Random Bollocks From A Semi-Retired Foamer!

Hello ferals, foamers and regular members of society who have managed to stuff up and find themselves on my website.

I recently was shovelling through the crud I call an archive in search of things Philippine related, when low and behold I come across a couple of boxes of photos that I haven't seen in well over a decade.

The boxes are from an era that I gave up cataloguing and thought it would be a damn sight easier just to shove them altogether in boxes and push them to the bloody side. After all, I was getting married, and you all know whats on the mind when your getting married hey, heheheehehehe, yes, hmmmm, well some of the railfans may know anyway.


The boxes contain older trains shots, as well as piles of shots of people I've known and places I have been.

While rooting through them I had one of those rare good ideas, I could do a serious of them on the website. I mean they are no bloody good to anyone here other than the occasional cockroach that tends to treat them as a dump for its faeces.


Thankfully the novelty of life has long since worn off and I have nothing better to do than catalogue these photos finally and share them with anyone who gives a left testie about old railway photos.

I am not a selfish prick, like so many others, so if by chance something may be of use for an article, book, or just a general whinge to some railway publication, please feel free to ask. I am not going to sodomise you for doing so.


Where I am able, I shall try to fire up the decaying memory and share any stories behind the photos, why I was there, who I was with. I suppose, in many ways, it will be just like those life stories that super stars write, and like them, I am sure nobody will give a right toss.


Thoughts, comments and additions are always welcome - should you have the time.


Cheers

Brad

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WALLANGARRA

Its a name guaranteed to raise tent shapes in almost any railfan's durps, a huge yard, dual gauge, border station for the NSW and Queensland Railways. Even from a modellers viewpoint it is an awesome subject, having been attempted as a layout a few times, but as yet I am unaware of anyone who has completed the feat.


By the time I got the shots above I had already been through 'The Garra' on a few occasions, but on this 90s day we actually spent the afternoon covering the place for the purposes of our own attempt at a HO scale exhibition layout.

We didn't intend to get here, actually we departed Brisbane in the early hours to go to Toowoomba, first to check out Willowburn depot, and then go to a local model railway open day.


The model exhibition was not all we had hoped for, sort of like the first girlfriend when she tells you she is waiting for marriage before doing the SPECIAL thing, so we decided to check out the Millmeran branchline. Headed south, we managed to cover it all before lunch and, following much discussion found ourselves penetrating deeper into the cavity of south Queensland, our destination being the Texas branch.


Texas itself must have been an interesting yard, comlete with triangle.

If I recall correctly, the station building still existed at the time of our visit. I remember walking across a field with MrX to photograph a old railway building, then leaving in a hurry when a bull started its approach with a look of hate on its face. Despite the possibility of a severe bovine violation, I am sure we obtained some photographs and these will likely surface eventually.


With the afternoon getting on, we again set sale, this time into NSW again, then along the border to Wallangarra.

Thankfully daylight was still plentiful and the next 3-4 hours were spent combing the yard, photographing, discussing and occasionally letting out a strangely erotic grunt when something of interest appeared.

All to soon we were headed back to Brisbane, rabbiting on endlessly about the plans to build the Wallangarra layout, a layout that 13 years later still ain't happened.

BROKEN HILL

God knows what year this was, it was in the 90s and it was part of a two week triangle trip from Sydney to Port Augusta, Whyalla, Adelaide,

Melbourne and back to Sydney.

Have done this run a few times, this trip being with one Bob Gioia (aka alco4833).

I, ahhhhhmmm, buggar. Sorry am having a bit of a rum block.

Perhaps Google Broken Hill to source further info on Broken Hill.

More random shots coming soon.