More playing with the Senior Train Hunter's videos has secured the following four videos from September 1990, at a lovely little passing loop called Kerewong. These videos look like they were shot over a couple of days, as 44209 makes two appearances. So lets start with 44209 on the North Coast Daylight Express.
And here is its slightly newer sibling - 44221 - with a lovely collection of candy passenger cars.
Time to get back to the freighters! This time 44224 and 44231 pull up into the loop. This train and the next are testaments to stuff no longer carried in great quantities by rail.
And now lets finish with 44209, but this time on a freight with 4536.
More moving and still pictures soon! Ciao for now. Don
Haven't tried to run through a class for a while, mainly because I run out o things to say. Still, its raining here in Sydney and there is ironing to do so I was thinking about running through the 48s I have known... better go with the 49s. Here's the class leader at Bathurst, sandwiched between two air-conditioned 80 class locos. Must have been summer.
In 1993 a mate of mine at work mentioned there was a green loco shunting Rozelle yard when he came to work. That evening I raced over there at dusk, to find a shiny green 4902. Then I slightly blurred the photo - and only found out that I had 3 weeks later when I got the film developed. Still a favourite.
Then its off to Dubbo for 4903 which, with GL109 and EL64, was about to travel to Sydney on 8178 containers on Dubbo 16 April 2006.
The name on the numberboard might say KL80 but underneath 4904 lurks - Braemar, March 2002.
Once more to Dubbo - 4905 is shut down in the loco depot in 1987.
I'll do a separate blog post about this outing at some stage, but here's 4906 with friends around 1980.
And again, back to Dubbo - 4907 in 1988, getting some TLC
I think I have more photos of 4908 than any other loco. Here it is at Canterbury in 2001, pressed into freight service with 3801 Ltd.
You are going to have to trust me on this one.. it is 4909 (along with 4898 and 4918) on a metro trip. By the time that this train turned up at Rozelle, I had run our of film. It was 30 August 1993.
Way out west - 4910 at Broken Hill - 17 June 1988.
4911 powering out of Eumungerie to Gilgandra.
Still in the west, but the near west. Its Lithgow in 1977 or so, and 4912 is on the front of the Central West Express.
This is another 'trust me'... I do have a close up of 4913 but this shot from the bridge at Parkes in January 1981 gives a better panorama of the Forbes Mail it was hauling that night.
4914 in the shed at DELEC Open Day in 1996.
OK, I had to do it - bot of a trade mark when calling the board.Trainorama's 4915 is a mighty fine model.
4916 made it into preservation with the RTM.
One last trip out west - to Bathurst in the early 1980s for 4917.
Finally, another to make it all the way to preservation. 4918 at Robertson. The crew was probably off getting a pie.
So that's enough. Hope you enjoyed it. Ciao for now! Don
Apologies to anyone who
watched the video of Bob climbing Farmborough Heights in my last post.
Through a version control issue I managed to post 30 seconds of
delightful birdsong, then the old boiler bursts into view.
As
recompense, may I offer a bonus? In September 1989 the RTM attempted to
run a triple header up the hill, using 3642, 5910 and 3801.
Unfortunately 3801 was failed before the event so 3001T stepped in.
Keen observers will notice the
'adjustment' to 3001T's number, alongside the headboard using Australia
Post's slogan of the time. Two years later the RTM managed to get all three mainliners on the same train. This time there was a video camera handy...
I have posted a fair few shots on this blog taken from the overhead bridge at Farmborough Heights, usually of steam working up the hill to Dombarton and onto Moss Vegas.
Having now spent a fair bit of time converting DVDs which had been originally shot on tape back into a digital format I have collected a range of locos tackling the hill in the late 1990s. And as I haven't been particularly thrilled about the results of loading videos direct onto the blog I am now trying to link to my YouTube channel. So, here goes...
Lets start with 3801 on the Cocky...
And on film...
Might as well throw in another video of 01 - this time with 7344 hitching a ride. Must have been fun for the crew inside the cab of the 73.
While we are doing 38s, might as well do 3830. Here it is so fresh from overhaul it is yet to painted.
And here is how she looked after a coat of paint.
And now it is time to finish up with SMR's 18 - Bob to the locals - on the Cocky on a wet day.
I am such an old coot. Can't believe its 21 Easters ago that 3801 Ltd and LVR combined to give me one of the best Easters since childhood. It all started where it should - at Central behind 3801 early on Good Friday morning.
From memory the 38 performed magnificently throughout the trip (it was off to Dubbo). We got a tow from Penriff to Katoomba from a pretty decrepit 4472.
We hopped out at Blayney for my first ever ride behind a 47 class. LVR provided the class leader and a couple of carriages for a trip I hope to have the chance to do once more, soon. And yes, this was a photo-stop. Something else I haven't done for 21 years.
The next two days were a blur of rail motor and 30T trips. Here's a couple I didn't catch.
As part of the tour we were billeted in sleeping cars in the loco yard. I forgot just how cold those carriages could get. But it did give us the run of the loco depot, including after hours. So please forgive the following self-indulgent 'atmospheric' shots.
I wasn't too good at getting up early for the start of days...
But the afternoons weren't bad to be around...
By Easter Sunday night my then girlfriend packed it in for a motel in the town. I stuck it out in the sleeping car until about 2am and then made a lonely little trudge into town to seek a bed with an electric blanket. Best of intentions!
Anyway Easter Monday came too soon, like it always does. 4701 was strapped onto the front of our Blayney-bound train.
And at Blayney the big Pacific turned up to return us to Sydney.
Again it was a terrific trip. I remember being struck by the numbers of people out to see the 38 steam through. Apart from the usual train chasers (see next photo) it was just Joe and Jane Public with their kids. I remember in particular Newbridge. Its platform was chock-a-block with the whole village.
So, its been 21 years but it doesn't feel like it. I really hope the Blayney to Demondrille cross country line is reopened this year so LVR may again flourish at Cowra. The experience offered by LVR at a country railway depot is unique and tantalising. And it hooked me. LVR scored themselves a (admittedly passive) member on the basis of this trip. So I will finish up with a snap of what that weekend meant to me.
Time for a few photos taken up the north coast on one of the oldies' Alco chasing holidays - or at least I suspect that is why Nambucca Heads was on my parents' #1 holiday destination until the Alcos were withdrawn.
I'll start with a little Alco leading a big one...
Next up, 4495 is leading an Alco haze. Would love to have been there to listen to that train rumble through.
Next up is two shots of the same train, being led by 44212.
Nothing says 'north coast' to me more that a 442 and a 45. In this case 44232 and 4523 says it. And its a 'going away' shot, which suggests someone may have been slow to get the camera out of the bag?
I'll finish up with a shot of (I think) 4451 bringing the North Coast Mail into Coffs Harbour.
This quick post is just to upload a few shots of Cumnock from 1985, 1988 and last year. Trains were running through Cumnock until 1989 or thereabouts, though the yard appears to have been 'straight-railed' some time prior to then. I am principally blogging these shots in case it helps Mr Phil C, who has asked a couple of questions about this location on the Aus Model Rail chat group. Hope these help Phil! These two are from October 1985...
I popped back through there a couple of years later. This trip was notable for the 'cappuccino' I purchased at a little place on the road through Cumnock. After handing over my cash the 'barista' boiled the jug, distilled a tea spoon of instant coffee into a Styrofoam cup and then topped it off with a bit of dairy whip. Cosmopolitan, but not undrinkable.
It took me a while to get over that experience - until last year, actually. I took the rain there.
Ciao for now. Promise to return with still photos of moving trains! Don
