Catching up

 I have finally cracked the code and am back in control of my own blog.

Here's a few photos to mark some of the things I have rambled over since I last posted in July 2022.

In August, Dad and I headed to Junee for what would end up being our last train hunt. He didn't last as long as 4497, which is still plying the rails around Harefield as it was on the 10th August.

In early September I was lucky enough to hit Bowning, just as GM10 and GM22 went north with a railset.

October was Streamliners. What an event!

At Christmas we had snuck over to Colorado for a family holiday.  One of the things I didn't expect to see was PRLX 4687 on a short San Luis and Rio Grande grain near Antonito on 29 December.

On the last day of 2022 we happened to be shopping at the Railyard Markets when a New Mexico Rail Runner left Santa Fe.

The next day we caught the Polar Express out of Durango for a great fun evening.

A week later I had a leave pass to watch the passing parade of UP power through Laramie in the snow. I saw 68 trains in a 16-hour period - not all moving. Here is one on January 6th.

The next day was better weather and I marveled at the wonders in the Colorado State Railroad Museum at Golden.

Only thing better than one Shay is two Shays....

We finished off the States with a bit of time in LA, which meant plenty of trains around Pasadena and Palm Springs.

Finally, back in Australia, the past few months have been too busy to chase too many trains.  But I did manage to catch 4532 and 44204 leaving Goulburn on a ballast on 14 March.

And that is about it for a catch up. I will finish with this snap from the young bloke, who  got VL354, 4917, 4911, 4904 and CLF2 on an up grain approaching Moss Vale on 3 June.

Back to normal transmission soon, I hope.

Cheers

Don

XPTs, Act II

Here is the next XPT installment, starting around 1992. 

1992NP067A 2 car diesel set and the North XPT eye each other off at Maitland on 22 August 1992.

The up Riverina XPT rests for a moment at Moss Vale in 1992.

On 25 March 1992 the down West XPT nears Spring Hill.  Thank you work for sending me to the country on this day.

The up Muwillumbah XPT rolls across the bridge just north of Gloucester on 11 February 1993.  This is one of my favourite train watching locations.

Getting bored yet? I will try to mix it up a bit.

Here's an XPT at platform 16 at Central, due to close-down of the Sydney Terminal yard, on 1 October 1994.

Another one of my favourite places - Urunga, late 1994.

And the big thing that happened to the XPT in the 1990s was that it went south - sadly replacing the loc hauled overnight trains.  But I rode it anyway.

Here's A76 and the XPT at Spencer St Station on 2 August 1994.

And two days later... the City of Cootamundra soon to depart.

Cheers!

Don

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

To the Nation's Capital (in 1971)

I went off looking for something for this blog about three weeks ago and fell into a big pit of information.  Since then I have been sluicing through the electronic versions of the Railway Digest and the Railway News, plus paper copies of some/most of the Roundhouse, discovering rail tours of the 1960s and 1970s.  So far I have logged over 400 tours - and these are the ones that actually ran, as many didn't. I do intend posting the details of these tours, once I get through what I have committed myself to.  

In doing this digging it became apparent that there was a real and perfectly understandable shift in the emphasis in tours over the course of the decade to 1973.  In the early 1960s tours were largely smaller affairs, concentrating on vulnerable branch lines and venerable classes of locomotives.

By the mid 1960s the emphasis was on mainline runs, using modern steam power.  Then, as the decade closed the emphasis was on desperation to use steam before it disappeared.  All perfectly understandable and it led to some amazing tours.  I think this era started with a RTM tour to Wallangarra using 3827, 3616, 5442, 3022, 3524, 3617, 3233, 3390, 5909, 3036, 4876 and 4608 - 12 locos!  The ARE's weekend tour from Melbourne to Merriwa in 1969 used 17 locos - 42207, 3801, 4638, 3820, 6019, 3067, 3046, 3214, 5902, 3088, 2705, 3813, 4609, 3642, 4639, 3122 and 42212.

Then there are stories of a single 30 tank starting other tours by lifting an 11 car train out of Sydney Terminal. Things I wish I had seen. 

And this all came about because I was looking for a date for a RTM tour from Sydney to Canberra held on 14 March 1971, using 3801 to and from Goulburn, then combinations of 3229, 5212 and 5271 on the Canberra line. 

The Digest tour report explains the day: 

   .... 3801 led the Museum’s Canberra tour out of Sydney at 6.14 a.m. on Sunday 14/3, on the first step to Goulburn. Failure of 42206 on a down goods in the Picton-Bargo section and single line working  from Penrose to Tallong caused delays, which were however just added incentive for the crews of 3229 and 5212 to pick up time between Goulburn and Bungendore. 5274, with its odd tender, was in charge from Bungendore through to Canberra, arriving there perfectly on time. After a short bus tour, most passengers re-joined the train, now hauled by 3229 which had come over tender first from Bungendore as a result of inoperability of the Queanbeyan turntable. 5212 was attached leading at Queanbeyan. At Bungendore, No. 18 passenger ran through (having brought over some passengers who had participated in a more extensive bus tour) and the engines were interchanged to have 3229 leading on the three final sunset photos. 3801 took over again at Goulburn for the run to Sydney.

At least one of my uncles was on this tour, so we have a few shots of it.

This first shot shows 3229 and 5212 about to replace 3801 at Goulburn on the outward journey.

And here is a snap of 5274 with its 'odd tender' travelling over (I think) the Molonglo River at Burbong.

And here is a nice afternoon capture of 3229 again leading 5212 on the way back, on one of the three 'sunset' shots taken after Bungendore.

All three shots were taken as Agfa slides, which have deteriorated badly in the 50+ years since this tour. They are now as crazed and speckky as your scribe so, apologies for our condition!

Cheers,

Don

Albury Town Part II

Found a few more shots goings on around the border.  While I sit here, literally waiting for paint to dry, I figured I might as well do something useful with them

First up, 42206 and X51 sit along side each other, circa 1975. May be a bit later than that.

Next, the utilitarian face of GM.... 42202 circa 1983.

Later or earlier that same 1983 day, I can't remember, 42202 was paired with X44 to shunt Albury yard.

On 27 December 1983, 42202's immediately younger sister was also on duty, hauling the InterCapital Daylight Express into town..  And for you youngsters, this is what all railway staff looked like in the Eighties in Albury.

And this is what an express passenger train looked like 40 years ago.  They look the same today.

Enjoy!  Back to the paint.

Don

Tulloch time

No, not the race horse. But a small collection of air conditioned rail cars (later de-motored carriages) which were a delight to ride in. Introduced in 1971, their first duties were the Riverina Express from 1972.  I am pretty sure this following shot shows this working, which lasted only until mid-1973.  I have an 8 year-old's recollection that I was present for this shot too, but haven't the foggiest where it was taken.  I was probably wondering where my next Icy Pole was coming from.  My priorities haven't changed much since.

Like all duds, the Tullochs made their way to the Illawarra.  Here is a mid-1970s shot of a lone Tulloch being jostled through North Wollongong at the speed of sound.

In January 1982 members of a notorious NSW south coast model railway club attempted a feat so daring it has never been repeated. On this day, the evening up South Coast Daylight departed Bomaderry station with every financial member in the loco cab.  Here is a shot of the train before the front suspension on the loco was severely tested.

The Victorians did a nice V/Line version. Here is one kicking around Spencer Street Station (as it was called then) in 1992.

But it was in the de-motored era from December 1981 that Tulloch sets grew in fame or infamy.  They were rostered for the 4:33pm ex Central to Wollongong on weekdays.  If I got to work early, I could leave in time to get this service.  after half the train emptied at Sutherland, it was a very cruisy experience.

These next shots are of the Sunday service from Mount St Thomas, in days when I was brave enough or foolish enough to pull up on the highway. I liked photographing here, because the power lines ruin the shots. The first is from 1986.

This one from 30 January 1990.

And this is what made them beautiful - faux wood panelling. I am a child of the 1960s. From 19 January 1991.

This last shot was taken while I was in transit to Wollongong on a down service. To demonstrate the worthiness of of calling it an 'express service' I alighted at Wollongong, travelled by car to Bombo, then waited an eternity for this next shot.

We stuck around Kiama for the up service, and were rewarded with another candy 422 hauling a motley collection of passenger carriages.

Wouldn't mind a trip to Kiama on a Tulloch set. Especially with a cab full of enthusiasts up front.  

And that is enough from me this year. Compliments of the season to all readers!

Don