Orange was the new black at Spencer Street in 1993

I have never been a big fan of the V/Line livery, though as it recedes into history I am more inclined to appreciate for its 80s ambience.

I got to see a fair bit of V/Line orange in the early 1990s, thanks to my employer (the NSW Government) insisting on sending me to Melbourne for long stretches to partake in various legal proceedings. I wasn't the defendant in these proceedings either, for the record.

I was never silly enough to admit I simply loved these trips - so they kept sending me.  But it was the best of times - breakfast at Pelligrinis, a race around Melbourne's hobby shops at lunchtime, afternoons watching trains roar into and out of Spencer Street station, plus the bonus of pre-XPT rail travel to and from Victoria. If I stayed down over a weekend there were tram rides, footy games with real pies and beer and a pretty good nightlife.  A Sunday stroll out to Dynon was always worth it too.  

Anyway, little wonder that the following photos taken on 7 June 1993, a mere 28 years ago now, feel just like a couple of years ago.  This particular trip was a quickie - down on the night of the 6th of June and return the next. I failed to photograph the 81 or G on the MEX, but I did get Y150 shunting the bum of the train as I headed off to work.

In the opposite direction, A66 temporarily diverted this public servant from the intended purpose of his trip.

The afternoon was pretty productive.  In no particular order I managed to photograph A70 on an up Ballarat train.

I always liked the way the trains needed double-stacking at Spencer Street.  I have this next photo recorded as N469 on a Geelong train, with P20 behind it.

And P20 for posterity.

I could never hang out to departure time to eat in the Sydney Express's dining car, so usually dinner was taken at Spencer Street's fairly ordinary dining room, or in a local hotel.  I managed to butcher this photo of A60, seemingly newly repainted, on the 6:25pm Bairnsdale train.  Probably shaking from cold or hunger, or both.

Returning from dinner there was a very pleasant surprise.  R766 rolled in on the 'Just Jeans Special'.  It was the first time I had seen a R class in steam up close.  A very impressive sight.

And then it was off to bed, which was someone down the back of this following train.  8166 was the less than glamorous power up front, but it did its job.

Not a bad day at the office.

Cheers

Don

Albury town

A Wednesday lunchtime contribution... working from home has its advantages/distractions. 

As another distraction,I thought I would start an occasional series of location reviews, using an alphabetical sequence.  You can look forward to Zig Zag appearing on this blog - but not yet as I am staring at the other end. If I have them, I will post up to 5 shots of the particular location... might need to be a few roughies so bear with me.

So, A for Albury. The next five shots have one thing in common - they leave the viewer with the impression that Albury was a busy and crowded yard once.

I am going to start in black and white from one of Dad's Nurail trips he took while he left me in primary school around 1975 (thanks Dad, that extra 2 weeks of education certainly paid dividends).  This is an early morning shot of 4416 (or 4418) with what passed for the Riverina Express that day - it looks like 3 cars was considered sufficient to manage the patronage that day. A 421 is ready to follow the Riv north, while an interstater is ready to cross the border.

Now, three shots, all from 1983 I think, if memories and notes are accurate. Here is a basking 42105 and 4894.

(From memory) the following day  42202 and X44 rumbled by Albury signal box.

One the same day, the 40s appeared - X40 and a freshly candied 44240 sharing the platform roads.

And finally, never let it be said big engines don't shunt. Here's 8133, a shunter's float and van, going about their daily duties around 1985.

Will be back with the Bs soon (I hope).

Don

Bomen fuel trains

I haven't posted for so long I had forgotten my password, so apologies for those who check this site regularly for updates. This update is particularly for those of you who are KGB spies checking Australian rail fan sites (thanks Google Analytics for help with my target audience).

Anyway, I thought a reflection on a particular train that no longer runs with stuff that the railways don't cart so I can't be accused of being disloyal to the monarch. It will also give me a chance to test whether I can successfully link videos out of my Flickr site into blog posts.

Lets start with a couple of snaps...

The Junior Hunter and yours truly took a couple of days in October 2002 in Bundanoon.  Here's the train absolutely flat out on 9 October, with 8129, 8125, 48151 and 4887 up front.

And in a flash it was gone...

 And here is (hopefully) a link to the same train:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/don5617/25195584068/in/datetaken-public/

The next day it was still 8129 & 8125 up front, but 8046 had replaced the little Alcos. Still going like the clappers.  We did manage to interrupt eating our cream buns for morning tea to get these shot, so please excuse the (signal) pole.

 And the link for the train...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/don5617/27285237059/in/datetaken-public/

I have a few other shots and videos of this train on my Flickr site for those who want to hunt them down, but I suspect even my KGB friends don't have the patience or overtime budget for that task.

Cheers,
Don

North 'Gong non-stoppers

Continuing a very occasional series of trains past the paternal grandparents' family home at North Wollongong, here's a few snaps of diesel-hauled express passenger services through that location.  There were taken in the days that North Wollongong was just another suburban station and not the jumping off point for the University of Wollongong. 

Perhaps start by a capture of the train least likely to ever stop at this location? A diverted Southern Aurora with 4444 at the pointy end.

And the second least likely - the Commissioner's car attached to an air conditioned set.  I am guessing that this was a Sunday South Coast Daylight service (ie the day that the Budds got serviced). This service may have been conveying some minor royal - hence the family's use of black and white film. Its from the early 1970s.
 

Onto the more routine express trains, a 421 on an up South Coast Daylight.  Lovely set of cars.

By the late 1970s we had lost the 44s for 422s on most of these trains as shown in the following shots - the 44s were to make a return in the 1980s and 1990s.

This next one was the Sunday morning (near) express - it worked ahead of the air-conditioned set.

Moving into the motley era - the late 1980s.  The passengers in car B were certainly the unlucky ones.

This is out of focus and deteriorated but it does show a rare jumbo (442) on a passenger.  Probably a weekday afternoon service.

The 44s returned about now - including the candy ones like 4460.

Post electrification it was Sunday which provided some good GM action.  On 1 August 1993 42217 shot through North Wollongong headed south, while a year later (or thereabouts) it was 42210's job.

Might close off with the last word in loco power on the Coast in those days - 8157 hauling a  special north in 1989.

Cheers!
Don

Evidence of civilisation

Two civilised ways to get out of NSW disappeared on 8 February 1990, 26 years ago this week.  

The first way was the Brisbane Limited Express. On the last occasion the Limited ran 8605 and 8639 led the train out of platform 3. A fellow traveller/photographer stepped up to give the photo that special touch.... hmmm. 

At least he didn't run interference in the next shot. These are the best shots possible without breaching various statutes. Sorry.

Always liked the iron angles of the MBY. Here is one of my art shots... I call it mail-van though MBY arch. Snort.

Of course the other way out of Sydney was the Gold Coast Motorail. Here's a couple of snaps of 7350 hooked up the wagons which lent their names to the train, while 8154 and 8173 look on. I suspect these were the train locos instead of the more usual 86s, but didn't stick around to find out. At least we can be pretty certain the 73 didn't take the train north.

Civilised? Well, I will finish up  with a couple of shots to support that contention. Dining car ABS 2306 was in the consist to service the sleeping and first car patrons, while buffet car RDS 2263 was two slots further down the consist to deliver food and victuals to economy class passengers.

Civilised, indeed!

Cheers,
Don

Saturday on the South

I am overjoyed.  I finally found a scrap of paper amongst my many other scraps of paper which explains a series of photos I have been hanging onto for years - 28 years to be precise.

On Saturday, 11 March 1987, we headed off early to Douglas Park on the main south line - it lies between Campbelltown and Picton. We just pulled up on the side of the freeway, as the line parallels the road for about five kilometres.  In those days one could just pull off the freeway for a couple of hours without getting the attention of the authorities.

The special part about these photos is that I didn't for once use a telephoto lens so the photos aren't a series of trains looking like sliced loaves of bread.  What we got that morning was just the then usual parade of local, intrastate and interstate services, stretched out against the background. 

When I scanned these shots in the late 1990s pixels were at a premium, so I scanned the section of the print with the train on it.  This produced a rather elongated and small scan.  I apologise if the photo is too hard to see on this blog - you should be able to just click on the photo to load a hopefully larger version if necessary.

Anyway, enough prose. Instead of putting a rose-coloured commentary to that morning, I am just going to reproduce the notes I took that day along with the photos (apart from the bracketed comments).  

 

7:15am       44 and five cars up service (No photo of this one - dunno what happened here!)

7:20am       G518 up containers (looks like this was the last photo on the reel from the discoloration on the right hand side of the print)

7:25am       8156/G up containers (couldn't resist a close up)

7:47am       Double 81s – up Sydney Express (this is worth snaps of each end of the train)

8:16am       4468 up passenger ex Picton (another close up)

8:26am       Double 81s and 38 wheaties (another bloody close up)

8:35am       Down 7 car DEB set on the Canberra Monaro

8:45am       42201 Down Intercapital Daylight Express (five cars and Spirit dining car)

 

8:50am       44/4481 up wheaty (worth two shots for the close up of the first 44)

9:35am       42204 Two FGs, BN and MFH on a Goulburn passenger

9:45am       42208 in reverse Indian Red on a five car interurban set

10:25am     Up Canberra XPT

And that was it - 12 trains in 3 hours; a typical Saturday morning 28 years ago.

Ciao for now!

Don