Off the Rails - Train Stuff

[Jordangbr]

Copper nob is an old Furness Railway engine (No3) that was on display outside the station at Barrow in an ornate glass case until the station was bombed by the Luftwaffe. The loco is now in the NRM at York still bearing the shrapnel scars.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imag ... 7tfwIzsQ2M

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... C_1941.jpg

[Filtertron]

Splendid and very interesting photographs. I never saw Hush Hush and rather surprisingly until you mentioned it I had not heard of it. We learn something every day.
My wifes grandfather was an engine driver whose claim to fame was he once drive the royal train in the early 1900's with old Queen Mary and George 5th on board. We have a photo of the Royal train.
One of the engines he was associated with is 'Copper nob' now housed in York railway museum. My grandson Luke who is now 16 had his photograph taken in the cab holding the steam control valve that his great great grandfather once had hold off in the late 1800's. Luke was quite moved by the experience.

Thanks Ernie! Good to know they were of interest to you.

Coppernob is quite a nice little loco. I had a decent look at it a few years back. I wish I had have taken a better profile shot of it, but I think I was trying to get the engine in the background in the photo as well. You could easily spend a couple of days in the NRM - certainly plenty to look at.

[Filtertron]

Rightio.

Went on a bit of a train chasing holiday with my mate Rob. We covered about 5500km worth, driving from Ballarat in Victoria, right the way down to Ceduna in South Aus over six days. I did all of the driving, and am still suffering from what can only be termed as "Car Lag" - absolutely knackered! South Aus is half an hour behind Victoria, so the time difference doesn't help much.

Anyway.

Here are some photos you all may find of interest.

6/3/20. First up is the old Ellen Street railway station in Port Pirie. A 3' 6" line served this station, and ran down the middle of the main street. No outward signs of the tracks are evident, as there is now a median strip covering it, complete with palm trees and the like. The little loco to the left was built by Andrew Barclay in 1928, and shunted wagons around the lead smelter which is out of view to my left.


Night at Spencer Junction (Port Augusta where we were mainly based for the week). NR55+NR48 with 4PM6 (4 = Wednesday, P = Perth (West Aus), M = Melbourne (Vic) 6 = interstate freight to depart Perth that day). 8117 can be seen in the background on shunting duties.



7/3/20. Thunderbirds are go! 907 unusually long end leading 1907+1301+1302 on a loaded ore train from Iron Knight, taken about 7km out of Whyalla. 1302 would appear to have cacked itself, thus 907 being sent out on a Thunderbird rescue mission to help drag the heavy train into the 3km Loop at Whyalla.


Another loaded ore train making it's way to Whyalla from Iron Knob. This is about 11km from it's destination. 1303+2275 are the motive power.


I should mention that there are four mines that the railway carts iron ore from. Whyalla is where the steelworks are located. Iron Knob is the destination of the original line, which was re-opened about five years ago after a hiatus. Iron Knob is about 54km north west of Whyalla. 21 kilometres from Whyalla is a Middleback Junction, often referred to as 21 Junction or "The 21" by rail workers. Another line runs south west off of the Iron Knob line to Iron Baron, which is about 23km from the junction. To access Iron Baron, the trains must negotiate a triangle and set back into the mine. From the southern fork of the triangle, the line runs a further 20 or so kilometres to Iron Knight, and another couple to the terminus, Iron Duke. It'd probably be easier for anyone interested in knowing exactly where on earth I'm talking about to jump on Google Maps, and punch in "Whyalla". You should be able to find your way from there.

At Iron Knob, electric shunter E7 is preserved. This loco shuffled about at the mines at Iron Knob from 1954 until the 1960's. behind E7 is a 35 ton side dump hopper; a bogie water supply tanker (no water in Iron Knob until the 1960's), and a guards van.


Roughly 450km further down the road on the same day, 1603+859+902+851 were found on an empty gypsum train at the locality of Moule.


The same train about 10km down the track.


We headed back to the pub at Ceduna after the above shot for a steak and a drink. It didn't end there though! Later that same night (in fact a tad after midnight) the train we followed earlier came in to dump it's load at Thevenard via the gypsum loader balloon loop. In this view,the train is nearly clear of the dump station (heh.) and balloon loop, and is facing the right way to go out again. The locos to the right are awaiting their next turn of duty. I should mention that the gypsum mine is at a place, I kid you not, called Kevin. Shortly after this photo was taken, the train drew into Thevenard yard where the locos cut off from the train for servicing.



8/3/20. The same locos from the previous day greeted us at a location in Ceduna, known to railway photographers as "The Tree", which can be seen on the left. I used a stepladder for this shot, which gave me about 8' 11 1/2" height advantage (the ladder gives me an extra three feet). To the right of the train are the disused Thevenard silos, as well as Murat Bay which was unfortunately at low tide.


Approaching Neilsens Gate Road, Charra. The ALCo's are coughing out the usual oily black turbo-lag clag that ALCo's do.


450km back in the other direction (the same day), 2275+1303 head out on a rake of empties to Iron Baron.


The same train curving off at 21 Junction. Toward the rear of the train, another train is visible over the top of the ore wagons. The other train had come from Iron Knight, and having to cross the empty movement, set back onto the Iron Knob line to allow it passage. This is a very common occurrence, and also happens at Iron Baron on the triangle.


The train from Iron Knight at the 3km Loop at Whyalla. This is an interesting little movement, as the locos have to run around their train to propel it back to the pellet loader. The locos are controlled remotely for the run around, and the driver can be seen with the radio control box on the ground. The driver will ride one of the locos' shunters steps to the other end of the train. Once they are coupled up and the air lines are reconnected to pump up the brakes, the driver will go back into the cab of the locomotive and wait until given authority to propel back. When the trains are propelled back, it's at a fairly decent speed - one which is both impressive, and/or alarming if you aren't prepared for it. The hill in the background is Mount Laura, which is a local landmark.



9/3/20. At the 103km peg (not actually 103km from Whyalla, it's 3km from 21 Junction. The '1' and '0' have been added to avoid confusion with the Iron Knob line which runs 1 -54km), a quad was found with 2260+1907+1301+1302 on the front of a loaded ore train from Iron Baron. The Middleback Ranges can be seen in the background. Iron Baron is visible through the exhaust heat haze of the leading two locomotives.


A short time later, 1304+CK4+2261 head for Iron Knight with a rake of empties at the 113km peg.


2275+1303 with a loaded ore train from Iron Baron, about 19km from Whyalla. Seems the weather took a turn for the worse as well - no more sun.



10/3/20. Big trains! SCT015+SCT012 with 1PM9 SCT Superfreighter at Winninowie Loop. Note the double stacked containers. These will be removed in Adelaide. I did a bit of a good deed here after grabbing this shot. A door on one of the wagons was open - fourth last on the train, which is around 1800 metres long. The second person had been dropped off at the start of the loop, and the train drawn forward until the offending wagon was in front of him. The driver came over and asked if I would be able to drive down and pick him up, as it would save them around 10 minutes. No worries. I left Rob to chat with the driver, while I drove down and picked up the driver's mate. The door couldn't be closed, but the load was secure. Back to the locos, where we were told the train had also hit a cow and had done a little bit of damage to the water system on the crew car - bugger! Our new friends soon went back to the cab of the loco, and continued on their way east. Of interest, that bright thing on the left is for a tomato farm. It generates electricity (solar) to power the site. Water is supplied by a desalination plant. The tomatoes grown there supply a major supermarket chain Australia wide.


And back to the diet sized trains again. 1907+1301+1302 approach the 103Km peg with a load from Iron Knight.


2260+907 head out of Whyalla with a rake of old hoppers for Iron Baron. Part of the steelworks can be seen in the background.


Later in the day, 2261+CK4+1304 approach the Kimba Road level crossing at Iron Baron, with an empty train for Iron Knight.


One of the few remaining steam locomotives which ran on the Whyalla Tramway was No.2, built by Beyer Peacock in 1892. You can find a more detailed history of the loco here. With the sun now on the horizon, it was farewell to Whyalla until next time, and back to our digs in Port Augusta.



11/3/20. Back on the big stuff again. 8257+8245 loading a grain train at Snowtown (where the infamous bank vault murders took place). This train originated in NSW, and ran into South Aus via Broken Hill. The payload will be going to farmers in drought stricken areas of NSW to feed their livestock.


Target for the day was the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC - the federal body which looks after much of the national interstate trackage) test train, known as the AK cars. This train monitors the condition of the track via cameras and other wacky devices to read the track geometry and conditions. You can see a camera mounted on the front of the lead loco, complete with crudely applied cabling for same. The reason for the interest was that two bullnose diesels would be leading the train, these being Southern Shorthaul Railroad's GM22 (the yellow one), and Chumrail's 42103 (the red one). I've selected the best photos of this train so as not to make this post too long.

First up is the train passing through Bungama, with the southern tip of the Flinders Ranges in the background.


Waiting to run around the train in Coonamia Loop.


Shortly after the above with 42103 on the front.


A stricken 2PM6 limps along the mainline with NR62+NR78 on the pointy end. Apparently one of the locos had a seized axle. They parked up between the loop turnouts so other trains could pass them. The AK cars departed soon after the superfreighter bailed up.


The AK cars pulling into the yard at Crystal Brook, where they will bed down for the night.


CM3309+GL111 leave Redhill with the 1501S Bowman Rail mineral sands train for Broken Hill.


A complete surprise was a loaded grain train, which had been filled at Gladstone (commonly referred to as "Happy Rock"), about 20km from Crystal Brook on the line through to Broken Hill and Sydney in NSW. Another bullnose graced the front of this train in the form of CLP17. The other less attractive looking thing is GWU003, which was built around ten years ago. This is climbing out of Redhill, after crossing 1501S.


At a locality known as Burnside. The Clare Valley Ranges can be seen in the far distance.


CSR011+CSR008 arriving at Snowtown Loop with the 3MP9 SCT Superfreighter, where they will cross 5114S grain with CLP17+GWU003.


Shortly after the passage of 3MP9, CLP17+GWU003 make a run at the grade. This train would have weighed in excess of 3500 tons.


Last photo for the day was at Nantawarra. After this it was off to the pub at Mallala for some grub and drinks, then into Adelaide and our respective motel rooms for the night.



12/3/20. Home time. The only photo I took on the last day of the holiday was of GWA008+FQ02+CLP17+GWU003 shunting empty hoppers to the loader at Wolseley, near the SA/Vic border. I thought this summed it up nicely, with the farewell sign and gathering storm clouds.



Hope you all enjoyed these photos. Please excuse any spelling or grammatical mistakes, as I am still fatigued beyond belief and can't be stuffed proof reading right now. If you dug this lot, you may like to head over to my Flickr photostream for a gander by clicking here. Thanks for looking.

[mtskull]

Thanks! Love the little Barclay

[Renegadenemo]

Wow! Quite an exped there and the first time I ever heard of getting jetlagged in a car - or carlagged. Great pic's too, though I do confess to being a little lost when it comes to loco's and such. It's something I don't understand myself. Put a steam engine in a ship and I'm all over it but put it on wheels and I'm less so.
But I do remember standing in my dad's builder's yard as a small boy thrilling to the sound of the big Deltic engines revving and spooling up all at once as they ground northwards on what is the main London to Edinburgh route nowadays but was used to haul a lot of coal in those days. It was literally at one end of the yard and up an embankment so I'd stand, enthralled, looking up at these monsters as they rumbled by.

They just throbbed with power.

It would be many years before I heard that engine sound again and next time it was aboard a RN mine hunter, HMS Quorn. Carl Spencer somehow blagged a pair of mine hunters, HMS Quorn and HMS Blyth for our first Norway exped and they were equipped with the mostly aluminium Deltics and GRP hulls to minimise their magnetic signature.

See what I mean about put it in a boat?

[Filtertron]

Thanks! Love the little Barclay

It's a cute little thing. Here's a slightly better detailed (albeit backlit) shot of the same loco about a year ago. Could do with a lick of paint, as it's very close to the sea.


Sister loco "Pozieres" is operational at the Bellarine Railway at Queenscliff in Victoria.

[Filtertron]

Wow! Quite an exped there and the first time I ever heard of getting jetlagged in a car - or carlagged. Great pic's too, though I do confess to being a little lost when it comes to loco's and such. It's something I don't understand myself. Put a steam engine in a ship and I'm all over it but put it on wheels and I'm less so.
But I do remember standing in my dad's builder's yard as a small boy thrilling to the sound of the big Deltic engines revving and spooling up all at once as they ground northwards on what is the main London to Edinburgh route nowadays but was used to haul a lot of coal in those days. It was literally at one end of the yard and up an embankment so I'd stand, enthralled, looking up at these monsters as they rumbled by.

They just throbbed with power.

It would be many years before I heard that engine sound again and next time it was aboard a RN mine hunter, HMS Quorn. Carl Spencer somehow blagged a pair of mine hunters, HMS Quorn and HMS Blyth for our first Norway exped and they were equipped with the mostly aluminium Deltics and GRP hulls to minimise their magnetic signature.

See what I mean about put it in a boat?

Thanks, Bill.

It's funny you should mention locomotive motors in boats. In the first half of the 1990's, a railway company called Great Northern Rail Services bought a large quantity of 650hp Y class diesels, and 900hp T class diesels from V/Line (formerly the Victorian Railways) with the express purpose of scrapping them. The Y class had a V6 567C GM-EMD engine in it, and the T a V8 567C or 645E GM-EMD engine. All of the engines were onsold for use in rubbish barges or tug boats in America. The locomotive as a complete unit could be bought for very little at the time, so no doubt GNR made a tidy little profit which went back into setting up their business. They did keep several T class, which were reactivated for their business of running infrastructure trains by contract.

[Filtertron]

The opportunity of getting out has been rather scarce of late, due in no small part to lockdowns caused by the pestilence. The State of Victoria (where I live) was placed into Stage 3 lockdown about a week after I got back from my sojourn in South Aus back in March. Basically, the lockdowns meant that you were not allowed out of your home unless for four reasons: Shopping for food or essentials; providing care, or for medical reasons; exercise, or work and education, if they couldn't be done at home. Working in an essential service meant that I was able to drive the forty or so miles to work, and then back again. The lockdown lasted six weeks. Once the restrictions were eased, I managed to get out a few times.

The first time out into "fresh" air, was on May 17th. A drive out into the western part of the state (or Wimmera region) found a few trains, but nothing spectacular. It was still a welcome relief to being stuck at home working on my book! Anyhow, BL30+BL33 were found shut down at the Marmalake grain sub-terminal. Marmalake is in a small town called Murtoa, and is named after Lake Marma, one of the town's attractions.


8113+8119 rumbled past soon afterward, with an empty drought relief train for New South Wales. These trains have been running into the western and north western parts of Victoria to load. Once loaded, they head to drought stricken areas in NSW, where the grain is distributed to farmers to feed their livestock. Apparently these movements are government funded. Both of these locos, and the wagons are native to NSW. The 81's do run into Victoria on a regular basis, and are used on some of the intrastate container trains to and from Mildura as well.


Still within 'Cooee' of Murtoa, is the farming hamlet of Coromby. I headed out there to photograph a loaded drought relief train, which came from Warracknabeal, about thirty miles distant. 8176+BL32 were the locos involved. I think this train may have gone to Parkes, which is famous for it's radio telescope. The radio telescope was of course the one used to broadcast the Apollo 11 landing, and the first Moon walk in July 1969.


The same train arriving at Murtoa as the sun drops below the horizon.



Nearly a month elapsed before I managed to get another photo of a train - and it wasn't through lack of trying! On June 13th, I headed out. Under grey skies; 8133+8171 were pegged with an empty drought relief train at Tatyoon, which is a small farming community about twenty miles from Ararat, which is the closest large town.


After some back and forth dialog with a friend in S.A; I was able to ascertain that GM27+442s2 were stabled at Nhill, some one hundred and ten miles distant. Dare I bother going for a look? With not much else happening, the car was pointed in the general direction of Nhill, and the cruise control was engaged at tad above seventy miles per hour. Some of you may be wondering why an Aussie is using imperial measurements, when everything is metric over here. As this is a UK based forum, I am trying to assimilate somewhat, so as not to confuse. The drive up was rather uneventful, suffice to say it absolutely bucketed rain all the way there! I had to wait until the rain eased off enough to get the camera gear out. I'm not in the habit of carrying a brolly, but perhaps I should? Anyway - for the fans of the Bullnose diesels, I present thee...


Thirty five miles back east, another surprise greeted me in the form of a Southern Shorthaul Railroad operated drought relief train at the Dimboola grain sub-terminal. I waited for the crew to leave and take crib before taking the following, as I do use some unorthodox lighting techniques to illuminate the target, and reduce backlighting. SSR101+G513+44206+SSR102 were up front, although the rear loco is obscured by the grain loader.



Another month elapses again! July 12th found GML10+8044+8037 arriving at Maryborough with a loaded wheat train from Birchip, in the state's north west. I think this train actually ran to Appleton Dock in Melbourne, where the grain was discharged for export.


It was my intention to follow the above train, so I headed out to the site of a little siding called Bung Bong to wait for it. Things didn't quite go to plan here, as a train was heard whistling for the crossing about a quarter of a mile behind me. Three "Flying Girders" in the form of 8116+8163+8152 rumbled towards me with an empty drought relief train. Bugger. It'd be dark before the other train got out to Bung Bong, so I grabbed this photo and packed it in for the day.



The 2nd of August was the last time I got out with the camera, as we're now back in Stage 3 lockdown again. Melbourne is in Stage 4 restrictions, which are a lot heavier. A stray comment on Facebollocks informed me that a loaded Qube wheat train had arrived at Maryborough with the quad ALCo lash-up of 8037+872+864+8044 on the front. All four are painted in the now defunct Coote Rail/Greentrains livery. I headed for the small hamlet of Amphitheatre to wait for it. Another photographer was encountered at the spot I originally thought to go to. Not wanting to get in his way, as he'd gotten there first; I headed up the road a mile or two and found an ideal spot. My timing wasn't bad, as I could hear the lead loco's whistle echoing up the valley. A few minutes elapsed, and it finally emerged from the shadows among the trees.


Next spot was the locality of Eversley, where one can get a photo of a train with Ben Nevis in the background.


I'd never managed a shot of a train in this cutting before. The train is topping the grade which starts at the Ben Nevis railway station site.


The train was left out on the cross country line, and I headed into Ararat to grab some lunch, and then head out to Tatyoon to await the Specialised Container Transport (SCT) superfreighter from Perth. I waited nearly an hour and a half for it, despite it usually only taking about thirty five to forty minutes from Ararat. Looked impressive with the field of broad beans in the foreground.


Hot on the SCT's tail was the Qube grain.


A little further up the road, between Tatyoon and Mininera.


A drive further west to both Murtoa and Dimboola yielded no results. By the time I reached the former, it was dark. Tea was grabbed somewhere on the way back from Dimboola, and I headed from there down to Ararat, and across to Maryborough to hopefully capture the arrival of the 7902V goods, which operates from Merbein near Mildura at the top northwestern point of Victoria. Unfortunately, I was too late as it had already arrived. Fortunately, it was parked up at the platform awaiting a new crew, so I was able to do a time exposure of it. 8140+XR559+BL33 were on the pointy end, representing three Australian states - 8140 from NSW; XR559 from Victoria, and BL33 from South Aus.


Maryborough is home to two gauges - 5' 3", and 4' 8 1/2". The line between Dunolly (fifteen miles north) and Yelta, was standardised in 2018, formerly being of 5' 3" gauge. The Maryborough to Ararat line was reopened, as the Government didn't want to standardise the line through from Gheringhap to Ballarat, and then to Maryborough immediately (it is on the cards though). From Dunolly, there is a branchline which runs to Korong Vale where there is a junction for two more branches. One used to go to Kulwin, but was truncated to Sea Lake, and the other to Robinvale on the Murray River. The Robinvale line has been truncated to a small grain farming community called Manangatang. These branches are still 5' 3" gauge, which means there is dual gauge trackwork between Maryborough to Dunolly to accommodate both gauges on a single alignment.

Shortly after the departure of the 7902V goods, a forty hopper rake of empties on the 5' 3" rolled in with G522+G524. This was taken as the train departed Maryborough. This train is moving too. One has to marvel at modern camera technology - a far cry from the days of film or slides.


With another four weeks of lockdown to go, I might post a few shots from recent years if people are interested? Let me know if you are, and if there is anything specific that interests you (steam, diesel etc.).

'Til next time.

[ThornyBush]

Well done!
Great post and photographs.
More steam if its possible!
Will be great to see more, very interested to have explanation of the "unorthodox lighting techniques" - I'm thinking flares and bonfires.....as I like a bit of pyro...

[Richie]

Amazing shots again !!

Are you going long exposure on tri pod for the low light shots ?