Raichase

We've all got to move on at some point...

...so, move on folks!

My blog has now moved to Wordpress, as I can hitch it in tandem with a personal blog of mine (plus I have a bit more freedom with the posting style, so hopefully it will be easier on the eyes).

Please direct your browsers here:

http://trackside.wordpress.com/

Catchy, huh?

R.

It's certainly how I will be going to and from Newcastle next time I travel. The XPT. eXpress Passenger Train. Although the name is a bit of a running joke in the railfan community, with names such as "eXpress Pensioner Train" among others, that's not what I'm here to discuss.

Bear with me, for I will introductionise my recent trip on the XPT, before sharing my... uhh... experience.

In the past, desperate for the earliest possible start in The Hunter, I tried a couple of options.

1. Leaving home at 0530. This would be the start of a bus ride to Wynyard. Go from Wynyard to Central. Get a train at Central leaving at 0645, arriving at Wyong at 0834. One would either alight at Gosford or Wyong to (theoretically) catch a southbound freight or two, and then jump onto a train ex Gosford at 0851 which gets to Hamilton at 1011. Change for a 1037 train out into The Hunter. Bleh.

I soon realised that this was a silly course of action. Thus, this method was altered to jump on the 0718 train out of Central, changing at Gosford to the same 0851* train, arriving the same time, but with 10-15 minutes extra sleep owing to a slightly later departure from home.

2. Crowd onto a Chatswood bound bus at 0620 (that service is usually quite crowded as opposed to the same bus going into the city), changing to a train at Chatswood to Hornsby, and joining the Gosford train at Hornsby. Same amount of sleep, but more standing on a bus. Also, less time to just sit and enjoy the journey, as one is always changing.

A new (and very obvious) option occours. Book a seat on the Casino XPT, due out of Sydney at 0715 (astute readers will note that this is three minutes ahead of the stopper to Gosford), arriving in Maitland at about 1030. Far less service changes, and a direct trip, all for $3.50 more... (roughly). Why not?

One can again use the same method to get home. The Sydney bound XPT from Brisbane arrives in Maitland at 1913, getting into Sydney at 2151. $25 each way, not a bad deal when Cityrail to Newcastle is $18 each way. Did I mention the whole "booked, reclining seat" aspect? Also, onboard buffet?

Sweet.

So, last Monday, I bowled up at Maitland Station at 1835 and rocked up to the ticket window. "One to Sydney on the XPT please". $25 goes from my wallet to the ticket agent, and my ticket is printed. Window seat, 37, in car D. Goodo. Because really, can economy be that bad compared to first on a Monday evening?

Yes, yes it can.

Some of you may have read this ramble on Countrylink. Those that have not, essentially the difference between First Class and Economy is not the quality of the seating (which is the same), just the company you keep. Also, of note is that the train I was getting on had left Brisbane a good TWELVE HOURS ago, and as my seat was booked after departure, I didn't appear on the passenger manifest.

The XPT pulls in, and those people getting off at Maitland detrain. I stand aside as three people lug their bags out of Car D. Fine. Problem being, the second they are through the door, they dump said bags and immediatly light up. No, that's fine guys, I didn't want to board the train at all. You guys can't last an extra thirty seconds for a smoke that you can't clear the bloody doorway? Heck, if they didn't have their bags in their arms, I reckon they would have been lighting up as they came through the bloody door.

So, having pushed past them ("excuse me" doesn't work to someone who hasn't smoked for at least five hours, believe me, I tried) and found my seat, I'm amused (bemused?) to find that it's occupied. The resident isn't there, but his rubbish and bag is. I plonk myself down anyway, and shift said pile to the isle seat. The owner returns, obviously having sussed out the station stop to see if he could light up and smoke a quickie before the door was closed and we left (he couldn't). He stands in the isle and looks at me, before picking up his bag (not his rubbish though) and going back to his seat, next to his partner. I'm sure he afforded me a dirty look, but I was buried in my book, with my ticket sitting open next to me, so anyone could see that I was sitting in my correct seat.

At this point, I would like to remind you that this train has been running for over 12 hours. It has gone from being a train where everyone sits in their seat and reads/looks out the window/talks quietly to the person next to them, to being a silver tube which is one giant lounge room. There are shoes kicked off (socks lying around the isle), people snoring, people listening to music with their mobile phone (and not using headphones), people walking back and forth for whatever reason. People have moved to "empty" seats and lain down, so that their feet hang into the isle. Bags are scattered everywhere. I felt immediately sorry for the staff of the train, walking into our carriage was akin to walking into a teenagers bedroom. The smell alone would have deterred anyone.

I put the armrest between my seat and the isle seat up and settle in for the trip. Immediately, it comes back down, and someones foot comes through the gap. Uhh, have we met? Seems this person wants to stretch out a bit, and they don't care where their foot goes. I slowly put the armrest back up, and the foot moves, digging into the back of my chair. That's fine, I didn't want to recline my seat anyway (although I might have changed my mind if the person in front of my wanted to recline theirs).

Diagonally across from me is a bloke with no shoes (although the soles of his feet look like the soles of my work shoes), dreadlocks, and what can only be described as "hippy attire". He is amusing himself by playing air-bongo-drums. He seems very pleased with himself, although he has no headphones, so the music is all in his head - I enjoy watching him, he's really enjoying himself. Then he misses a note or something, because he gets mad. Belts the seat in front of him, kicks his legs out and gets up and storms off. I have no idea WHAT was going on there... Sure enough, he's back ten minutes later (we're on a moving train, where else is there to go?), sits down and resumes his music. More strange kick moves follow, a bit of standing up and sitting down and some dance moves... A little odd.

All that being said, we arrived in Central ten minutes ahead of the timetable, and it was a fast, comfortable and cheap way to get home. Next time, I'm traveling first class though. It's only $15 more, and you swap the students and the air-bongo-players for pensioners who just sleep or talk to the oldie next to them. I like them a bit more...

;)

R.

* This is an interesting spot in the timetable. An 8-car train will go Sydney - Gosford, where it will turn around and convey the morning off-peak passengers into Sydney. As the return trip arrives about 10am, it's quite popular with people going into the city, but outside of peak hour. One changes at Gosford to a 4-car train that comes down from Newcastle and terminates. There is always the great moment when one train runs early/late and arrives exactly the same time as the other train, and everyone dodges each other playing "train swap". It is, however, inconvenient, as one can't doze off at Central, lest one get to Gosford and come home again by mistake!

Well, I had yesterday (Monday) off, and I thought "gee, nothing interesting runs on a Monday" (a lot of intermodal freights are running Tue/Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat). So, the natural thing to do was to jump up to Morisset to snap some photos of the Interail coal train that runs between Newstan Colliery and Vales Point. It's an unusual train in that it uses far smaller hoppers than the "proper" Hunter Valley trains, and far different rolling stock.

Hunter Valley coal trains are traditionally behind large locomotives, like 82's, 90's or 5000's. The exceptions are always the most interesting, such as the PacNat train on the SMR (South Maitland Railway) behind 48 class, using ex grain hoppers, and the new South Spur service on that line using T class and containerized coal. So yeah, this is one of the exceptions.

If I was hoping to see a 421 or 422 leading, some great vintage NSWGR motive power, I was to be disappointed, with 42306 and 42304 leading the train, with 42109 stuck in the shafts. The 423 class are ex QR diesels that have 49 class bogies. Annoyingly enough too, the lead loco wasn't even in the old Interail/Northern Rivers Railroad colours, it was in the new QR National scheme! Doh!

Knowing that when the train came back, it would be exactly the same, having run around a balloon loop, I resolved to move up to Newcastle - I was going to meet a friend in the CBD for a beer, as he's moved to uni up in Newcastle, so we don't see each other much anymore. To kill time, took some very average photos at Metford, before moving to Victoria Street.

Naturally, it was at Victoria Street that the Pelton train made it's appearance, behind PL2, 48134, 48143 and 48120, while the camera was still in the bag (I'd gotten off my train and let the herd push their way up the stairs ahead of me).

Having passed the two T class in Broadmeadow Yard already, I gave up and went to meet my friend. Of course, on the way back, I passed the Cobar ore train behind BL26 and BL33, and at that point I just decided I wasn't going to bother anymore. Had some drinks and got the XPT home again at 7:15 from Maitland (that experience in itself is worthy of a whole 'notha blog post...)

The advantage is, aside from hitting the main south this Sunday, the next days off I get, I'll be back to The Hunter to make up for yesterdays shortcomings.

R.

P.S Todays photo was taken back in January, not yesterday - hence why it is actually kinda good :P

(Authors note: I apologise to my readers who are not mad about Railpage, I posted this report on Railpage planning on posting it again here, and totally forgot. For those of you who have read this, please pass it on by, this is for those who don't follow every nuance of Railpage in all it's... erm... glory. Regards, Trent).

That would have to go down as one of the most enjoyable days I have ever spent trackside in my experience chasing trains (which, while meager, is still enough to make this day a true standout).

The mission? To chase 3642 on it's mystery tour around the suburbs, with no timetable or any clear idea of where it would be going, and limited to two legs (four legs, as [b]Fred3801[/b] obligingly came too), buses, trains, taxis and ferries (although how the latter would plan on out pacing a 36 I don't know). We only had a starting time (10am) and a finish time (5:30pm), and the knowledge that it couldn't go west of Blacktown.

Let me just say, wow.

A couple of points before I launch into a long winded recap:

1. Timetabling for this trip was amazing. They did some things I didn't think would be possible, as well as doing some really unexpected things. They covered a lot of ground and did some really fancy driving, so to speak. Massive amounts of kudos to the bloke who sat down and planned the whole thing out, it was such a mystery tour that it was very exciting to chase.

2. The 36 looked and sounded great, and all of the crew were really friendly and they put on one heck of a show. I would encourage anyone who came along on the day or went out to see it to make your appreciation known to the museum staff either by e-mail or post, because it must have been a lot of work getting the 36 back to running condition, and the logistics of the whole day.

I was, and still am, blown away by the whole day.

First stop was Summer Hill, about 10am. Right from the get go, things got interesting - we both knew that it wouldn't be a simple "sit here and wait for it to go past", we would have to work for it. Sure enough, the text message comes through from a mate on board "we're going into the (Illawarra) dive". Cue a frantic rush to Burwood to get a bus to Campsie to try and catch them on the Banko (provided they didn't hit the Illawarra). Success, our first sighting of 3642 charging into Campsie Station, where it...

...stopped. We scramble for the platform, then Fred spots the key - they're reversing (he noticed the marker lights on 4916, who was trailing, had changed from red to white). Cue a frantic dash for a cab to get us to Dulwich Hill before the train. Great cabbie did his best to get us there ahead (they were limited to 40kph due to the 36 running tender first) of the train, but we failed due to some poor luck with traffic and traffic lights.

So there we are, at the platform. Sightings, 1, photos, 0.

No time for a rest though, as we are soon moving onto a train back to Campsie, the plan being to catch the Enfield bound Mungo Scott train - we may have missed the main event, but no sense missing another oft unseen working, is there? Especially not with 8050 on the back in shiny new PN paint. Having arrived at Campsie (again) we rushed to a trackside lane to get some good shots.

Then we find out that the return working (as 3642 went to Botany) might not be coming through Campsie, it might reverse again and go down the Meeks Rd junction onto the Illawarra, we run back to the station just in time to get onto a train to Marrickville. Seconds after arriving, 3642 comes racing over the hill out of Cooks River. Cue much whooping and cheering from myself.

Sightings 2, photos 1.

Perhaps she's going north? We go back to Central, then head up to West Ryde. No good, she's going back to Central for lunch via Sydenham. Doh. We then head down to Summer Hill, as the lighting is now very favourable. Sure enough, our secret source on board the train is right again, and after a quick photo stop at Stanmore, The Pig charges uphill past a platform full of dazed inner west passengers, before pausing to cross over onto the suburban/main (we didn't see which) before going through Olympic Park.

We move to Strathfield, reasoning she could go west or north. We guess north again, and get as far as North Strathfield before our source tells us they are bound for Granville. Well, sort of, as soon they are branching off onto the Carlingford Line at Clyde. As the service to Clyde is unreliable at the best of times, we go back to Central to await more instructions from our secret source.

Success, they are going north again, but only as far as Rhodes. So the whole "West Ryde" scenario is out the window, and we jump a late running train into Rhodes, arriving just after the 36. We jump out, cross the platform and meet up with our friend and source for what was initially going to be a quick chat. He introduces us to one of the blokes who volunteers with the RTM (both my friend and our RTM friend will remain nameless, for no reason other than I don't want to go throwing names around if the owners of such names don't want me to). Our new friend with the RTM was amazing, he showed us the cab, and then offered us a ride back to Central.

Of course, we were gob smacked and jumped at the chance to get a ride back to Central, which was made in very good company (and at a nice relaxing pace, as there was no more chasing to be done, simply relaxing in a comfy chair with good folk to talk to)

Back at Central, we got a good long look at the 36, and we were also allowed inside GMS1(?) the luxury observation car, which, after a quick poke around in, seems like a rolling hotel suite!

So really, what can I say? An amazing day of chasing and laughter, laughter at the "whoops, there it goes again", and so much fun. Thanks to my two contacts aboard the train, for keeping us updated on where the tour was going, and for the VIP treatment when we finally caught up to you :). Thanks also to Fred for putting up with an ever-so-slightly under-the-weather-It's-only-a-small-hangover Raichase, and for his good knowledge of buses in the Inner West area (without whom I would have been forced into a cab).

Thanks for reading, I'll hopefully have more to say, and plenty more photos to come. Here are a couple from the "chase" period, as I was shooting in black and white all day (I was cheating though, I shot in RAW, so the camera showed me a monochrome image, but I still get to play with a full colour photo at home), I present them to you in b/w.

More photos and chatter to come, hopefully also from Fred :)

Find the rest of the photos here

R.

Yes, as one can tell from the title, my latest batch of photos have been uploaded from December 7, 2007. Why the old photos, you ask?

Well, I'm not feeling 100% over the last week and a bit, so these two days off from work will be spent between the bed and the PC chair (and perhaps the kitchen, if the urge to eat arises). Mostly the bed. Heck, most of today was spent in bed.

So yeah, no new stories or photos until easter, it would seem. Due to the mandatory two days off, plus another regular rostered day off earlier in the week, I might find some time to get some reporting done.

Question is, where to go?!?

R.

The Main South is my new favorite spot to take photos - simply because of the lack of wires, it gives one so much more freedom to take great sweeping curve photos of trains.

Problem is, it gets boring fast, so my advice would be to find somewhere with a level crossing and just chill out in the shade with a book until the alarm starts going off. With 2 hours between each passenger train, and sometimes over an hour between freight movements, you don't want to burn out too quickly...

Things started off badly, with MB7 arriving into Sydney a bit early(1), making the difference between a photo of them powering through Menangle Park, and no photo at all. I scored the latter. Never mind, just triple CLF/CLP's, nothing remarkable about that!

At Menangle Park, made just the one sighting of note:



0820 NR101/AN4/NR105 MB4 up PN Intermodal.

Of note, NR101 seems to have all her National Rail Diamonds intact, which is quite rare these days. In fact, the photo could have been taken recently, or back in the days of National Rail...

With a good three/four hour gap between trains, the decision was made to move a fair way south to Mittagong, for some snacking and to check out a pedestrian level crossing south of the station. We arrived about 30 minutes late into Mittagong, after a delay at Menangle Park (turns out the front car of the Endeavour had broken down, and we were operating on one motor only)

Success! The level crossing is good for northbound trains, as demonstrated by 8159:



With the above movement running earlier than normal, and nothing due from the north for another three hours or so (2), I decided to try out Yerrinbool, somewhere on a curve that I'd not tried.

Again, result.

Sighted 2212 heading light engine back towards Moss Vale at 1110 - quite a surprising movement, and I was glad I caught it. 2212 had just a day earlier brought the AK cars back into Sydney - rare to see a GWA unit up Sydney way, normally they go no further than Junee.

You can hear northbound trains a good minute or so before they arrive, so a very loud diesel sound woke me out of my doze and prompted a move to the end of the platform, just in time to fudge a bunch of photos of NR98 leading NR75 north towards Sydney with 1XW4 Port Kembla bound empty steel.

Whoopdie doo, I said. Then I noticed the two green trailing units on the train were none other than G543 and G526 on their transfer run up from Victoria, likely headed for Port Kembla to replace GL's on Southern Coal trains(3):



Cue a move to Bargo to see what else I could see - ideally a good possie for BM7 to come through. With a good two hours before it was due through Bargo, I wanted to hike along the road for a few minutes to get up a hill to get a great curve spot. Lighting would have been perfect, with a good view of the signal to frame the shot with!

Naturally, just after leaving the platform, a pair of CLF/CLP's roar through with their train, with me in no position at all to get a photo.

Doh.

Back to Yerrinbool then, as all the traffic now is headed south, and it's too hot in the sun at Bargo.

1310 NR73/NR67 NY3 down PN Steel
1331 Down Canberra Xplorer.

Apart from those movements, nothing so I chance a quick doze in the sun, until I am woken up by passengers arriving for a southbound service. So I move to the northbound platform and head home, passing BM4 on the way (behind two NR's, so no loss there).

Good day for interesting photos, shame about the QRN trains though. Ah, better to get a photo of 2212 than a couple of orange bulldogs though!

R.

(1) Normally they, and MB4, follow a Campbelltown-bound Endeavour into Sydney, but the last couple of times I've been down there, MB7 has gone ahead of the Endeavour, obviously overtaking it at Moss Vale.

(2) Should have known better, of course...

(3) You'd be forgiven for wondering about all the b/w photos, truth be told, I was having a shocker of a day for colour photos/lighting/contrast, so I took the easy way out...

Just a quickie (hehe, quickie), and another reminder to take photos now, because tomorrow it might be gone.

You might remember this photo:



Have a look at the siding to the right of the main line. Looks disused, yeah? Looks pretty comfortable where it is though, right? Bet you thought it'd be there forever?

Hah.

Was there just over a month after taking that last photo, and saw this:



It's gone! Sure, the turnout is there, but the siding? Vanished.

Something to think about...

R.

I'll be perfectly honest, I'm a very, very lazy man. Not at work, that would be an easy way to cut off my income, but in general, I'll opt for the comfy lounge over the long path up the mountain. Probably why I've been so slack with the photography recently. Not slack in the sense of taking photos, I've got over a thousand again from February alone... Mostly in the "editing and uploading" business.

Come to think of it, perhaps that's why this hobby appeals in the first place. Do I like trains? (check). Do I like photography? (check). Do I like lazing about in the sun for hours on end, exerting myself once an hour or so to move slightly push the shutter down, perhaps wave, then resume my position of slothfulness? YEAH :D.

Was there a point to this rambling? I imagine so.

Ah!

Of course! While trying to remove 236GB of crap from my HDD (that's it's capacity, and it's full...), I moved a lot of my older photos onto two external harddrives, as a temporary measure until I can (a: get a new HDD of 500GB, and b: hook up my last PC to this one as some kind of slave HDD machine). While doing so, I stumbled on the 300+ photos I shot on December 15, 2007. What so about that day, you ask? Well, that was the day I went bezerk around the city chasing another RTM train (for those of you not on Railpage looking for my latest adventure, rest assured it's coming), the RTM members Xmas Party Train.

The tour was pulled by veterans 4803 and 4916, and went Thirlmere - Campbelltown - Central (via East Hills) - Valley Heights, then back south through Enfield to Botany Yard, before moving back to Leightonfield, again via Enfield, then back via Regents Park to Central (if my dodgy memory serves).

I made a number of other sightings on that day, which may be of interest. Some of them mundane, a couple of them interesting!

I first caught the tour at Tempe, having just come off Wolli Creek Junction, with the 49 in the lead:



I moved northwest to Summer Hill, again catching the tour, this time with 4803 leading (as seen above).

With plenty of time to kill, I moved to Campsie for lunch, then on to Canterbury with the intention of snapping the train as it made it's way to Botany. While I failed to get any noteworthy photos of 4916 leading the train towards Botany (a shame, as it was a good view), I did see a couple of other movements, such as this one:



Veterans 603 and 602, still wearing their AN colours stomped past with a rake of empty Southern and Silverton container flats. These poor old veterans are being flogged into the ground, never to receive a new coat of paint. That's not all bad, nice to see a splash of colour around the place :).

I also managed a shot of an Inner Harbour bound coal train, and NR28 running light engine to Chullora, having come off the Indian Pacific...

...which is why I found myself back at Summer Hill, to snap an unremarkable looking NR54 hauling the Adelaide bound train. I jumped to Lewisham to see a 3801ltd tour pass behind 4486 (managed to fudge the photos, of course), before moving back to Central to see the RTM tour arriving back. The option was there to catch them again at Wolli Creek, or somewhere on the East Hills Line, but... well, see above. Raichase = lazy.

Which makes you wonder, how did I go to all the effort of not only remembering, but bashing all this stuff out from last year? Call it boredom, if you will. Perhaps those Codral's are affecting my brain as well as my symptoms.

:)

R.

(Find the rest of the days photos on Flickr, link below):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/raichase/sets/72157603853030816/

Yes, I realize I'm being rather lazy in not finishing my list of the major players of NSW Railways - I will, but I've been spending too much time socializing and not so much time in front of photoshop, or behind the camera.

Anyway, was trackside during the morning of 21/2/08 at Dulwich Hill, and recorded the following sightings:

0924 GM27/4471 down PPL Intermodal to Botany
0932 442s2 down S&S Intermodal to Botany*
0944 8221/8209/GL111/8137 up PN empty coal**
1007 2208/3103/3106 down ARG/Manildra flour to Nowra
1013 8226/8110/GL106 up PN empty coal**
1017 4458/train/4703 down IRA Intermodal to Botany
1024 4906/4903 down PPL Intermodal to Botany
1112 8126/8184 up PN Stone to Cooks River/Enfield
1121 8203/8216/8107/8256 down PN Coal to Port Kembla
1128 EL61/4514 up PPL Intermodal to ???***
1133 8148/8153 up PN Stone to Cooks River/Enfield
1145 8236/8222/8111/8135 up PN empty coal

much later... at Marrickville
1508 8153/8148 down PN Stone to Cooks River
1528 3104****/2201 down ARG/Manildra Intermodal to Botany

Track side again outside Botany on the following day, as the sun began to dip low in the sky...

1727 4708/1434/1435 down IRA Intermodal to Botany*****
1756 442s2 up S&S Intermodal to Leightonfield

*Who else would happen to be hanging out of the jumbo but well known dribbly foamer Davo? Great timing :D. The other passengers on the platform thought it odd that we were trying to have a conversation as he rumbled past.

**Unlike previous sightings, where only one or two passing coalies would contain GL's, and would have 2-3 of them, they have recently been split up again, running as single units supporting other PN units. If this has something to do with the expense of running these leased locos, or simply due to more locos being available, it is unknown.

*** 4514 was a first sighting for me, and is still in Indian Red, owned and operated by Patricks. Normally (except for the other week when it was sighted behind double GL's) this run is hauled by two or three EL class locos leased from CFCLA. I assume it is a western container train, as I've never seen it on the Main South/North, despite seeing it every day at this time running out of Botany/Cooks River.

**** Interestingly running no2 end leading.

***** Apparently this is a daily (?) transfer of containers from Cooks River to Botnay. All this time, I thought it was done by trucks :P

Feel free to stick the boot in if I forget someone!

What was once a single, government owned entity transporting everything from mail, to passengers, to commuters, to fruit, to steel and everything else, The Railways of NSW have had many faces. At the moment, it's the face of privatization, which began in the 1990's, the results really coming to the fore now. Read on, to find out about the current players

Pacific National
AKA Pathetic National...


8150 in the current Pacific National livery leads a shabbier looking classmate north through Thirroul with stone from Dunmore Quarry

Pacific National was formed in 2002 with the sale of (the then) Federal Government owned National Rail Corporation, and the NSW-State Government owned Freightcorp to Toll Holdings and Patrick Corporation. by 2004, they had also acquired "Freight Australia", the Victorian Rail Freight Company.

Pacific National own the lions share of the locomotives and rolling stock in NSW, with a large fleet (and, correspondingly large stake in the market) of coal hoppers for use in The Hunter Valley, many locomotives ranging from the branch line 48 Class (see below) to the modern NR and 90 Classes. The former being used mostly on interstate container/steel runs and the latter being used exclusively on Hunter Valley Coal.


4898 rests at Moss Vale

Pacific National operate a number of Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne intermodal services a day, as well as a number of Perth - Sydney services each week. Other notable operations involve a hook-and-pull contract with Great Southern Railways "Indian Pacific" (see further on in this post), as well as the ever popular Hunter Valley coal traffic. Pacific National, at least until late last year, operated a number of export grain trains during the grain season.

QR National


CLF2 leading a QRN intermodal service from Melbourne, north towards Sydney at Menangle Park

QR National is an expansion of the Queensland Government owned railway, QR. QRN broke into the interstate intermodal market initially with a pair of ex PN G-Class and a pair of ex PN X-Class locomotives, running a twice weekly service from Brisbane to Melbourne and return. Following their acquisition of ARG (Australian Railroad Group), and through the leasing of locomotives from CFCLA (Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia), they have since expanded their standard gauge operations on the east coast, as well as expanding west to Perth. Now, their trains can be seen hauled by their colourful G-Class locomotives, X-Class, or, more commonly, a combination of CLF/CLP/EL locomotives. Regardless, QRN trains are always seen to be more interesting than their PN counterparts due to the interesting lash up combinations on the front of some of their runs. Plus, the crews are always happy to give a wave and a smile.

Australian Railroad Group


2208 leads an Manildra Flour train into Unanderra

ARG is currently a branch of QRNational, operating in NSW on Manildra flour and container trains. They also operate a lot of trains in Western Australia, but that is not the concern of this article here, which aims to focus on NSW Railways. Of note is that, among their fleet includes a number of ex NSWGR 422 locomotives, renumbered into the 22 class, as seen in the photo above.

Southern and Silverton
...or whatever they are calling themselves this week.


80s6 leading an equally cruddy looking 602 north with an empty cotton train

South Spur Rail Services, formerly known as Southern and Silverton, which itself was formerly known as Silverton Rail (and seperate company South Spur Rail, in Western Australia) are fast coming to rival Independent Railways of Australia as the new "Dodgy Brothers" operator.

With a habit of breaking down and blocking main lines, a clapped out looking fleet, and a series of other goings on, the company keeps changing it's name to avoid (among other things) the negative stigma that follows them around. Originally two seperate companies, South Spur Rail and Silverton Tramway, Silverton was bought out by South Spur as a base for their NSW operations. The South Spur name, having gained a bad reputation was dumped in favour of the (then) well respected "Silverton" name with it's eye catching fleet of yellow and blue locomotives (themselves on lease from ALLCO). Having run both the fleet and the name into the dirt, the operators changed to "Southern and Silverton", before abandoning the Silverton name altogether (a sad end for a company that began in Silverton back in 1886) and picking the South Spur flag back up again.

Despite having a very... uhhh... historical fleet of locomotives, offering a variety of motive power and an always entertaining show (nothing like a thick black cloud of smoke that screams "jumbo"), they often break down on hills (just recently, a pair of IRA MZ locos had to give a SSRS train a push up Cowan Bank) and generally get in the way of other operators.

The locomotives in the photo above, for example, are a pair of vintage English Electric units from Western Australia that would not talk to anything other than another EE locomotive, and even then, only to some members of sister classes...

Independent Railways of Australia
...perhaps better known as LVRF or "Dodgy Bros"



Independant Railways of Australia, originally known as Lachlan Valley Rail Freight, or, more commonly "Dodgy Bros" due to their poor maintenance of their fleet, their use of heavily graffiti'd, overworked locomotives that were long since retired from government service and headed for the scrap heap. They break down, they belch smog, they clank and rattle, and they look like they are on their last legs.

Most of their fleet is made up of locomotives leased from other operators, such as Lachlan Valley Railway (A heritage railway based in Cowra), although the current state of the "heritage" units means there won't be anything left to preserve at the end of their lease. They also own a fleet of ex Danish Railways NOHAB MZ Class, refitted at Braemer near Mittagong, and painted in IRA's eye catching silver livery.

IRA do a lot of work for Railcorp/ARTC hauling spoil and infrastructure trains.

To be continued...

(Any comments or corrections? Please contact me!)

R.