Richmond

This weekend the mighty LVR are running steam shuttles along the Richmond line.  Which got me thinking about when steam locos were king out that way. It looks like no one in my family was sufficiently motivated to ever head up that way to record the steady stream of C30 tanks and 32 class locos doing the commuter shuttles, but they did get there a couple of times. So its time to review snaps from a couple of those trips.

First up there is a slightly blurry offering of what looks like a flat out 3042 on one of those commuter trains.

 

 Next up is one of my favourite photos... what more could you want on a winter's afternoon in 1964 than a trip from Wollongong in a Hillman Minx to Richmond loco?

Another shot of 3313 in the winter sun...

And here is one of the few photos Dad took with a child obstructing the view of a loco. As I was only about 8 months old at the time, my uncle got the duty of holding yours truly.  Start of a lifelong love affair with 30 class locos.

Clearly this afternoon was so successful it would be another three years before we would venture that way again.  This time most of the locos were situated near the ancient loco shed.

The keen observers of the last photo would have picked up the little gem in the background and thankfully, someone walked down the yard to photograph it.Yep, a dreamboat 55 class.

And that is it for steam era photographs of Richmond yard in my possession.  I did head back up that way just as electrification was upon the land.  It was a less than speedy trip by two car diesel, but we made it.

I never got a run on CPHs on the Richmond line, those these specimens called Richmond home for a number of years whilst in the employ of the Macquarie Valley Railway.
 

Sun's out - hope I get to see good reports of 3237 and 5917 doing their stuff up Richmond way.

Ciao for now!

Don

North west Pacific

And now for something completely different to NSW... ten years ago this week I headed to the States with a group of non-railway enthusiasts.  It took them a while but eventually they got the meaning of 'hey! Pull over quick!'.  We started in San Fransisco.  It took the brightest of my traveling companions about 48 hours to work out what was going on... BART, MUNI, cable cars, Market Street trolleys... like this one... 

After a couple of days I snuck away to Sacramento to the Cal State Railroad Museum for the day. A particular favourite of mine is the Western Pacific F7A pictured here.

More modern locomotive power got me there and back again. Slightly larger loading gauge than your NSWGR profile!

If you ever get to Sacramento, stick around the downtown area as a steady diet of UP freights mingle with the passengers.

I took tons of very average phots that day. One I particularly liked shows a pretty decrepit Southern Pacific loco teamed with a Union Pacific sister on a fuel train. This was taken from the cafe car on the train I was riding... its good to spend time in the cafe cars.
 

The second half of the holiday was up north - Portland and thereabouts.  It was notable for three things... first I have no photos but UP Challenger 3985 was in town in steam for the weekend.  I saw it from a distance and heard it whistling every hour.  Absolutely sensational stuff.

The second memory is this...

What? Well it shows that the curse I have (coming upon the last half of a train or a train in a cutting) transcends continents.  I reckon I saw the back third or the top quarter of 30-odd trains that week.

Third, I went to Tillamook. If you ever get a chance, go there.  Its famed for cheese and beer, but it also has Tillamook Naval Air Station which contains a blimp hangar the largest wooden structure in the world built in 1942.  

If you are not impressed with the immense scale of the hangar, take another look at its floor. There are standard gauge tracks, used to tow the dirigibles in and out of the shed.

Just as impressive, just across the carpark was the open air servicing area for the Port of Tillamook shortline.  The loco I had been wanting to see all trip was there - it had been the subject of a Trains article and it deserved to by seen by this little tourist. so, here it is... a loco painted up like a cow.

For the slightly more historically inclined, I also hunted down this Baldwin logging Mikado (built in 1926 for the Polson Logging Company of Hoquiam, Washington State).  With 48 inch driving wheels it looked anything but a typical logging loco.

The Pacific north west is full of logging railroads, but I was unsuccessful in convincing the others to spend a day riding the rails. Instead we went to see an active volcano - probably a fair call. We did stop along the way to photograph railroad bridge signage.

Anyway, it was a marvelous trip. Travel broadens some minds, they say. Will return soon with some homegrown ramblings.

Ciao for now!
Don

Picton Hill

When looking for  the shots which composed the last blog I also came across a short set from April 1989 of a weekday afternoon at a location we called 'Picton Hill' - . So at the risk of getting a reputation for hanging out at Picton, here is another few from that location.

This first shot is of 8150 headed to Sydney with an interstate freight. Already the autumnal shadows were encroaching.

 

Headed the other way are 48152 and 4808 on a ballast.

 

 This is wahat we came over for - to see a C.  

In this case, C504. Of course a bloody 81 had to be in front of it!

 

Then the up Riverina XPT rattled past, off to Sydney Town.

Told you it was a short collection of photos. No doubt everything went through 10 minutes after we left.

Seeya!

Don

Saturday on the South

I am overjoyed.  I finally found a scrap of paper amongst my many other scraps of paper which explains a series of photos I have been hanging onto for years - 28 years to be precise.

On Saturday, 11 March 1987, we headed off early to Douglas Park on the main south line - it lies between Campbelltown and Picton. We just pulled up on the side of the freeway, as the line parallels the road for about five kilometres.  In those days one could just pull off the freeway for a couple of hours without getting the attention of the authorities.

The special part about these photos is that I didn't for once use a telephoto lens so the photos aren't a series of trains looking like sliced loaves of bread.  What we got that morning was just the then usual parade of local, intrastate and interstate services, stretched out against the background. 

When I scanned these shots in the late 1990s pixels were at a premium, so I scanned the section of the print with the train on it.  This produced a rather elongated and small scan.  I apologise if the photo is too hard to see on this blog - you should be able to just click on the photo to load a hopefully larger version if necessary.

Anyway, enough prose. Instead of putting a rose-coloured commentary to that morning, I am just going to reproduce the notes I took that day along with the photos (apart from the bracketed comments).  

 

7:15am       44 and five cars up service (No photo of this one - dunno what happened here!)

7:20am       G518 up containers (looks like this was the last photo on the reel from the discoloration on the right hand side of the print)

7:25am       8156/G up containers (couldn't resist a close up)

7:47am       Double 81s – up Sydney Express (this is worth snaps of each end of the train)

8:16am       4468 up passenger ex Picton (another close up)

8:26am       Double 81s and 38 wheaties (another bloody close up)

8:35am       Down 7 car DEB set on the Canberra Monaro

8:45am       42201 Down Intercapital Daylight Express (five cars and Spirit dining car)

 

8:50am       44/4481 up wheaty (worth two shots for the close up of the first 44)

9:35am       42204 Two FGs, BN and MFH on a Goulburn passenger

9:45am       42208 in reverse Indian Red on a five car interurban set

10:25am     Up Canberra XPT

And that was it - 12 trains in 3 hours; a typical Saturday morning 28 years ago.

Ciao for now!

Don

59s aplenty

Just a short, contemporary one today. 5917 is steaming away at platform 1 at Sydney Terminal station right now, for the second time this week.

It is off to Tamworth this weekend, Wauchope next weekend and then Coffs the weekend after. LVR sure punches above its weight.

Snuggled at the #1 buffers is an even more rare visitor to the station, a 47 class.

But the rarest beast for platform 1 today must be this little KHG off for the ride.

Ciao for now!

Don

Getting out of Mexico

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about the Melbourne Express, otherwise known as the MEX. The counterpart service was called the Sydney Express, but it was rarely described in the shortened form.  

As with all journeys, there had to be a start.  For the Sydney Express, it was alawys Spencer Street Station in Melbourne.  Here are two shots taken from August 1993 showing the two options in motive power.

 

I have a lot more photos of the Sydney Express than its counterpart due to geography. Saturday mornings could involve trips to Maldon or Picton to see the Express, numerous other Southern Highlands passengers and the Superfreighters. On 9 October 1993 G520 did the honours through Picton.

When the Express started it was a much larger train than its 1990s version.  Here it is stretched out through Wilton in 1986 with double 81s up front.

Enough of the static representations!  Here is a link to a short and jerky video of 8171 on the up Sydney Express at Maldon on 16 October 1993.

 

It wasn't all sunshine out there.  On a foggy 20 November 1993, the third last loco-hauled Sydney Express cantered through Maldon with 8172 at the front.

Here's evdence of why this train needed to go.  At least there was one other patron at breakfast on this day.
 

And now to where it finished, the buffer stops at platform 1 (or 2) at Sydney Terminal. G527 made it there on 20 January 1993.

Here is 8177 arriving at the same location on 29 January 1993.
 

Even at the end, on Saturdays decent loadings required double heading. Here is 8170 and G518 having done the work overnight and into the morning of 15 August 1993.

 
As the end neared, platform 2 became the preferred destination.  Here are two shots from November 1993 recording such arrivals.

Finally it was over.  The last service on 22 November 1993 had 4463  leading 8174 into the shade.

If you want to watch a slow moving G514 arrive at Central in November 1992, do no more than press this button!
 

Ciao for now!
Don