, enough of that.  Back to trains... time for another Alco, or two.

Back to the Cowan side of things. Time for three little pigs. First pig is 3617 with an up local passenger.

And if you like pigs on passengers, how about popping 5175 (I think) on the front of one?

The third little pig Ian photographed that day also seems to be be wrong road on Cowan bank.

And I'll finish with 4011 getting a help up the bank.

I presume Ian decided not to photograph a few trains that day, as they were then too prosaic to waste expensive film - he was shooting Kodak. But gee, what a collection by a very talented shutterbug.

Might have to get back to pasting a few of my shots up on this blog sometime.

Cheers,
Don

Dubbo, from the platform

The beaut thing about Dubbo is that the station platform gave and gives an excellent viewing platform for whatever was in the yard. Although it was on the southern side of the railway, some good shots could be had. So here is a few, though I suspect the photographers shuffled off the platform to trespass down the yard at time. 

First up, 3815 is on the up Through Mail around 1964. A 36 class sits opposite.

    

A year later, Dubbo's small loco shed was found hosting two garratts, two 32s and 3818.
 

Lets move to some colour fillum! A cleaned up slide of 3237 (we suspect) and 3144T, themselves spruced up in front of the shed which needed a little sprucing itself. It was 10 April 1966.

 

Finally, for this installment, its January 1967 and 3649 and 3328 are residents at Dubbo loco depot.

That's enough for now!

Don

A very special pig

This weekend appears to be the last hurrah for 3642, as it is due to be retired once more. I say once more because it has retired in 1969, 1973 and 1996. So never say 'never', but I suspect its probably the last time that I'll see it run around unless I get to be a very grumpy old man.

Wikipedia tells me that 'locomotive 3642 is two-cylinder, simple, non-condensing, coal-fired superheated, 4-6-0... express passenger steam locomotive built for the NSW Government Railways in 1926 by Clyde engineering'. I had the great pleasure of being primed all over by '42 last Friday on my last trip behind her, but before I get to that shot, here's a few others from years past...

While still in Government service - at Wollongong on a Port Kembla Inner Harbour tour on 3 September 1967. 

 The following year as a Rail Transport Museum loco - also at Wollongong.

Coupling up to 3651 for a trip up the Hill at Unanderra on 22 June 1969.

At the 'reopening' of Central Station on 28 November 1982.

Back in Wollongong on a Beach Tour in 1983.

On Wentworth Park Viaduct on 31 August 1991.

Heading off to the Southern Highlands for the RTM on 18 September 1994.

On a down Steamfest shuttle at Beresfield on 19 April 2009.

Same even, in 2011, at Maitland.

Shuttling off to Clyde on 11 June 2011.

Off on a Southern Highlander tour, via the Coast: 27 July 2013.

Through Redfern on a shuttle around the suburbs on 28 July 2013.

At rest in Central on 6 June 2014.

Off to Maitland Steamfest on 8 April 2016.

And now, the present... the beginning and the end of my trip last Friday, 13 April 2018.

So, here's to a loco that has spent more time in preservation than in revenue service, and nearly as much time in green as in black... one last look at a very special locomotive, once again in Wollongong in the late 1960s, being admired by the locals.

Cheers,
Don