The Semi-Retired Foamer has been a railfan since he was around 5 years old, oh yes a very young age, an age when one really should avoid being involved with the gunzel community to any great extent. A few rather unsavoury people bringing that fact home.
After a few decades of train chasing, one decided to break with protocol and get married, thus leading to a severe cut in railfan activity.
Subsequent dealings with hate breeders, lunatics, mental defectives and self-appointed preservation overlords lead to an even greater decrease in my hobby participation.
However things have changed thanks to our small group of trusted mates, interest has returned, and now I have become a bit more involved yet again.
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Over the years I have tried my best to further both the hobby, as well as the friendships that it brings. I have done this by setting up proactive groups both here in Australia, as well as the Philippines. It is with huge honour that I am often considered the founding father of the railfan hobby in the Philippines (my second home).
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I don't take the hobby too seriously and I am a friend to anyone who is good and genuine. But never forgive those who have used their hate to destroy my hobby or hurt the friends within it.

Let's Make The Hobby Great Again!
I aim to share the era that I considered mine, the 80s and 90s. I also like to help promote, and even raise funds for, the various heritage societies that keep the era alive
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**** LOCOMOTIVE/ PUBLICATIONS ****
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We occasionally publish information on the locomotives, and rollingstock, from railways in Australia and the Philippines.
All are available for
FREE at our ALR WEBSITE.




Please email me should you wish to use anything from this site !



Friday, December 8, 2017



As part of the task of cataloguing the massive collection accumulated over the years, I recently decided to start going through all the slides.
The of the 80,000+ print collection has been gone through numerous times, but the slides have not been looked at for a couple of decades.
Needless to say, I am finding a huge amount of surprises within the confines of those dusty slide boxes and, being the generous chap that I am, I shall be bringing forth a lot of these for your enjoyment.




Boorowa had not long seen it's last grain train when these shots were taken. The yard, such as it was, was still intact, as was the bridge approaching the yard, signalling and turntable.
In 2017, it is far from a pretty sight.
The classic truck in the top shot is believed to be an International.



One of the lesser known stations on the Sydney network.
Hope Street was a railway employees platform to the south of Delec.


Galong track diagram.



Galong station, facing north towards Sydney.
photo taken prior to the derailment that saw a good portion of the

down building demolished.


Grenfell station a few years after closure.


Forbes station, on the Stockinbingal-Parkes line, has not changed much more than a paint job into different colours.
Forbes opened in 1893.



Candy, it just improved the look of everything.


Not much was left of Sodwalls in the late 80s, but there was still 
far more than exists in 2017.
The station, complete with passenger amenities, first opened back in 1872.


As was the custom of the day, every Hunter trip commenced with a visit to the Toronto branch, before heading around to the Belmont line.
This morning we were a little earlier, being there to watch the sun rise up over Lake Macquarie. Sadly those shots did not scan well.
The morning sun had just fully lit the whole station when this shot was taken. Soon we would send the next couple of hours chasing spuddies back and forth to Fassifern.

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More slides from the SRF and S*M*U*T archive coming shortly.


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