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.

Go bunnies....

Its early Saturday morning, on the start of a long weekend which may see my beloved and most exasperating bunnies win a rugby league premiership for the first time in 43 years. To be honest, its not just the lack of success but the lack of a prospect of success for 41 of those 43 years - in only two years (1989 and 2012) could anyone say that Souths had a fighting chance.
 
Anyway, to give readers a sense of how long this really is, I thought I would trawl the annals for a few things that were happening the last time Souths played in a grand final.

Steam locos were still in regular serice, like 3102T at Dubbo...

Rail tours weren't called 'heritage experiences' or had diesels pushing from the rear, like this one to Kiama by 3028T in February 1971...
 

Or this one to Canberra by 3229 and 5274...

Even when they were added to tour trains it was only because a steamie had failed and diesels were then attached to the front of the train so the cinders from a working steam loco had no chance to lodge in the diesel's air intakes. Here was a nicely turned out 3526 at Wollongong, on its way to Joppa Junction in 1971.
 

And 1971 was a year of decay - most notably at Enfield where the rusting leftovers of 18th century technology awaited a date with an oxy torch, like 1948 and 1903 in the following scene

So I am hoping for a great game tomorrow night. Canterbury will be a formidable and worthy opponent. Win or lose, at least now I won't have to watch replays of the 71 grand final to remember what success means.


 

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!