~~ HAWKSBURY FOAMER SESSION ~~

Heck it has been a lot of years since I strutted my foamer bot on up to the beautiful Hawksbury River for a day of gunzel activity.
Things had changed little, 'JJs Seafood' was still across the road, the magnificent scenery remained the same and that usual local feeling of relaxation instantly rolls across you, enveloping you in one of those rare happy feelings.

I'm gradually reaquainting myself with the pleasures of a day lineside, aving virtually given it up two years ago in a futile attempt at greater happiness being involved in the Filipino community here in Sydney.
Growing discontent over the backstabbing, rumours, lies and gossip has had me looking back more and more, to the days of old. The simpler days spent by the countries railway lines, waiting for trains and talking whatever bollocks tat comes to mind with whatever railfan mate is with you.

Now as most would know, I am not one for the railfan tool, te wanker who judges his existence by the size of his, well, lens. You know, the ego-maniac railfan who feels there is nothing better than being the countries leading gunzel, well, perhaps a box of tissues while looking at S set photos in the privacy of ones bedroom.

Anyway, so it was that everyones beloved Colonel asked me to come along on a trip to Hawksbury River with his good self and our other great mate Trent, or Raichase to those whos entire existence revolves around that conveyor of occasional truth, RailPage.

As was expected, a day of great fun, many laughs, calamari and the occasional out of gauge movement was had. Numeorus trains were recorded on the old camera devices and even the occasional hornbag strutted her stuff for all to see.
Good ol Aussie humour came to the fore and on more than one occasion we nearly had one of those personal type accidents no railfans, outside of Melbourne, wishes to have while on the hunt.

Thanks to Colonel and Raichase for an awesome day - hope we can repeat it again soon.

Spadge

V Set approaches Hawksbury River.

V25 at Hawksbury River - hmmmm love that brake smell.

T28 at Strathfield prior to our trip north.

S73 at Burwood!

Not long for this world, S67 is seen approaching Strathfield.

A Gunzel Pelican!

Passenger purchases ticket from one of those ticket machine contraptions!

Passengers arrive for a day of Hawksbury Entertainment.

Southern Spirit liveried NR84 leads sister NR68 on a down container service.

Pretty in pink!

Awaiting the next service from Strathfield!

Mop and bucket to platform 1 :-)
Trent and The Colonel discuss whether T set bogies are better than S class doors.

3801 has a lot to answer for!

Uhhmmm OK, I will take two 9kg cylinders worth thanks!

Beautiful Hawksbury River!

Same!!!!

8236 39 58 56 on a down empty coal train.

8153 48 71 48127 up grain train.

Transvestite at Strathfield and headed for Sydney Terminal!

IRA 1428 and 1445 on down containers at Hawksbury River!

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Join us in coming days when the Colonel and myself are joined by the wives for a day of ferry foaming, trains and significant hornzaling activity.

10553

~~ DRIBBLY FOAMERS AFTER DARK ~~

It is a question many of you have probably wondered over the years, "what exactly do railfans get up to after dark".
It is indeed a good question, and while there is a number of things, most of them cannot be listed here for moral and keeping your last meal down reasons.
Now far be it from me to judge what railfans do behind their own doors, I mean if they wish to risk paper cuts from prints on their most sesitive of parts, or don't mind an unwelcome visit or two from the RSPCA, then that is their choice and, quite frankly, none of our business. Unless it's our poodle.

On the odd occasion, some of the more, ahhmmm, well I wouldn't say mentally balanced, perhaps interesting, railfans get together (for a party you filthmongers).
Hmmmmm well some of us with an appreciation for alcohol and excessive consumption of same, occasionally get together for a BBQ, drinkies, chat and, some of us, to vomit on each other before falling on the floor.

Its times like this that allow you to unwind, to forget about that 92 year old guy that tried to fondle you lineside at Tahmoor last month and to finally get passed the last two years of utter devestation over missing 3112 as emergency engine on the Indian Pacific.

So put down your 'Bovine Weekly' stick book and grab your softest rag, lets have a look back into the anals of railfan history for a party had way back in 2006, a time when trains were much the same as they were today and gerbil injuries were on the increase.

The woman and children went into hiding!

A former editor of Railway Digest paws through some railfan porn while Tezza looks on!

Scotty knows how to handle the meat.

Another Digest editor looks after his contributers!

Yes well, it was time to take a number!

Dr Seuss drops in to represent CFCLA, while the psycologist is still looking for nuts!

Things begin to heat up in the railfan room and inhibitions are

thrown out the window.

~~ FORUMS WITH A SENSE OF HUMOUR ~~

I know for some it is hard to believe, but the railfan hobby is there for fun and isn't actually a life and death situation.
NOW COME ON GUYS, get up off the floor, surely it can't have been that great a shock for you. I mean you don't get paid for it, you do it in your spare time, you get enjoyment from it - so it isn't something you have to begrudgingly do to make some money to feed your sorry mouthes.

I long ago all but gave up on dry, serious and somewhat stale railfan forums because of this and just thought I would promote what I have found around the net in recent times.
All the groups would certainly welcome new members and I would love the chance to talk to other people.
Perhaps you to may have a sense of humour (they are very easy going groups) and like to join them.

I should point out that they aren't my groups, I just enjoy them as a member and don't need more stresses of moderation and group running :-)

WHEELS ON STEEL

Sort of like RailPage but with a sense of humour.
Great train discussions, a tram section and most importantly, a hornbag photography section.

THE FOAMER FILES

Apparently a railfan forum about railfans - they claim it to be a world first - possibly is.
Quite funny so far and, following bulk whinging, also a hornbag section.

RETROBUS

If buses, especially older types and ones now extinct, are what floats your boat, then you will certainly enjoy this forum.
Covering mostly Australia, it does have sections on other countries and also a latest bus news department.

RAILBASTARD

I am not entirely sure of the content there, but it's supposed to be good and coimes with a money back guarantee! NOT!

Hope some of these may be of interest.

~~ A NIGHT OF SPARK PHOTOGRAPHY ~~

Has ol Spadge finally lost the plot?

Well what does one do on a boring Friday night at home?
Much has changed in my life during recent months and the 'Semi-Retired Foamer' is slowly finding his old interest in railways dribbling its way back into him. Indeed it is dribbling back so much that, excepting my accidently running in to too many weirdos, I may again be regularly seen lineside after so many years.

So it was that the 'Semi-Retired Foamer' headed out to Heathcote to meet up with his old mate Terry for a spot of evening gunzelling.
The night gunzel was once a fortnightly event for me, I would head off to Menangle, usually with David Henderson (man whatever happened to him) to watch the passing parade of trains. This was back in the days of 44s, 45s, Gs, 422s, 80s etc etc, not to mention the milk siding shunt which occasionally added some interest.

Often enough, for a change, we would head to Cowan to watch spark locos grinding their way through. Hmmm yeah, to think we used to groan at the sight of 86s on a freight. They were considered almost as boring as a S set.
Oh how priorities change, the 86 class are gone, along with the 46s and 85s, while now the final months of the old S and R sets have put them in a completely new light.
Brought me back to thinking of the days when the single decks were on their last legs. The time spent chasing them around the system, getting as many photos and videos as possible, where once again I previously would never have looked at them.
Yes gunzels - one day we will be going mental over Millenium shots. Well probably not me, I will be pushing up daisies by then I would imagine.

Well firstly lets peruse the dribbly foamer report on passing freight trains before heading into the all important wanki, ahhmmm, photography part.

8218 8209 8239 8211 - up mt coal - 19.20
8234 8208 8129 8256 - up mt coal 20.15
8206 8244 8231 - dn coal - 20.33
8131 8109 48159 - dn ore - 20.58
8245 8258 8216 - dn coal - 22.01
8203 DL42 DL40 DL38 - up mt coal - 22.08

We were lucky to see this last one, having already walked to the cars, we ended up talking for a few minutes and saw the headlight approaching from Waterfall.

OK now, hope you have plenty of burn cream on hand,
here comes the photos!

Tangara departs Heathcote for Bondi Junction.
WOW, things that dreams are made of.

Same Tangara awaiting passengers to get off their sad backsides and on to the train.

Finally, oneof the sets I came here for turns up with a service to Waterfall.

Hmmmmmm Set S - this vehicle is unique to all the others due to, ahhhmmmm, hmmmm, well I suppose it's number. Apart from that its pretty much the same as any other one, well, except for graffiti pattern.

A bridge!
Yes it had got a little quiet.

The platforms view of an S set.

Hornbags love S Sets and so this one was very disappointed to get a Tangara!

Terry tells me it is somewhat unusual for L sets to carry
passengers stopping at Heathcote.
I suppose thusly that I should be aroused by this chance.

SWWWWWWIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ahhh yes punters, the set you have been waiting for,
Sydney's outstanding pride of the fleet.
S34

Heathcote at night with a spark entering the platform.

Ahhhhhhh how could one resist taking a break from all the horizontal toaster excitment for one minute to photograph a local hornbag.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Seriously though, I had a great night and enjoyed the opportunity to photograph sparks after dark. It is something I haven't done for many years, well perhaps even a couple of decades.
I will no doubt be endeavouring to get more before they leave our rails forever.

~~ HUNTER HOLIDAY HIJINKS ~~

and NEATH WEEKEND #11

** NOTE: As always, high-res copies of all photos are available for any
magazine who may wish to use such **

PART 3 OF 3

Ohhh yes, it is the moment you have all been waiting for, the conclusion of one of the greatest foamer stories of all time.
What better a way to achieve this than with a look at out 11th Neath Railfan Night, followed by a last dribbly look around Newcastle.
For those who don't know, the 'Neath Railfan Nights' have become quite the institution. Usually attended by societies more normal gunzel types, we gather around for dinner/drinks and endless babble about railways (regualr operations and preservation), all the while, remaining safe in the comforting thought that our bottom virginity will remain intact.
If your, shall we say, regular, feel free to email us for details of upcoming events. It is always great to welcome new people.

The Neath Bus!

MrNathan suffering from excessive Snickers consumption!

Live band every Saturday night!

Twas time to get a room for some :-)


A first time Neath night attendee was Mr Stuart Ellis.
It was great to see you there mate and hope to see you at future ones.
His car gave the Holden fans a throsby :-)

Oh dear!

Two more new attendes were Matt (in red) and a rather concerned looking Ted Rose sitting between Stuart and a, ahhmmm, busy looking Mr Nathan :-)
It transpires that Ted also has a big interest in things Philippines.

Another random hornbag shot - this time at Warabrook!

BL27 and PL5+PL2 bludge around Morandoo Yard during the Easter weekend.

Dang - when did we loose the ability to make interesting locomotive designs.
YAWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
ARG's AC4301 at Goninan's, or whatever they are called this week.

Same again, but with 5010.

M/O 1409 on route 104 passes through a rather quiet Wickham!

BONUS BUS

Just for all the Bunzels in your family, here be a surprise showing a week after Newcastle in King Street Mascot.

I sincerely hope part three was everything you had hoped for.
If not - Then remember how much you actually paid to get it.

Tally ho

POWERHOUSE MUSEUM LIGHT RAILWAY

It has been years since we went to the Powerhouse Museum, but the Start Wars exhibition currently showing ensured the kids would not allow me to get away with it for much longer.

Not sure how long this has been there, but it certainly encouraged many kids to play trains.