Today's Brisbane XPT is being led by XP2004...
And is tailed by XP2015...
Both look a little bare without their noses adorned with Countrylink logos.
5 cars all up, with about 30 passengers on it 15 minutes before departure. Hardly worth bothering.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Monday, September 1, 2014
Lunchtime, 19 January 1991, Kiama
I remember feeling somewhat elated after getting through the job of scanning about 12,000 railway-related slides and prints in about 2001. Now I am ploughing through hours and hours of video and getting rather bogged down, reminiscing. Should have it all done by 2021!
Enough whinging. Stills are great to study for detail, but one of the good things about video is how it can bring an event in one's dim past back to life. So it is with the following sequence. Here is 42212 on the up midday express approaching Kiama. I took this photo from the road bridge.
The motley collection of carriages trailing the loco warranted a second shot, so I did.
I also like the way the 2 car diesel is tucked in behind on the turntable road. Kiama was a compact yard and must have been a shunter's nightmare as it always seemed to be packed.
After the train rolled through I scuttled along to get a take-off shot. It worked out OK, but is pretty ugly.
And tonight I put two and two together. Apparently the Senior Train Hunter was on the video camera and managed to get the all-important staff exchange, as well as the take-off. So I'll leave you with these two sequences.
Yes, that was a real 422 class whistle!
Ciao!
Enough whinging. Stills are great to study for detail, but one of the good things about video is how it can bring an event in one's dim past back to life. So it is with the following sequence. Here is 42212 on the up midday express approaching Kiama. I took this photo from the road bridge.
The motley collection of carriages trailing the loco warranted a second shot, so I did.
I also like the way the 2 car diesel is tucked in behind on the turntable road. Kiama was a compact yard and must have been a shunter's nightmare as it always seemed to be packed.
After the train rolled through I scuttled along to get a take-off shot. It worked out OK, but is pretty ugly.
And tonight I put two and two together. Apparently the Senior Train Hunter was on the video camera and managed to get the all-important staff exchange, as well as the take-off. So I'll leave you with these two sequences.
Yes, that was a real 422 class whistle!
Ciao!
Friday, August 22, 2014
Borenore, I think...
I have been off the air for a fortnight or so thanks to the Internet gremlins... obviously my last post offended them.
In my absence from the air waves a gentleman on the Ausloco chat group was asking about Borenore in the 1960s and 1970s. I don't have anything from that era but I do have a story from the 1985 October Long Weekend which started in Orange and ended up in Borenore. Or at least I think it was Borenore... not sure I have been there since!
I think I have said in other posts that I usually tried to avoid Orange and tried to avoid rail photography on long weekends because nothing ever happened.... and here is an example of that, but this time it paid dividends.
I sat at the one position in Orange for the next photo for probably 90 minutes. Although I was happy with the initial shot I wanted one with a typical Alco start-off... smoke and oils going everywhere.Instead I got humming, for a very long time.
Finally dispensing with the idea of chasing the train back towards Sydney, I headed further west. Deciding to travel along the Scenic Route I gave up on seeing anything before Dubbo, But lovely little Borenore changed all that.
I had stopped to photograph this lovely yard crane. Obviously the local fettlers were artistic types who didn't mind suspending a length of rail 8 feet in the air for the weekend.
No sooner had I taken the photo then I heard what I had yearned for in Orange - an Alco burble. Indeed, I was to be rewarded by two Alcos trundling down the hill to Borenore. Yep, 44210 and 4492 were treading through territory which was clearly slated for some emergency track repairs.
And they trundled to a stop. I must have been saving film for places west, as I only took one shot. (Hey, if you forgot to buy film before a long weekend there was usually bucklies of replenishing it until everyone went back to work). Anyway, here is a lovely shot of the 442 nestled against the out-of shed.
And then I was off in the Gemini to Dubbo...
If I had not sat in Orange for what seemed like forever, I would have missed this.
So, if anyone knows who was asking on Ausloco, perhaps you would be so kind as to send him the link? Who knows, maybe he really needs to know that the road side of the out-of shed was a rather sturdy affair?
Ciao for now!
In my absence from the air waves a gentleman on the Ausloco chat group was asking about Borenore in the 1960s and 1970s. I don't have anything from that era but I do have a story from the 1985 October Long Weekend which started in Orange and ended up in Borenore. Or at least I think it was Borenore... not sure I have been there since!
I think I have said in other posts that I usually tried to avoid Orange and tried to avoid rail photography on long weekends because nothing ever happened.... and here is an example of that, but this time it paid dividends.
I sat at the one position in Orange for the next photo for probably 90 minutes. Although I was happy with the initial shot I wanted one with a typical Alco start-off... smoke and oils going everywhere.Instead I got humming, for a very long time.
Finally dispensing with the idea of chasing the train back towards Sydney, I headed further west. Deciding to travel along the Scenic Route I gave up on seeing anything before Dubbo, But lovely little Borenore changed all that.
I had stopped to photograph this lovely yard crane. Obviously the local fettlers were artistic types who didn't mind suspending a length of rail 8 feet in the air for the weekend.
No sooner had I taken the photo then I heard what I had yearned for in Orange - an Alco burble. Indeed, I was to be rewarded by two Alcos trundling down the hill to Borenore. Yep, 44210 and 4492 were treading through territory which was clearly slated for some emergency track repairs.
And they trundled to a stop. I must have been saving film for places west, as I only took one shot. (Hey, if you forgot to buy film before a long weekend there was usually bucklies of replenishing it until everyone went back to work). Anyway, here is a lovely shot of the 442 nestled against the out-of shed.
And then I was off in the Gemini to Dubbo...
If I had not sat in Orange for what seemed like forever, I would have missed this.
So, if anyone knows who was asking on Ausloco, perhaps you would be so kind as to send him the link? Who knows, maybe he really needs to know that the road side of the out-of shed was a rather sturdy affair?
Ciao for now!
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Sunday morning in Bombo
Hopefully every Sunday morning is as lazy as this one, which is allowing me to further test the shortest way to rip old videos and then to upload them on blogs.
For this test I thought I would pop back to Sunday, 19 January 1991. A quick trip down to Bombo had been taken as we knew the South Coast Daylights were not long for the world.
And here it is... 42214 sneaking up to the tunnel to Kiama.
Further up the hill that morning was the Senior Train Hunter with his prized VHS camcorder - all 83 pounds of it. While the photo is OK, the video is a cracker. It really shows the lousy condition of the bridges and track-work on the South Coast. Any modeller who laid this sort of alignment would rip it up the next weekend. Turn up the sound folks, and wait for 51 seconds of GM power on display!
Ciao!
For this test I thought I would pop back to Sunday, 19 January 1991. A quick trip down to Bombo had been taken as we knew the South Coast Daylights were not long for the world.
And here it is... 42214 sneaking up to the tunnel to Kiama.
Further up the hill that morning was the Senior Train Hunter with his prized VHS camcorder - all 83 pounds of it. While the photo is OK, the video is a cracker. It really shows the lousy condition of the bridges and track-work on the South Coast. Any modeller who laid this sort of alignment would rip it up the next weekend. Turn up the sound folks, and wait for 51 seconds of GM power on display!
Ciao!
Monday, August 4, 2014
The Gloucester trials - Take II
So here is 44218 and 44222 creeping into Gloucester on 11 February 1993. Just check out the variety of wagons in this consist!
And if this works properly, you should be able to watch the train roll by.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Another test
After about three hours of tussling with various video ripping freeware, I think I may have succeeded in capturing a few test videos from the vault.
Bear in mind that these were initially recorded onto a mini tape, converted to VHS tape, played quite a few times, then ripped onto DVD. And now ripped off the DVD in little grabs. And then loading into Youtube (my first ever) - another way to lose resolution, if there was anything there in the first place.
I thought I would start by showing the photo of the train in question - it is 44240 leading 44226 (I think) and 4497 (I think - it could be 4495) through Gloucester on 11 February 1993.
And now, if you click this link, you should be able to see the train run past....
Track 2
Given this has taken me nearly 4 hours I am not sure that Rail Rambler will be a regular video blog, but it does give a few options to show just how noisy and decrepit trains were in past decades.
Bear in mind that these were initially recorded onto a mini tape, converted to VHS tape, played quite a few times, then ripped onto DVD. And now ripped off the DVD in little grabs. And then loading into Youtube (my first ever) - another way to lose resolution, if there was anything there in the first place.
I thought I would start by showing the photo of the train in question - it is 44240 leading 44226 (I think) and 4497 (I think - it could be 4495) through Gloucester on 11 February 1993.
And now, if you click this link, you should be able to see the train run past....
Track 2
Given this has taken me nearly 4 hours I am not sure that Rail Rambler will be a regular video blog, but it does give a few options to show just how noisy and decrepit trains were in past decades.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
It was 50 years ago today... almost
Actually, 50 years ago tomorrow, 6 July 1964, the first mainline diesel was allocated to the Illawarra. It was 4846 and it was the harbinger of a generation of diesel locomotives until the arrival of the overhead wiring in the mid-1980s.
In honour of that event I thought I would post a few shots of what 48s did most and best - local passenger workings. And I thought I should use only photos taken over the back of my grandparents' back fence, as part of one of my current series of blog posts.
Somewhat ironically I don't seem to have many shots of 48s on FO sets, although they were ubiquitous for the first decade of diesel hauled passenger services. Here's one, headed towards Wollongong.
Here is your classic three-quarter angle shot, into the afternoon sun, with 4888 leading a north-bound workers' train.
And another type of passenger, this time with 4802 leading a rake of heavy cars. This service was probably bound for Sydney given the carriages.
Another one off to Sydney - 4827 this time. Getting monotonous? This was the 1970s/1980s on the Coast!
And in the other direction - 4853 with a lengthy and eclectic collection of carriages off to the Gong.
And this could be a trailing shot of the same train. There is at least one 48 up front.
Just for a change, here's double headed 48s!
I hope this isn't boring anyone yet! Here's a change - a dilapidated 4835 in charge of a southbound service.
Sometimes only the angles change... 4897 heading across the bridge with the Sunday morning all stations service.
As electrification approached, the trains just got daggier. Whatever still ran OK was used on the local services.
It wasn't enough. De-powered suburban electric sets were pressed into service, hauled by - surprise surprise - 48s. This 48 - 4813 or 4818 - even had a pole growing out of the front of it!
Ev en after electrification arrived, 48s ploughed on... to finish off here is 48115 and 48124 headed south under the wires. The carriage just outnumber the locos.
So, that's enough for now... until next time, ciao!
In honour of that event I thought I would post a few shots of what 48s did most and best - local passenger workings. And I thought I should use only photos taken over the back of my grandparents' back fence, as part of one of my current series of blog posts.
Somewhat ironically I don't seem to have many shots of 48s on FO sets, although they were ubiquitous for the first decade of diesel hauled passenger services. Here's one, headed towards Wollongong.
Here is your classic three-quarter angle shot, into the afternoon sun, with 4888 leading a north-bound workers' train.
And another type of passenger, this time with 4802 leading a rake of heavy cars. This service was probably bound for Sydney given the carriages.
Another one off to Sydney - 4827 this time. Getting monotonous? This was the 1970s/1980s on the Coast!
And in the other direction - 4853 with a lengthy and eclectic collection of carriages off to the Gong.
And this could be a trailing shot of the same train. There is at least one 48 up front.
Just for a change, here's double headed 48s!
I hope this isn't boring anyone yet! Here's a change - a dilapidated 4835 in charge of a southbound service.
Sometimes only the angles change... 4897 heading across the bridge with the Sunday morning all stations service.
As electrification approached, the trains just got daggier. Whatever still ran OK was used on the local services.
It wasn't enough. De-powered suburban electric sets were pressed into service, hauled by - surprise surprise - 48s. This 48 - 4813 or 4818 - even had a pole growing out of the front of it!
Ev en after electrification arrived, 48s ploughed on... to finish off here is 48115 and 48124 headed south under the wires. The carriage just outnumber the locos.
So, that's enough for now... until next time, ciao!
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