Epic fail at Waterfall

Time for a whimsical look at Waterfall, to give those IMRA folk something new to model...

There are many definitions of failure, and I have invented a few myself.  Here are a few at Waterfall.

First up, 3526 disgraced itself at Waterfall en route to Wollongong in the early 1970s.  I was pretty young and impressionable at the time, and was deeply affected by an RTM tour train arriving in Wollongong with a diesel at the front end.  But enough about me, Waterfall yard held the Nanny captive for a few days until it was towed back to Enfield.

Here's an epic fail of another dimension. Taken on the night of fires in the Royal National Park (with tragic loss of life) around 1979, it is less a photo about trains and more a photo about life's struggle in Australia.

Back to the rails.... the prosaic Metro coal scored a newly repainted 48119 at Waterfall in 1993 after the original combination of 4842 and 4839 couldn't do the job.

I think the failure in the following photograph will become evident in the next decade. As the Aussie dollar drops back to usual levels and world oil prices creep up again, we may be well be ruing the decision not to invest more heavily in electric freight traction.

Next one is an epic fail on my part - I actually drove to Waterfall in the early 1980s to photograph a V set on its trial.  Then, for the next 30 years, V sets ran through Waterfall about 50 times a day, every day.

Another loco is down... this time its 2005 and GM42 expired when on ARG's Manildra flour train. So it got a visit to the outer reaches of Waterfall's yard.

And finally an epic fail.  A shunting accident in 1995 left a substantially shortened version of a suburban carriage, so what was left was parked on the turntable, as one does.

So, Waterfall seems to be a harsh place. 

Ciao!

Rather exhausting...

Here's a little Alco acceleration for you folks at home.

On 24 October 1991 we arrived in a rainy Quirindi to find 3505, 4493 and 3513 ease to a halt. This is what we had driven hundreds of miles for, and now it was raining.

I was sent out to get a photo.The driver flicked the headlight on for (I'd like to think) a better photograph.

And thankfully the Senior Train Hunter hopped out into the rain. Just as well he did, for our obliging driver turned it on, and turned it up! 

Thank you driver!

A pretty sad sight

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.

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!



 
 

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!

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!

The Gloucester trials - Take II

Here is a second test. Same day as my last post and I am still testing how long it takes to upload these damn new fangled video thangs...have dispensed with the upload to Youtube version in lieu of a straight upload here....

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.

 

I promise to get back to posting real stories, with photos and videos, real soon!