A few trams from 1958

Hi, just a quickie as I rediscovered some photos from the camera of Ian Brady, which were passed to me by a mate (after he bought them second hand).

As a younger man in the late 1980s, I had the great pleasure of living on Glebe for about seven years.  I would often trip over the tram rails that poked through the road tarmac from time to time.  As I was falling, I would often dream of the trams that plied their way through Glebe and Forest Lodge 30 years before I was falling about the place.  Thankfully on 17 November 1958, Ian took his camera and recorded several of those scenes.

Here are two from the general location of the intersection of Parramatta and Glebe Point Roads.

A few from around the location of Ross and Pyrmont Bridge Roads.  This area is technically Forest Lodge, from memory.

And finally, back in town as we called it in those days.  West Circular Quay.

Thanks to Ian we get to see a bit more of Sydney that exists no more.

Cheers

Don

 

Reminiscing about the near past

When thinking about blog posts I always seem to be reaching for the file folder called '1966' or '1978'.  Sure, these were golden periods of the NSW railways, although 1978 was more brown than golden.

There has been another golden period since in my usually ill-considered opinion - from about 1998 to 2007.  So, lets wind back the clock a mere 15 years, to 1 May 2006.  It was during a period that I had many reasons to visit Canterbury, Dullo and Marrickville - almost all associated with work.  Now I am out of things I can confess to writing many a government brief on the seats at Canterbury station, stopping only to snap the passing traffic. And we think working away from the office is a new thing! Anyway, on 1 May 2006 the youngster and I snaffled many trains - here are six...

The day started with a tidy trippy led by 4483 and 4471. 

.. quickly followed by 2203 and two CLPs headed for the Illawarra... I stuffed the going away shot (at least the 422 is in focus)...

Jumping down the line to Marrick Vegas we scored 44208 and KL81 top and tailing a container train out of Port Botany....

Out of the XPT depot, 4833 did what it does best... smoke.

Just over the weeds, GL105, 4903 and EL51 arrived from points west/north.

And then 4708 and 4458 arrived... 

Ho hum... more Alcos... stuffed the arriving but not the going away shot... 4503 in its Big Red Tomato livery with a more sedate liveried 4468.

That was six trains, but the bonus seventh train involved 4701 and two dilapidated GMs.

I have just managed this entire blog without posted a PacNat blue loco, demonstrating it was a golden era indeed!

Cheers,

Don

Really useful engines

That remarkable class of 145 suburban tank locomotives built from 1903 onwards has been occupying my mind of late.  More so, the 77 converted to tender locos for branchline workings, but the whole class is worth considering over a beer or two.  I have posted a lot photos of 30s and 30Ts, but there is always room for one more installment.

Lets start with the class leader, which is soon to get a new lease on life. Here is the beastie, about to get away from Picton in 1990 working the loopline.

I will try to do this in number order. 3013 is apparently in Canberra, incomplete and in bits.  Good luck to whoever has that job.  Its life post service hasn't had too many high-points, but it has somehow lasted 50 years.  Once the collieries in the Hunter were finished with her, this is what she looked like in 1970.

Another Canberra resident has fared better. 3016T wore a startling blend of royal blue with red tyres which I would show you, but we managed to not photograph clearly.  Instead, here it is at Central in December 2012.

Incidentally, no 30Ts were harmed in the taking of that photo.  3016T got pushed by a couple of mainliners.

My favourite Easter ever was spent with 3026T at Cowra in 1994.  Best. religious. experience. ever. Even got to wish it goodnight and tuck it in to bed on Easter Saturday.

This brings us to Dorrigo, which I will never bash in case Uncle Keith wants to leave me a 30 or a 30T in his will (I will also accept a 24 or 25).  He and his compadres have kept 3028T, 3046 and 3090T from the oxy torch.  Thank you. First up, 3028T, then the other two.

Still on the 'stuffed and mounted' side of the class, 3075T resides, sans boiler tubes and a few other bits, at Parkes to this day.  Always good to give the old girl a pat.

Back to the tanks - 3085 has looked a little forlorn recently but better days are ahead.

We have cracked the century now. Time for the last surviving tender loco. Here's 3102T in a pleasing aqua-marine livery, celebrating 1980.

It is fitting that we finish up with a couple of the original designs. 3112 lurks at Goulburn, and is always a joy to see when passing through.  Here it is sneaking down into the near-abandoned Rozelle Goods Yard in June 2002.  

Last up, 3137. When nothing else steamy seemed to be moving in NSW, it was plying that loop line like it was 1909, not 1979.  A favourite, definitely. 

Until next time!

Don 

Doot doot doot looking out my back door

For about five years, my train hunting was sorted.  I usually just sat in my backyard, pretending to garden.  It got the usual parade of about 40 daylight trains - like 26 September 2016 when G516 worked an up trippy past the back fence.

If feeling athletic I went down to the either ends of the street, or even the local stations (Hurlstone Park and Canterbury), both about 600 metres away. But mostly, it was 'head out the kitchen window' stuff, like it was on 19 December 2015 when S317, GM22 and VL356 popped through at breakfast time with 8146 up containers.

But now I am up country, an hour away from any decent railway action unless garbage trains are your thing. Not complaining, but I miss the whine of a Helga pulling a trippy with a load of flat wheels at 11:45pm.

But not anymore.  The last time I looked, Australia has fewer than five decent, live streaming, webcams.  We are lagging the world, even the USA.  I have since happened upon two sites Virtual Railfan (virtualrailfan.com) and Rail Stream (https://railstream.net). Both are brilliant! 

Virtual Railfan has 81 camera at 50 locations, covering 25 states and 22 railroads. It will come as no surprise to readers to learn that so far I have satisfied myself with the 15+ free cameras, although I am seriously thinking about upgrading.  Subscriptions equal the cost of a Netflix subscription,so wifey may be a disappointed very shortly because we don't need both.

I will admit that I have never heard of some of these locations, but boyo, the trains. I started in the terrific town of Flagstaff, even sorted the local scanner so I am a bit ahead of the action.  It is a bit gritty, but BNSF rocket through here about every 15 minutes. This screen shot shows a little consist - up to five units regularly work through, with mid-train helpers and pushers too. Amtrak turns up here when it wants to.

I have since moved to the mid-west, to places like Fort Madison with its preserved steamy watching double stacks roll by.

Viewing Kansas City got more interesting this week when some auto-racks derailed on the overhead bridge. No pontiacs were injured in the preparation of this blog. Heere's another screenshot, again with two BNSF locos. I fluffed the screenshot of seven Norfolk Southerns locos, showing that my actual rail-fanning photography traits are transferable to the virtual world.

There are many things this world lacks... two in particular are diamonds and street running. I am getting my fill of both.  Two diamonds I have been watching are at La Planta in Florida and Deschler, Ohio.  Here is the latter, keeping with my BNSF theme. 

Now, street running and, more relevantly, the perils of street running.  La Grange is a lovely looking place, especially when CSX work to the nearby Ford Motor plant. A couple of nights ago one such working took place.

This train rolled into La Grange at 7:51am last Thursday morning, local time, just as the town was coming to life.  When the last car rolled past 42 minutes later, the locals got their town back.

Anyway, it is time to get back to train watching, this time in Galesburg.  It doesn't quite equal sitting in your backyard, but it is better than watching the weeds grow.

Cheers,

Don

The black diamond

Thirty two years ago today (9 June 1988) I have recorded as the first time that 85 class locos worked into the Illawarra on a coal train.  On that day, 8501, 8509, 8504 and 8503 worked 9K55 coal to Port Kembla Inner Harbour.  I can't quite remember who informed me of this trivia (it was probably the Digest), but I wrote it down just for a time like now.

85s were infrequent visitors to the South Coast - especially when compared to their electric cousins the 86 class and electric grandfathers, the 46s.  This is my excuse for having so few photos of them on the Coast.  But here is one about to be there... 8506, 8501 and 8502 at Waterfall on another coalie in 1993.

Happy anniversary!

Cheers,

Don

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  

Over the fence

This post is a little bit explanation, a bit reflection and a small bit an advertisement/plea/community service announcement…

It has been a fair while since the last post.  Most of my intervening hours have been allocated to a flurry of home renovations as we prepare to sell our house in Hurlstone Park. Its meant a lot of backyard time, which is usually a good thing as we share a fence with the Metropolitan Goods Line. Unfortunately, I have tended to have a hammer or a spade in hand, rather than a camera. 

When we bought here I thought I would never leave… it has always been a dream of mine to camp out beside the Metro Goods Line and this is what I have been happily doing. It has taken 5 years but I now possess skills every train hunter should have – like being able to tell an approaching Helga just by its whine (don’t get me started on QBXs!). But for a whole bunch of reasons (the compelling one is that we have bought a farm we couldn’t afford), it is now time to leave.

But its been an interesting 5 years. We arrived only months after the last of the 44s were withdrawn, so I moped for a couple of years until they made a return in 2017.  They still wander past, but very occasionally.

The more modern Alcos seem to be increasing their presence along the line, after a pretty lean period.  Their heyday was 2015, when 80/80 or 442/80 combos were seen regularly.

Darling, there is an Alco at the bottom of our garden.

The days of regular quad C classes rumbling the entire suburb appear over, with their removal from the 1491/4190 container service.  Here’s close the last time that triple Cs worked that service, taken from my ‘around the corner’ go-to photography spot – the Melford Street overpass.

While not as rumblingly authoritarian as the C class, even as recently as this week the locals could not help but be impressed by a solitary G.  I fluffed the shot so here is an earlier one from September 2016.

Five years is a pretty short period, but even in that time some interlopers have arrived and left.  Aurizon, for one.

Then there are the regulars… working from home over the last year has meant that my day is timed by the Fletchers train (8148) around breakfast, a Helga at 10:30, Carrot and Spud on the Crawfords service by 2pm and an 81 on a cementy around dusk. And lots of others in between of course (usually about 20 in daylight hours).  But here’s a few shots of my regular friends…

Its not the worst way to live a life! One I am particularly fond of runs most days, in the afternoon.  It is of course the littlest Alco in the village off to deposit or collect an XPT car or two.

At the risk of sounding too much like a sell-job, one of the nicest things about this area is that someone who shares our interest also worked on the local council.  As a result of his/her intervention, there is a lovely park at the end of our street where I can sit on a bench overlooking the Foord Avenue underpass (technically doing, ahem, work). Here’s a couple of recent shots of this location.

Anyway, you have heard enough of my extolling the virtues of my locale. It will be a big wrench to leave when we have to, and now the renovations are over there will be more sitting in the garden/park or at the local bridge, snapping the local wildlife.

If you are still reading this and know of anyone who appreciates the sound of an Alco in the morning, information about our house sale is available from this link, or just drop me a note in the comments under this post. 

I am serious – I am just plain sick of my real estate agent telling me there are people in this world who think that living next to the Metro Goods Line is a detraction. I would very much like to prove him wrong by selling this home to someone who appreciates rail traffic as much as we all do (should!). Let’s show him and all these uninformed people that sharing a back fence with the NSW Railways is a joy! In fact, even if you don’t want to buy the house, please just ring him anyway and let him know just how mistaken he is!

Who doesn’t want a chance to wave to the driver on 8037?

Cheers, Don