The last P class

Disappointments, I have had a few. 

One occurred about 40 years ago on 14 November 1971 when standing at Farmborough Heights, waiting for 3229 to lead 3526 ‘up the mountain’ on a tour.  My disappointment was manifest when 42103 hove into view in the front of 3526.

 Apparently the P class had failed just prior to the tour.  It had been a bit of a celebrity during 1971.  Most notably it had headed a tour to Canberra in March of that year with 5212. 

3229 had spent the majority of the year as the shunter for Goulburn and had been used in June 1971 to work to Crookwell after 3642 had brought a tour from Sydney.  It was also the last P class in service, so it was a precious little thing.

Still, with every disappointment there is usually scope for a new opportunity.  And so it was, in 1971 at the end of steam, that the Illawarra got its own little P class for just a little while. During the week after the tour, repairs were made to the little 4-6-0.  Soon it was well enough to be steamed up at Port Kembla.  

 

Shortly thereafter, it was well enough to make that trip up the hill to its home on the southern highlands.  This trip was made mid-week, so another disappointment ensued for this school boy who was not permitted to see the following scenes.

And then there was the final disappointment.  By Christmas 1971 3229 had been withdrawn and the P class were gone in their 80^th year of service.  3229 made one last trip the Illawarra the following year, and it too was an unhappy one.

Bathurst

A certain car race, such as the one happening this weekend, is not the only thing that happens in Bathurst. Internal combustion engines of another type are regularly found down at the station, so lets have a look at a few I have found there over the years.

First up, a class of loco that was synonymous with Bathurst from its introduction in 1960 through to the late 1980s, the 49 class.  Here 4910 shunts near the old loco shed in 1980.

A couple of years later 8021 and 48122 were being held in Bathurst's platform road, waiting for the go-ahead for Lithgow and points east.

The previous two photographs were taken in January 1980 and 1982 respectively.  Slowly this photographer learned to visit Bathurst outside of the heights of summer and the depths of winter.  In a much more benign month in 1983 it was possible to walk over to the loco depot to get a close-up of 4917 at rest.

As stated earlier, Bathurst was a 49 class town.  Here are a couple more shots from the 1980s of this fact. In October 1985 4913 was the duty shunter for the Labour Day long weekend.

By the late 1980s, the class had commenced receiving the 'candy' livery.  When it faded, it was less than flattering on the GMs.

Bathurst wasn't always the abode for 49s.  Occasionally those pesky Alcos would appear - as 4891 did in 1994.  Though it was parked in a fairly surreptitious position.

Now, for more than a subtle change in locomotive types - here is a Dubbo-bound XP power car in its original livery in 1982.  From memory, the uniformed gentlemen at the end of the platform are not about to jump on the XPT, but are the crew for the 44 class which is awaiting the departure of the XPT.

Lets get to more modern stuff.  Perhaps the most exotic creatures to visit Bathurst these days are the 'Helgas' - ex-Danish Railways NOAB locomotives now carrying the MZ moniker. In June 2010 MZ 1434 waited at Bathurst to follow the east-bound West XPT towards Sydney.

A much more prosaic version of the same train  was worked by 8164 in September last year.

Container freights can be found regularly in the environs of Bathurst, such as this one with GLs 105 and 104 in December 2010.

And finally, it always pays to take a good look in every corner at Bathurst as it has always been used for the storage of wagons.  There has been a motley collection of freight wagons at the eastern end of the yard for years.  Tucked in behind them is a series of storage tracks which are rarely used these days.  However, perhaps due to the shade offered by the substantial gum tree in that part of the yard, it has become a bit of a parking spot for locos on the rail trains.  Below, B65 cools its heels in November 2011.

Back to that car race!

Northern Rivers

As its been, according to my notes, precisely 15 years to the day that a brave rail transportation experiment was attempted in northern NSW.

On 2 October 1997 42107 and 42109 hauled the first revenue-earning freight service for the Northern Rivers Railroad. The private company had been formed sometime earlier, with the intention of operating a passenger service for the tourist market along the Casino to Murwillumbah branch line.

However on this day 15 years ago,freight services were also commenced along this very picturesque railway.

I only happened to see the NRR (as it became to be known) in operation along this branch once, so you are going to have to put up with a few shots of the same train as part of this salute.

To set the background for this, it was no rail chasing weekend.  I had been in the north on business and just 'accidentally' drove by Murwillumbah station on my way south on 30 September 1998 - so the NRR was just about to celebrate its first anniversary of freight haulage.  

I was very heartened to find 42103 at the head of a short freight, idling in the station... 

And even happier to find a gleaming 42107 tucked in behind it...

Soon enough, the chase was on.  All I had with me was a $50 Instamatic camera of 1980s vintage, loaded with 100 ISO film.  Still, it was better than nothing I reasoned.  The following photograph, taken near Burringbar, tested the old Instamatic to a bit beyond its boundaries.

At Byron Bay, a slowly accelerating train gave the camera a bit more latitude.  42107's emissions were another form of latitude.

My final snap came on the outskirts of Lismore.  It was a trailing shot of the two locos making good time, as they had done the entire journey.  

This photograph includes the supposed Achilles heel of the branch line - its aging timber bridges.  These structures were used as the reason to close the entire branch within a decade, by which time the freight service had also succumbed to road freight competition.

Nonetheless, the NRR livery still treads the east coast on its former locomotives.  And none looked better than the 421 class in this startling coat of paint.  So, thanks for trying NRR!

4473

Its time to continue with my selection of favourite locos (that still exist - as opposed to favourite locos which are now whiskas cans).

Alco-built 4473 is one of my favourites, and these days it looks better than ever, even though its just turned 46 years of age.

When it entered service for the NSW Government Railways in September 1966 it was out-shopped in standard Indian Red livery.  While I do not have a photograph of it in this livery, its second incarnation was the 'reverse tuscan' scheme.  In this guise it was seen through the mighty Praktica lens in January 1979 at Scone, on dusk, hauling a loaded fuel train to points north - Tamworth or Armidale being possible candidates.

Ten years later 4473 wore the same livery - the gawd awful Red Terror scheme.  On a Saturday in March 1989 it was found peaking out of the Maldon Cement Works siding.

About three years later 4473 was once more headed up the north-west.  This time it  was paired with a newly-painted 48116 on an empty grain train, with the vintage Alco at last being captured with its 'number 1' end leading.

A year later it was still up the north, but mainly confined to cycling up and down the north coast line as a second unit.  In February of 1993 is was snapped following 44202 through Bulliac.

Then it was gone, for a while at least.  Withdrawn in July 1994, it did not trot along rails in anger for another 11 years until returned to service by the Lachlan Alco Group. 

When it did return, it did so in style.  Based for most of its recent life in Eveleigh, it has often found favour to head the Cockatoo Run or ARTC track inspection trains. In 2010 it had just completed a trip of the latter type when I had an opportunity to get a long distance shot of it basking in the afternoon light.

Around the time of its return to service, 4473 was produced as a model in HO scale by Trainorama, as evidenced by the following slightly blurry exhibit.

In recognition of this production, a plaque was affixed to the prototype, as shown in the  last photograph of this sequence.

I am looking forward to seeing 4473 tread the rails for another 46 years.

Time for a light Mikado

Sixty years ago today, 5901, the first of 20 oil-burning steam locomotives purchased by the NSW Government Railways from the United States entered service.  

While these locomotives proved durable work-horses for their masters, they were perhaps the ugliest thing put on the rails in their home state.  And while they ranged across the south and west of the state at times, their spiritual home was the north.

So, in honour of 60 years of service, here's a few snaps of the 59s....

While there is no photograph of 5901 in the family collection, its immediate sibling was snapped at Newcastle after working a passenger service.

 Keeping on the short north, here's 5904 at Morriset on a pickup.

Polishing up 5911 and painting its boiler bands was a bit like putting lipstick on a pig.  Here it is on a tour to Port Kembla on (thankfully) a dull day.

Back on the central coast, and on a sunny day, 5912 gets ready to take a drink at Gosford.

Towards the end of steam, several locomotives received ignominious roles.  None more so than the roles given to 5908 and 5916 to provide steam for other purposes at Broadmeadow locomotive depot.  Ironically, being assigned these duties took each beyond the reach of the scrapper's torch and into the 21st century.  

Now its time to cover the two working survivors.  First 5910 in a tidy glint shot, working back through Mount St Thomas after a day tour to Kiama.

And then there is the venerable 5917, presently getting a little TLC before returning to duty for the Lachlan Valley Railway.  Here it is in Wollongong, 30 years ago, showing just how far occupational health and safety has come since then.

 Happy birthday, 59ers.

Bombo

Bombo is a lovely little railway crossing on the NSW south coast.  It is quiet, especially when the blasting stops at the local quarry. 

Until electrification was put through, it was a top location for viewing all the odds and sods that the south coast could throw up at you.  One of the more ubiquitous emanations of the coast was the two-car diesel, which formed the majority of local passenger services for the last two decades of the 20th century.

 

If 2 car diesels worked the majority of passenger services, then the 48s held the mantle of the stalwart of the goods (freight) services.

And if it wasn't one 48 on a goods, then it was likely to be two of them.  In the following case, it was two 48s heading north with a load of Bombo's finest export... ballast.

At the southern end of Bombo there was a terrific trestle bridge.  In 1986 one could catch  48128 racing north with a number of fuel tankers.

And for a very long time, if it wasn't a single 48 or double 48s, then it could only be... triple 48s, as shown here.

 And if it wasn't a single 2 car diesel, then it could only be two of them, coupled together.

And that was pretty much all you ever saw in the 1980s at Bombo.  Then, in the 1990s, things changed.  Coming over the hill one day the following sight was available... like two centipedes facing off, this day in 1994 brought 4845, 4834 and green 4836 arriving from the quarry, with 4818, 4916 and 4908 emerging from the south.

 

Safe-working activities completed, both trains departed.  It was the Alco with its two GM henchmen headed north.

All this light and colour disappeared in the early part of the 21st century.  The superannuated diesel sets were replaced by a new version which did not permit the opening of windows - a great disservice to passengers on this surf-lovers line.

And 48s have been largely replaced by larger mainline units, such as the 81 class.

Of course, the thing missing from those last two photographs is the wooden trestle bridge. Ah, the cost of progress!

Them XPTs don’t run around here no more

I have long looked for a chance to vent about XPTs. Try second rate, 1960s technology, ill-fitting to Australia’s climate, trackage and even political environment.  Don’t get me started…

Introduced in 1981, XPT train sets were even then just a cheap clone of the English HST – which was by that time very much yesterday’s model in the UK. God forbid, don’t look at what the other Europeans were up to at the time.  It leads to just one conclusion, Neville Wran apparently walked past the Chevy on the showroom floor and bought a Vauxhall Viva.  Still, for a populace less than a decade from riding behind 1892 technology, it must have seemed good at the time.

I suppose that there is nothing intrinsically wrong with the XPT.  It is designed to run best on flat, smooth track, in a coolish climate.  Suppose its just unfortunate that we don’t have much of that in Australia.  About 65 kilometres of it to be precise.

I also suppose I will outlive them, maybe, XPTs that is.  I am in good health, but these things look positively ruddy in bloom.  OK, they dribble oil incessantly, but they have proven to be virtually indestructible.  A bit like me really.

The many articles in the railway press foreshadowing their demise are surely written by eternal optimists.  Even accounting for the fact that most things wear out eventually, there is little evidence of authorities being committed to more than bandaging any breakage.   

There is certainly little evidence of wising to invest in long distance rail passenger transport, which these days resemble a mobile nursing home in this writer’s observations. 

Finally, to those optimists I say, ‘remember every other bit of rolling stock every bought by the NSW Government Railways’.  I mean, these people believe in total depreciation of assets.  Apart from the D58 class of locomotive, every item of rolling stock purchased for the NSW railways was completely superannuated when finally withdrawn.  Stick the XPT in with 44s, 42s, 32s and 19 class locomotives, and its reasonable to conclude that XPTs have not even reached their half life.

Sigh… lets get to some photographs.  I must first admit to not having too many photos of XPTs as I consider them to be the long distance equivalent of the Tangara.  So, instead of reeling off a dozen perfectly composed portraits of XPTS, lets celebrate the luck of those who no longer have to put up with the drone of an XP locomotive dragging a gaggle of superannuants in superannuated carriages… lets look at XPTs in places where they don’t run round here no more (apologies to the Long Ryders).
 

First up, a place where they never ran at all, in regular revenue service… the south coast line.  Here is an XPT approaching Wollongong on a publicity train in 1983.

If they rarely ran on the coast, they were less likely to run and run well on the steeply-graded Unanderra cross-country line.   For a while XPTs could be found at places like Farmborough Heights see next photo) whenever track-work on the Main South dictated a diversion.  These days, passengers get tipped into luxury coaches with the promise of spending quality time on the M5 instead. 

Next up? Yes, you can still see more venerable versions of XPTs at the following location near Campbelltown.  But you can’t see them going to Canberra, like this one was in the early 1980s.  And this is a personal favorite… it takes a special talent to position a seven car XPT behind five poles for a photograph.  Its what makes this blog so different to others.

This next yer’all jist plain can’t git to see no more… yes, it is in Tamworth. Photographed on 22 June 1988.

This one you can see to this day, but not as this train.  In July 1994 a XP is caught in angular profile on the up Riverina XPT at Goulburn.  I personally feel aggrieved that I am not able to say to another human (truthfully) ‘there goes the Riv’, but I suppose therapy will help me adjust.

Next up, an XPT at Central.  How is that special?  Well, this time it really is Central – not Sydney Terminal.  In the days before cross-harbour diesel trips were part of the track-work avoidance strategy, XP2006 cruises into platform 16 on 1 October 1994.

This next one? Well, its sort of no longer possible.  Here we have an XPT set about to head off to Sydney.  Can you see an XPT at this location? Yes, but they no longer leave from Spencer Street station, as this one did on 4 August 1994.  These days, one leaves from Southern Cross.

The next snap is really in the ‘what might have been’ category.  In 1995 the NSW Government was thinking about replacing the XPT, and was actually thinking about up-grading rail passenger transport! A tilt train was imported for demonstration purposes.  To provide necessary haulage capacity and to remove the need to turn the train regularly two XP cars scored a repaint into tilt train livery to perform these roles.  On 20 March 1995 the Tilt train and the relief XPT car sat for a while at Goulburn.

Now, I’ll admit that you can see this next one several times, every day of the year.  However, you will never see an XPT set in this location, this clean.  On 24 April 2006 a publicity event was held at Sydney Terminal to commemorate the new Countrylink livery.  These days, XP2004 and others carry great oily streaks along their car bodies.

And finally, a pretty poor quality snap from the early days of XPTs.  This is thought to be from 1981, at the newly-opened XPT Service Centre at Meeks Road.  Yes, you can still see XPTs there all the time, 31 years later.  However, you can’t see them at this specific spot as there is a huge shed covering the tracks.  So, unless you are invited into the inner sanctum of the XPT temple this scene is no longer available to you.