Catching up

 I have finally cracked the code and am back in control of my own blog.

Here's a few photos to mark some of the things I have rambled over since I last posted in July 2022.

In August, Dad and I headed to Junee for what would end up being our last train hunt. He didn't last as long as 4497, which is still plying the rails around Harefield as it was on the 10th August.

In early September I was lucky enough to hit Bowning, just as GM10 and GM22 went north with a railset.

October was Streamliners. What an event!

At Christmas we had snuck over to Colorado for a family holiday.  One of the things I didn't expect to see was PRLX 4687 on a short San Luis and Rio Grande grain near Antonito on 29 December.

On the last day of 2022 we happened to be shopping at the Railyard Markets when a New Mexico Rail Runner left Santa Fe.

The next day we caught the Polar Express out of Durango for a great fun evening.

A week later I had a leave pass to watch the passing parade of UP power through Laramie in the snow. I saw 68 trains in a 16-hour period - not all moving. Here is one on January 6th.

The next day was better weather and I marveled at the wonders in the Colorado State Railroad Museum at Golden.

Only thing better than one Shay is two Shays....

We finished off the States with a bit of time in LA, which meant plenty of trains around Pasadena and Palm Springs.

Finally, back in Australia, the past few months have been too busy to chase too many trains.  But I did manage to catch 4532 and 44204 leaving Goulburn on a ballast on 14 March.

And that is about it for a catch up. I will finish with this snap from the young bloke, who  got VL354, 4917, 4911, 4904 and CLF2 on an up grain approaching Moss Vale on 3 June.

Back to normal transmission soon, I hope.

Cheers

Don

Reminiscing about the near past

When thinking about blog posts I always seem to be reaching for the file folder called '1966' or '1978'.  Sure, these were golden periods of the NSW railways, although 1978 was more brown than golden.

There has been another golden period since in my usually ill-considered opinion - from about 1998 to 2007.  So, lets wind back the clock a mere 15 years, to 1 May 2006.  It was during a period that I had many reasons to visit Canterbury, Dullo and Marrickville - almost all associated with work.  Now I am out of things I can confess to writing many a government brief on the seats at Canterbury station, stopping only to snap the passing traffic. And we think working away from the office is a new thing! Anyway, on 1 May 2006 the youngster and I snaffled many trains - here are six...

The day started with a tidy trippy led by 4483 and 4471. 

.. quickly followed by 2203 and two CLPs headed for the Illawarra... I stuffed the going away shot (at least the 422 is in focus)...

Jumping down the line to Marrick Vegas we scored 44208 and KL81 top and tailing a container train out of Port Botany....

Out of the XPT depot, 4833 did what it does best... smoke.

Just over the weeds, GL105, 4903 and EL51 arrived from points west/north.

And then 4708 and 4458 arrived... 

Ho hum... more Alcos... stuffed the arriving but not the going away shot... 4503 in its Big Red Tomato livery with a more sedate liveried 4468.

That was six trains, but the bonus seventh train involved 4701 and two dilapidated GMs.

I have just managed this entire blog without posted a PacNat blue loco, demonstrating it was a golden era indeed!

Cheers,

Don

Up the Creek

Hi all, I am still around!

Promise to get back into things as the weather turns colder, especially if Souths start losing a few.

I have coincidentally come across a real live reader of this blog - sorry if I sound surprised  but my main readership appears to come from regions of the former Soviet Union.

This 'live' reader mentioned he most enjoyed the stuff from up north so, Brendan, these are for you mate!

The back story here is that around 1982 (could have been earlier) Dad shot off for a few days with two mates.  When they got to Werris Creek they asked permission to photograph the locos.  They were given the okay to do so as long as they didn't move any of the locos around.. Turns out a group of visiting photographers several weeks earlier have 're-positioned' the locos to enhance their photographs.  Cheeky buggers!

Cheers,

Don

Boambee Creek

Here's four from Boambee Creek near Sawtell. Mum and Dad got these (well, Dad did) around 1986.

4499 and a 48 - this shortlived livery came in very useful as a way to date these photos.

Back to back 44s. Suspects are 4405 and 4468.  Think I have posted this one before.  This time the photo has been straightened.

Next up, 44203 on an up goods.

To round out the Alco collection fr this afternoon, a 44 and a 45 head north with an interstater.

Cheers for now!

Don

Afternoon viewing

Only time today for a few random photos from the Mighty Phil Clarke Collection. And they are random!

First up, a four car DEB set with a 620 set trailing behind. In dry country on the way to or from Canberra on 11 August 1979.

Just over a month earlier, someone had parked box number 8007 in front of a lovely view of a building in Orange (30 June 1979).

At the end of its run on a hot January day, the 15th of the year of 1980, the Comet rests in Parkes station. Something fiddly is happening to its bum - I suspect a 73 class is removing its van for transfer to the overnight Forbes Mail to Sydney.

Up north now - the crew is getting or giving orders from the cab of 4507 which, with a sister Alco, sits in front of a empty coal at Murrurundi on 16 November 1982.

Back to Picton in September 1983. 42205 pilots an up container train.

And last for now - 42104 heads a 422 on a down passenger at a rather dreary Sutherland in February 1980.

Plenty more to come from Phil's collection so stay tuned!

Don

Getting to Dripstone

Just been trawling through  a few photos instead of working, and came upon these long-forgotten ones. I have been trying to repress the memory of this first one for four decades... I stayed with one of my non-train loving cousins instead of following Dad down to Bathurst railway station.  He, and my sister and another cousin, cadged a ride up Raglan Bank in a 47 class banker.  Here is a shot looking back at 4537 and the train.

I got the consolation prize - the next day in the same general vicinity we scored the Indian Pacific with 4485 and a sister 44. Pretty sure I have posted a version of this slide before but, hey, its double Alcos...

The other end of the train was nearly as interesting, and certainly much cleaner than the front end.

Anyway, i had been looking for photos of a little place called Dripstone, which was the station where Arthur Edward Jones had been sent in 1925.  Arthur is one-eighth of the reason why I am here today - he was my paternal great grand-father.  He was the station master at Dripstone between 1925 and 1927.  Fifty years later, both the station building and the station master's house were standing. We only took a solitary shot of each.

The station is now gone, but the house (or a bit of it) lives on in a remodelled dwelling on the same site.  Of course, Arthur is gone too and I am going to leave you with a report of his leaving of Dripstone - from the Wellington Times in April 1927.  Seems he was bit of a 'live wire'.

Cheers,
Don

Its a mystery to me

So sang Roy Orbison... and I found myself humming that very tune as I wandered through a few photos this Sunday afternoon. Why, I know you ask? Well, I have come across two in locations which are mysteries to me.  

This first one has a 45 and a 48 in a small loco depot, taken probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s. I had thought Cooma, but it could be Armidale for all I know.

 

This second one really has done my head in.  I would love it to be somewhere exotic like Batlow, but it could be Lithgow or somewhere out west.  This latter guess is based upon the cloud formation!

 

Any better guesses folks?

Cheers,
Don

View from the Hill

We always knew it as Lithgow Hill growing up. Unless there was a flat tyre, an overheated engine or a passenger requiring medical treatment, this was the first stop on our sojourns to points west for family-related purposes. Others know the location as the PoW Memorial on Chifley Road. 

The best part about getting to the Hill was the chance to sus out what was in Lithgow loco. In the mid-60s this was easy as deforestation was a civic virtue. Over the last 50 years vegetation has taken back the Hill, as the following shots show.  Hardly worth stopping these days, unless you are prepared to climb a gummy.

These first two shots are (I think) from 1964/65 or so.  The first shows a garratt in the garratt siding, and the second has a couple of 36s arriving from the west.

While the roundhouse lasted another 20 years it was usually stuffed with brown diesels so we didn't photograph it (grrrr). By July 1986 it was gone and replaced with this shiny facility. Triple 85s can be seen getting away for a run up to Zig Zag.

In the following October it was looking a bit more lived in - with a few vintage Alcos taking up residence.  The first fronds also make an appearance.

By the early 1990s the disturbing practice of kneecapping 46s was underway. The following shot from 4 October 1993 shows 48s, 80s, a 73, 46s and an 86 in the shed nearest the Hill.

By January 1996 the trees were growing, the shed seemed emptier and the list of 46s awaiting their fate had grown past 20.

This final shot was also from January 1996. It was very much a sneak through the branches. On the upside it showed Alcos.

These days I don't even stop and I reckon the area might have just a few snakes waiting for the next photographer.

Cheers,
Don