40 years of XPTs

Given it has been 40 years since XPTs starting earning their keep on NSW rails, I thought I would pin up a selection of photos from their service.  I have always been pretty ambivalent about XPTs - their Pommy heritage, the lousy food, the crappy seats and particularly poor sleepers, the fact that they were used to clear out mail trains and reduce services in regional areas - I could go on.  

Over the years my opposition to them has mellowed somewhat. They were given a task to do which was beyond them basically because they are unsuited to our rail system. And the alternative was a Greyhound or a Corolla so I think you could call me a fan out of necessity.  I am probably responsible for wearing one of them out, through work and holidays. And the crews have always been fantastic, charming and willing for a chat or to give help when I needed it. 

Anyway, onto the photos.... here's a few from the first decade.

Exiting Sydney Steam Terminal on 28 November 1982 (and obscuring 3214 in doing so).

Memory suggests that this is the down Riverina Express - at Gib Tunnel in October 1982.

Crew change at Bathurst in 1983.  Shortly after I stuffed the shot of the goods train.  But always liked this shot for the way the guys are chatting calmly.

Photographed while avoiding frostbite off the footbridge railing on a bitterly cold July day in 1984.

West XPT about to head to the sheds at Meeks Road, around about the time that the West Mail was heading off.  Mid 1980s, before the Greiner purge.

Up North and West XPTs at the end of their journeys. Mid 1980s again.

I am about to jump on this service to return me to Moss Vale, after a kangaroo stuck its head through the radiator of my Holden Gemini in February 1985. 

Possibly the time I was happiest to ever see an XPT. This is Sodwalls in July 1986. Sat beside the line for seven hours to this this train and a fuel train.

Here's a Canberra service on 11 March 1987, running through the then rural setting of Wilton.

On 22 June 1988 I stepped off this XPT, trundled around Tamworth for about eight hours, then climbed about the North Mail to return to Sydney.  A great day on the rails.

Four months later I did the same day out, but headed to Dubbo this time.

An April afternoon in 1989 on Piton Hill with Dad included the up Riverina XPT.

By 1991 the Countrylink livery was starting to make an appearance. Here is a mixed bunch of liveries on the up North XPT absolutely flattening it through Blandford on 25 October 1991. We had spent two days photographing 48s, 44s and 45s climb Ardglen bank - very slowly.  The speed of the XPT caught me right out, hence the going away shot.   

But, thanks to track alignments and speed restrictions, we did catach up with this train at Maitland.  A huge electrical storm rolled through Maitland just after this photo was taken.

Might leave this edition right here, after a neat 10 years.

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

Barraba, a morning's jaunt.

** Read Bolivia's most excellent comment below - never trust your memory, or that of your father's! ***

According to its own website, Barraba 'is a lovely little country town filled with character and friendly people... and is very proud of its history'.

This series of photos is largely due to a very friendly driver, who allowed a couple of middle-aged rail nuts to shoot out the front of his conveyance during the 55 kilometre journey from Tamworth to Barraba and return one cool winter morning in either 1976 or 1977 (a family debate rages on the timing of this trip).

It is agreed that this journey was undertaken as part of a Nurail excursion. For those under 40 years of age, a Nurail ticket in the 1970s and 1980s permitted the holder near-unlimited travel across the NSW rail & bus network for a relatively modest fee.  It was, in any terms, a bargain. And our Photographer sure knows bargains.

Turning first to the steed - HPC402 - humming away in the dock at Tamworth.  I suspect this photograph was taken after the trip to Barraba as the early morning sun is absent.

Here is the evidence of the driver's acquiescence to the art of railway photography. First, the West Tamworth viaduct.

And this is, I think, the rail bridge over Barraba Creek.  Google Maps suggests that it is still in place at the time of writing in 2020.

Happy to be corrected - bridge recognition is not a forte.

And to Barraba itself...

There was a reason for Barraba's branchline - a mine.  4861 was caught posing at the head of a short train with its containerised product.

I am pretty sure I have posted this photograph previously, but I have fiddled with it a bit to get more light onto the side of the train.

Cheers,

Don