Views from Zig Zag

I was too young to see steam working over the Blue Mountains so big electrics seemed to me at least to be the way to tackle the incline out of Lithgow, headed east.

Thirty years ago this month I headed up the mountains with Senior to watch a steady parade of electrics do their stuff on passengers and freights.  On the Wednesday afternoon we snuck out to the Zig Zag, to perch ourselves at a lookout facing west into the winter sun.  Here are a few shots from that afternoon, into the sun.  I am not quite sure of the order so I'll just load them and see how it all goes.

First up, an 86 on a down empty grain.

Followed by double 86s, banked by double 85s.

 
After the bankers dropped back down the hill (sorry, muffed that shot), an empty coalie rolled past with two 86s.

 An 85 on a down ore train.

We had come to this location for one shot - the Indian Pacific.  Initially I was disappointed that the sun was close to setting by the time it rolled through.  These days I love the atmosphere that the following shot sort of captures.

It was a very good afternoon - just a couple of hours out of life.  I don't normally post shots of the train hunters in action but this was the scene. Coffee out of a thermos, Mum's cake or a few biscuits. So I will leave you with a picture of how to relax.

Cheers,
Don

 

Katoomba - winter 1983

Here's a few shots from Katoomba in the winter of 1983 as a harbinger of cooler weather.

First up, 4615 hides behind a few poles whilst heading up a CUB set.

Probably the same afternoon, a good shot of all the poles at Katoomba station - with a candy 46 on the front of set 84 in the background.

Here is my favourite shot of Katoomba, 46 classes and cement trains.  And I think I may have posted this one once before, but its soooo good.

Time for some more modern electric power - this time 8505 on a down service.

Its slightly younger cousin, resting in the up relief.  This looks to be taken at another time during the week.

Finally, a real goods train!

Will finish up with a practice which is long gone from NSW railway workings... tractor shunting goods wagons.

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

Nurail travels Part 2

On 12 November I started a recount of a two-week odyssey on NSW railways in the depths of winter in June 1988, using a Nu-rail pass. Part 1 of that story covered the first five days of the tour, which resulted in trips to Cooma, Dubbo and Broken Hill.

After these strenuous travels, we took Sunday 19 June 1988 off – after all, it is supposedly the day of rest.  However, we did rendezvous that evening for 9:55pm departure from Sydney in car 1 of N7 North Mail, which was composed by 8625, our MCS, MCS, BAM, BAM, MCS and an LHO guards van. I have no idea why we didn’t book a sleeper that night. It was a rough, cold, noisy and thoroughly unpleasant trip.  I am still in therapy and physiotherapy from it, decades later.

Somehow the 44 which had replaced the 86 at Broadmeadow was gone by the morning – presumably at Werris Creek and replaced by double 48s at that junction.  It was Moree a bit after 9:30am when we ventured out for a shot at the station of the two steeds - 4885 and 48100.

 

Then we left the rails to head east at 10:15am in R.15N – a mini-road coach which brought us to Inverell by noon.  After three hours of nothing – except photographing the water tank many times, we then joined R.44N road coach to arrive in Grafton in the dark a little before 5:00pm. 

Tuesday 21 June was a planned day of line-side photography, and it started very well with a visit to South Grafton station in time to see 8048 and 4875 head north on a freight.

Things got even better an hour later in clearing weather when 44237 and 48117 trundled by on freight at South Grafton. This train also deserves two photographic commemorations, so here they are.

In what probably wasn’t the smartest tactical move, we decided to walk a couple of miles out of town in the hope of picking up a few freighters on some of those delicious reverse curves which surround Grafton.  Of course, whilst in transit 44233 roared through with a north bound freight. I managed a poor photo across a vacant allotment.

Then, naturally, nothing came through for the next four or so hours!

It wasn’t until late-afternoon that we returned to the station, where we found 4458 readying for the evening trip south on N6 North Coast Overnight Express.  Apart from the 44 class, the express was composed by a five car set and a FAM sleeper.  

I don’t recall much of that trip, except that 8645 replaced the 44 class at Broadmeadow for the final part of the journey. 

Arrival in Sydney at 5:35am gave the old bloke a chance to return to the South Coast in time for a breakfast arrival.  I decided to take my breakfast on the nearest XPT I could find – it being NT23 Northern Tablelands XPT, which left Sydney at 8:50am.

An on time arrival at Tamworth just before 3:00pm allowed me plenty of time to snap the steeds responsible for the journey, and then to look around.  

I do recall the increasing cold from about 4:30pm, which forced me into the local hostelries for warmth and sustenance. By the time that I left Tamworth just after 10pm on (N8) Up North Mail the temperature was at least five below.  Up front was another trusty Alco – 4465 – with a BAM, MCS, FS and LHY in the consist.   

Sensibly I had paid a small premium, which got me berth 13 in the BAM sleeper.  In fact, if I recall correctly, it was my personal carriage that evening.  Perhaps the lack of passengers – or the knowledge of what lay ahead – led the guard to offer me four or five blankets for the berth. They were received gratefully, and put to good purpose throughout.

I woke just as we were arriving into Sydney at 6:30am on Thursday 23 June, with 8626 at the head of the train.  And I think I’ll leave it there, as part 3 can cover the last two great trips.

The small stuff - short cements

Instead of waxing on about overtaxed locomotives straining to keep overloaded and over-length trains to overly ambitious timetables, its about time to celebrate the shorter freights in life. And in particular, cement trains, just because cement wagons are usually more interesting shapes than the locomotives hauling them.

So, whether you are a rail photographer searching for that quintessential iconic freight photograph, or a model rail aficionado seeking to capture the essence of a NSW freight train, consider for now the short cement train...

First up is our little friend 4833 on a very short cement, coming out of the Maldon Cement Works.  The companion photograph has appeared earlier in this blog in the collection celebrating this little Alco’s 50^th birthday.  Here is another shot of the same train, showing it being monstered by a 7 car DEB set on Maldon Curve.

This next photograph is an inspiration to Alco-holics, and to people who hear a loco whistle while still in bed.  Yes, in March 1992 I was bunked in a local Tamworth motel, only to hear a 48 class call to me.  So it was up and at ‘em, in the words of Atom Ant.   I caught 48136 and 48153 in glorious morning sunlight approaching Nemingha  about ten minutes later.  Thank you, Mr 48 Class Driver, for laying on the smoke too.

In 1983 the Senior Train Hunter captured 4609 and 8614 at Katoomba on a very lucrative freight run…. Well, it would have been lucrative if the wagon was full of gold flakes.

The next three photographs are from a short-lived and probably not all that profitable foray into southern NSW by Freight Victoria (later Freight Australia) during 2002.  Still, it made for good train hunting.  First up is EL61 and EL51 heading north through Werai in March 2002.

On another weekend in the dead of that winter, EL51 appeared once more – this time with T408 as a travelling companion.  Thankfully it arrived at Moss Vale just after the sun did that morning.

And just as the sun left the Southern Highlands in October of that year, G535 stormed through Bundanoon at speed.  It is getting a tad long to be described as a true short freight, I suppose…

So its back to the short stuff.  On one of its first forays into the general view in its new and still current livery, in 2004 I braved the elements which always seem to appear whenever I reach for a camera.  On this day 8113 paired with BL27 at Warrabrook.

And finally, the shortest of them all.  Just don’t bother with a loco at all.  Just get a tractor and shunt cement wagons up and down the track, as evidenced in the next photograph from Wauchope in 2006.

So folks, chase the small stuff in life!

Black Thursday 1986

I am not so old that I can remember Sydney Terminal as a steam-dominated terminal yard.  However, I can remember the appearance of busy-ness created around the place in the 1970s and 1980s when diesel locomotives dominated the workload.  This sense of urgency seemed greater into the early evenings and at holiday times – somewhat unsurprisingly. 

For a period in my life an almost annual pilgrimage was made to Central (as the station is known popularly) on Easter Thursday, just to absorb this urgency.  Such was the urgency this day was known colloquially as ‘Black Thursday’ for the demands it placed on the Railways in those years. One such occasion towards the end of this era was Easter Thursday, 1986.

I recently found a scrap of paper with my hand-written observations of the trains at Central on that evening, which was 27 March.  Included in those sightings were 8645 and 8641 on the Gold Coast Motorail, which left platform 1 promptly at 6:30pm.  The train’s composition not noted.

While an XPT left for Canberra five minutes after the Motorail departed, I was probably pre-occupied hunting down a meat pie for dinner. 

At 7:24pm, four minutes late, double 86 class electric locos hauled the North Coast Mail off platform 5.  Call me quirky but while I didn’t record the loco numbers, I did record the impressive train composition.  An FS sitting out of the platform headed 11 other carriages, in order - MFA 2708, FS 2116, FS 2130, MCE 396, MBE 839 BS 1685, MFH 2705, MFA 2708, MFA 2704, MH 2701 and guards van LHY 1613.

Approximately 30 minutes later the third north-bound passenger of the evening, the North Coast Overnight Express, trundled off to Grafton. Again, double 86s did the honours, with 8607 the second loco.  This evening the train composition was PHN, AN (sic – my handwriting is appalling), BDS 2269, TDS 2242, ODS 2267, a RoA diner, SBS 2243, TBS 2256, PFZ 2219, MCS 652, MCE 582 and MHO 2607 against the buffer stops.

The name train of the evening was always going to be the Southern Aurora, coming off platform 1 at 8:00pm.  This night it was 8144 leading two MBY car carriers, then PHN 2369, LAN 2344, NAM 2338, LAN 2348, NAM 2367, LAN 2376, BCS 2356, RMS 2359, DAM 2334, LAN 2351, NAM 2342, NAM 2375 and MHN 2365 in the rear.

As its a blog I suppose I should throw in at least one photograph - here's one of 8144 waiting for the road that night.

Nearly 20 minutes later (9 minutes later than its scheduled departure) 8151 headed the quite beautiful  Spirit of Progress southwards off platform 3. This night it was composed of a PHN against the loco, then NAM 2340, LAN 2354, VR 2^nd class, VR 1^st class, VR 2^nd class, VR buffet, VR 2^nd class, VR 2^nd class, VR 2^nd class, SBZ 2241 and MHN 284(x).  Victorians offended by my poor recording of Victorian carriages do not despair – I was merely in awe of the art deco elegance it exuded.

A quarter hour after the Spirit, 44224 raced off to Moss Vale with only three carriages - FS 2017, MFE 1855 and HFE 927.  Doubtless this would have been a very fast trip!

I did not stick around to see the last three country passenger trains I noted that night, though I did do my best to record their compositions. 

The first train the North Mail waiting on platform 8, headed by class leader 8601.  This Mail was composed by FS 2098, FS 2084, FS 2093, MFH 2719, BAM 1748, ABN 2194, SCN 1710, SCN 1739 and MHO 2626.

No loco had arrived for the Cooma Mail resting on platform 3 for its 9:35pm departure.  The train was XBS 2158, XFS 2014, XFS 2018, XFS 2001, XCM X114 and the very cute ATP 1000.

My final sighting was the Glen Innes Mail, set to leave platform 1 at 9:50pm.  That night, 26 years ago, it was to be MFH 2175, FS 2124, FS 1651, FS 1653, MCS 1900, MCS 705, BAM 2189 and MHO 2630.

I didn’t see the carriages arrive for either the South Mail or the West Mail – damned shame.  Still, I hope you enjoyed this brief trip back to Easter Thursday, 1986.