Preservation is not for ever

Was cruising through some shots from 2007 this morning and was just surprised by how much things have changed in the 'heritage' or 'preservation' scene in NSW.

It has to be said. I miss the Cocky. A regular heritage train, keeping the momentum of preservation alive. 4908 and 4833 on the Cocky on 14 March 2007.

A few from Koolewong on 14 April 2007 as positioning runs were made for the Maitland Steam Festival that year. Will start with 01 doing what it had done for 60+ years.

Thankfully (at least one) 01 is still going. And looks better than ever.

3112 is a terrific little loco. Hope it runs once more.

While we are in Koolewong, here's a resplendent 4918 on 4 August 2007.

Some other things were different in 2007 - like the cameras in mobile phones were truly crap. Here a night shot of MZ1432 at Gosford on tour on 7 May 2007 tested my phone's capabilities and found them wanting. 

So, jut like the 'real thing', photograph the preservation scene before it too has gone.

Cheers,
Don

Gipps Road level crossing

When I was a whippersnapper the closest level crossing was at Gipps Road,Wollongong.  As Wollongong grew it became quite a bottleneck on afternoon peak hours, particularly given its proximity to a set of traffic lights.  Even though some of the family were quite keen on trains, there was unparliamentary language used on many occasions if the family sedan was detained in front of the boom gates.

Anyway, I loved the gates, especially if walking across them as you had the novelty of a chicane and those uneven timber boards to navigate, usually in a a pair of thongs.  All rather exhilarating for a lad growing up in the Gong in the 1970s.

Like most things one loves, absence makes the heart grow fonder.  So this afternoon when I realised its been 30 years since its passing (or more), I just had to dig out all the photos I have of the level crossing.  And then I found this motley collection.  Maybe I didn't love it as much as I do now - though its replacement the Tramway Bridge is a much better place from which to watch trains.

Here's the only one I have of the box in action.

From another angle, the gates have just opened and what looks like a Cortina passes a NRMA roadside van.

And now for a couple of the box closed and waiting for demolition.

By the time these shots were taken the boom gates had served their purpose and were resting, awaiting removal.

Not a bad place to leave it - resting in the long grass.

Cheers,
Don

A Forbes special

Popped past Forbes railway station around noon today to find 1432 and 8044 ready to depart with 8116.

And from the other angle...

A nice looking combination. So nice that I wasn't looking where I was walking and nearly ended up eating a nice mouthful of Forbes dirt.

It's been a while...

Yes, indeed. Apologies for the disappearance of posts. It helps when you finally remember your password. 

Anyway, its time to test a mobile application posting.  Here is former NSWGR 4907, now heralded as MM01, shunting today at Manildra in central western NSW.

This afternoon we arrived at a chilly Forbes to find a lonesome Danish lass called Helga 1432 facing a setting sun. The shot would have been closer if there hadn't been billy goats in the intervening paddock.

So that is the first post for 6 months or so. If I can remember my password, it won't be the last for 2013, hopefully!

Bathurst

A certain car race, such as the one happening this weekend, is not the only thing that happens in Bathurst. Internal combustion engines of another type are regularly found down at the station, so lets have a look at a few I have found there over the years.

First up, a class of loco that was synonymous with Bathurst from its introduction in 1960 through to the late 1980s, the 49 class.  Here 4910 shunts near the old loco shed in 1980.

A couple of years later 8021 and 48122 were being held in Bathurst's platform road, waiting for the go-ahead for Lithgow and points east.

The previous two photographs were taken in January 1980 and 1982 respectively.  Slowly this photographer learned to visit Bathurst outside of the heights of summer and the depths of winter.  In a much more benign month in 1983 it was possible to walk over to the loco depot to get a close-up of 4917 at rest.

As stated earlier, Bathurst was a 49 class town.  Here are a couple more shots from the 1980s of this fact. In October 1985 4913 was the duty shunter for the Labour Day long weekend.

By the late 1980s, the class had commenced receiving the 'candy' livery.  When it faded, it was less than flattering on the GMs.

Bathurst wasn't always the abode for 49s.  Occasionally those pesky Alcos would appear - as 4891 did in 1994.  Though it was parked in a fairly surreptitious position.

Now, for more than a subtle change in locomotive types - here is a Dubbo-bound XP power car in its original livery in 1982.  From memory, the uniformed gentlemen at the end of the platform are not about to jump on the XPT, but are the crew for the 44 class which is awaiting the departure of the XPT.

Lets get to more modern stuff.  Perhaps the most exotic creatures to visit Bathurst these days are the 'Helgas' - ex-Danish Railways NOAB locomotives now carrying the MZ moniker. In June 2010 MZ 1434 waited at Bathurst to follow the east-bound West XPT towards Sydney.

A much more prosaic version of the same train  was worked by 8164 in September last year.

Container freights can be found regularly in the environs of Bathurst, such as this one with GLs 105 and 104 in December 2010.

And finally, it always pays to take a good look in every corner at Bathurst as it has always been used for the storage of wagons.  There has been a motley collection of freight wagons at the eastern end of the yard for years.  Tucked in behind them is a series of storage tracks which are rarely used these days.  However, perhaps due to the shade offered by the substantial gum tree in that part of the yard, it has become a bit of a parking spot for locos on the rail trains.  Below, B65 cools its heels in November 2011.

Back to that car race!