GOODBYE 9002 & 9012

 

It looks like it is time to farewell our beasts of the coal roads.

  The New South Wales 90 Class locomotives were purpose-built for one job—hauling enormous coal trains through the Hunter Valley—and they have been doing it with remarkable reliability since entering service in 1994. Built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in London, Ontario, Canada, the class was designed to deliver exceptional tractive effort rather than outright speed. Weighing in at 165 tonnes and powered by the legendary EMD 16-710G3A engine, they remain the heaviest diesel locomotives to operate on the New South Wales network. Their immense weight restricts them almost exclusively to Hunter Valley coal traffic, but that's exactly where they belong. They may not be the most glamorous locomotives on the rails, but when there's a mountain of coal to move, the 90 Class has long proved that there's simply no substitute for raw muscle.

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9002

Named: Michael Wendon

Builders #: 1374/918266-2

Service: 5/1994

Scrapped: 6/2026

Age: 32 years, 1 month

9002 9014 9022 - Empty Coal - Hunter River

Photo: Brad Peadon

9002 9004 - Special Tour - Singleton. 

Units were brand new at the time.

Photo: Bradly Coulter

9002 9012 9004 dead hauled behind 8241 8258 

for storage in Werris Creek. 

 4525G Grain - Thornton

Photo: Bradly Coulter

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9012 (Also reported to be gone)

Named:

Neil Brooks, Peter Evans, Mark Kerry & Mark Tonelli

Builders #: 1384/918266-12

Service: 6/1994

Scrapped: 6/2026

Age: 32 years

9012 90xx - Empty Coal - East Maitland

Photo: Brad Peadon

9012 90xx - Empty Coal - Hexham

Photo: Brad Peadon

9012 9005 - Coal To Pt Waratah - Warabrook

Photo: Brad Peadon

9012 - Peek A Boo - Maitland

Photo: Brad Peadon

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2024 MELBOURNE EXHIBITION - PART 1

 

Coming in part 2.

Google Maps

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.

"Good grief, he's taken his sweet a*** time getting this post online."

And you'd be absolutely correct. After all, I've already covered the 2026 Rosehill Exhibition, yet here we are, only now arriving at the 2024 Melbourne Exhibition at the Showgrounds.

Firstly, though, I'd like to politely request that you be a little less rude. :-)

In all seriousness, I will freely admit this post is somewhat overdue. So I'm going to dust off the old "better late than never" chestnut and hope it makes the situation sound slightly less embarrassing.

Now comes the part where I desperately attempt to justify myself.

The 2024 Melbourne trip unfortunately marked the beginning of several rather unpleasant months health-wise, with the following six or seven months seemingly spent as a permanent resident of various hospital waiting rooms, wards, and departments. As you can imagine, that left me well behind on both work and blog writing.

To add to the fun, one particularly moronic—and unfortunately well-known—railfan decided that making light of my health issues was a splendid idea. That little episode soured my enthusiasm for revisiting the trip, so Melbourne quietly got shoved into the "I'll deal with it later" basket.

More recently, however, I've found myself digging back through the photos and memories while preparing a number of upcoming Australian Locomotive Rosters projects. That finally gave me the push needed to finish what should probably have been written about eighteen months ago.

For me, this was my first Melbourne Exhibition. I've visited the southern state plenty of times over the years, but somehow never managed to coincide with exhibition weekend.

It was an interesting experience. Different state, different venue, yet I still seemed to spend half the day bumping into fellow New South Welshmen. At times it felt less like Melbourne and more like Rosehill with slightly different scenery.

The exhibition featured a great selection of layouts, many of which I'd never seen before, along with plenty of traders eager to assist in reducing the contents of visitors' wallets.

This two-part model railway extravaganza will take a look at the layouts and trade stands before concluding with the hobby's least anticipated and most unnecessary honour: the SRF Awards.

Putting these sites together does take an immense amount of time and effort.

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Malmsbury.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Penzance 1913.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Metro Hobbies. Website

Photo: Brad Peadon

Above and two below.

Borderline.

Presumably based on the South Australian / Victorian railway.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Above and below.
I do love timber industry layouts and Kinmont was a new one for me.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Above and three below.
Winch No.3 being another.

Great stuff guys.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Four Letter Press (Get The Met). Website.

As an obsessive of the Met era, I was pretty wrapped to learn of this business.
I believe they have since put out another book based on the railways. Hoping there are tram and bus ones coming also.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Orient Express Hobbies. Website.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Piping Shrike Models. Website.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Above and four below.

Beechy.

Based on Victoria's former Beech Forest line.

Wikipedia.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Went to the exhibition with Mr Kevin (K-Med) Medley.

Bumped in to ol mate MrX (in the middle).

A HUGE thanks to K-Med for the Met book.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Another line of particular interest is Sydney's former Carlingford (and Sandown) line. 

I'm always happy to see this one again. But am wondering when they plan to convert it to light rail.

Carlingford/Sandown Railway Archive
Carlingford Railway: Wikipedia

Photos: Brad Peadon

Argyle Loco Works. Website

Photo: Brad Peadon

My dear friend Phil Badger from Gopher Models & Badger Bits.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Ffarquhar.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Above and below.

Two-Mile Creek.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Above and below.

Cinnamon Port.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Train World. Website.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Above and below.

Mr Steve Pracy on his SDS Models stand.

Website.

Photos: Brad Peadon

Rumour has it that the Auscision stand is the second brightest thing in the galaxy following the sun.

Website. 

Photo: Brad Peadon

Junction Models. Website.
Photo: Brad Peadon

On Track Models. Website.

Photo: Brad Peadon

Stay tuned for the illustrious SRF Exhibition Award.

Coming in Part 2.

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Ones Patient Asawa & Kevin 'K-Med' Medley.

All my many friends who I had a ball catching up with.

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Rosehill Exhibition - Part 1

Philippine Model Railway Club

All The Smutty Details Group (Detail Photos)

Carlingford/Sandown Railway Archive

SDS Models

Gopher Models & Badger Bits

IDR Models

Australian Railway Detail Photos (ARDP)

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