Garratt 6029 to Parkes 1981
from Graeme Reid on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/66992871
10

On a Sunday afternoon, there were plenty of locomotives at Broadmeadow near Newcastle having their hard earned day off

11

This picture of the other angle is taken from the same place as the previous and show other engines around this turntable

12

On Sundays at Broadmeadow near Newcastle in steam days, there could also be found a large number of Garratt locomotives at the depot. Here, five 263 ton Garratts 6041, 6029, 6035, 6023, 6025, enjoy their day of rest while newer 111 ton Alco diesel electric loco 4003, which has edged into the Garratts stable, gives a hint of what will be the fate of the impressive 60 class.

13

The Cowra shunting (switching) loco, a 4-6-0 number 3108 goes about duties in Cowra rail yards. As this class, and other such elderly shunting locos had the chain and hook type couplings and buffers, the wagon behind the loco, while serving as a mobile shunters platform as can be seen, is chiefly for the purpose of being able to when necessary, provide compatability for vehicles with the later introduced auto type couplings.

14

At the former break of gauge location of Albury on the Victoria - New South Wales border, two 50 class steam locos were kept on standby for shunting. Standard goods 5135, one of a once very numerous type of 2-8-0, was one of these in the mid 1960s.

15

On the Central West express between Dubbo and Lithgow, the 38 class was renouned for being able to keep a better schedule than the diesels which were to replace them. This loco, apparently 3802 or 3803, was resting in the yards near the depot at Dubbo, between its turns of duty in the days before diesel electrics nudged such steam power out.

16

At Easter 1965, a special train arrived at Cowra with the vintage train drawn by two vintage steam locos of the 12 and 17 classes

17

A Goulburn yards shunter, 5132, was requisitioned on account of the Association of Railway Enthusiasts for a leisurely jaunt on the now well closed Crookwell line out of Goulburn. The picture above, constituted the scene at one of the photo stops. Passengers with cameras have alighted and the train has backed up. It is here seen here in the fading sunlight performing for the said photographers, the shadows of whom are being cast in the foreground.

18

A 4-6-4, 30 class tank engine stands on the loco runaround track between platforms 3 and 4 at Sydney's Central station awaiting the time to place the attached train in its allocated platform. Some of these engines finished their useful life in the role of shunting locomotives.

19

Maintenance is an important part of a rail system. Here a Garratt has had its piston removed at Broadmeadow for one reason or another. An idea can be gained to part of the mechanics of the loco.

20

There were a number of steam shunters at Goulburn. Such locos, as at other depots, saw out most of the remainder of their lives on such duties having been displaced by diesel electrics. Loaded with coal, 5190 reverses from the Goulburn depot to the yards in the early morning for its turn of duty.

21

Snapped for posterity with a Kodak Retinette 1A 35MM camera on a warm Saturday afternoon in 1963, well before the days of present electrification, was this passing local train about to arrive at Newcastle. It was returning from Toronto and was in charge of 30 class tank engine number 3013.

22

Locomotive 3092 equipped with a six wheel tender, and being another version of the tank class in the previous picture, shunts the cars from the overnight mail train probably at Young, June 1967

23

The Southern Highlands express, with 3808 at the head, awaits departure time at Goulburn Platform before leaving on its over 100 mile run to Sydney on which it stops most stations in paradoxical fashion to its given name.

24

The Southern Highlands express at the platform at Goulburn with 3808 about to depart, as the fireman ponders the important task of shovelling much coal from the tender into the hungry fire to maintain the steam pressure which will drive the train forward, towards its Central Station arrival appointment in Sydney, more than one hundred miles distant.

25

A 30 class tank, shunting loco, waits at Central station Sydney while two 44 class locomotives arrive to couple to their train the steam shunter has placed at the platform.

26

The afternoon mixed from Grenfell awaits departure time at the Grenfell station platform in September 1965 with a 30 class loco with 6 wheel tender in charge.

27

The driver of 5412 wisely leans out to check the road ahead, or should I say behind? as his loco and train, consisting of a Long rake of unbraked four wheel coal hoppers trundles tender first past the platform at Hexam. The train is a 'down coal' and is heading to Maitland.

28

A view of some of the infamous four wheel coal hoppers near Hexam North of Newcastle, loaded with coal with loco 5456 awaiting its next assignment while resting on the siding in the background.

29

The privately run South Maitland Railway, operated a coal railway with the loco depot shown in the above picture featuring the lines of number 23, being near Hexam. These locos were reportedly a tank version of the 50-54 class operated by the New South Wales Railways.

30

Junee is a railway town about midway between the Victorian border and Sydney which was in steam days, a major depot. On a blazing hot summer day, a standard goods 50 class goes about its duties as acting yard pilot.

31

Further to a picture above: The young calf in the paddock is more curious about the photographer than the Sydney bound Southern Highlands express with 3813 up front, rushing past behind him.

32

Towards the end of steam days in New South Wales, 3638 was reconditioned and is seen here at Sydney Central station at the head of the Sunday evening train to Moss Vale.

33

In the early 1960s, I came across a train in trouble; it had developed a loose tyre -- a tyre on one of the main driving wheels had come loose and the crew was standing in a paddock figuring out what to do about it. The driver said he heard a loud bang as one of the rivets worked loose and was sheared off by a connecting rod. Progress consequently was then at at walking speed rather than at express speed. In the days of telegraph wires which were along the trackside, communication was not what it is today. I became the messenger to the Station Master at Koorawatha with the news of where the train was. Concern was for a passenger whom it was feared would miss his connection with another train.

34

In the latter days of steam, it was very unusual to see a steam powered train south of Goulburn. An exception was 4-6-0 number 3214 on a work train running south tender first.

35

The Southern Highlands express, with 3813, accelerates away from Murulan on a crisp winter morning, to the sounds of sharp and quickening exhaust blasts, while putting on a steamy show enhanced by the rays of the morning sun rising.

36

A typically regular scene in country depot roundhouses such as, Goulburn or Broadmeadow near Newcastle; multiple 38 class locomotives are stabled side by side, but are kept in steam in readiness for their next sprint along the main line.

37

Green liveried 3813, at the head of the Sydney bound Southern Highlands express speeds along near Bundanoon on a still, chilly, frosty morning, with the exhaust from the loco's fire and cylinders, which have produced the power for the job at hand hovering above the train and forming a long expanding cloud, which with the incense from the coal fire it contains, fades only, after the action has well passed.

38

On the outskirts of Goulburn, a Sydney bound 59 class with a goods train departs; and is seen here crossing the brick arch viaduct. The remaining supports of an even older two track bridge can be seen in the foreground.

39

Elderly 0-6-0 number 1923 which even precedes that date, still sporting inside cylinders and original three wheel tender, was photographed while at Broadmeadow, stabled on a track from a one of the turntables, beside Goods loco 5486 and 0ther locos of the 50 class which were used on the coal traffic in the Hexam - Newcastle area.

40

A loco takes on coal at Dubbo in the central west. Likely 3313.

41

(b&w) In the mid 1960s, the Association of Railway Enthusiasts sponsored a long weekend tour to Adelaide South Australia, and then onwards to experience the narrow gauge between Port Pirie and Broken Hill before it was converted to standard gauge. While in Broken Hill, which is over the border in New South Wales, opportunity was taken to make use of the standard gauge yard shunter, 3249, to run a tour to Menindee some 60 or so miles away. The picture above, is of the train, on the return trip, at a photo stop featuring it on the bridge over the channel by which Lake Menindee is filled when the Darling River is in flood. The captured water is later released into the river in dryer times, and is used for irrigation downstream. The scene above was from the dam wall of lake Menindee which is behind us. The highway bridge is the other side of the rail bridge and can be seen in the background. This section of railway, when gauges were standardised, became part of the direct trans continental standard gauge between Sydney and Perth, and this location is 1019 kilometers from Sydney by rail according to the marker on the Sydney side of the bridge. A sign at the rail bridge reveals it was -- "Fabricated by  Per Way W'shops, Way and Works Branch Chullora".

42

Photographed at Bathurst was this locomotive, saddle tank number number 2606 It was one of the more uncommon type of loco on the New South Wales system and was utilised for shunting activities at Bathurst.

43

Garratt 6040 parades through the yards at Dubbo before departing with a goods train to Orange.

44

Based at Lithgow, were some 38 class locomotives to work passenger trains to the west of Lithgow to Bathurst and Dubbo. Electric locomotives hauled trains between Lithgow and Sydney with steam power taking over at Lithgow. Here, 3823 was noted at the Lithgow depot as it rested between assignments. Some of the other locomotives in the sheds seen in the distance, as verified by another photo, were 3830, 3617, 3824, 3801 plus a selection smaller locos.

45

Taken from memory at Richmond before electrification. Suburban tank loco 3021 rests for the weekend.

46

Loco 3610 rides on the turntable at Orange.

47

Garratt 6040, which is seen in a picture below after departure, backs onto its train at Dubbo.

48

The 59 class at Bathurst, as well as the 36 class, were used for pushing, which was known as 'banking' trains, in the rear up the Tumulla bank to the west, and Raglan bank, to the east of the town and 5904 was on call for this duty.

49

A 60 class Garratt, number 6040, heads out along the main line from Dubbo towards Orange in the mid west of New South Wales towards Orange

50

Immediate steep grades are obstacles for trains leaving Bathurst in either direction. A long train of loaded bogie wheat hoppers, drawn by two 45 class diesel electrics up front, is assisted up the long grade from Bathurst to Raglan by Baldwin steam loco 5904 which was the banker engine for that direction at the time. Class 36 locomotives were at the time, being used to push heavy trains up the Tumulla bank on the other side of Bathurst.

51

A 260 ton Garratt, number 6040, is reduced in size when viewed from the heights of a coal stage in the central west.

52

At the loco depot at Werris Creek on a still and chilled very late night under the glow of a yard light, a 36 class 4-6-0 number 12, is kept on standby for its next duty. The fire, which is fed regularly with coal to maintain some boiler pressure, radiates its warmth into the cab which makes the cab a most pleasant place to spend a little time thawing out.

53

On a warm summers day in January 1963, The Glen Innes train, consisting of two cars and a van with a 32 class in charge, departs Guyra after its scheduled stop, and accelerates out of town through the hand operated rail/road gates and puts on such a turn of speed for the remainder of its journey, that catching it up for more photos was out of he question.

54

Before diesel, and then electric powered trains took over, the air conditioned Newcastle Flyer, maintained a fast non stop schedule to Gosford where the steam power was swapped for the remainder of the run to Sydney. At Newcastle passenger platform, the train crew walk towards their steed which is impatiently blowing off the excess steam built up for its soon to be commenced dash down the main line.

55

Two standard goods 2-8-0 engines were kept as shunters at Albury in the later days of steam. One of these engines with a longish train, heads in the direction of Wodonga

56

Albury before 1962, was a break of gauge location where passengers and goods had to change gauges. After the standard gauge was extended to melbourne from Albury, the broad gauge was still utilised. The Association of Railway Enthusiasts, sponsored a tour from Melbourne to Albury and Culcairn with a Victorian R class hauled train on the Broad gauge and a standard goods loco hauled train on the standard gauge train to Culcairn. It was a long day being of some 450 miles. Some photo action stops were provided, and this is of one between Albury and Table Top

57

What's this? A tank engine on the express? No, not really! A tank shunting loco, stands at number 4 platform at Sydney Central station with its current shunting job, while a 46 class electric locomotive and its train, occupies number 5 platform

58

A tank shunting locomotive stands with its train on the loco run around track between numbers 3 and 4 platforms, while a much bigger boilered 38 class fills in for a smaller shunter by helping out by means of the shunting of its own train from number 5 platform.

59

Goods loco 5132 passes beneath some main running lines as it heads another train of coal in 4 wheel non braked hoppers near Newcastle.

60

When steam hauled the late afternoon or early evening Moss Vale train from Sydney, the train was turned around and stabled in the yards at Moss Vale, and kept in light steam ready for the return run to Sydney early the following morning. On a foggy crisp night, pitch black except for the effects of a few dim yard lights, a 38 class snoozes at the head of its train at Moss Vale, interrerupted only by motor vehicle headlights which were shone upon it by a passing photographer attempting a time exposure on color slide film to record the now long extinct, but once routine occurrence.

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