A Few Hours on the River

The River Hawkesbury, that is.  In this second installment from Ian Brady there is a selection of action shots from 24 November 1956.  In my humble opinion just about every one of them is brilliant, even if they may have seemed a bit prosaic at the time to him. Read my previous post if you want to know more about how and why I am presenting another photographer's efforts, but lets get on with the action.

I have no way of knowing what order these are supposed to be so lets start with the start or the end of the journey.  It is labelled as the 'Chips' which seems reasonable.  What I didn't know is that the Railways Administration were guilty of inflicting FGs on the good citizens of the Blue Mountains.  Thought only the southern highlanders and south coasters were that unlucky.  Anyway, here's 4607 at the head of the Chips.

Now, up to the River.  In the hope that someone recognises Ian or whoever this person is, here's a partially obscured tender from 5611. The tender lettering looks like one of my decalling efforts.

Onto the steam action.  Ian may have reflected that he hit the button a fraction early on this shot of a 59 leading a Garratt down Cowan Bank, but I love the result. Poles are up, but no wires at this stage.

Anyone who wants to guess the number of this 38, you are welcome to post your guess in the comments below. Guessing its the Midday Flyer. I reckon its number is somewhere between 06 and 30 (inclusive) and not 13. Yes, I am being a smarty pants.

Better job on working out this one - 3816 also moving a seven car Flyer service at great speed.

And Ian wrapped up his photography that day with snagging 4014 as it emerged from the tunnel. Might even be a greenie?

More to come at a later time.

Cheers,
Don

Sunday morning

Just reflecting that this blog has now 100,000 visits, which is brilliant and thank you to everyone who has stopped by.

When I started this blog abut 6 years ago I never figured I would stick it out for 165 posts or that I would reach 6 figures on visits.  When the mob and I started snapping away over 60 years ago I guess the thought was that the photos would be seen by about 7 people. Technology is a wondrous thing.

This little milestone (a big one for this little rambler) has reminded me that when I kicked this blog off in 2011 my only alternative way of sharing photographs was to upload them into a file folder in the Ausloco chat group.  Over the last 6 years I have created a Youtube account, a Flickr site and I now also contribute - albeit to varying degrees - to various Facebook groups. And now I lurk on Instagram,Pinterst etc.

This activity is now so much a part of my life it gets difficult to remember a time when it wasn't so all pervasive... like 50 years ago. Sunday mornings then were dominated by Sunday school (thanks Mum, a valiant effort always doomed to fail) and steam trains. Most tours to the Illawarra stopped in Wollongong for watering so it gave a good chance to catch anything once a whistle had been heard. Sometimes a RTM newsletter had given the advance notice but most times it was a mad rush to grab a camera, shove the kids in the back seat (me and my sister) and point the Cortina in the direction of Wollongong yard.  Here's half a dozen results of those mad dashes. 

First up is a back-lit shot of 5215 and 3802 on tour on 26 July 1964 - almost 52 years ago. It looks as cold and wintry as today.
 

 Two years later we found 3322 taking water for a Moss Vale tour on 17 July 1966.

3644 made a number of tour trips to the Gong, such as this one.

Now to the 1970s and here is a shot to show that we weren't just fair weather photographers - like this one of 3214 from 1972.

Its 1970s partner in P class crime was 3203, and the weather looks only slightly better.

Looking back at these shots I am amazed by the detail that my mind has forgotten - the point rodding, the wooden railing off the end of the platform, the water column. But there is one thing I haven't forgotten, which is the sound of a loco whistle.  The next photo of 5917 is captioned as having been taken in January 1979. But when I was sitting here about an hour ago watching Insiders I heard the same loco blow as it headed out along the East Hills line. The sound of a Sunday morning!

Cheers,

Don

 

 

 

Port Waratah loco

Wintry Saturday afternoons lend themselves to blogging. And so it is today.

Not really sure what made me think of Port Waratah depot. Anyway I have, so here comes a dozen snaps from that location running from April 1964 through to the end of steam.

From that earlier period, 5251 leads a line of stored steam locos.

This line of stored steam sandwiches a 35 between two standard goods locos. 

Next up, working steam, but a bit quirky.  5195 has an EHO in tow. 

5114 has a shunting tender attached, in the foreground of the coaling tower ramp.

A couple more shots from around this location. First up, 1904 up high.

 Then 3090T going about shunting duties (taken from a heavily degraded slide)

And 3246 getting coaled at this location.

1955 was caught shunting non-air four wheel coal hoppers.

Finally, to the turntable - 5475 is adjacent to the roundhouse.

And to finish off with a couple of garratts between shifts.

Cheers,
Don.

Don't try this at home

I thought I would toss up a few photos showing health and safety issues from earlier times. Its supposed to be light hearted so please, no comments either for or against what is happening in these photos!

First up, only one bit of soot in the eye from the standard goods' exhaust and its backwards off that tender!

That was 4913 being banked by 5364 on Tumulla Bank in January 1965, by the way.

Next up, look at these two lads taking the shortest possible route in front of 2010.

It was the last train to Camden and it was stationary at the time.

Next up, laying a 30 class down to rest.

Those men inspecting 3137 were railwaymen.  I am not sure that all of the people in the following shot were, and it would seem that not too many were sun-safe either!

The last snap was from New Year's Day 1964 when 4529 ran off the rails at Unanderra.  Nice start to the year for that crew.  Next up, the ordinary, but with the potential for so much to go wrong.

I love how 3 kids appear to be climbing into the cab, all at once.  That was the sort of thing you did in Wollongong in the late 1970s and nothing ever went wrong.

Next up a toast-rack tram at SPER's old site.  These were great fun and the conductors encouraged the kids to hang out.  Also from the 1970s. 

  

 In 1980 the Railways ran a successful celebration of 125 years of service at Central.  I just love the angle that this interested patron takes whilst on 4836's running board.

 Definitely don't try this at home.  How do you test  for hot boxes on express trains? Well, you use the back of your hand...

That was also from 1980 - at Taree as the North Coast Daylight rolled through.

And what could go wrong with slippery soapy water to clean 44234's windscreen???

And to finish up, imagine getting that hair caught in the buffing plate....

Things are certainly safer and maybe just a bit more boring these days.

Seeya!
Don

In the act of shunting

I head to work for another year tomorrow and over the next 50 weeks I'll do a lot of shunting - of paper, from one side of the desk to the next. Slightly more interesting is the shunting of railway carriages and wagons. Slightly more dangrous too.

Anyway, I have posted quite a few shots of steam locos going about their shunting duties over the years.  Here's a few more to add to the collection.

Lets take Bathurst as the location - here's someone who looks to be happy shunting in a broody hen. Just love those marker lamps!

And here's 3112 going about shunting in the final years of steam.
 

Shunting Bathurst seemed to save your skin as a steam loco (or boiler cladding I suppose) - here's the RTM's 5910 at a location thought to be Bathurst.

While a little on the backlit side, 5427 needs to be included for the fluffy clouds and the fingerprint on the slide!
 

To complete the Bathurst shunters, here's 5212 on its way somewhere down or up the yard.

Enjoy your year at work!

Cheers,
Don

The Xmas tradition continues...

Today LVR and 3801 Ltd ran their annual steam tour for disadvantaged kids out of Central. Always a good and happy scene to pass by on the way to work. Those kids are very special. So are the volunteers who pull it all together.

Here's a few shots of the consist.

Ciao for now!

Don

59s aplenty

Just a short, contemporary one today. 5917 is steaming away at platform 1 at Sydney Terminal station right now, for the second time this week.

It is off to Tamworth this weekend, Wauchope next weekend and then Coffs the weekend after. LVR sure punches above its weight.

Snuggled at the #1 buffers is an even more rare visitor to the station, a 47 class.

But the rarest beast for platform 1 today must be this little KHG off for the ride.

Ciao for now!

Don

Up the hill, once more

Apologies to anyone who watched the video of Bob climbing Farmborough Heights in my last post.  Through a version control issue I managed to post 30 seconds of delightful birdsong, then the old boiler bursts into view.

As recompense, may I offer a bonus? In September 1989 the RTM attempted to run a triple header up the hill, using 3642, 5910 and 3801. Unfortunately 3801 was failed before the event so 3001T stepped in.

Keen observers will notice the 'adjustment' to 3001T's number, alongside the headboard using Australia Post's slogan of the time.

Two years later the RTM managed to get all three mainliners on the same train. This time there was a video camera handy...

Ciao once more!
Don

Picton Part II - Steam in the diesel era

Its been three months since the first installment of the Picton series, so it is time for another dose of the best little town south of Menangle and north of Bargo.  This time I thought I would clean out a few remaining steam shots so the next installment can concentrate on superfreighters and block coal etc. 

So, to steam locos in preserved service. I appreciate the recent populist trends to colourise our rail heritage by painting everything that steams into a livery that may have some tangential connection to the locomotive concerned. In my humble opinion, there are few finer things than a black pig (one which comes to mind is a black pig heavily weathered after years working on the Western Division of the NSWGR). Exhibit A is 3616 on a tour at Picton on 20 December 1970.

3137 was a stalwart for the RTM in its early years at Thirlmere. I think these two shots are from the winter of 1979 as it works the last shuttle of a Sunday afternoon.

I think I was going through a glint-shot phase as I scored 3214 in basically the same position in 1983.

The next three shots are from the RTM's Open Day in 1989. First up is 3112 and 5910 working through to Thirlmere.

Another shuttle involved 3001T and 3137.  Nearly another glint shot!

And here is 3801, which once appeared at every steam festival because it was the epitome of rail heritage.  There is not much to the photograph, but take a look at the bloke on the footbridge copping a lungful of smoke!

Finally, for many years every trip to Picton meant seeing a green C38 Pacific. Sadly, it was 3813 (or the greater part thereof) loaded into S trucks.

Ciao!
Don