Jumping back into the fog
Following on from my last post, Ain’t no sunshine, Janelle and I headed to Japan for a couple of weeks, and did some pretty cool rail travel, so keep an eye out for upcoming posts.
Easing back into work however, I decided four days was enough, and had an annual leave day, and tickets booked on the Steamrail Ballarat heritage weekend transfer train on the Friday.
The train was scheduled to depart Newport for Ballarat at 11:06, so I had a fairly cruisy morning.
Still waking up early-ish, making coffees, the thick fog outside the windows had my interest, so after getting ready for the day, I headed out to see if I could get a couple of shots before walking up the station.
The new pedestrian overpass at Newport South ( replacing Champion Road crossing), and known as Bishop’s bridge to a group of us due to a friend living nearby was my first stop.
I almost got distracted by the headstones in the cemetery, but decided trains first!
I was too late for The Overland, so had to settle for a couple of suburban trains, first a down Werribee with a Comeng doing the honours, then two up trains, an Xtrapolis followed by a Siemens.
The fog was thickest back up towards Newport Station with this Werribee Comeng set appearing from the gloom.
An Xtrapolis dropping over the Maddox Rd. bridge. The temporary standard gauge track is still at ground level, but work is underway for its own bridge over Maddox Rd.
In less than half an hour, the fog is a little thinner as the third class of EMU for the morning comes through, this time a Siemens product.
The fog had started to clear in patches, but being in the area, I decided to stick my nose in the Newport Workshops gate, and see if the steam special was easy to see.
As it turned out, it was on one of the long roads just inside the gate, and the fog was still laying nice and thick.
A2 986 was at the up end of the train, and K 183 in its dark blue was nearest to me.
The crew were walking up the yard providing some nice figures in the very atmospheric conditions.
T 356 sits quietly beside a simmering K 183 as the crew walks up the yard towards A2 986.
Not wanting to intrude too much, I took a couple of shots from the car before heading for home, the zoom lens coming in handy for that.
Back out on Champion Road, the cemetery shot wasn’t looking that good, the sun was starting to make inroads, so home for another coffee before setting off for the day.
Two hours later, coming back through Newport South, and over Maddox Road, the sun was well and truly out, and stayed that way for the day, even in Ballarat!
K 183 blocks Lydiard Street crossing, where once trams crossed, and the last interlocked gates on the network to be replaced.
I hope you enjoy these few foggy photos - and a rare treat of a sunny day in Ballarat to round things out.
Thanks for reading,
Scott
