Paris to Belvès - off the beaten (railway) track

Our trip to France for a couple of weeks this May took us to some familiar places, and, some not so familiar.

It's the first time we've been to Paris since 2018. It was nice to revisit some sites, as well as explore some parts of the city we hadn't been to before. Like any big city, there's always something more.

A large part of the city is criss crossed by the Paris Metro, meaning you're never far from a railway station! Several of the lines are driverless, meaning you can stand in the front of the train, and see where you’re going, always a fun experience.

An overview of the railways in this post, If you’d like to look at a map of the entire French rail network, I can highly recommend this one.

Further afield on this trip, we revisited Bordeaux, using the TGV service from Paris Montparnasse , a journey of two hours and ten minutes for a distance of 580km!

There's a thrill about belting across the countryside at 300 kmh that never gets old.

Bordeaux St Jean, the main railway station was under massive renovation when we visited there in 2016, in preparation for the new high speed TGV line which opened in 2017.

Bordeaux St Jean under scaffolding as part of the 2016 renovations

And the finished product in 2024

On that trip, we caught a TGV train from Bordeaux, using the conventional lines into Paris, criss-crossing the new line in some places as it took a more direct route.

It was interesting to see the reverse perspective on this trip, zipping past towns and cities we'd passed through last trip.

This time, we had a couple of nights in Bordeaux before heading off into new territory, the little hilltop town of Belvès in the Dordogne region east of Bordeaux.

Belvès is served by a railway, however unlike Paris or Bordeaux with their frequent fast services, the little hilltop village only sees three trains each way a day, with an extra one on Friday evenings.

The railway is only single track, with short lengths of bolted rail, and timber sleepers, with single car rail motors, or as they are known in France, Autorails, providing the rolling stock.

Belvès is about two hours from Bordeaux, taking the train from the fantastic St. Jean station towards Sarlat. The first portion to Libourne, in the Bordeaux commuter belt was under electric traction, but, before departing the station, the pantographs dropped, and diesel traction took over.

Not an unusual circumstance in Europe, where bi mode is common, but yet to be introduced in Australia.

The line from here onwards was single line with several passing loops at stations, one notable location being well known wine centre Saint-Émilion, which we visited in 2016.

The train was absolutely packed, standing room only until Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, about 80km from Bordeaux when Janelle managed to get a seat, and I had enough room to sit on my case.

Eventually we both ended up with seats, which was far more comfortable!

Bergerac was the largest town we passed through, before arriving in Le Buisson, a smaller town, but with a large station and rail yards.

Le Buisson is a junction with the railway connecting Periguex and Niversac from the north, through to the junction station of Siorac en Perigord, with Sarlat to the east, and our chosen route,  south through Belves to Agen.

The section between the two junction stations is double track, a legacy of busier times on the railway when Sarlat wasn't a terminal station, but rather another point on a through railway to Périgord and destinations east.

The Niversac to Agen railway was proposed in the 1850s, as part of a bigger plan to connect Paris Gare d'Austerlitz with Madrid in Spain by the Chemin de fer Grand-Central de France railway company (there's a catchy title)!

After debate about the route, the company was given approval to build it, but collapsed in 1857 before work began.

The Compagnie du chemin de fer de Paris - Orleans (PO) took up the charter, and constructed 140km of very high standard railway with shallow gradients, substantial viaducts, and tunnels, all designed for double track, although it was laid as single.

The line was opened on August 3, 1863, after which there were three trains per day linking Agen to Paris - taking nearly 15 hours for the express, and over 25 for stopping trains!

Up until the 1990s, the line still carried sleeping car trains from Paris to Agen - somewhat like some of the sleeping car trains that used to operate in, and out of Victoria there is a balance between getting somewhere fast, or, departing and arriving at reasonable times.

From what I've researched and observed, the line is a lot quieter nowadays, with only a few trains venturing between Agen and Periguex each way each day. I was lucky to be able to photograph a couple of services crossing viaducts either side of Belves on separate days, as well as the action at Siorac when we changed trains there.

Like some other rural line in France we've travelled on, the signalling is semaphore, and controlled by mechanical levers, with some electrical interfaces. All good fun to observe, and photograph!

Interestingly, the signalling equipment isn't in the station building, but under a flimsy looking verandah arrangement, totally seperate, out on the platform.

Our train from Bordeaux was travelling to Sarlat, so we alighted, and had plenty of time to watch the signaller reset for the next arrival from Agen.

The afternoon Agen to Periguex service arrives at Siorac en Perigord.

Siorac is a typical French rural station, the different companies all put their own spin on the styling, but there's a lot of consistencies.

Once that train was through, the route was set from the double track section for our train to Belvès, and onto Agen.

Some of those levers were heavy!

Our Agen bound train is next to arrive.

It's literally a six minute train ride around the corner to Belvès, with a short walk up the hill to the village.

Google maps says it's a 20 minute, 1.1km walk, I can tell you it took us a lot longer, somewhere between 30 and 40 minutes.

The distance was nothing, it was the steep climb dragging our bags that took it's toll!

So, what made us pick Belvès as a holiday destination?

Belvès from across the valley, the road from the station is centre left.

Janelle has been writing about France and French travel on, Distant Francophile (DF) since 2014, which has meant she's met up with some other really interesting Francophiles along the way.

Over the years, we've stayed in people's rental properties, been invited for dinners and lunches, and even been driven around to wineries and villages we would never otherwise visited. It's been a great way to meet people!

This one was a while in the making though.

We were staying at Planches et Plonk, an award winning chess and wine bar, with two guest rooms in the middle of the medieval village.

A beautifully curated selection of cheeses, meat and wine at Planches et Plonk.

We'd met the owners Graham and Damon for lunch in Lille in 2019 (Janelle had interviewed Graham on DF previously), before they'd started work on renovating. It was a great lunch, and we were keen to visit once the opened, but of course, Covid happened, and we just hadn't got there until this trip.

Since then, they've been on UK TV show 'A New Life in the sun' - twice, and won several tourism awards, so we were really looking forward to catching up and visiting.

It ended up being a fantastic three night stay which probably goes without saying when you're staying above an award winning cheese and wine bar owned by great hosts in one of the prettiest villages in France, there's nothing to complain about!

Belvès is an interesting village, perched high up on the hilltop, and although there's not much in the way of fortifications to be found these days, it once had all the trappings.

The entry to the 11th century Castrum - old town.

While it’s no longer a medieval powerhouse, the weekend market, troglodyte caves under the square, laneways and restaurants all offer something for visitors.

There's plenty of places to relax and enjoy life in Belvès.

The Sunday afternoon train from Agen crossing a beautiful stone viaduct on the edge of town.

We had an easier start to our trip back to Bordeaux, and onward to Paris as Graham happened to be heading out around the same time we needed to get to the station, so no walk down the hill required.

I had time to take some photos of the station and surrounds before our train arrived, and instead of changing at Siorac en Perigord, we continued onto Le Buisson.

The disused goods shed at Belvès station

While we had a bit of time, lugging our bags around town with us would have been a pain, (we couldn't leave them at the station), so we stayed fairly close by.

Once again, there were more mechanical signals to be seen at both ends of the yard, and watched a few trains pass through, and talked to some other travellers from Australia.

A bi mode service arriving into Le Buisson through a sea of grass, poppies and semaphores.

As luck would have it, I was invited up into the cab of one of the trains waiting to depart, just as the headlight of ours came into view - I did manage a quick look!

Leaving Le Buisson, we crossed the Dordogne river, before swinging left towards Bordeaux, leaving the line to Periguex to continue north.

We crossed the river a further four times on a variety of stone arched and iron bridges, passing through small towns, and a couple of larger ones.

Crossing the Dordogne at Mauzac. The river is dammed here to feed the Lalinde canal, which bypassed a shallow 15 km section of the river.

Back at Libourne, the pantographs were raised, and diesel engines shut down for the run into Bordeaux.

Our arrival at Bordeaux St Jean was on time at 13:18, comfortably in time for the 13:46 TGV to Paris Montparnasse.

We had forward facing seats on the top level of the train for the ride back, a couple of cars walk to the buffet which wasn't too bad.

French trains are licenced, so looking out at the countryside with a beer for me, and a glass of wine for Nell and a bag of chips was a great way to finish the trip back into the city of light.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about our trip to somewhere off the beaten track, and our railway travels.

Regards,

Scott

Night Moves

I nearly didn’t head out to take this shot. It was blowing a gale, plenty of rain about, and like many other things, the Vline signalling communications system had copped a dose of dodgy data issues due to the Cloudstrike outage that had a global impact. I didn't expect the network to recover, and a special train would be low on the list of priorities to work through the out of position revenue services.

While steam heading towards Bendigo after dark is unusual, 707 Operations had two weekends of consecutive Riverlander tours running to Deniliquin, so there would be other opportunities.

It was nice and warm in front of the fire, so I decided to settle in.

Surprisingly, we heard the train leave Newport on time on its way into the city, a good start, and watching the weather map, the rain kept circling around, leaving a big hole with Sunbury just on the clear edge, where I wanted to shoot.

General consensus with some friends on a couple of chats was don’t bother, one however said you have a heater in the car, and coats, why not?

So I thought what would O Winston Link or William C Gill do?

( They probably would have been out and set up in the daylight, but let’s not dwell on that)!

So at 9:30 off I went.

Yes, it was horribly windy, but not a lot of rain fortunately, and I set up in the inky darkness.

I’m so glad I did!!

Setting up in the darkness, I wasn't exactly sure how to lay things out, but had a reasonable idea of where I wanted the light. Looking at other people's photographs of similar bridges and how they lit them, and having a vision in my head of what I wanted to achieve certainly helped me.

The preceding Bendigo Vlocity as I was setting up gives a perspective of how dark it was.

I took a series of test shots, first with two flashes, then walking back to the car to get the third one to experiment with some lower fill.

It took bit of mucking around to get light evenly on, and hopefully above the bridge, without tree shadows, and too many highlights.

Nothing else to do now, but wait for the train, and hope it didn't rain on my gear.

Some of you might be thinking, is setting off a series of flashes going to distract or impact the driver of the train?

I was worried about that, but in the week prior was discussing what I was thinking of doing with some friends, one of whom happened to be rostered on this trip as fireman.

He’d had other photos taken at night where he knew it was happening, and hadn’t even noticed the flash going off. Being side on, there wasn't much of an issue.

That eased my concerns considerably

We talked about it a few days later, he was looking out for me, and didn’t see anything, and assumed I hadn’t bothered due to the weather!

R707 was leading, so I heard its whistle on the approach to Sunbury, but it was the noise of the A and N class diesels slotted in behind the R I could hear as it got closer.

I put my finger on the shutter release, and waited, and fired.

It was difficult to see the flashes going off, but the screen on the back of the camera lit up with what I'd captured, and I was pretty happy with myself!

Packing up and walking back to the car, I could hear the train climbing up towards, Clarkfield and Riddles Creek, the sound carrying on the northerly wind.

I've had two A2 size test prints made on Canson Platine Fibre Rag, a glossier paper than I normally use, to bring out the deeper blacks.

The print is up in the shop for sale, available in colour or black and white in the Iron Highways collection.

Thanks again everyone for reading My Railway Life Journal.

A trip amongst the Passing Clouds

On the King's Birthday long weekend (anyone else still getting their heads around that one)? , Janelle and I headed for Daylesford for a few days of fresh country air.

It was a bit over 12 months since our last visit, and, as we did last time, we included a trip on the Daylesford Spa Country Railway.

Running out of Daylesford in Victoria's Central Highlands through farming, and then forest country, it's a pleasant excursion, bouncing along the lightly laid branch line in a vintage rail motor to Victoria's current highest railway station at Bullarto.

Sunday at Daylesford railway station also coincides with the extremely popular weekly market, which has assisted in bringing a steady stream of revenue to the railway for years.

The Daylesford station entrance, lined with rugged up stall owners and visitors.

We'd booked on line a few weeks ago, our plan being to catch the 12:15 train to Bullarto, and on the return journey, alight at Passing Clouds station to visit the winery of the same name for a wine tasing. It gives the best of both worlds, travelling the full length of the line, and visiting a winery without needing a designated driver.

After breakfast, and jacketed up in the cool weather, we had a wander of the shops, and ended up at the station early enough to catch the 11:00, the second of four services.

There was no worries with making the change, and we were issued with nice ye olde style Edmonson cardboard tickets, something that's now being phased out on tourist railways due to a lack of appropriate card stock.

It was close to 11 when we got on board, so most of the seats were taken, but we found a pair in first class facing the direction of travel, so no problems there.

I should say, being the long weekend, the Sunday market, and Daylesford itself was heaving with visitors, so the largest rail motor in the fleet, Walker RM 91, a 280 hp unit with 38 first class, and 56 second class seats, separated by an independently housed engine unit with a pair of Gardiner 140hp engines was running the service.

The Walkers are a something of a bitsa machine, with the engine and control units supplied from Walkers LTD. in the UK, frames from Thompsons in Castlemaine, and bodies from Martin & King in Armadale. The components were then assembled at the Victorian Railways at the Newport railway workshops.

A post war initiative delivered from 1948, the Walkers were designed with a 10 year lifespan in mind, but in true VR fashion, lasted well beyond that, into the 1980s.

While the 280s the biggest of the three types of these rail motors, the collection at Daylesford also has examples of the two smaller models, a 153 hp unit which is also in service, and the last remaining 102 hp one, 7RM which is a longer term restoration project.

Departing out of Daylesford, the railway heads past some impressive sheds where the operating equipment, and restoration projects are housed out of the Central Highlands weather.

To quote one of my friends who's spent many years in the Tourist and Heritage sector, the most valuable thing in any collection is a shed to house it!

The next notable thing is the faint remains of a railway formation swinging across the paddocks to the right, the connection through the Wombat Forest to Newlyn and North Creswick where it joined the Ballarat - Maryborough railway.

With the Ballarat goldmines hungry for firewood and timber props, this line was extremely busy in its day.

If you're interested in the history of the saw milling and tramways that supplied them - and moved the sawn timber to the Victorian Railways network, I'd highly recommend reading a copy of Wombat Woodsmen by Norm Houghton OAM, a comprehensive look at the industry that once existed.

Click clacking on over the 22' 6" length rails - 6.6 metre in current terms, we travel out through open farm country for a while, before entering light forest country. The next point of interest on the line is the intermediate station of Musk, now little more than an open shed on the platform, but once a busy staton with sidings off the main line to the south.

Shortly after leaving Musk, the relatively new station of Passing Clouds is reached. Passing Clouds was constructed to give direct access to the winery of the same name - as mentioned earlier, we've taken advantage of the service previously, and were doing so again today.

Passing Clouds station is six years old this month, but looks the part on the railway with its authentic platform construction, and small, but appropriately painted waiting shelter.

Surprisingly, we didn't stop at the station, but continued on towards Bullarto.

It's pretty clear when you book to alight at Passing Clouds that you need to make the booking office aware that's your intention, so the crew know to stop there, so it was interesting to find that on arrival there were a few people who had a wine tasting booked, and were now late due to the express run through the station! Unfortunately the message hadn't made it from the booking office to the train.

The crew shortened up the stay at Bullarto to win back a bit of time for the group, which, given the cool weather wasn't unappreciated.

I'd mentioned earlier that Bullarto is currently the highest railway station in Victoria at 747 metres above sea level, the title previously being held by Shelley on the Wodonga to Cudgewa railway in northeast Victoria, which was at 781 metres.

Both are / were high enough to see snow reasonably regularly, Bullarto getting a decent dusting usually once or twice a year.

I've been lucky enough for a chilly snap to occur on a Sunday a couple of years ago, and managed to get photos of the train arriving in the snow, after having to deal with road closures on the way.

August 2019, and after a very decent snowfall, 63RM is arriving at Bullarto.

No snow this time, but there was still an opportunity to admire the recently finished railway station building, a fantastically accurate replica of the building that once stood on the site, something that this railway does particularly well.

The return journey to Passing Clouds had us back in the first class end, bumping along once again through the forest.

It was interesting to pass through an area that if you didn't know better looks like it has been logged, but in fact was the subject of a violent storm that uprooted trees, dropping power lines, and closing roads - and the railway.

Reopening the roads and restoring power took a while, and the railway even longer, the damage far beyond the resources of the volunteer railway.

Fortunately local businesses, and government assistance saw it reopen again, but it's a reminder to get out and support the tourist railways when they are operating to help see them through bad patches.

Once into the more open country, we slowed and stopped at Passing Clouds. Unfortunately our end of the rail motor wasn't on the platform, so we made a quick scramble through the engine section to the second class end to alight.

No harm done, but a note to visitors intending to alight at Passing Clouds, sit near the front in both directions so you can easily get off!

Departing Passing Clouds, with the home signal for Musk just up ahead.

A couple of shots of the departing rail motor, then the short walk up the driveway to the winery.

About to arrive - or pass through Musk.

The group with the booking for a tasting and lunch were just in front of us, and quickly settled in, we weren't in a hurry being a train ahead of where we had planned to be.

Passing Clouds is celebrating its 50th birthday, not all of which has been at the Musk site, which is reflected in their wine list showcasing several wines from their original region northwest of Bendigo.

We tasted the premium list - not having to drive made that an easy decision to make!

I can certainly endorse a tasting there, and if you have longer, lunch is also highly recommended.

Last time we visited there was a shower of snow, this time there was a few passing showers, and a rainbow over the vines - and plenty of passing clouds!

Passing clouds, and a rainbow from Passing Clouds winery

Keeping an eye on the time, we left with a couple of bottles to take away, and walked down to the station. The train turned up early - apparently the same thing had happened on this trip, meaning the winery restaurant was also 20 minutes out of whack with the bookings, not helpful for them, or the customers.

A yell to the conductor saw the train held, until we were safely on board again.

We were seated in the second class compartment section this time, which, to be honest was more comfortable than the first class end!

Back at Daylesford, the market was slightly less chaotic than it had been earlier, so once the passengers disembarked, I took a couple of photos before we headed back into town to find some lunch. The town was busy - it is on most weekends, but the long weekend crowd added to the numbers, with considerable queues outside some of the cafes.

Looking back from the end of the line at Daylesford station.

We were fortunate to snag a table outside at Winespeake

After lunch we continued our afternoon wandering around the shops picking up some bits and pieces we'd seen earlier, but didn't want to lug around.

We went back to the Lakehouse where we were staying to relax for a bit, before going for a wander around Lake Daylesford, before dinner.

Lake Daylesford, and the Lakehouse apartments with some Autumn colour still hanging on.

A great relaxing weekend away in this beautiful part of the world!

While we, and I'd suggest most visitors arrive by private car, there is a Vline bus service from Woodend, essentially the bus that replaced the train service when that was removed, which gives an alternate way to visit the area.

Not something that I'd thought of, but a couple of people at Passing Clouds had come that way.

Thanks for reading!

Scott

Glen Waverley shuttles

Hi Everyone,

Today’s post, touching on the Steamrail Victoria’s Glen Waverley shuttles, operated on July 5th.

The train was rostered with two K class locos on it - the colourful duo of blue K183, and red K190 doing the honours, with K190 facing Glen Waverley.

Between the locos were a set of five E type passenger cars, with a water tank wagon for a top up halfway through the day.

Six shuttle trips were scheduled from Glen Waverley to Darling, an intermediate station with a crossover to allow trains to terminate, and head back to where they came from. In addition, the transfer from Newport, Steamrail's home to Glen Waverley, and home again in the afternoon were also available for travel, with all trips sold out! Steamrail has certainly found a popular niche with the suburban market, and provide a nice mix of motive power, carriages and destinations to keep the enthusiast, and locals looking for something nostalgic to do.

The afternoon return trips to Newport have been popular with a few friends over the last couple of years, a good train ride, and, refreshments at The Junction Hotel, just across the road from the station to finish off the day.

Janelle and I had made a spur of the moment decision to head into the city Friday night, and after a great meal, went to bed looking out over the city from the 27th floor of the Grand Hyatt.

Looking out over some of Melbourne’s landmarks, Flinders St. station, the Yarra river, St Paul’s and the Eureka sky tower.

Our room also had a view of Flinders St. station, and platform 10 where the steam special was picking up passengers from the following morning…

I managed to get a photo of the train arriving into Flinders St. a couple of minutes late, before we headed out for breakfast, and a bit of a wander.

Steaming through some Melbourne icons, K190 leads the train into Platform 10 of the stunning Flinders St. station.

Once we'd retrieved our car, we headed out towards Syndal, the second last station on the line, and at the bottom of a big dip between Mount Waverley, and another crest before the line drops into Glen Waverley.

I had a location in mind that I thought would be ok, it was a stretch of the memory banks as I hadn't been out there for quite a while.

My memory was ok, as the location was fairly much as I remembered it, if anything a bit better!

We'd timed it well, as our trip out the Monash Freeway passes Darling station, and the train was just ahead of us, so all was looking ok for the fourth shuttle of the day, before a pause while the engines were serviced.

I found out when I checked my phone after parking the car that it was actually shuttle three, running 40 minutes late, due to a mechanical issue. Not great for the train crew, or Steamrail's mechanical team, but, things were still going ok.

There was a lot of people out and about for it, not just your usual enthusiasts, but plenty of locals hoping for a glimpse of the train. This ended up causing issues later in the day with people wandering across tracks with no rail sense, or in some cases self awareness or self preservation.

I set myself up with a view down the hill into Syndal, and didn't have to wait long to hear the train departing Glen Waverley, and get stuck into the climb.

Once over the first hill, the train eased off briefly, before it was regulators open, and back into the steep 1 in 30 gradient.

Looking smart with a set of E series cars behind it K183 drags the train up the one in 30 grade out of Syndal, one of the steepest sections of line in Victoria.

It looked, and sounded spectacular in the chilly air, and as K183 burst under the Lawrence Rd. bridge, the exhaust rolled out very nicely!

With Syndal station at the foot of the grade, K183, with K190 pushing hard at the back make short - and impressive work of the steep climb.

A short drive to Mount Waverley and a spot was found for the return with the line sweeping across Alvie Rd., on another one in 30 climb up into the station.

There was a cluster of enthusiasts nearer the station, I headed down the hill to find something of my own.

In due course, the train was heard, travelling at a good clip, and K190 came past on the front looking great!

On the approach to Mount Waverley K190 is looking good on the front of the train.

Home to Williamstown after that, and confer with friends the arrangements for the afternoon, given things were so late.

Sticking to the original plan of arriving at Glen Waverley by 3:15pm, for the planned 3:35 pm departure might have seemed a bit optimistic, but with changes to watering arrangements, and some luck, anything could have happened to get things back on, or near to schedule, so it wasn't worth the risk.

Of course, things hadn't improved, if anything, had deteriorated - but that’s railway operations.

Janelle and I had been talking at crossed purposes earlier in the day about expected time back at Newport, and possible dinner arrangements, with me mentioning the timetabled 16:41 arrival, that being interpreted at 6:41 arrival.

She happily dropped me at Newport station, and headed home for the afternoon, while I headed off on my little adventure.

It turned out that we passed the fifth steam special near Jordanville, running substantially behind schedule, and had time to catch up with some friends for a beer before the last shuttle departed at 3:42 pm, an hour and 13 minutes late.

A friend on the train advised that before heading back to Newport, the train would be shunted out to the sidings to position both locos on the front, as the mechanical issue with the leading loco was still a concern.

It was certainly interesting standing on the platform watching the two K classes shunting the yard, not something that to my knowledge had ever occurred out there previously!

K183 pulling the cars forward before dropping into the sidings.

With K190 in platform 2, K183 in No.4 road, and the passenger cars in No.5 road, it’s a busy scene in the dying light at Glen Waverley.

Once the train was reassembled with the two locos tender to tender, K183 leading, it was set back into platform 2, ready for departure.

Pulling the train back out of the sidings, onto the up line into the sunset. Once the rear of the train is clear of the green signal, the points will be run for the train to come back onto the track on the right of the path.

At 17:22 we set off, considerably behind the advertised 15:35, however, with a full train of happy passengers!

It had been a while since I'd travelled behind steam in the evening, which although chilly, was a fantastic experience.

Departing Glen Waverley, with K190s smokebox just out the door.

There was still plenty of people lining platforms waiting to see the train passing through, and as a couple of our group remarked, there's nothing like a steam train to bring a smile to people's faces - especially those thoroughly surprised by it passing through while they were waiting for their train.

The run through the suburbs was great, and then into the lights of the city once we passed through Richmond. We did get to admire the city lights for a while while we waited for platform 10 to become available, before pulling into the station.

Quite a number of people left the train here, with many heading up for a last look at the locos before they departed.

Once we had a path, and headed out onto the viaduct, the drivers of both locos put on a whistle show, which echoed around the city.

Clattering through the pointwork of Southern Cross (or Spencer St. depending on where you sit in my readership), we had a smooth run back to Newport, arriving at 18:33 - near enough to on Nell's predicted time!

After thanking our hosts, and mate who had the difficult job of managing K183 all day, it was time to get out of the cold for dinner and a de-brief on what had been a really enjoyable day.

While it’s hard enough work when things are going well, how these dedicated people respond when things aren’t going to plan, but still deliver a quality service has to be called out.

Big thanks to the crews, paid or otherwise, from Steamrail, V/Line and Metro Trains who made it a successful day for all the passengers and onlookers!!!

Thanks for reading!

Scott

Three in one day

Given we’ve just passed the Winter solstice, the weather on the weekend in Central Victoria was remarkably sparkling. It certainly wasn’t warm, but Sunday was particularly vibrant, with clear skies, and not a breath of wind.

Janelle and I were in Bendigo Saturday afternoon to visit an exhibition at the art gallery with her parents, and stayed overnight. While we planned to head back to Melbourne in the morning, a photo in a chat group from a friend of the Victorian Goldfields Railway J 549 sitting in the sun at Castlemaine changed that! The loco was at the head of a train soon to depart for Maldon, a 45 minute journey through farmland and dry Central Victorian forest.

Bendigo to Maldon is just over a 30 minute drive, and it was 35 minutes until the train was due there, so it was game on!

It was a very easy familiar drive, one I’ve made many times before as a passenger when I was younger, and by myself.

We made the Bendigo Road level crossing with time to spare, so I headed off down the track to take advantage of the 1 in 40 gradient down, and back out of the dip where there was once a small trestle bridge at the 88 mile post.

Having a bit of time to think about things, I remembered walking the same bit of track years ago with dad, well before the railway was reopened by the dedicated volunteers, some of whom are still at it today.

The line reopened as far as the Bendigo Rd. crossing in 1986, and was gradually extended until it reached Castlemaine, the junction with the Melbourne to Bendigo railway.

For some years, a mostly volunteer team under direction of Ganger Will Maylor have been steadily working at replacing the original light branchline weight rail with heavier, longer lengths, and the timber sleepers with concrete ones cascaded down from regional upgrades and level crossing removals to turn the railway into a less labour intensive, more sustainable line for the future. There’s regular updates posted on the VGR Civil blog which make interesting reading, and show how much can be achieved by a small dedicated crew!

Eventually stirring me back out of my daydreams, J549 could be heard working up the long climb from Muckleford, the line’s intermediate station through the forest. One of the last classes of steam locomotives introduced into the Victorian Railways, the 1950s built J is certainly right at home on the branchline.

It was the second steam loco restored by the railway, the first being 1940s K160, which is currently under major overhaul at Steamrail Victoria’s Newport workshops, where it was built.

The J itself has only recently returned from overhaul, and looked magnificent as it dropped over the crest of the hill, descended the 1 in 40 grade to the 88 mile post, and then commenced climbing for Bendigo Rd, and into Maldon station.

J549 and its train in the dip at the 88 mile post mark.The optical illusion of a long zoom lens, and cropping afterwards gives the impression the train is closer than it actually is!

Safely off track, the J starts to work harder as it gets into the climb that continues almost all the way to Maldon station, about one and a half kilometres away.

Once the train had passed, we were thinking of lunch options, and, as we enjoy visiting Daylesford, headed for the famous spa town, another 30 minute drive away, which is also home to the Daylesford Spa Country Railway (DSCR).

It’s a pleasant drive between the two former gold mining towns, the only other settlement of any note being Newstead, on the Loddon River, and now closed Castlemaine - Maryborough railway. We paralleled the rusty overgrown rails of what used to be a heavily trafficked line, particularly in grain season, before cutting across to the central highlands, and into Daylesford.

Patchy internet hadn’t turned up any availability for lunch at a couple of places we want to try, so we opted for a charcuterie platter and glass of wine at one of our regular spots when we’re in the area, Winespeake, which is always a good experience.

Lunchtime also coincided with a lull in the DSCR timetable, so once we’d had a break, we were right to go about ten minutes before the train departed.

The DSCR operates heritage rail motors, dating from the 1930s, 50s and 70s over a nine km section of the former Victorian Railways branchline from Carlsruhe to Daylesford. Like the Maldon railway, and many others across the state, it had closed in 1978. The Railway is aiming to extend the line to Trentham, the major intermediate town on the line, which is also a popular spot with day-trippers from Melbourne.

We checked out a couple of likely photo spots before settling on one at Musk, a small halt on the railway, and waited for the Diesel Electric Rail Motor (DERM) to arrive. 63RM (Rail Motor) was constructed in the early 1930s with a Winton petrol engine, and like its classmates, was eventually fitted with a pair of General Motors diesel engines, saving the railways a considerable amount in fuel.

The DERMs lasted in service until the early 90s on commuter services to Sunbury and Bacchus Marsh, with a handful passing into preservation. I’ve been lucky enough to bounce all the way from Ballarat to Mildura on one!

I took a couple of shots at Musk, and then we headed to Bullarto, the terminus of the line for another shot.

Wintery colours and soft light, the Central Highlands are a great part of Victoria.

Bullarto is currently the highest railway station in Victoria, and most years sees a dusting of snow which makes for a great scene if it happens to coincide with the railway’s operating Sunday.

The Last climb into Bullarto, and Victoria’s current highest railway station.

From here, we headed into Woodend, and back onto the Calder Highway to head for home.

Steamrail Victoria were operating shuttles between Watergardens (Sydenham) and Sunbury on the Bendigo line, so of course it made perfect sense to try and line that up too!

Once near Sunbury, a quick call to a mate who was on the train established we had a little bit of time up our sleeves to find a spot, and get set up.

I took a turn too early, and didn’t end up where I wanted, and with a lot of other people to boot.

There wasn’t a lot of time to play with, so I ended up rolling the dice on something completely random, which worked ok.

Last trip for the day, A2 986 leads the Tait electric train back to Flinders St. from Sunbury.

The train comprised of 1907 built A2 986 attached to the Tait ‘red rattler’ suburban set of cars, which works well for these shuttle trips, as the electric Tait train can power in one direction, and the steam loco the other.

After getting the shot, we headed for home, via the supermarket, and after sorting the groceries, I headed back up to Newport station for one last shot of the day of the train heading back to the Steamrail depot.

Almost home, the Tait leads the way back into Newport, a little late due to congestion at Flinders St. due to football loading.

A catch up with the mates travelling on the train was in order at the Junction Hotel, before heading home after a successful weekend.

Steamrail have a fairly busy weekend schedule for the remainder of the 2024 season up into November, if you’re interested in travelling you can find details here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post, and you consider visiting one of these great volunteer run organisations!

Regards,

Scott

An Exhibition - update!

Hi Everyone,

As discussed in my last post, I hadn't actually made it to the exhibition at XYZ gallery to see the finished product.

Thankfully, that's changed, and I must say, I was really happy to see both my own photos hung on the walls, alongside those of Garrie's own images, and some his extremely interesting collection, as well as Jonny Tanoto's Chinese station series.

Garrie's collection of 1950s British steam was much larger than I expected, aside from the collection on display on the walls, theres's three albums of UK steam - potentially every single member of the Great Western Railway King class is in there!

It was fantastic seeing the two iconic Sebastião Salagdo & Stephen Dupont images on paper, as opposed to on computer screen!

There's only two weeks of the exhibition left to run, from 1pm to 5pm Thursday through to Sunday to 25 June.

I'll be in the gallery on Sunday afternoon if you want to drop in and say hello - let me know in the comments if you're likely to drop in, and I'll make sure there's a glass of Champagne waiting for you!

Cherry Swamp road, Little River

An Exhibition!

Hi Everyone,

In February last year (2023) I answered an open call for railway photography for a longer term exhibition project by Garrie Maguire from the XYZ photo gallery.

I met up with Garrie late last year at the Gallery in Melbourne's Docklands for a chat, and get an idea what he might be looking for - I'd never exhibited anything before, so had no idea of how it worked, or what to expect!

Initially February this year was discussed as he had a few other things in the pipeline, including some overseas rail travel in China. With some ideas now in my head about what to expect, and what sort of images would suit, started pulling together a bit of a portfolio. initially I focused on passenger trains, and travel, but after some further conversations in March, morphed into more diesel loco hauled trains, mostly taken in 2023.

It was good fun working through what we liked, and then fine tuning it with Garrie's help, and then, looking at re-cropping and editing a couple of others for a better look.

By mid April, we'd settled on a set of eight photos to be printed at A2 size - 420 x 594mm, the same size as I sell my regular prints at, and one big one - 1200 x 1500mm one to be the feature image at the end of the gallery as you walk in the door.

One Last Time - N459 hauling its last train in Vline passenger service

The exhibition was due to open on 19 May which made things interesting as Janelle and I were heading to France on the third of May, and wouldn’t be back until it opened - not much time to get the prints made and dropped off!

In the end, everything lined up and the prints were all done by the second, and dropped off to Garrie the next morning with plenty of time before we left for the airport.

I did have time to unpackage and inspect them - I'm still in awe of how fantastic the images look printed on good quality cotton rag paper in a decent size, so much nicer than on a screen

So, how is the exhibition?

Honest answer is I don't know!

The exhibition is open from 1pm to 5pm Thursday through to Sunday from 19 May to 25 June, but since arriving home, I've ended up with a dose of Covid, and haven't been able to go for a look!

I know from the galleries website there's some interesting images for Garrie's collection of 1950s British steam, Dutch post war railway reconstruction, amongst some other important railway images.

There's photography from Jonny Tanoto focusing on Chinese high speed railway station architecture, as well as some of Garrie’s work on the Bejing Subway - I'm really looking forward to getting in for a look!

If you have time to drop in, please do, and let me know in the comments what you think.

Dooen time!

Hi All,

This started out as a bit of a mini post, but grew legs as I started writing, and then I added a couple of extra extensions on.

I haven’t been out much in the last few weeks, a combination of work, weather, model railway time and minor renovations has kept me close to home.

News a couple of weeks ago on the jungle drums was that SCT logistics would be hiring former VR locos C501, and X31 from Seymour Rail Heritage Centre, as well as CLF2, owned by Railpower to operate the Dooen to Appleton dock service.

Dooen is close to Horsham in Western Victoria, around 400km west of Melbourne. There’s a major intermodal hub there which generates enough rail traffic for a daily train.

C501 has previously been hired to SCT, but it’s X31’s first venture onto standard gauge since the mid 80s, so its certainly got enthusiasts up and about.

I’ve missed the train a couple of times, but when I received a text Thursday afternoon that it was between Geelong and Lara, and I was close to home, I thought I’d go for a look.

I think I’ve mentioned before in another post that the Geelong railway runs roughly east - west, so anything heading into town has the sun behind it, and high this time of year, not super photographic conditions.

Once the line gets to Newport however, it swings back around to the northwest, and heads to Brooklyn, between Newport and Sunshine. Here the line splits, with a broad gauge line continuing to Sunshine, and dual gauge towards Tottenham, and the city.

The line between Brooklyn and Newport is double tracked, with the ‘east’ line being dual gauged, and the ‘west’ line broad gauge only.

Currently the west line is booked out of service, and has been for some years.

While not the most scenic line by any stretch of the imagination, it is fairly popular with photographers due to its geographic alignment.

In days past it was a busy section of track with numerous abattoirs, factory sidings, scrap steel, quarry and even a railway tip siding.

Tottenham had a large shunting yard where trains were made up to go to various destinations, and freight travelling to Geelong, Warnambool, and Adelaide via the plains to Cressy all funnelled through this section. Further out in the industrial west trains of tank wagons from the Geelong and Altona refineries, as well as car components being shipped between the Geelong and Broadmeadows plant at Somerton also passed through daily.

Brooklyn up until the 90s was a busy place!

The main standard gauge line to Adelaide via Cressy and Ararat across the plains provides most of the traffic through now, with the occasional broad gauge goods.

There is also a train from a quarry at Kilmore East that runs daily to either Brooklyn via Sunshine, or to Westall on the Dandenong line as well.

That seems to have headed down a rabbit hole, perhaps I need to start adding some diagrams and maps into these posts, what do you think?

Brooklyn is a tangle of trackwork, signalling, associated boxes and signs, yard lights over the remaining sidings, as well as the busy Somerville road crossing, all the hardware of operating a railway. I had half an idea forming as I drove out there about framing the train in this tangle of infrastructure, using a lot of zoom to compress it all together - and thread through other aspects I didn’t want.

There were three other people there when I arrived, only one of whom was down where I was thinking of shooting from.

I wandered down and had a chat, and found somewhere I wasn’t going to get in his way, and set up for the train that wasn’t far away by this stage.

It wasn’t too long before a headlight could be seen in the distance, and the gentle chatter of the locos could be heard. The crossing briefly interrupted the ‘music’, but, the locos notched up as they crossed the road, and started the climb towards Tottenham, we were far enough away from the crossing to not have the distraction.

Splitting the sticks at Brooklyn. With seven signals protecting the junction, Brooklyn has a bit going on for a now fairly quiet location.

At that point I was wishing I was taking video, photos just don’t capture the noise!

It took a while for the four locos (modern CSR004 was behind the three interesting ones) and 53 wagons to go past, before the last cleared the crossing, and the booms lifted.

While talking about the SCT and other things rail, a short train appeared from the Tottenham direction, CSR012 with steel containers heading to Laverton, not expected, but added something to the evening. While the Chinese built, German engined CSRs certainly aren’t a fan favourite, they make up part of the current scene, and like everything will eventually become scarce.

CSR 012 with coil steel containers heading west, I assume to Whyalla SA via the Laverton SCT yards.

Not too long after, we were treated to another train heading west, MA5 (Melbourne - Adelaide) with two NRs, and a 1990s Australian National AN class leading the way. The AN was a rare catch, with all 10 members of the class stored out of service until recently.

NRs 39 and 23 lead AN8 into Brooklyn from Tottenham. The line joining from the left is the broad gauge connection to Sunshine, where the silos looming over the train are located.

The train didn’t make it to Geelong, it failed at Elders Loop, between Lara and North Shore, and a pair of relief locos were sent.

I was going to finish this post here, but, I’ve gone out for this train a couple more times, the following Sunday and Monday.

Sunday was a bit of a last minute affair, the train was due out of the docks at 18:50, so in between some sanding, painting, and dinner I ducked up to Footscray.

I took my chances with getting blocked by Vline and Metro services, and set up at a spot to get the train coming up the goods lines under Footscray station.

My luck held  - just, but that’s all you need!

Out of the darkness, and into the light with a putrid windscreen! C501 emerges from under Footscray station into the late afternoon light.

With the Dooen climbing out of the tunnel, a Vlocity has departed from Footscray station, and the laws of gravity - and power to weight dictate the pass will soon scoot past the goods train.

And almost caught. The low summer sun was throwing some strong shadows - and rail glint, as the Vlo overtakes the train.

The next night I went local again, Altona where the line crosses Cherry creek for something a bit different, before cutting back near Brooklyn.

The elegant X class is sandwiched between the higher horsepower CLF and C class as they cross Cherry Creek, in Altona North.

Hauling boxes past boxes in Brooklyn.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and please let me know, would you like to see some maps and diagrams to better explain what I’m up to?

The Steamrail Victoria bi-annual open weekend is coming up on the Labour Day long weekend, hopefully I’ll see some of you there!

Chasing dinosaurs in December

The first week of December ended up being fairly busy one out photographing N class locos on commuter, and longer distance passenger trains.

The last of the Bacchus Marsh trips were supposed to be finishing by mid December, and given the woeful weather any opportunity to get out was taken.

On the afternoon of Sunday 3rd I'd received a tip off that two of the long distance loco hauled trains remaining, would be both double headed due to issues with locomotives.

The two trains, the Warrnambool and Swan Hill services to Southern Cross are timetabled to pass through Footscray within three minutes of each other at 20:58 and 21:01 so I set off for an outing after dinner.

A VLocity accelerates out of Footscray, as the XPT descends to pass under the suburban and regional tracks before entering the Bunbury St. tunnel.

I took a few photos of other trains coming and going in nice evening light from up on the footbridge. One of these that almost snuck past was the XPT from Sydney descending to pass under the suburban and regional lines as a VLocity departed. The Warrnambool arrived a little late in dimming light, so I made use of the station platform lights to catch N471 leading N463, which having a defective radio couldn’t haul the train.

Almost out of light as the Warrnambool slows down to stop at Footscray.

To change things up a bit, I went onto the platform itself, and waited for the Swan Hill. Several other trains came and went, signs were put out for rail replacement busses on the Bendigo line, so I ended up leaving at about half nine.

It did eventually wander through almost an hour late, by which time I was well and truly home.

Monday morning I headed to work with my camera gear, Janelle was going away for a couple of days for work, so staying out to whenever chasing trains wasn't going to impact anyone but myself.

By the time I left work  it was the stinking hot day, 35 according to the car! I headed west to try a location between Deer Park and Tarneit planning on getting the 16:31 Geelong, then heading to Bacchus Marsh for the 17:21, both loco hauled services. I chose the Boundary Road bridge as a good spot to start with, but anti throw screens blocked the most obvious angle. I climbed over the barrier onto the approach embankment, and started wandering, but after a rabbit and I startled each other, decided against wading into the shrubbery too much, lest I disturbed a tiger snake!

I did end up finding a relatively clear spot on the other side of the bridge, so settled in, and was treated to a couple of sets of VLocities passing in front of me, which was interesting!

Geelong services from both directions passing at Boundary Rd.

Same spot, but a different angle for the loco hauled train.

N 461 made an appearance through the shimmering heat, so after photographing it,  it was a trudge back to the car wishing I'd thought to bring some water. With the aircon flat out, I a spent a few minutes  figuring out the best way to The Marsh.

It had been a long time since I'd gone out that way, but continuing west out Boundary Rd., then north onto Mount Cottrell Rd., and past Melton Weir was still the quickest, most direct route.

Where to get my shot was the next question, the bull farm curve between Parwan and Bacchus Marsh is well known amongst rail enthusiasts, and an interesting location, so I thought I'd see if I could get something a bit different there. After walking around and experimenting with a couple of other trains, I settled on an angle that wasn't the usual one, and ended up with a reasonable result.

Almost at its destination, the 17:21 Bacchus Marsh has just passed under the Woolpack Rd. bridge.

After discharging passengers, the train continued on to Maddingley sidings, a short distance out of town.

It was easy to get to the station before the train departed for the above photo, and after grabbing a big bottle of water, I cut back to Tarneit for a shot of N455 at on the 19:12 Warrnambool, and N468 on the 19:16 Waurn Ponds.

The Warnambool is swinging into Tarneit, interestingly the Dandenong Ranges and Newport power station chimney stand out in the background.

Longer shadows as the 19:16 wanders in.

A late dinner, but I'd had a good time, so decided to have another go Tuesday.

I was a little later leaving work, so I headed straight to Bacchus Marsh, and picked a spot I’d scoped out Monday for my shot of the N on the pass.

N474 swings around the bullfarm between Parwan and Bacchus Marsh.

I was getting myself organised at the back of the car when a ute pulled over beside me to see if I needed a hand. After introducing myself, and explaining what I was up to, the person kindly gave me permission to enter his property to get a better angle which was much appreciated! Readers of Newsrail magazine will recognise this as the January 2024 front cover.

After unloading at Bacchus Marsh, the empty train headed to Maddingley stabling yard for the evening.

I then headed out to Maddingley for a photo of the train heading up to the sidings to stable, and also looked at a couple of other options for future reference.

Knowing there was still the same two loco hauled trains on the Geelong line, a friend I was messaging with suggested Little River would be worth a try.

Some more back roads I hadn’t been on for years, it was a pleasant drive, barely any other cars to be seen, and in nice light, it was a super relaxing mini road trip!

Low bright sun is a pain for me on the front of the loco, I’m sure the driver wasn’t happy to be staring into it!

N463 was on the Warnambool, after photographing it, I decided to move locations, and, in the process got some nice shots of an up Vlocity at Cherry Swamp Road crossing.

This Melbourne bound VLocity has just crested the highest point on the Melbourne - Geelong railway between Lara and Little River.

The 19:16 Waurn Ponds was late, with the light almost gone when it came through with N455 up front.

The late running Waurn Ponds

Heading for home through Little River, the light on the standard gauge around the back of the station looked amazing, and there was another Geelong service approaching from the distance, so I took some trailing shots of that which I’m also happy with!

Charging out of Little River into the twilight.

Wednesday was a night off chasing trains, but Thursday the 7th 17:21 Bacchus Marsh was the last scheduled loco hauled, so I managed to con Janelle into a train ride and dinner at 'Stoney's' pub, a short distance from the station.

A lot of people don’t like the Southern Cross station, but I think the design is pretty cool! Passengers are ready to board the last scheduled Bacchus Marsh.

It ended up being an easy run out, with plenty of photos taken by the horde of mainly younger enthusiasts at Southern Cross, and out of the suburbs, a small group chasing in cars to get shots. The train is timetabled to terminate at Melton at 18:02, and displays as such on the screens at Southern Cross, however after a 10 minute pause it sets off again for the 16 minute run to Bacchus Marsh. This gave time for some of the horde to run down the platform and squeeze off a couple of shots before rejoining the train.

Shortly after departing Southern Cross, and every station thereafter, the conductor enthusiastically explained over the PA that it was the last run of the loco hauled train, which was mainly lost on the dozing commuters, and those who were thoroughly engaged in their phones with headphones in.

I wonder what commuters back in the 60s to the Marsh thought of the demise of steam on their trains, they having the last regular steam hauled services from Spencer St?

Most of the passengers have left, but a few enthusiasts are hanging around on the platform at Bacchus Marsh to admire the ‘last’ loco hauled train to the commuter town.

Friday morning I backed up again driving out to get the last up at the bull farm curves.

There was only a couple of other people there, near the over bridge for the ‘standard’ shot inside the curve, but, as usual, I wanted to try something different.

The last regular loco hauled passenger train from Bacchus Marsh to Southern Cross climbs out of the valley, and up towards Woolpack road.

There’s been more since, but with more Vlocities due, they won’t last forever.

There were a few Vlocities to practice on before the N and its train departed at 07:26, so after going for a bit of a walk, and climbing up the side of the road cutting found a spot I can't recall seeing a photo from, which gave a nice hilly backdrop, and a sweeping curve. There was no shadows to speak of due to the extremely overcast day (I almost hadn't bothered driving out there it was that gloomy), but decided it was worth it for what was expected to be the last ever.

Shortly after departure time the familiar chatter of N459's 12 cylinder 645 GM-EMD engine could be heard as the train climbed out of the station, and through the deep cutting as it swung into view.

The climb continues through the gentle S bend up under Woolpack road towards Parwan, so I listened to the sound as it faded out before heading back to my car, and off to work for the day.

There's been a couple of ad-hoc loco hauled operations since, so there's still opportunity to see and hear, or travel on the loco hauled services, but they won't be around much longer.

The January 2024 issue of Newsrail magazine has an article on the last of the Bacchus Marsh loco hauled services with some of my photos in it, as well as the front cover which I'm quite pleased with.

To finish the month off, there was quite a bit of interest in a grain train operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad from southern NSW to Appleton dock for unloading. The locos on the train were two former Victorian Railways C classes, dating from 1977, and a former NSWGR 49 class built in 1960.

It was great to hear the big Cs, with the 49 piggy in the middle cross the Maribyrnong river bridge, rumble through the Bunbury St. tunnel, and notch up for the climb to Tottenham.

C507 was blowing a bit of smoke, but all three units sounded on song!

C506, 4911 and smoky C507 climb out of the Bunbury St. Tunnel, and under the Williamstown, Sunbury and Regional rail link lines in Footscray on the way from Appleton dock back to NSW for another load of export grain.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my fun week out chasing trains, and as always, please let me know what you think.

Aotearoa - A visit to the South Island - Christchurch

Despite many friends and family members making the three hour trip across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, Neither Janelle or I have ever been. Some of my enthusiast friends fairly frequently head across for railfan trips, as well as sightseeing and cycling.

This year, we were looking at South Africa for a friends 50th, but unfortunately that fell through so, we looked at other options. WA, and the states southern wineries were an option, until we started looking at flights which were fairly ridiculous prices.

Turning the other way however, Christchurch was reasonable, and the Tranz Alpine from there to Greymouth has been on the great railway journeys list for a while, so that formed a basis for a trip.

Apart from accomodation, a car and a brewery tour in Dunedin, we hadn't really booked in much else, even in the weeks leading up to the trip. We've said a couple of times in the two weeks that it's really the most underprepared we've ever been on a trip for a long time!

Being so far south ( the 45th parallel, or halfway “line” between the equator and the South Pole) runs across the South Island, and Christchurch is lower than Hobart, a lot of things (tourist railways) aren't in season.

Not that everything is about railways of course!

Landing in Christchurch on a sunny Saturday after a very pleasant flight, we checked in to our hotel, and walked into town for a look around.

Where we were staying is opposite the extremely large Hagley park, not too much of a walk out of the city centre. Heading south along the side of the park, and the Avon River, we soon came to tram tracks coming up Rolleston Avenue, and turning right into Armagh St. No trams in sight, so we kept walking, passing the extremely impressive bluestone Christ's College, looking very much like an English private school!

The stunning Christ’s College, an amazing structure that wouldn’t look out of place in Europe.

Christchurch was founded by Anglican free settlers, so there's many buildings and churches relating to that faith around the city.

The streets closer into the city centre are all named after Anglican Diocese from around the world, rather than the usual English colonial habit of King St, George St, Elizabeth St and so on.

At the corner of Worcester St., a single truck Brill formerly of the Invercargill tramways came into view. There’s similar cars operating on the Bendigo tramways heritage system, but it was nice to see this one!

The beautifully restored Invercargill No. 15 single truck Birney tram, manufactured by the Brill company, Philadelphia in 1921.

I was keen to ride this one, but we were still in exploring mode, and as the trams essentially finish at 4pm, it made more sense to wander this first afternoon, then look at our options in the morning.

We continued to follow the tram tracks, past the under restoration Arts Centre precinct, formerly Canterbury College, and the boys and girls high schools.

Like a lot of the older buildings (and many newer ones), the buildings were severely damaged in the 2010 and 2011 series of earthquakes, and are still under rebuilding. There are still buildings boarded up waiting to be restored or demolished this long after the event.

We crossed the river Avon, and then turning right along the river, we came to an interesting series of buildings, the Riverside markets. After the January 2011 earthquakes that devastated the city centre, a pop up shopping strip in shipping containers and interesting pre fab buildings.

Five years later, that was replaced with permanent structures that are now a great destination in the city, with laneways, and a great variety of food and beverage options.

One of the many stores in the Riverside markets offering fresh produce.

One of the great things is that you can buy produce from several stores, and eat at other different ones, or take it outside and sit in the sun and watch the trams along the riverside!

There was a nice little bar there with 20+ beers on tap from a range of local brewers, so I sampled a couple of different ones, while Janelle tried the local wines.

With over 20 beers, ciders and wines available, the Canterbury Brewers Collective does a great job of showing off local brewers and vintners!

We also picked up some nice small goods and a bottle of wine to settle in with in our room to watch the Matildas v England game!

Next morning, we wandered back into town, and picked up a ride on Sydney Tramway Museum's R class drop centre tram 1808 on loan, which is  painted blue and renumbered 1888.

Former Sydney R Class tram 1808 has had a number change for marketing purposes. Inside, it’s still full of vintage Sydney advertising posters, and is a nice way to see the city.

We decided to do a full lap, or near enough of the 4km circuit to get our bearings before setting off on foot to do some more exploring. The commentary was interesting, however the thing that has stuck with me was the driver saying it's not an amusement ride, it's for people to get on and off, and not just stay on!

The Christchurch tramway system, as a public transport entity finished in the 1950s, as they did in many countries post war for the usual reasons - the rise of personal car ownership, and deferred maintenance making them less viable than previous. The system which stretched out over 86 km, saw its last trams on September 10, 1954, 74 years after the first services left Cathedral Square.

1995 saw the return of trams to the city centre, with Cathedral Square once again forming a key stop on the line, although a new covered area and ticket office had been established at Cathedral Junction, near New Regent Street, where a siding also runs to the tram depot.

In February 2015, a further extension was added, down High St. however when we visited, the trams were stopping several hundred metres from the end of the line due to construction.

While on our lap of the tramway, and walking, the amount of new construction, and vacant spaces waiting to be rebuilt on was staggering, with the remaining old buildings left us wondering what the city had been like before the disasters.

We had lunch at a rooftop bar recommended by the tram driver (I'm not going to)!, and caught the Brill back through the city before revisiting the riverside markets for a breather.

Following the Avon river through to the Botanical gardens was a very pleasant stroll in the sunshine, before we headed back into the Arts Precinct to a nice little bar to sit and watch the world - and trams go by.

The boat sheds on the Avon River, where, you can depart for a journey up through the botanical gardens.

Proper looking punts and boatmen (as I’ve seen on Poirot and other sources of historical reference)!

We timed our run nicely to coincide with the last tram of the day, the Brill again, and caught it back to the stop closest to our hotel.

Next morning we woke to pouring rain, not ideal for our journey on the Tranzalpine!

Trains on the plains

Despite living on the western side of Melbourne, and the high volumes of freight traffic (for Victoria), I haven't spent a lot of time photographing trains out between Newport and Ararat in recent years.

There's no real reason behind it, sure, I've taken the occasional photo of trains crossing the magnificent Moorabool viaduct, mainly preserved steam, and have headed out to the Lara - Little River area a bit, but that's been the limit of my exploration.

In the mid 90s before and after the line from Geringhap to Maroona was gauge converted, a few of us would chase a train west to Cressy after work, getting a few photos, then depending what light was left, or what we felt like, would sometimes head to Colac for a counter meal, and come home.

There's been a few sporadic trips over the last couple of years, photographing the SRHC Ararat trip on the outward journey, before abandoning the return after the train set fire to paddocks, and was halted for a while.

I went for a bit of an explore out to the Murghbuloc curves for a shot of The Overland when it was looking like finishing up, but that's been about it.

Since January though, things have changed a little bit.

After our trip on The Great Southern, and back from Adelaide on The Overland, I've been paying a bit more attention to the line.

Going out for photos of the Great Southern a couple of times at a few different locations has got me interested in the line again.

Some Great Southern Exposure

The nice, long summer evenings gave some opportunities to head west to Inverleigh, and beyond, to photograph the Great Southern. It was due to depart Inverleigh at 6pm, so getting away from work smartly was the sticking point, a good run is a bit over an hour, not something that's easy to get after work,  and I like to have a bit of time to sort out what I'm doing, so it only ended up being a couple of times.

The first was Wednesday 11th, and I had enough time to head out past Inverleigh, the next crossing loop, Barwon Park, and almost to Wingeel loop.

Due to the length of the train, I was trying to find somewhere nice and open to show off the entire train, and the golden paddocks it was running through. This spot ticked the boxes, with the added advantage of being able to see the signals for the loop, which would give me an idea when the train was getting closer.

Parked out in the middle of nowhere, a couple of passing farmers actually stopped to see if I needed a hand, which was very nice of them!

The train was running a bit late, and an up freight crawled into the loop from the west waiting for it to pass.

Eventually, the Great Southern could be seen approaching, slowly as the signals were against it with the freight fouling the main line.

Once it was in clear, our train received a yellow over red signal, and started picking up speed again. I left the GS there, and followed the freight back in towards Melbourne for a bit, before heading for home.

NRs 112, 1 and 34 wait in Wingeel loop for the Great Southern to pass through before continuing their journey to Melbourne

The Second, and last time for the season played out a little differently. I'd picked up a mate (Jules) as he wanted to get some video of the train, and we were out there in plenty of time to have a chat with the crew, and watch a Melbourne bound freight pass through.

NR 30 sits in the siding at Inverleigh on the Great Southern as an SCT freight rushes past

They have an extremely boring day of it, getting on the train at Broadmeadows at 10:45, and running it to Inverleigh with an arrival time of 1:04 pm. As Inverleigh is only a siding rather than a proper crossing loop, they are required to sit on the train until the relief crew arrive from Dimboola to hand over. They then drive back to Melbourne, and sign off.

We saw the busses arrive back from their day excursions, and the passengers board the train. An up freight went through, but still no relief crew.

They eventually showed up, and we set off up track to our chosen location, the long grade out of the siding, a bit over a train length out so the train would be working to build up speed.

More waiting, and watching the Melbourne crew at the points, before the train surprisingly pushed back towards Melbourne! We found out later that they couldn't get the points over and locked properly, so rather than waste more time, they went out whence they came, with meant they were going faster than would have otherwise been when they came past.

NRs 30 and 31 have the Great Southern stretched out across Terrier Rd, and are about to cross Mahers Rd. as the train climbs away from Inverleigh.

Once past us, we quickly headed for Bannockburn, about 15km away on the Geelong to Ballarat line. We had received a message that a grain train would be around, adding to the day's catch.

The grain, hauled by a pair of S classes, and operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad did the right thing and showed up not long after we did.

The Cockatoos feeding on spilt grain have their feast interrupted as S 317 and S 312 pass through with another load.

The pair of 1960s vintage S classes swing into Bannockburn on their way to harbour with a load of export grain from the Mallee.

Leaving Bannockburn, we headed to Newport for dinner at The Junction hotel, which eventually the grain came past, a successful afternoon out.

K car transfer

I had some leave recently, and there was word of a set of former South Australian Railways passenger cars that were stored at Dimboola would be heading into NSW to join The Picnic Train fleet.

The cars are owned by Steamrail Victoria, and had been converted to Standard gauge some years ago, but I don't think they had turned a wheel in revenue service.

Keeping an eye on some of the Facebook groups, and getting updates from friends, a couple of short trial tips were run to make sure the cars were up to the journey to Goulburn, which, with the addition of some tarps and ratchet straps, they were.

Based on information I had, I set out for Cressy, hoping to have a bit of time to look around.

Cressy was once a four way junction with a connection to the north at Newtown on the Ballarat to Skipton railway, and south to the Warrnambool / Port Fairy railway at Beac, near Colac. Where there was once a loco depot, signal box, and extensive sidings, there's very little to indicate there was ever a station there at all. This drawing gives you an idea of the extent of this once busy place.

There's sharp curves at both ends of the old station site, the down, or away from Melbourne end was my first choice, but didn't cut it, so I headed back out toward Geelong to a side road that had potential.

As I headed down the dirt road, I caught sight of the train out of the corner of my eye, so made a hasty decision on where to take my shot - a pile of ballast at the level crossing.

Former South Australian Railways 701 has swung through the Cressy Curves, and is making good time on the journey through to Albury.

Back to the car, and in pursuit of the 80kmh train, I was surprised how long it took to overtake it.

A couple of possible shots I had in mind flashed passed, until I got to a cross paddock shot I wanted that required a lens change.

Not much time, but new glass on, as the train got where I wanted it. The camera wouldn't focus ( the lens was on manual), so that was a loss, and I was was behind the train again, with some roadworks ahead.

Almost back to Inverleigh, I did manage to get a shot across the paddock, but nothing of note.

While the loco and first couple of cars are looking good, it gets a bit shabby from there back. Ratchet straps are being used to hold the remains of the roofing in place for the journey.

I then decided to cut for Little River, and Peak School Road, where the lines climb up to the highest point between Geelong and Melbourne.

There's also a bit of interest here, as the standard gauge swings away from the broad gauge lines , and the silos at Lara can be seen in the background - not that I managed to get them this time.

Peak School Road, apart from having an interesting name isn’t a bad spot to photograph trains climbing up out of Lara.

I had barely got to my chosen spot before the train, but was happy with what I captured, and waited there, as the 'Fruity', the Mildura train wasn't far behind.

Boxes hauling boxes - G 523 and BL 26 drag the ‘Fruit Flier’ from Mildura up the climb out of Lara.

Grain on the plains

A couple of Fridays later, I decided to head west again to see if I could pick up a grain train.

The weather was fairly woeful, blowing a gale, and overcast, with torrential downpours now and then - but I was back to work on Monday, so grabbed a beanie and coat and headed out.

There's a reasonably regular pattern with the grains, come into Geelong in the morning, tip at the export grain loop and either head out again, or into the North Geelong yard to wait for a late afternoon departure.

There was an article recently in Newsrail on Murghebulloc station, and its role on the edge of an army supply base in WWII, and as Murghebulloc has some nice sweeping curves and earthworks (it's probably the most scenic section of the whole railway), I headed there as a starting point.

I'd pulled up at a bridge over the railway line to stretch my legs, and see how wet it was off the road when the train I was hoping to see was approaching. Lucky timing, as a few minutes later, I would have missed it.

At the eastern end of the Murghebulloc curves, XR 557, BL 33 and XR 559 are Warracknabeal bound with empty grain wagons in tow.

I took a couple of shots, then back in the car to get onto the Hamilton Highway to start the chase proper.

It took until well through Inverleigh before I caught the back of the train, and it was pelting horizontally but after my reconnaissance from last time, I at least had half a clue where to go. Past Wingeel, the line and road re converge, and there's a couple of interesting spots with nice vertical curves.

Taking a chance on the soggy road shoulder, I pulled over as far as I dared, and waited for the train.

The rain had stopped thankfully, and after having lost sight of the train over the paddocks, I had a few minutes wait to set up before it appeared. By this stage, I was about 30 km from the first time I'd seen the train, and maybe 20km from Cressy where I planned to turn around, so it was looking like a three shot day, which wasn't too bad considering the dodgy weather.

Fairly miserable conditions out on the Pleurisy Plains as the train rolls through the dip, and out the other side.

I haven't actually mentioned the consist of the train - it was a fairly interesting set of locos, XR 557, BL 33 and XR 559 on 45 empty grain wagons.

The XR's are a class of nine locos, the first six were originally built as X class locomotives dating from 1966 to 1970, while the remaining three (557 to 559) were built from new at South Dynon.

All of the class were fitted with refurbished higher horsepower engines from G class locos, which were getting a refurbishment of their own.

The G Classes, and BL classes were delivered to Vline, and Australian National respectively in the mid 1980s to essentially the same design. Growing up, I wasn't a fan of the G classes, as they were displacing the old VR favourites, while the BL's were something different in green and yellow livery, but still just boxes!

Time marches on, so I was happy to capture the trio!

I made Cressy reasonably comfortably, and after photographing the train was planning on going home, but the weather was improving, the sun was coming out, and it was my last day of leave…

Very little to show that Cressy was once a busy junction station with island platform, signal box, loco depot, and junction for two other railway lines!

So, off towards Berrybank I went.

There were some interesting spots for future expeditions noted, a couple of old road bridges and road alignments out of Cressy, and the now sweeping curves to the level crossing between the two 'towns' are worth a look in the right conditions.

I caught up with the empty grain - it was slowing at Berrybank, looking like a cross was on the cards.

The decaying remains of the station building, and silos with the rusty rails of the siding that once served them were a reminder to shoot anything while you can - who knows how long these relics will last.

It's interesting to note that Berrybank has a large road based grain handling facility right beside the railway with a direct link to the port of Geelong, just saying.

Expecting the arrival of an up train, I set up for a shot between the down departure signals, and didn't have long to wait before NRs 71, 82 and 117 on 3XM4 steel train from Whyalla, South Australia, swung into view.

Rounding the curve into Berrybank amongst the wind turbines. There’s an almost endless supply of it on these flat open plains.

I took a couple of shots of the up train, both trains, and then the departing grain which I left to its journey to Warracknabeal, and set off in pursuit of the steely.

The steel train has departed, and it’s time for the grain to have a run, past the slowly decaying station building.

That turned out to be a non event really, it had a good head start by the time the grain departed, and with some roadworks on the way, it left me well behind.

I'd made some ground on it by Wingeel, and was in front of it coming into Inverleigh, where lower speed limits, and traffic slowed things down.

There was no chance of getting in front of it before the highway crossing outside of town, so I elected to take a shot at the site of last year's culvert washout, before packing up, and heading for home.

The three NRs cross the replacement culvert and track that was installed after the November 2022 washout and derailment.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post, as always, feel free to leave comments, or email me.

Thanks for following A Railway Life!

The Picnic Train heads down the Main South part II

Friday  - Cootamundra Shuttles

Friday was a bit of a slow start, with a few of us booked on the first trip of the day, Junee to Cootamundra and return, leaving at 12:25.

Brunch in the railway refreshment rooms was popular and busy, but well worth it, and, as an added bonus, passing freights could be seen just out the door!

The Wollongong to Melbourne steel train rolls into Junee for a crew change.

Most of the group were heading back to Sydney and Melbourne on the daytime XPTs, which both pass through Junee at 1:24 and 1:51 respectively.

With the steely out of the way, the Picnic Train is next to depart.

While the entire section from Junee to Cootamundra is scenic farming country, the Bethungra Spiral is the highlight of the trip.

Trains heading north climb and loop around a mountain to gain altitude on a steady gradient, far easier than the original single line which descends down a steeper gradient for southbound trains.

Once around the spiral, the up and down lines parallel again for a couple of km, until just near Frampton the up line swings away in search of an easier gradient.

Our trip went smoothly, with the 59 performing well on the run north.

Cootamundra is a major railway junction, with the railway through Cootamundra West leading to Stockinbingal, Parkes and Broken Hill.

This line gives an easier alternative to the Main West line that crosses the Blue Mountains, so sees a lot of traffic, a map of this part of the network can be found here.

Cootamundra West Junction allows for trains coming from Stockinbingal to either turn north toward Sydney, or south into Cootamundra, this triangle junction is also an easy way of turning the entire train for the return trip to Junee - essentially a three point turn.

After having traversed the triangle, the train pulls into Cootamundra platform.

The trip back was also good, with the long climb out of Cootamundra had the loco working hard, it sounded great with the windows wide open to get a bit of air.

It was starting to get fairly hot, so there was thoughts of a swim at the motel before the second train departed, but the idea of a visit to the roundhouse won out in the end.

Our train had arrived back more or less on time at 3:10, with the second, and last trip out at 4:30, so there wasn't a lot of time to do a lot more than have a quick break, rehydrate, and head to the depot for a look before the train departed.

The roundhouse is a magnificent railway structure, with a turntable capable of handling the largest NSWGR locomotives. It’s surrounded by a building covering all but two of the tracks radiating off the turntable, and is currently used as part museum, part restoration centre, and is well worth a visit.

A section of the massive Junee roundhouse as the crew prepares 5917 for its second trip to Cootamundra.

As departure time drew closer, we headed out of town to find a spot, and had left it a bit late, as all the good locations were taken.

We finally settled at a reasonable place as the train was fast approaching, but I'm not going to share the mediocre results!

Bethungra Spiral was the next spot, after some parallel listening to the train galloping along.

The train was certainly making good time, so we didn't muck around too much, and headed to a spot about halfway around the curve where the train would be working hard, just past the two tunnels.

Roaring out of the big cutting on the Bethungra Spiral.

Once it roared past us, we were back in the Land Cruiser, and hoping to get to the level crossing before the train.

Back on the main road however, it was apparent from the smoke rising from the paddock, the train had started a couple of fires.

Further around the spiral, there was more fires taking hold in the scrub between the railway and the road.

There were a few cars stopped, and as we had little water or anything else to offer to put the fire out, as well as only wearing shorts and sandals kept going to get out of the way.

It beat us to the level crossing, so we continued to the main road underpass at Cootamundry Creek, not far out of Cootamundra.

I made my way up the side of the road cutting for a bit of a different angle, and waited, and waited, while there was some discussion about the train being stopped so as to not start more fires.

That certainly made sense to the Victorians on hand, where the slightest issue sees trains stopped until everything is deemed safe for the continuation of the journey.

Seeing as there was nothing happening, I left my vantage point, and headed back to the car for something to drink - which of course was the cue for the train to appear.

We headed into town, watched it turn at Coota West, and seemingly prepare to depart, at which point we headed back out to the Cootamundry Creek for another try.

Heading back into Cootamundra, past the junction to Cootamundra West. A short time earlier, the train gone funnel first off to the left, pushed back past the silver shed, then rejoined the main line, a classic three point turn.

Departure time came and went, and we eventually received word it was going to be a late departure, potentially without the steam loco, so with the sun getting low, we headed back to Junee for dinner.

The road was partially closed in one section, with fire trucks on the railway line wetting down smouldering shrubbery, so we were doubtful if the train would even return that night.

Second night in a row, we went to the Ex Services Memorial Club, nice food, open that bit later which suited our seemingly nocturnal activities, and good company, as the other Victorian enthusiasts also joined us for dinner.

There's a great level of camaraderie within the railfan community, you seem to migrate towards people with similar interests within the broader cohort - even if it's only every 12 - 18 months or more that you bump into each other.

Tonight was one of those nights, and the conversation, and company was certainly enjoyable.

Alan Williams was one of this group, His YouTube channel Round the world in a steamy haze is well worth a look. I’d followed Alan to a few locations the day before, and we’d had a chance to catch up trackside for a chat while waiting for trains, always good company!

Eventually after dinner we received an update the train was on its way, so a couple of us wandered back up to the station - I had time to pick up my tripod to get some longer exposure shots. The train arrived with an unexpected addition on the front, diesel 42103 'Chumster' had been roped in to pilot the train back, assumedly to minimise any risk of starting fires.

A late arrival into Junee under the moonlight with 42103 leading the way.

We took a few photos and chatted to other enthusiasts as the train was remarshalled in between the various freights that were passing through and changing crews.

Another long day for the crew, and they had an early start Saturday morning to run shuttles out of Wagga Wagga.

With the clock showing 20 past 10, the last of the passengers leave the train.

Given the circumstances, we weren't actually sure if it would still be steam hauled, but set alarms accordingly to chase the train from Junee to Wagga, a distance of around 33km.

The plan was chase the transfer trip, head out to Kapooka to the top of a steep climb and photograph the first shuttle on its way to Uranquinty,  ride the second, photograph the third, then head home to Melbourne.

Saturday - Uranquinty here we come

Happily, I awoke to the sounds of the steam loco shuffling around the yard, so a quick shower, pack the car, and we were ready to go.

Joining me for the day was another good friend who had arrived on the XPT Friday afternoon, who was going to be travelling on another vintage train in a few days time, the Southern Explorer. You can check out Jules's videos here.

A bit of a tailgate conference about possible photo locations with our dinner companions the night before, and off we went (after quickly checking out).

I was set on getting a photo from the same location as the cover photo from the website, the curve just over the top of the sharp climb out of Junee.

From there, a shot of the massive Murrumbidgee flood plain bridge was on the list, but in-between, if anything could be taken, it was fair game!

Things went smoothly, with the first location in the bag, it was back off to catch the train.

On the single track now, the train swings past the distant signal for trains approaching Junee from the south.

We caught it again before Harefield, and were able to get some more parallel running footage, before getting in front to take another shot, just south of Shepherds with the silos in the background.

Twisting through the curves south of Shepherds.

It's not that far into the built up area of Bomen and North Wagga, so we cut straight to the flood plain bridge, and as there was quite an assembled crowd, elected to get a side on shot, rather than anything 3/4.

The 3000m long Murrumbidgee river bridge stretches out across the wide floodplain on the north side of the river, it’s almost incomprehensible that the water can spread out so far, and so deep!

Another quick discussion with Alan, and we set out for Kapooka, south of Wagga where the line climbs almost all the way from Wagga station, and flattens out slightly, but is still a considerable haul.

Last time I was here for 3801, we set up for breakfast, cooking bacon and eggs with the sound of machine gun fire from the nearby army base providing an interesting backdrop!

No time, or supplies for such luxuries this time however, as we had a train to catch.

Eventually the 59 could be working hard up the grade with a nice steady beat, which grew louder as it swung into view under the overpass.

5917 is working hard on the climb through Kapooka, with the first Wagga - Uranquinty passenger shuttle for the day

Once it had passed, we relocated a short distance back towards the road bridge, as there was an empty grain train due heading north.

Operated by Southern Shorthaul Railroad, the train had been operating for months from a variety of southern NSW locations, down to Appleton Dock in Melbourne for export.

The locos in regular use on it were a collection of SSR's, and privately owned depending on what was available at the time, but always interesting!

CLF 1, 4904, CLP 12 and CLF 4 drop through Kapooka with train No. 7MC5.

It didn't disappoint this time, with three CL's and a 49 class providing the horsepower. The CLs were the last of this classic General Motors EMD shape produced in the world, being constructed between 1970 and 1972.

Little did we know at the time, but this train, with a slightly different consist of locomotives would hit a truck full of ballast at a level crossing a few days later after the truck driver failed to stop, resulting in the crew being taken to hospital, and all locos  ending up on their sides in the dirt.

Back into Wagga, we secured a park not far from the station, and joined the crowd on the platform waiting for the train to arrive, which it did soon after.

We were booked in car seven of the eight car train, which was set up with a servery at one end, and armchairs and couches through the open saloon.

Onboard, it was fairly obvious there were some power issues, as there was no lighting or aircon, with the volunteer crews working frantically to run temporary power to portable air-conditioning units.

When it was fired up, the moving air certainly made things pleasant enough, but it might have been a bit warmer in the afternoon.

We had a good run up to Kapooka and on to Uranquinty, with the 59 in charge, while the two diesels did the work on the return leg, a nice way to spend an hour on a Saturday morning.

Back at Wagga, we headed out of town a little to a new housing development on the side of a hill overlooking the railway we'd seen from the train. It took a little while to get to where we wanted, which meant we didn't wait long for the train.

Last shot for the trip,

Unfortunately, the sun was a bit further over than I anticipated, so it wasn't as good as expected, but still nice to see the train one last time before heading back south.

I dropped Jules back at Wagga station so he could catch the northbound XPT, then settled in for the drive back to Melbourne.

A big shout out to the Picnic Train volunteers and crews who had a fairly difficult time of it, but kept fronting up with smiles on their faces, and made a lot of people happy over the trip.

Thanks again for following on A Railway Life.

The Picnic train heads down the Main South

Back in March, The Picnic train, with 5917 in charge, and assisted by 4903 on the rear headed south through Goulburn to Junee for a weekend of shuttle trips.

The beginnings of The Picnic Train as an organisation commenced in 1973 when 10 teenagers pooled together $3000 to buy 5917 from the New South Wales Government Railways, and save it from scrapping, the history tab on their website tells the full story.

Since 2018, using the name The Picnic Train, day trips to Kiama, Dungog and other destinations are run frequently. Passengers are encouraged to bring a picnic, the compartments being fitted with tables to make sharing a meal with friends a part of the travel experience.

As there was tickets available from Goulburn to Junee on what would have otherwise been an empty cars move, a contingent of mostly Victorian railfans headed north on the Wednesday XPT, to travel on the train the following day.

I wasn't one of that group, as I couldn't swing the Wednesday off work, and, I wanted to photograph the train, as well as travel, so decided to drive up.

My plan was to intercept the train at Yass Junction, and chase it to Junee where it was scheduled to arrive mid afternoon, then relax with the troops for the evening.

I'm not very familiar with the Main South line from Yass Junction through to Cootamundra, so as part of my preparation, I downloaded the gradients and curves diagrams for the section of the railway. I also reached out to a few friends for some advice on locations to shoot, and spent time following the line and roads on Google Earth to get a feel of some spots.

Videos on Youtube were super helpful, particularly Greg Travers and his Busses, Trams and Trains Youtube channel although I did get distracted and did some 'research' on some of Greg's other videos nowhere near where I was headed!

Armed with a list of places, some sketchy map details in my head, and a bit of hope in my heart (hope is always the best strategy) departed Melbourne bright and early Thursday morning.

A great run up the Hume gave me plenty of time to scope out my first shot, as well as explore for second and third options, (train speed and traffic pending) then head into town to grab some lunch before going back to my chosen location.

I knew from messages from the travellers on board they had departed on time, but hadn't heard a lot after that. I let one of the guys know where I was, so they could give me some running updates. News came back it had started out well, but, there seemed like there was some issues, as they were loosing time.

Not good for the crew who once they arrived at Junee had a big few days of shuttle trips ahead of them, but then also had to bring the train back to Goulburn on Monday.

That's the thing about operating steam, it's not a matter of just getting off the train at the end of the journey.  There's the fire to attend to, ash pan to clean, and any minor repairs to attend to, before getting up early in the morning to prepare again.

For entirely selfish reasons though, slower running was going to help me out, and hopefully allow me to get more than the couple of shots I expected.

After talking to another enthusiast for a bit, the train made an appearance, half an hour late, looking good, but not setting a cracking pace.

I took the shot I was after, crossing the Bango Ck. Bridge, then was off in pursuit.

Crossing the lovely three arched bridge over Bango Creek, just south of Yass Junction station.

Even in my slow off the mark Landcruiser, it didn't take long to catch and pass the train, which was lucky, as I overshot my next location near Goondah, and had to find a safe place to turn back.

I've still got no idea what I did here, I slipped and fell getting near the edge of the cutting, and can only think I bumped something, as there was no photos on the camera to show for my efforts!

An overpass near Binalong was next, followed by Galong railway station, and then Linden Rd. not far out of Cunningar.

Swinging through Galong, it’s great to see so much infrastructure still in place in NSW, years after it would have had a regular train service.

This spot was already crowded when I arrived, with good reason. It's at the top of a long climb, with a lovely mountain range backdrop, and there was perfect lighting for the train. There was no way I was going to squeeze in on the bridge, but a quick look around the edge of the parapet revealed a cast iron water pipe bolted to the bridge. It was about 300mm in diameter, offset from the bridge by a similar amount, and a couple of metres below the top of the wall.

It was easy to shimmy out on the pipe and lean comfortably back against the wall, and check I wasn't going to get in anyone else's shot  or video - I was the latecomer after all.

The train looked, and sounded great as it approached, and a few pleasantries were exchanged with the mates in the front compartment when they saw me in my unusual vantage point.

Linden Rd. Cunningar. A picture perfect spot from every perspective!

Harden was next, with a stop scheduled for the train to take water, and oil around the engine.

The train was scheduled to arrive here at 3:25, and depart at 3:55, but was nearer 4:30 when it pulled in.

The thirsty passengers also needed to top up their supplies, and as it was warm day, I caught up with a couple of them for a refreshing beer in the pub beside the station, before they headed back to the train with more takeaways.

Not really having an idea when the train would actually be leaving, I headed six km out of town to Demondrille, once a massive steam servicing site, and junction for the railway to Blaney and Cowra.

Two southbound freights were given a run before the 59, with my camera telling me it was 6:30 when I photographed it.

Now hours late, the 59 swings into the curve approaching Demondrille as it climbs out of Harden.

It was March, so long days meant there was still plenty of light around!

I picked a small red dirt road randomly for my next shot as it looked pretty, before cutting to Wallendbeen for a shot near the station, and then on the road out of town.

A farm shed, rolling golden hills, gum trees and a train in lengthening shadows, what’s not to love in NSW.

South of Wallendbeen the original single track railway takes a much shorter, steeper route than the current double track line which twists and winds on a much easier gradient, it's a part of the Main South that absolutely fascinates me!

Through Wallendbeen station - the little town is very pretty with old buildings, and a double story pub set into the hillside.

Morrison's Hill sees the dirt road built on the old formation, while the line winds around to the west before rejoining the road pretty much all the way into Cootamundra.

Despite appearances, this is the ‘modern’ dual track route through Morrison’s hill and Jindalee with easier grades than the original single track line.

The light was starting to soften and add some golden hues as the shadows grew longer.

Pacing the train near Jindalee. The crew seem relaxed - they were probably starting to feel the long hot day on the footplate!

I paced the train for a while, enjoying the sight in the golden light, before leaving the train so I didn't get caught up in town.

Under Dirnaseer Rd, and still climbing hard out of the Cootamundra valley.

South of Coota, Dirnaseer Rd. over bridge provides a good vantage point for the trains as they climb out of the valley, and then for several kilometres as they wind towards Frampton.

Tonight didn't disappoint, although I got a shock driving into the setting sun towards the bridge when last minute I saw a duck, and ducklings walking along the road in my direction of travel - I swerved, and checking on the way back, I hadn't caused any casualties thankfully.

Back out on the main road, the line is off in the distance, with one level crossing before it plunges downgrade to Bethungra.

The sunset was really starting to put on a show by now, with the first of other planets and stars starting to make themselves visible overhead.

Near the crossing, on the other side of the line there was a paddock being ploughed, kicking up dust and adding to the glow, not a shot I had intended to take, but when the opportunity presented, I certainly had a good go at trying to get something out of it.

Catching the last rays of the sun, with a dusty paddock adding to the atmosphere the 59 is about to commence the descent into Bethungra.

Once down the hill into Bethungra, the train blocked me at the crossing as it continued into the twilight. I grabbed what I thought was my last shot, and watched the glow from the firebox reflect off the exhaust as the train continued on its way.

Through Bethungra, and into an amazing sunset.

Once across the line, and back beside the train again, it was window down, and settle into the gentle rhythm of the loco and glow of the firebox lighting up the crew.

There wasn't another car in sight, the last glow of the sun was in the sky, and the stars were starting to really tun it on - it was a magical experience.

I pulled over, grabbed the camera, and dialled up the settings to try and get a panning shot or two - what was there to loose!

The theory of a panning shot is keeping the subject and camera at the same relative speed and focus point, reasonably simple if you discard low light, road bumps, and trees between you and your subject. The low speed of both the train and the car certainly helped, although there were far more misses than hits. I've captured a couple of treasured memories, they probably won't resonate with others like they do with me, but they're a reminder of that time I chased 5917 into the twilight.

Panning into the twilight, it’s a grainy memory I’ll treasure.

Despite really enjoying the experience, I eventually decided I better go check in to my motel room before they closed up for the night. Dinner was at least safely locked in thanks to some earlier phone calls by the on train travellers to the Junee Ex Services club.

Check in was super quick and easy, so I was back at the station well before the train which made it in at ten past nine, well past the 5:32 it was scheduled for.

Made it! Almost four hours late, and after a long hot day on the footplate, I felt for the crew and volunteers who still had to shunt the train out, and attend to the engine and cars before they could get a feed and retire.

A super long day for the crew and volunteers who still had to put the train to bed!

For me, I'd driven six and a half hours to get to Yass Junction, chased the train for 165km, getting photos 14 times ( I expected maybe three or four), roughly every 11 km over seven hours, I didn't need much rocking to sleep!

I’ll continue this little adventure in my next post, there’s still Junee and Wagga shuttles to cover!

Please comment below, or email directly if you want to share any memories of this, or other trips.

Autumn atmosphere

I love Autumn. I’m not sure if it’s because I was born in May, or, maybe because of the soft light. The weather is also a bit cooler and calmer, nice for evenings outside by the fire- it's also the return of mainline steam for the year!

It also means we start getting some foggy mornings, beautiful autumn leaves, and allows farmers to burn off the stubble left after their harvest, ready to till and plant for the next crop.

May 13 was the date for the first of Steamrail's Eureka Express trips to Ballarat for the year, and while I've previously photographed it out in the countryside around Bacchus Marsh, I thought I'd check out some different spots.

It was a nice foggy morning, so for the outbound journey, I headed to Footscray with a couple of ideas in mind.

Some recent building demolitions have opened up a few possibilities, and with the fog softening the sun, shooting into the light wasn't going to be an issue.

I found a block that had been cleared into a makeshift carpark which gave me a partial view to the Maribyrnong river bridges, Heavenly Queen Temple and flyover for the Regional Rail Link lines to cross the Werribees.

A little more height would have been nice, and there was a conveniently placed jersey barrier- those orange plastic ones you see alongside roadworks over against the fence.

Climbing up on it, it gave me just the bit more height I was after to clear some overhead wires.

There was a few practice shots of Vlocities heading out of town before the special was due, and eventually R711 could be heard working through South Kensington, with a beautiful plume of condensing exhaust trailing behind.

A shot with the old arched girder framing the loco, and another as it crested the flyover, and that was the mornings outing over.

Crossing the Maribyrnong river in full flight

Passing over the Werribee lines on the climb to Footscray

The fog burnt off to a beautiful day, so after doing some 'adulting' - groceries, shopping, all the fun stuff, I headed out to Batesford to try a different angle on the Moorabool Viaduct.

I'd recently taken a photo from this location of a pair of B classes on a grain which was published in Railway Digest, so thought I'd try it again with steam, hoping for a decent silhouette of the R.

Heading out past Werribee, there was a fairly large plume of smoke rising in the distance, which eventually revealed itself to be a controlled burn in a paddock between the freeway and railway near Lara.

Low flames flickering in the smoke was drawing plenty of attention from people on the road paralleling the freeway, so I locked that in as a possible shot on the way back.

Out at Batesford, there was a bit of drifting smoke from the fire in the background, the sun was getting low, not far enough around for light on the bridge, but quite nice anyway.

A golden afternoon sees R711 and the Eureka Express crossing the Moorabool viaduct at Batesford

The train was around 10 minutes late, which helped with the lowering sun, so I managed a shot I'm reasonably happy with, before heading back to Lara to see what I could scope out.

The fire was almost entirely burnt out, just a few small smouldering patches left, with smoke hanging low to the ground. Like the fire, the sun was also about done for the day, so it was going to be a juggle to see if I could get some flame, the sun and the train lined up clear of the shallow cutting it runs through near the Elders Loop.

A bit of walking along the fence line got me to a reasonable spot, all that was needed was the train - and quickly!

About five minutes later than what I'd hoped for, it made its appearance underneath the Ring road bridge, looking, and sounding great with the backlit glow of the sunset, and drifting smoke in the foreground.

I took several shots, panning with the train, hoping to get at least one decent image out them, then headed for home to see what I'd caught for the day.

Smouldering stubble, and a smoky sunset frame the Eureka Express near Lara.

I'm pretty happy with the results from both ends of the day, so I'll add them to the list of reasons to love Autumn!

Thanks again for following on A Railway Life

The Great Southern, part 2

Day three, state three.

Albury railway station clock tower from the corridor window of the Great Southern outside our compartment. The NSWGR built some beautiful stations, many of which are still standing.

  After a bumpy night, the border town of Albury was reached by 6:30am, The train sat for a while, before crossing the Murray River into Victoria. Once over the border we both made use of the shower in our compartment, before heading down to breakfast as we continued south through Wangaratta and Glenrowan. It was a pleasant morning watching the world pass by the window, and the occasional train heading in the opposite direction including a late running Sydney bound XPT. Our first set down stop of the day was at Broadmeadows on Melbourne’s northern outskirts. From here passengers disembarked for several Melbourne sightseeing options, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a walk around the CBD laneways, and the Eureka tower, with others, us included, choosing to remain on to Inverleigh, west of Geelong.

In contrast to the Northeast, the scenery from Broadmeadows to Werribee through Sunshine and Brooklyn is certainly not what anyone would describe as pretty, and many of our travelling companions certainly didn't!

With its fair share of dumped and burnt out cars, and all other manner of rubbish scattered amongst the thistles, it's not a visual highlight, or something to entice visitors to Melbourne. To be fair, we did traverse some of the more industrial parts of the west, and it’s rare for a railway to travel through a leafy green corridor into any city.

Once out of the wastelands, the scenery gave way to the plains between Werribee and Geelong, with the You Yangs dominating the view to the north. Swinging through North Geelong, the train climbed up through Lovelybanks, crossed the 1862 built Moorabool river viaduct, before leaving the Geelong - Ballarat railway at Geringhap, to head west to Inverleigh.

The Great Southern locked away at Inverleigh as we depart on a coach to Clyde Park winery. The remains of the station platform, and station, a standard Victorian Railways portable building on the right.

The Inverleigh siding is primarily used as a works siding, with a considerable pile of ballast, and not much else. The trains are well set up for low level platforms (or in this case nothing at all), with additional steps provided by the crew.

Clyde Park Winery, on the edge of the Moorabool valley.

Tasting some Clyde Park wine amongst the vines with owner Terry explaining the different wines and grape varieties they grow.

From here, coaches transferred us to Clyde Park winery at Bannockburn, which is perched on the edge of the spectacular Moorabool river valley. A wine tasting, including a visit to the vineyard before lunch was a nice way to relax before rejoining the train with the Melbourne day trippers, and heading off towards Ararat, and South Australia. We liked the winery and lunch so much we’ve been back twice since!

Sunset out near Maroona was stunning, with old and new wind power out the window from the train.

Our last dinner on board was lit up by a stunning sunset followed by some live music and a couple of drinks before heading off to bed for an even bumpier night's sleep - Janelle even woke up laughing at one stage as we were treated to a jumping castle ride on the rough track to the SA border where things improved.

Back across the Murray River, and into Adelaide.

I woke up early with the sun just before the crossing of the Murray River at Murray Bridge, which had burst levee banks as the October floodwaters headed to the ocean. No time for a photo unfortunately, but I made up for that later, which I’ll share in another post.

Dozing for a bit, we headed down for breakfast as we travelled through the eastern side of the Adelaide hills, before descending the winding track down into the suburbs and Adelaide Parklands Terminal, formerly known as Keswick for an 08:45 arrival.

Adelaide Parklands terminal, the end of our rail journey.

Platinum passengers had transfers to their accommodation as part of the package, so it wasn't too long until we had ourselves checked in for a few days stay in Adelaide.

Some of our other travelling companions had booked add on tours with Journey Beyond to the Barossa wine region and other destinations, but we had decided to do our own thing until we caught The Overland back to Melbourne the following Sunday morning.

Would we do it again?

The food was great, level of accommodation really good, and the off train experiences super enjoyable.

There were quite a few people we had spoken to who had 'done' other Journey Beyond trains, and others who have travelled on long distance trains overseas.

This was our first trip on a travel experience train. Other long distance overnight trips we have been on are, or were at the time, genuine passenger services, transporting people between destinations.

We had a great time, but aren't sure we're ready for the cruise lifestyle just yet.

This isn't a criticism of the whole experience, just where we're at currently.

However, the Ghan from Darwin to Adelaide looks like a good trip…

The Great Southern

Travelling from Brisbane to Adelaide by train.

Early last year after watching some Youtube rail travel videos, Janelle and I decided to book ourselves on the Great Southern.

What's the Great Southern some of you might be asking?

A relatively new rail route, it's only been around since 2019, (and interrupted by COVID) utilising the cars from The Ghan in the wet season - December to February  when that service doesn't operate.

There's two options with the train, either travelling from its home station of Adelaide Parklands Terminal, (formerly Keswick) to Acacia Ridge, south of Brisbane, or the return trip from Brisbane to Adelaide Parklands. Both trips offer a different set of off train excursions, with multiple options to chose from, so plenty of variety. One couple that were on our train from Brisbane were catching the return journey back so they could experience both!

It’s operated by Journey Beyond, the company that also operate The Ghan, the Indian Pacific, and The Overland.

Aside from The Overland, which only survives due to subsidies from the Victorian Government, the focus of these trains has shifted from public transport, to holiday experiences, the other three trains consisting exclusively of either gold or platinum class sleeping cars..

Like all Journey Beyond services, the locomotives that haul their trains are provided by Pacific National, normally NR class, and, for the Ghan, Great Southern and Indian Pacific routes, the locos carry a special livery reflecting the train.

NRs 30 and 31 are painted in the orange livery of the Great Southern which is quite eye catching, and features a kangaroo as its symbol.

We chose to travel the 2885 km from Brisbane to Adelaide, which is a three and a bit day, three night trip, slightly longer duration than the Adelaide - Brisbane journey which is an earlier departure out of Adelaide, and features two nights on the train.

Our trip departed Brisbane on  Monday January 2nd, so we flew up on New Years Day, leaving from an almost deserted Tullamarine airport, and as we only had carry on luggage, it was a very quick passage through to the lounge.

For the aircraft enthusiasts out there, we travelled on Boeing 737 VH-VZX ,Qantas's 180th Boeing aircraft, and their 60th 737, named Daylesford.

We caught the train from the airport into the city, and across the river to where we were staying close to South Bank station.

The airport train runs on a viaduct for the last few km with an elevated terminus outside the airport buildings, which is very similar to what's planned for Melbourne. It was interesting to note there’s still guards on the suburban trains, unlike in Melbourne.

It's been a long time since I've been to Brisbane's South Bank, which was developed on the site of former industrial land. It had been cleared and redeveloped for Expo 88, an international exposition timed to occur to celebrate Australia's 200 years of British settlement.

There's some nice parkland, a swimming lagoon, and strip of restaurants, but it still feels a bit soulless, so after a bit of a wander, we decided to take advantage of the roof top restaurant where we were staying for dinner.

Great nighttime views over the city of Brisbane from The Terrace rooftop bar at the Emporium Hotel.

Unfortunately after a great meal, the fire alarm went off at 2:00, so after traipsing down the stairs with the rest of the guests, the all clear was eventually given, and we made our way back up to try and get back to sleep!

Day One on the Great Southern

Welcome drinks in our compartment on arrival. The lanyards were rarely required thankfully.

We had a car pick us, and two other couples up from our hotels bright and early the following morning, which dropped us off at Hanworth House, an 1860s property in East Brisbane for reception, baggage drop, and breakfast (including sparkling wine), which was a relaxing way to meet a few fellow travellers.

We were then loaded onto coaches for the transfer out to Acacia Ridge freight terminal, as the train is far too long to fit at the main Brisbane station, Roma St. which only has one standard gauge platform.

Acacia Ridge is about 16km south of the city, and as it's a live freight terminal, the coaches parked close to the passenger cars, and we were ushered onboard, with little opportunity to get a photo.

Once on board, we were shown to our Prestige Double compartment, and offered a glass of champagne as we settled in, a pleasant way to start the journey. We also renegotiated our lunch and dinner sitting times, as experience has taught us the late sitting is more relaxed, as there's no-one waiting for the tables.

The standard gauge line south of Brisbane opened in 1930 to Kyogle, almost connecting Brisbane and Sydney by rail - that would have to wait until 7 May 1932 when the double decked Grafton rail and road Bascule bridge was opened, completing the first standard gauge connection between state capitals in Australia. The line is single track, with many passing loops for trains to pass in the opposite direction, some in remote locations, and many, until 2007 staffed with railway workers.

Once underway, we headed out through the suburbs and farmland for some time, before eventually winding up the valleys of the Richmond Range, and a short time after passing the well maintained disused signal box at Glenapp crossed beneath the NSW / QLD border through the  1160 metre long Border Tunnel and descending the Cougal Spiral.

Passing through Glenapp loop climbing toward the QLD / NSW border.

The spiral is one of two in NSW, with the line climbing (when heading north) 30 metres by going round a hill, and crossing over itself with the lower portion of track passing through a short tunnel.

The other, the Bethungra Spiral is between Junee and Cootamundra on the Main South Line, which is a topic for another time.

Given how dense the shrubbery is, unless you knew you were descending the loop, it would be hard to pick as a feature.

The line continued twisting and turning, dropping down to Kyogle as we sat down to lunch - it's always very pleasant to sit down to a nice meal and a glass of wine while the world drifts past your window.

Unfortunately neither Janelle or I took notes, or photos of what we ate, aside from the delicious desert!

The tables in the club car are laid out in a four - two configuration, so depending on dining preferences, you have options to join others at a table, or dine as a couple.

A two seater option in the Prestige class dining / lounge car

During the course of the journey, we sat on both arrangements, Prestige Class isn't exactly packed in, so there was plenty of room to spread out and relax.

Finishing lunch and arriving into Casino, my attention was caught by some interesting steam era railway remnants. Formerly the junction of the Murwillumbah railway, the engine shed was still in place, as was the huge old timber tower which held coal to supply the steam locos, nothing like that has survived in Victoria.

Grafton was the next major centre, and crossing point of the Clarence River.

This part of NSW is known as the Northern Rivers, and there are some very impressive watercourses, The Clarence, Richmond and Tweed being the three major ones.

As mentioned earlier, the Clarence was a gap in the railway north, and, in something unique in Australia, trains, or at least portions of them were transferred across the river by two boats, Swallow and Induna, fitted with two sets of tracks each.

Passengers were transferred on a separate ferry, the SS Clarence.

There's an interesting photo of the three ferries here:

And, Induna had some previous history in Africa before it ended up on the Clarence serving the NSWGR.

Continuing south, we arrived at our evening dinner destination, Coffs Harbour.

Dining under the stars at Coffs Harbour.

We detrained at the former timber milling and shipping town, and were transferred north to Charlesworth Bay. Here we enjoyed seaside canapés and a welcome to country on the beach. Moving back a few hundred metres a dinner banquet of local oysters, steak and other delicious bits and pieces, accompanied by live music before rejoining the train for a night time run down the coast.

The Great Southern docking back up at the platform for the evening departure south.

Day two, The Hunter, and the Short North.

Next morning after breakfast the train pulled into Maitland where there was options to visit the Hunter Valley, Newcastle for a walking tour, or Port Stephens with on land or cruising options.

Having never visited The Hunter wine region, the opportunity to have someone else do the driving was hard to pass up, so that was our choice - and as there was two coaches we weren't alone.

There were two winery visits for tastings, and the busses each went different ones, then swapped so things weren't over crowded.

A couple of stops were required to detrain passengers at most stops, and Maitland was no exception.

Brokenwood was our first port of call after a drive through Maitland and the surrounding countryside, with several coal trains noted along the way. The winery and modern tasting rooms have great views of the ranges to the north. We left with a couple of bottles in our possession, and headed to our second tasting of the day, at 125 year old Tulloch wines,

This was a different style of tasting, and saw wines paired with chocolates from Donarch fine chocolates.

It was the first time we'd seen such a pairing, and certainly interesting to see how the flavours worked together.

Third stop for the day was another winery, only for lunch this time, no tastings. The meal was served in wedding style - alternate plates, and the staff weren't at all appreciative of people doing a swap! Given that one of the courses was fish, it was a fairly bold choice.

The food and wine were both very good, with beers and non alcoholic refreshments available.

Back on the busses (sorry, coaches), we travelled through Neath and other well known haunts of rail enthusiasts when steam locomotives was still hauling up until the 1980s.

Arriving at Broadmeadow on the outskirts of Newcastle, the train arrived from the freight sidings where it had been stabled and attended to during the time we were away.

The Great Southern with NRs 30 and 31 on the front pull into Broadmeadow, on the outskirts of Newcastle.

Once underway again, it was very interesting to see the large numbers of new Mariyung, or D set Citirail trains stored in sidings, part of an ongoing industrial dispute between the NSW government, and the Rail Tram and Bus union over the safety of the trains. There's 162 sets of the trains that have been purchased, so they are tucked away all over the network!

The line between Sydney and Newcastle was known as 'The Short North', and holds somewhat of a fabled place in the hearts of Australian rail enthusiasts - the last steam hauled express in the country 'The Newcastle Flier' plied the 162km route until 1970, and names like Fassifern, Cowan Bank, Woy Woy and Hawkesbury river are well known. Numerous coal mine branches join the railway in some inhospitable locations, with long, steep gradients and tunnels frequent.

The other side of the railway is the section along Brisbane Water, and Mullet creek, separated by the steep climb through Woy Woy. On both stretches, the railway hugs the shoreline offering fantastic views across the waterways, with plenty of oyster beds and pleasure craft to be seen.

Mullet creek is a tributary of the amazing Hawkesbury river, the crossing of which, and the climb up Cowan Bank through the Kuringai Chase National Park were a highlight.

It certainly rivals sections of the famed New York Central 'Waterlevel Route' along the Hudson River.

We passed through the outer Sydney suburbs, and had dinner as the train skirted Rookwood cemetery, which once had its own railway branch and station. There was a fairly spectacular thunderstorm while we were passing through the industrial areas before eventually joining the Main South towards Albury.

I’ll leave it there for the moment, part two won’t be too far away.

Thanks for following along on my railway life.

So nice in Nice!

( As The Stranglers once sang).

Hi Everyone,

We're back from a relaxing couple of weeks in and around Nice, which included some rail travel.

Nice is well served with direct connections to Paris on the TGV network, Italy via Ventimiglia, as well as some local lines.

The city also has three tram lines, Line One which loops through the city in a U shape, Line Two crosses under the city to the airport, and Line Three, from the airport line through the suburbs on the western side of town. The trams have an interesting feature which is reasonably common in Europe, they operate under wire for part of the journey, but in the city centre rely on battery propulsion which means no overhead cluttering the streetscape.

A separate railway commences a few blocks past the main railway station, and traverses some interesting country into the mountains northeast on Nice to Digne les Bains, the Metre gauge Chemin de fer du Provence, or CP, and also known as the Train des Pignes.

An overview of the tram and rail lines around Nice, and surrounds

Let's start with the trams.

The  current Tram network is approximately 53 km long, and operates a fleet of Citadus trams, similar to those we have in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

Line 1 is above ground, and is the U shaped line mentioned above, coming from the terminus and depot at Henri Sappia, passing south near to both the CP and main SNCF railway stations. Shortly before entering Place Masséna, the pantographs are lowered, and the tram continues through the square, and swings left near the fountain of the sun (Fontaine du Soleil), and onto grassy right of way flanked by Boulevard Jean Jaurès, and the old town of Nice (Vieux Nice).

Two Line One trams meet on Boulevard Jean Jaurès. The Henri Sappia bound tram has lowered its pantograph, while the Hospital bound tram has raised its. Since this photo was taken on our last visit in 2019, the overhead has been removed from this section as well.

There are short sections of overhead at the tram stops in this section, but it doesn't resume continuously until the line reaches the north side of yet another pretty colonnaded square, Place Garibaldi.

The line continues in a roughly northerly course on a mix of street, grassed and concrete right of way, before arriving at the terminus of Hôpital Pasteur, adjacent to the hospital. Line one first opened in 2008.

A Line Two tram sits in the sun at Port Lympia, and will shortly depart to the left, towards Grand Arénas.

The 11 km long Line 2 starts at Port Lympia, Quay Napoleon, and on departing the terminus heads east into a 3km long tunnel, passing under the city. Its first stop provides an easy interchange with Line 1, just a short walk across Place Garibaldi. All the underground stops have escalators and lifts and are very easy to navigate, with ticket dispensing machines, but no barriers to validate before travel, like elsewhere on Line One, that's done on the trams themselves.

Two stations further on, there's another easy interchange with Line one, and two stations further on, emerges into the daylight a block back from the beach to continue its journey east to the junction point of Grand Arénas. Here the line splits in two, left to the Airport, right to CADAM, the administrative centre for the Alpes - Maritimes Region.

Port Lympia, with a recently arrived tram on the left, as the one on the right pulls back into the platform.

Every second tram from Port Lympia goes to either destination.

Line Three also joins the party here.

Along with Line two, it connects to terminals one and two at Nice International Airport, however line three follows the Var river past CADAM, and services residential areas, the large sporting stadium, and terminating at Saint Isidore.

Both lines Two and Three were opened in 2019.

It's a great, frequent service to use, we purchased tickets valid for 10 trips at one of the underground stations, which are also valid for use on the extensive bus network.

Jean Médecin Line Two underground tram station, which is one of two interchange points with Line One.

Chemin de fer du Provence

This metre gauge line stretches from the CP station, some 150km into the mountains to Digne les Bains. The line dates back to the 1880s, 20 or so years after Nice and surrounds became part of France. It was once part of a far wider network that served the communities inland from the coast, where the main Paris - Lyon - Mediterranean railway built their standard gauge railway linking via Marseillaise into Italy.

It's the last surviving section of a railway system that once spanned nearly 900km!

For an in-depth history of the system, I'd suggest visiting Roger Farnworth's blog, it covers this, and many other fascinating railway and tramway systems, with great vintage postcards, and contemporary maps and photos.

Today, the line is passenger only, and operates a series of rail motors, the most modern being four sets constructed in 2010, one set being scrapped as the result of an accident. Other rail motors in service date from 1972, and resemble a double ended bus on four wheels, which seem to run most of the commuter services.

Another feature of the line, which has assisted with its survival beyond the commuter fringe is a heritage steam service between Puget- Théniers and Annot. We travelled on this train in 2019, which was hauled by a Portuguese Mallet articulated loco, a big tick from me!

Entreveaux on the Train des Pignes. The interesting wheel arrangement of the Mallet articulated loco, and the citadel perched high above.

The former Gare Sud, now preserved as a market.

When constructed, the line originally had its station on Avenue Malausséna - a continuation of Avenue Jean Médecin which carries tram Line 1 down to Place Masséna.

In the 1990s, a funding arrangement battle with the Nice Council saw the station closed, and a new station built a few blocks back, while the beautiful Gare Sud (south) was left to ruin, and slated for demolition. Fortunately, it survived, and has been turned into a market, keeping its stunning heritage listed facade. The frame of the train shed that once covered the tracks has an even more interesting history, it was constructed for the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition to house the  displays of the Russian and Austro - Hungarian empires.

The 1990s built station is fairly utilitarian compared to its predecessor!

The 'new' station reminds me that even the French are capable of ordinary architecture, it reminds me of Hargreaves St. Mall in Bendigo when it was first built!

The line travels at close quarters through the suburbs, before entering the first of several tunnels. It reappears in the next valley, still climbing, and works around the head of a valley before entering another tunnel.

Another valley, and eventually a descent near the Stade de Nice, and down beside the river Var at Saint Isidore.

We passed the main railway workshops and maintenance facility at Lingostiére, and from there on the line then more or less followed the course of the river. First on flats, then, as the valley steepened, on embankments tunnels and retaining walls to keep the line out of harms way.The further in from the coast we went, hilltop villages became more common, built high up away from water borne disease, and Saracen raiders.

We eventually came to the plane tree lined town of Annot, where the steam loco and it's cars are based and cared for, before entering a really steep and rocky section of the line.

The road splits in two, with southbound traffic crossing the river and passing through a tunnel, before rejoining the railway, and northbound traffic on the other side of the gorge.

Plenty of rugged scenery to be had on this journey!

The spectacular scenery continued until we reached another widening of the valley, and the station of Entreveaux, outside the gates of the 11th century walled town.

This was our destination for the day.

We'd stopped there for a short time on the steam trip, and I was rather taken with the citadel perched high above the medieval walled town, with its drawbridge across the Var.

The route featured in that well known French travel show, Le Tour de France in 2020, with some pacing of the train by the Peloton, as well as the helicopter flyover of the landmarks, which the citadel is certainly one. It's perched 160m above the town, on a sheer cliff to the north, and steep drops on the other sides.Its location on a rocky outcrop and narrow point of the river gave Entreveaux a very strategic position, on the border of France and Savoy (part of modern day Italy until 1860 when the region, including Nice and Monaco passed to France).

The walled town of Entreveaux. The river Var passes around the outside, with the main entrance being a small drawbridge protected by fortifications. The citadel, and its rampart protected walkway dominates the hill overlooking the town, and the gothic cathedral can be picked out by its square tower.

Back down in the village, it was very quiet, narrow medieval streets with an informal layout matching the geography, a main square with a couple of restaurants, and another smaller square outside the small gothic Cathedral. Dating from 1620 the structure is very simple, but the decorations inside were stunning. A beautiful blue ceiling with fleur de lys dominates the knave.

The beautifully decorated cathedral

The climb up to the citadel was hard work, but well worth the effort, we took it slow and steady, and passed others who hadn't managed to reach the top.

Once at the summit, the facilities were fairly limited, stone beds in the quarters, and minimal comforts, a few fireplaces, but certainly not somewhere I'd sign up for a winter! The views though…

Both north and south along the valley and surrounding mountains were very impressive!

After lunch, we wandered back over to the station, and waited for our train, the same rail motor, this time busy with school students who dropped off as we got closer to Nice.

We walked back to the tram stop, and caught Line One back to Place Garibaldi, near where we were staying.

I’m hoping next time we visit Nice, a trip all the way to Digne by train is possible!

Local train services

Nice has an extensive local standard gauge rail service, stretching into Italy via Monaco, into the mountains into Italy via Breil, as well as through Cannes to Marseillaise, and beyond. There's also another branch into the hills to Grasse, the home of French Perfume.

We caught a few local trains this trip, including making use of a Marseilles bound TGV duplex to travel from Nice to Antibes. Our return journey, and the others we took to Menton, Beaulieu-sur-Mer and Ventimiglia were in the double decked Alstom Z26500 class trains. These date from around 2005, and are a common sight across all the French regions.

A train for either Les Arcs, or Grasse pulls into Antibes.

Services operate from Les Arcs Draguignan and Grasse through to Ventimiglia, and return. Ventimiglia is an interchange for trains going to Milan, and onward to other points in Italy.

A TrenItalia intercity service, and Provence - Cote d'azur train sit at Ventimiglia, the interchange point for the two systems.

While it’s within the European Union, returning from Ventimiglia there was a passport check, so it certainly pays to keep them on you, even on day trips.

Once out of Nice, the lines hug the coast giving some spectacular views over the Mediterranean, punctuated by frequent tunnels, particularly towards Italy. Tiny rocky beaches, harbours with expensive boats, and large houses all dot the coast, with frequent stops at the stations to service the communities.

Typical of the railway between Nice and Ventimiglia, the line hugs the coast, with narrow beaches between the railway and the water. This Nice bound train is approaching Villefranche sur Mer, another medieval town literally over the hill from Nice.

Monaco Monte Carlo has a large underground station, deep in the hillside which replaced the previous station of the same name. The new station, and its 460 metre long tunnel opened in 1999, putting the entire length of railway through the principality underground - the ultimate grade separation?

I’ll wind it up there, but if you’re interested in any of the places we visited on our stay - Antibes, Menton, St Jean /Cap Ferrat, Beaulieu-ser Mer, Eze or a little off the beaten track, the tiny village of Gorbio, please let me know!

Thanks again for reading.

The 2022 Steam and Heritage season August, September, and some overseas travel to come

Hi Everyone,

A bit of a recap of August and September, and some French expectations.

August was busy with several nice tours out and about on consecutive weekends starting with Steamrail's second Snow Train to Traralgon, and side tours to Mt Baw Baw and Walhalla on the 13th.

I forgot to mention the first Snow Train in last month's journal, given it was barely light when it left Newport, and I only took a couple of shots at Spotswood as I had other things on.

In the dim pre dawn light, R711 and R761 lead the Snow Train between Newport and Spotswood, past the old power station and oil sidings.

Snow Train 2 I left home a little bit late, arrived at Toorak in Melbourne's leafy green affluent eastern suburbs to find all the good angles taken.

R761 and R711 power through Toorak with the second Snow Train of the year.

I got a reasonable shot, then headed off, got held up by a tram, stopped for fuel, and took a wrong turn heading for the freeway, so gave up and went home. The preparation was certainly lacking on that one!

Next Saturday, Steamrail was out again to Gippsland with the Warragul Flier featuring A2 986.

The A2 was fortunately preserved in a park at Warragul when it withdrawn, and later exchanged by Steamrail for J550 for a long restoration to mainline service.

J550 has subsequently ended up at Noojee, once the branchline terminus of a line from Warragul, while the A2 now makes up part of Steamrail's impressive fleet of heritage steam locomotives dating back to the 1880s.

With the weather forecast was miserable with rain and flood warnings, and a nephew's football grand final in Geelong in the afternoon, I wasn't that committed to going out for a shot or two.

I ended up setting the alarm (not as early as the dedicated Steamrail volunteers or Vline heritage crew), and looked at the weather on the morning around 6am.

It was raining and gloomy in Melbourne and Geelong, but half a chance for Drouin in West Gippsland where I wanted to shoot.

I took a couple of shots at Spotswood of the train from under the station verandah, before heading out east.

Picking up speed as it approaches Spotswood, A2 986, with A66 head through the mist towards Warragul.

The city was invisible from the top of the Westgate bridge, but with a goodly amount of wet weather gear in the car, I pressed on. I arrived at Drouin in plenty of time, and was able to play around checking out variations on the location I wanted to shoot at. There was some ankle deep water to get through, and a passing deluge, but, nothing too horrible.

As I'd walked a km or so in to get to my planned shot, I thought I'd shoot the train to Warragul, the first shuttle back to Longwarry and then move locations nearer to the car so I could head back home, then Geelong for the footy.
As frequently happens, things don't go to plan.

The Train ended up sitting at Longwarry for a while, apparently due to members of the public getting too close trackside, and causing delays while they were herded out of the way.

Eventually the A2, and now preserved diesel A66 on the rear could be heard working hard out of Longwarry onto Drouin bank. I'd set up to video as well as photograph this time, so got some sound and light, as well as a few photos as it went past.

The steam exhaust of A2 986 hangs in the air as the train makes up for lost time.

Time slipping away, I headed back towards the car, revising my plan to just one shot of the first shuttle. I actually settled on a spot right near where I'd parked which was helpful for a quicker departure.

After catching up with an old friend who's a brilliant photographer and chatting for a bit, the train finally made an appearance with A 66 in the lead, resplendent in its 1980s Vline orange livery, and sounding great as it roared past.

A 66 has been out on a lot of tours recently, adding a different look in its 1980s livery.

Back to the car, home, then off to Geelong to see a loss unfortunately, but my nephew got best on ground for his team.

Another consecutive weekend of steam had the K's out to Hurstbridge for the Wattle Festival shuttles, the first in three years. I went as far as Yarraville for an early morning shot, but didn't go further, as I had other things planned, and as it happened, the train was held up for a considerable time after it brushed the platform at Heidelberg on the way out.

K183, with K 153 dressed up as K100 bringing up the rear cut through Yarraville, and past the old St. Georges theatre.

Next outing for me was the first weekend of September, and  Steamrail's third 'Eureka Express' for the year, and with another spot on Mount Warrenheip in mind, I set out again to try my luck.

I decided to look for a different angle of the horseshoe curve at Rowsley, and after wandering around, scratching crosses in the ground, ended up choosing a spot, and standing on the bull bar of the poor old Landcruiser for a little more elevation to avoid some shrubbery in my line of view.

Some golden Canola, the You Yang mountains, and a nice line of curve was my aim, and it was dependent on the passing clouds and showers how it would go - once again the weather gods were on my side.

R761 rounding the Horseshoe curve near Rowsley, with the You Yangs and canola providing a nice backdrop.

Off on the chase again, I got a shot of the train arriving at Bank Box loop, then headed to the Ironbark Gully bridge to try something different.

The train arriving into Bank Box loop where it stopped to allow a Melbourne bound service to pass.

While I'm very happy with my Falcons Lookout, I'm keen to do some more work on different angles on this bridge, and explore the gorge some more.

I ended up out in the bush on a ridge which gave me a nicely framed view of the bridge and loco, and a few more ideas for another trip…

Back into the climb, and over Ironbark Gully bridge.

I then cut for Warrenheip to find the third shot I had in my head for a series, hoping the weather was going to be kind.

Some more showers, patchy light, and standing in the cold and rain later, I got the shot I was wanting ( or at least this version of it - there's always another better shot for next time).

The Eureka Express take III crosses the Lal Lal creek bridge in a small break in the weather.

For a while there'd been a plan to go camping on the Saturday night in the Muckleford forest again near the Victorian Goldfields Railway, as there was a 'Murder on the Orient Express' trip running. However, the large amount of rain, and work commitments from some of the group scuttled this plans, so it was back home instead of heading bush.

That's been about it as far as rail photography goes,

I didn't go up to Wycheproof for 707 Operations trip, and we've been getting organised for our trip to Nice at the end of September.

There's a couple of days of rail travel planned into it, a day trip on the Chemins de fer de Provence - a metre gauge railway from Nice which normally runs way up into the mountains to Digne-Les Bains. Unfortunately the section I really wanted to travel on is closed and replaced by busses due to civil works, so we've revised that day to visit a medieval citadel - I'll post that out in a couple of weeks.

Another day planned is into Italy to San Remo by train, there might also be some gratuitous travel posts!

As always, thanks for following along on My Railway Life.

The 2022 Victorian steam and preserved railway season - July

Hi Everyone,

Well, after a very railway packed June, July was a bit slower, for me at least, but the first couple of weeks were busy!

The first weekend in particular was the culmination of years of planning and organisation by some of the best in the business, and the day ran almost flawlessly.

What am I talking about? Steamrail Victoria’s Welcome back Red Rattler tour.

Operating on Sunday July 3, the tour featured the recently recommissioned Tait electric train, and heritage wooden carriages with two K class steam locomotives, one at each end, running parallel over considerable distances across the Suburban rail network.

Commencing from North Melbourne, the tightly choreographed day began, and, despite the Tait being blocked entering Southern Cross, the trip across the viaducts to Flinders St. alongside the Yarra saw both trains parallel, on different viaducts.. A pause at Flinders St., and then it was off again, rolling out under Federation Square, out past the MCG where the steam hauled train crossed over the top of the Tait, through Richmond, and out through Burnley.

Steamrail’s preserved Tait train seen from the Steam hauled train as we passed the MCG

Richmond to Burnley features four tracks, two each way, but beyond there to Box Hill, the corridor reduces to three, a dedicated Up (towards Melbourne), Down (away from Melbourne), and centre line which can be switched either way to cope with AM and PM peak services.

For the 12 km to Box Hill, the crews did an amazing job of slowing down and catching up with each other, giving the passengers a great opportunity to see both trains in their entirety. It was fantastic to see so many very happy faces as we went past each other repeatedly!

Will James was one of the happy faces enjoying the day out!

Box Hill was reached, and as the line reduces to two tracks beyond there, our steam hauled train was stopped for a few minutes, while the Tait went ahead to Blackburn, where it waited while we continued to Ringwood.

Ringwood is the junction for the lines to Belgrave and Lilydale, and features three platforms, which gave the opportunity for regular trains to pass our two specials.

From here, our trains parted company, the steam hauled service headed towards Upper Ferntree Gully  in the foothills of the Dandenongs on the Belgrave line, while the Tait had a short wait before it took the other route to Lillydale.

On returning to Ringwood, a quick dash across the platform had us on the Tait to Lillydale where we had time for lunch, before rejoining the final shuttle to head back into the city.

There was a rush to the end of the platform for the departing Tait from the new Lilydale station, about to cross Cave Hill Road, with the old Limil works in the distance.

We passed the steam hauled train at Blackburn - it had been into the city, and Melbourne yard for servicing before heading back out.

We paused at Box Hill on the centre platform, and before long, K 183 steamed past us, and it was on again!

Passing trains on the return from Ringwood.

Similar to the outbound trip, the trains continually went back and forth past each other, and once again, there was a lot of happy waves to passengers on the adjoining trains.

K183 is about to make the news, and the AFL broadcast as the trains rush through Richmond.

All the way back into Flinders St. this continued, with some enthusiastic whistle work on the K class even making it onto the football broadcast as we passed the Melbourne Cricket Ground and its amazing stadium.

Time for a train change again, and a quick chat to the crew and some other friends before we headed west to Sunshine, with more parallel running, then on to Calder Park sidings, a sprawling network of stabling roads designed to accomodate the new High Capacity Metro trains.

The Tait driver is full focused on the line ahead, as the steam special overtakes his train on the way to Sunshine

The Steam special lead the way into, and back out of the sidings to Sunshine, where the final 13 km of parallel running was waiting.

In the dimming light, we savoured the last play of the day, which went well all the way through to Flinders St. where there was a slight issue, and the last side by side entrance was foiled by an avoidable operational decision.

Given, that over the course of the day there had been around 50 km of side beside running by two trains from the 1920s and 1940s, on a busy suburban railway, plus side trips, a few minutes delay at the end was nothing to get too excited about.

The end of the day at Flinders St. The Tait train tucked in behind the steam special as both wait for a path back to Newport.

Many people I had spoken with had never enjoyed a parallel heritage trip, The last I'd done on home soil was Geelong to near Werribee in 2017 with Steamrail’s ‘Steam Spectacular’ , and after that, Germany in 2018.

The End of the day, and the Tait leaves Newport to head into the workshops.

To cap the day off, I was able to join the Tait train for its run back to Newport, a short walk home for me, and close to where the Tait, and both the steam locos, and the passenger cars had been built - and where I started my railway career some 34 years ago!

A fantastic day out with great friends, brilliantly organised and managed by an extremely passionate team of volunteers and employees of Steamrail Victoria, and heritage crews from Vline. Thanks very much to everyone involved in getting it to work so smoothly.

The following weekend, 707 operations had a tour to Bendigo to visit the goldfields city and the art gallery's Elvis Presley collection, on loan from Graceland.

The Gracelander was hauled by 1952 built R 707, with recently repainted in 1980s livery, now heritage diesel A66 bringing up the rear.

The As were rebuilt from the 1950s Victorian Railways B class, the first mainline diesels in the state, going back to Clyde Engineering in Adelaide for a complete strip down and rebuild for "The New Deal", a relaunch of passenger train services in Victoria.

The A's, and their sister N class locos were, when I was growing up the new interlopers, pushing out the older generation diesels off passenger duties to a point, while also doing some freight work.

Despite this, the A's with their round 1950s General Motors noses, and noisy engines still very much appealed to me, far more than the dog bone shaped N classes.

I'm digressing…

A few friends and I had decided we were going camping that weekend, and after a few false starts, and cancelling Friday night, we settled on a location near Maldon, not far from the Victorian Goldfields Railway.

I had an electrician booked to do some house wiring, but that also fell through, meaning an earlier than planned escape to the countryside, and an opportunity to try for a shot of R 707 at Taradale I'd been thinking about for a while.

Taradale has a beautiful railway viaduct spanning a large valley, and amongst its other old buildings, a small gothic style church on a hill near the viaduct.

I've been wanting to try and combine both in a photo for years, but hadn't, (and still haven't), come up with the "perfect" angle yet.

I had nearly two hours to play with before the train was due, so drove, and walked around for a lot of that before settling on a spot, and climbing onto the roof of the Landcruiser again for that little extra elevation. I really need to get a proper roof rack and ladder!

The Gracelander, with R707 on the front, and recently repainted A66 on the rear cross Taradale Viaduct.

No viaduct in this shot, but the steam, lines of the road and the Victorian perpendicular Gothic church sit nicely together.

Into Castlemaine, and I was able to get a similar angle of the same loco on a train from the steps of the historic Thompson Kelly and Lewis building that I had taken back in 1986! Back then, there was a signal box on the right hand side of the track, the sidings were in place, and K160, the first steam loco restored for the Castlemaine and Maldon Railway was undergoing a steam test.

It’s 1986, and R707 heads past the now demolished Castlemaine B signal box, and interlocked gates separating the road and rail traffic. In the background, K160 is undergoing a steam test, J549, and a couple of pieces of rolling stock under restoration are in the old cattle dock siding. The Chapman’s, with Bill in the checked shirt are getting the coverage of R 707 on the green and cream ‘Melbourne Limited’ cars.

36 years later… Same loco, same vantage point, same woollen mills in the background, but very little else is recognisable!

From here, I headed out to Muckleford, about halfway between Castlemaine and Maldon to catch up with J549 on its excursion train which had departed while the R was still at Castlemaine.

Victorian Goldfields Railway J 549 starts the long climb to Maldon away from Muckleford creek bridge.

I was able to get a couple of shots, then caught up with the guys to set up our campsite in the Muckleford Forest, not far from the railway.

Almost at Pipeline Crossing, J 549 is working hard through the typical Central Victorian landscape on this great preserved branch line.

We had time to get sorted, and head back to the railway near the top of a climb from Maldon for the return train, which also marks the start of the long descent to Muckleford.

Looking like a 1970s branchline tour, J 549 is climbing hard up the last major grade before descending to Muckleford.

Back to camp, and over a few beverages and the usual banter when old friends get together, we settled in for the evening and cooked a roast in a traditional cast iron camp oven over hot coals, which was delicious.

A good old fashioned roast in a Harding & Sons cast iron camp oven - it was delicious!

The Goldfields Railway was running a 'Murder on the Orient Express' event, screening the movie on the train that evening, which meant we had the good fortune to hear the train working for miles as it came past three more times after dark, and late into the night. It’s a magical experience, still available thanks to the foresight of the enthusiasts who petitioned to have the line preserved in the late 1970s, and who laboured (and continue to labour) for over 10 years to see a small portion of the line reopened in 1986, and eventually all the way to Castlemaine.

Slow and steady progress to the top of the grade in the Wintery Sunday sun.

Sunday was pack up and head for home, but not without experiencing the first Castlemaine to Maldon service of the day climbing the grades again.

All three of the organisations mentioned in this journal rely heavily on volunteers and donations to keep them going, now after a couple of lean Covid impacted years more than ever. Please consider donating, or volunteering, the links in the journal will take you to their home pages, or, feel free to email me for more information.

Thanks again for reading, and joining me on A Railway Life.

The 2022 Victorian steam and preserved rail season - June (with a touch of May)

Despite all the long lockdowns last year, and mass cancelations, it wasn't too bad a year for rail travel and photography.

So this year, with restrictions lifting, its been looking pretty good, in Victoria at least.

The Newport workshops open weekend was a success, there’s been some shuttle trips run, the Tait suburban set is back in service, K183 has done some revenue trips, and R 711 has returned after some boiler work.

I’m taking up coverage from late May, with the Ballarat Heritage Festival shuttles from Ballarat to Lal Lal, K153, dressed up as K100 and Y112 were doing the honours.

It was a typically cold Ballarat day, which, if the cloud lifts, is nice for photos. We took some photos of one of the trips, then headed across to Daylesford for a very pleasant lunch before heading for home.

K100 leads the way up Warrenheip bank, not far from the summit, before peeling off toward Lal Lal.

The Y leads back to Ballarat, not far from the site of Navigators station. It’s the oldest operational mainline loco in the country, having been built in Ballarat in 1889. The often cloudy Mount Warenheip provides a nice backdrop.

The Y was supposed to travel back to Melbourne later that night, but suffered some mechanical damage, and only made it as far as Geelong, where it sat for a few days before completing the trip to Newport

The following weekend, Saturday June 4th  the Spencer St. drivers social club had a trip to South Geelong behind R761, with plenty of food and refreshments at Little Creatures brewery for the afternoon.

I was lucky enough to get offered a ticket which I duly snapped up, and had a great day out with friends.

R761 brings its train into Southern Cross (or Spencer St.) before running around it and heading for South Geelong.

The R sits in the siding at South Geelong, as a Vlocity passes, not too long before docking up to head back to Melbourne with a happy load of passengers.

For the third weekend in a row, we headed out again, as R761 hauled the Eureka Express to Ballarat via 'The Straight' via Bacchus Marsh, returning through Geelong.

Friends had moved up to Ballarat in 2021, and during one of the times it was possible to travel, we went and spent the weekend with them. A day of touring some places Janelle and I were familiar with due to family connections included the two Mounts, Bunninyong and Warrenheip.

Sitting in the passenger seat gave the opportunity to get a look out at the railway near Dunnstown as we climbed Warrenheip, which I locked in my memory for next steam trip up the straight.

June 11 2022 was that opportunity, but first of all I went to Yarraville to try my luck with a shot of the Railway Hotel, and the train down the usually busy Anderson St.

Standing on the back of my 4wd, waiting for the train with my camera, I received a goodly number of odd looks, including one lady who managed to tangle her dog's lead around a post, while trying to figure out what I was up to - she was happier when after a brief chat she realised I had a camera, not a firearm, and wasn't going to jump, so there was no need to worry. She then pointed out the steam trains come through every weekend, so it’s not that impressive - I disagreed.

Home for breakfast, then we were both off for a day out.

The next shot I wanted was at the Rowsley horseshoe curve, which gave time to get back to have another go at Falcon's lookout, and then due to the steam special having to pass a couple of Vline services, heaps of time to get to Warrenheip and find a good spot.

A good old fashioned Southern Cross windmill in the paddock sits silently as R761 heads around the horseshoe curve.

The struggling train crawling across the Ironbark Gully bridge, before it stopped with the last car just to the right of the photo.

The first two shots went well, in nice sunlight,  although the train was slow across the Ironbark bridge, and seemed to have ground to a halt just past it. We pressed on to Warrenheip, and via Facebook found out the train had run short of steam, so retreated to Bank Box loop to recover, and wait for the regular services there.

That gave us plenty of time to find a good angle on the Mount, and plan another lunch option - this chasing trains and finding lunch spots has been good fun!

The sunlight was almost non existent, and the cloud was moving fast, in contrast to the weather earlier, very much a case of wait and see.

As luck would have it, the now very late train’s arrival coincided with some low cloud blowing through, atmospheric, but not what I'd set up for.

Not to worry, shots taken, then we headed across to the Swiss Mountain hotel in Blampied, between Ballarat and Daylesford for lunch in front of the open fire, a nice way to build a day out.

The long awaited shot of the day -  the Eureka Express approaching Dunstown from Warrenheip. The closed in weather didn't help, but this photo has grown on me, I'm keen to hear what others think of it.

Next weekend was steam free, for us at least. Bright Brewery and their Darker Days festival was on our agenda, but there was time on the way up to capture an N Class on an Albury to Melbourne passenger service, something that's on the way out.

N464 swings through Locksley with the Melbourne bound Albury passenger train, only one Albury each way is loco hauled now, other services are operated with Vlocity multi unit trains (or busses).

June 25th, and the second Eureka Express to Ballarat was next. It was a nicer forecast, so fingers were crossed for better luck on Warrenheip this time.

R711 and K183 were rostered for this trip, both locos in different shades of non traditional blue, but stunning nonetheless.

I’d been thinking of a couple of different spots to try, and thought Melton Weir might be worth a go.

Unfortunately when we got out to Melton, the track I planned to use has been closed off by a new housing development, which meant a change of plans and location - not an angle I'd seen before.

R 711 and K183 cross the Melton Weir with the second Eureka Express.

The crew certainly had the train flying, and it was well on its way to Bank Box loop when we got within sight of the railway.

Instead of Falcon's Lookout, we ended up at a small level crossing near Ingliston where the line crests a grade, before dropping through one last dip before climbing into Ballan.

The Fireman of R711 keeps an eye out on the approach to the level crossing as the locos crest the grade.

The number of cars on the road beside grew steadily, and before long the sound of the hard working locos could be heard, sounding more like it was going at 80 miles an hour than the 80 kilometres an hour they are restricted to.

The exhaust could be seen as the noise grew louder, then the headlight as the train crested the grade, and roared past, looking and sounding spectacular.

Driver Johnson has the R up and about as it charges toward Ballan.

There was another Vline service to cross here, which gave plenty of time to get up to Warrenheip, and settle in at the location we'd visited a couple of weeks earlier.

R711 and K183 pass the foot of Mount Warrenheip just outside Dunnstown, not far from the destination of the day, Ballarat.

Another photographer had come up the road behind us, and carried on to the top of the mount, but came back down past us, and stopped a few hundred metres down the road.

The light was good, and the wind was the right direction to carry the exhaust away, so all was ready.

Right on time the train swept into view, shots were taken, and that was it - back into Seddon for lunch with our Son this time.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about June's activities, and looking at the photos, I'll share July in my next post - another month of fantastic trips.