1965 Liverpool railway accident

On 31 October 1965 a goods train collided with a suburban train at Liverpool station.  As the accident occurred at 1:15am there was only 15 or so people on the passenger train. Unfortunately, one of those passengers passed away at the scene as a result of injuries sustained in the collision.

One of our family members, who lived nearby, went to see the result of the accident the next day.  The following two photos were taken, and show the devastation caused by the accident.  I have debated whether to ever post these photos, given their nature.  On balance I have decided to publish them to illustrate the lack of safety design in earlier rolling stock.  I will be on this blog at some stage in the future complaining about the crappy seats in Waratah trains, but I think I would prefer to be in a modern suburban carriage than what was on offer in 1965.

The poor lad who lost his life that morning (he was 19 years of age) was in one of the rear carriages of the train. Those carriages received the brunt of the impact from the Albury-bound freight train, which was travelling at 60 mph (100kph) at the time of the accident.

Back next time with a cheerier installment.

Cheers,
Don  

Skillion roof stations

It takes a special sort of person, called an architect, to come up with a design for a railway station building that shields intending passengers from the elements until that moment when the rain overwhelms the gutters just as the train pulls into the station. 

Even I think I can spot a design flaw there somewhere here...I think I particularly like the way a skillion roof can take water from the building's entire surface area and tip it over the only side needed for the building's purpose.  But they do look nice and are easier to model so lets have a look at a few I have passed by over the years.

And lets start with Gilmore as its a place that gets a fair amount of rain - I think this example wasn't far from getting the bulldozer when I snapped it around 1981.

I think I took this one of Stroud Road in 1984 or 1985. It took me a fair while to line the pole up in the middle of the photograph, so I hope you appreciate it.

Stocky has always been a favourite of mine... four skillion roofs, at four different angles.

Eumungerie is home base for my paternal line... which explains the persons lurking in this 1963 photo.

But the example I liked the best was Gulgong.  I think the building has since been restored but in 1995 it was ruggedly dilapidated.

Cheers!

Don

Getting out of Mexico

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about the Melbourne Express, otherwise known as the MEX. The counterpart service was called the Sydney Express, but it was rarely described in the shortened form.  

As with all journeys, there had to be a start.  For the Sydney Express, it was alawys Spencer Street Station in Melbourne.  Here are two shots taken from August 1993 showing the two options in motive power.

 

I have a lot more photos of the Sydney Express than its counterpart due to geography. Saturday mornings could involve trips to Maldon or Picton to see the Express, numerous other Southern Highlands passengers and the Superfreighters. On 9 October 1993 G520 did the honours through Picton.

When the Express started it was a much larger train than its 1990s version.  Here it is stretched out through Wilton in 1986 with double 81s up front.

Enough of the static representations!  Here is a link to a short and jerky video of 8171 on the up Sydney Express at Maldon on 16 October 1993.

 

It wasn't all sunshine out there.  On a foggy 20 November 1993, the third last loco-hauled Sydney Express cantered through Maldon with 8172 at the front.

Here's evdence of why this train needed to go.  At least there was one other patron at breakfast on this day.
 

And now to where it finished, the buffer stops at platform 1 (or 2) at Sydney Terminal. G527 made it there on 20 January 1993.

Here is 8177 arriving at the same location on 29 January 1993.
 

Even at the end, on Saturdays decent loadings required double heading. Here is 8170 and G518 having done the work overnight and into the morning of 15 August 1993.

 
As the end neared, platform 2 became the preferred destination.  Here are two shots from November 1993 recording such arrivals.

Finally it was over.  The last service on 22 November 1993 had 4463  leading 8174 into the shade.

If you want to watch a slow moving G514 arrive at Central in November 1992, do no more than press this button!
 

Ciao for now!
Don



 

Travels with & in Uncle Sam

Over nearly a hundred posts on this blog I think I may have displayed a fairly parochial view of railways.  To recompense, it may be time to  display a broader horizon, starting with my various travels in the United States of America.

I have been there a fair few times - some might say a few too many times. Say what you want about the place, the central place of railroads in modern America has been a particular interest of mine.  The first trip I made around the States taught me a lot about how big and different railroads were over there.

Growing up accustomed to an hourly freight train being a good day on many NSW lines, I remember being gobsmacked at the Transcon in western California and Arizona when first there in 1990.  Seeing four, five and even six diesels sitting on 90mph pacing the Interstate was something you just didn't see anywhere in NSW at that time. With four mates, I did 4,000 miles over five weeks in December 1990. Scenes like the following were, to coin a phrase, a dime a dozen.

The States has many examples of railroad decay - though not as many in 2014 as they did in 1990. One Sunday morning in Alabama the rest of the touring party were in bed while I toured the former station at Montgomery - Amtrak had relocated to a utilitarian building adjacent to this majestic shed.
 

 
This was my first train trip in the States - 3 January 1991 on the Texas Eagle.  Over the next eight days I travelled from Texas to Chicago, then to Portland Oregon on the Empire Builder, then back to LA on the Coast Starlight.  A truly great experience, starting with this quick snap of me about to board in Austin on a freezing morning.

Later that day in Dallas I hopped off for a walk to find this crazy guy doing a few running repairs.

I actually managed to fluke a half decent shot of the Empire Builders crossing in the middle of Nowhere.

I saw the snow drifts build up to the window level, so the following shot was pretty mild.

Again, from the rear carriage of the Empire Builder... a view of Nowhere, next stop, Oblivion.

Will finish up with a couple of shots of the Starlight.  The first from Oregon and the second much closer to southern California.

So its been nearly 25 years since my first trip Stateside.  Over the next 100 blog posts I will try to bring you a few other half interesting shots from the Land of the Free.

Ciao!

Bangalow

On hols at the moment. I checked out the wooden trestles at Lismore. Still there but unlikely to see a train tread safely over them.

Saddest sight in Bangalow must be the railway station. Once was one of the prettiest stations in NSW.

In Central, tonight!

When I was a kid Central on the Friday of  a long weekend was a very special place, full of trains made up by locos and carriages got from every corner of the system. Tonight you could swing the proverbial cat along most platforms, as the following photograph shows...

Central is still a special place, or it is tonight.  Out of the gloom its possible to find a purple P, a green pig and LVR's mikado.  Enjoy!

Looks like a good long weekend will be had!

Through runnin'

According to my incomplete and inaccurate memory, 32 years ago this week ‘through running' of Southern Aurora and the Spirit of Progress commenced, with X54 and 42219 doing the honours northward on the first trip...  7 June 1982 to be precise.  Can't miss this milestone without a little commemoration.

Through running simply meant that each system's locomotives weren't swapped at Albury, but worked the entire journey on these two named trains. For just over four years until these trains were 'amalgamated' in August 1986, Sydneysiders like myself could find exotic blue Victorian locos at Central.  Of course, most of the times I bothered to get to platform 1 in time to see either train, there were only ever brown boxes on the front end.

Anyway, one day in 1982 just after through running started, I did capture 44225 and X51 coming off Southern Aurora.

A little while later X46 arrived on the up Spirit of Progress.

 

Ciao for now!

 

Rail posters at Central.

Hi, this is just a quick heads up to anyone going through Central station this Easter. On the main concourse near platforms 1 to 4 there is a small green exhibition paying tribute to rail posters. Well worth checking out; here's a few snaps to give you an idea of what its about...

The exhibition implicitly and explicitly makes a case for recognising Reg Winsor as one of the best rail administrators this country ever produced.

Central in the 90s

Geez,

Another month has gone by, nearly. I have my priorities completely askew at the moment... Moving house, renovations, work, stuff, etc. it should be nostalgically trawling through photos. Anyway, no time like the present to get lost in the 90s...

By the 90s, Central at night was pretty boring, unless it was downright dangerous.  It's probably why 4817 was found snuggled up in the parcels roads behind platform 1 in the early 1990s.

Here is the most garish 80 class ever to tread the rails.  At the front of an Indian Pacific which was very very late, its appearance came as a total surprise to this laconic commuter.

Now for a couple of the Snora (Melbourne Express for the purists) in the lead up to its replacement by an XPT. First up, 8166 is ready to set off into the burbs.

This is not the same train, obviously, given its on another platform. But it is a representative consist for the period.

One could still get 'traditional Snora' shots long after the train's name had changed.

While on expresses, here is one which headed north. This is actually a fairly rare shot at xploder had a cross-over with loco hauled expresses for only a couple of months. This was late November, 1993.

On to the spare and bizarre.  Here is 42212 off a Southern Highlands service.

And now for the obligatory 'I don't know why it was there' shot. I suspect it was a works train....

And to finish off, here is a U boat. Pretty much the most exotic thing you could get after 1995 at Central.

Ciao!