CANBERRA KETTLES - MICHELAGO REOPENING

  

Note: This was way back in 1993, so some memories are a tad foggy.

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These photos were all taken over the weekend of April 25/26th, 1993.
It was a special weekend for the ARHS (Canberra), with numerous steam operations to celebrate the railway festival, along with the opening of the 'Michelago Tourist Railway' on the 26th.
At the time, I was a non-active member of the museum, having mostly joined due to their taking 
the lease out on the Yass Railway Museum. 

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I actually arrived in Canberra late on the 24th, travelling with John Auer, Kevin 'K-Med' Medley and David 'MrX' Xuereb.
 For whatever reason, we stayed the weekend at a spot on the north outskirts of Canberra. I doubt we could have picked a place any further from the railway had we tried.

On Sunday the 25th, shuttles operated between Canberra and Queanbeyan using 1210 and 3016.
My notes seem to show the following timetable:

09.00 - 1210

10.00 - 1210

11.30 - 3016

13.30 - 3016
I am unsure if this was all the shuttles, or just the ones we saw on the day.

Locomotives

1210 Beyer Peacock 1767 of 1878

3016 Beyer Peacock 4459 of 1903

I have also noted that there was a railway display at Canberra on the day.

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Us fans of the diesel locomotive were treated to 42209 on the Canberra Express. But the best was yet to come, 

with 4477 to arrive on that nights express.

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Day 2 - April 26th

At the risk of being berated by the steam fans, the highlight of the weekend was when 4477 turned up at Queanbeyan (06.19) on the Sydney bound Canberra Express.
A whole train of candy goodness to admire.

Later on, the inaugural train to Michelago arrives from Canberra, then runs around it's train 

for the journey south.

An added bonus was this Tiger Moth that followed us from Queanbeyan to Hume.

On arrival in Michelago (have not found those shots yet) the two locomotives were turned, the train split in two, with both sections returning separately.

I had ridden the train down, so opted to chase 3016 back to Queanbeyan with MrX.

The weekend ended for us as 3016 arrived back at Queanbeyan in the late afternoon.

3016 is seen coming off the former Bombala line, the track to Canberra being on the right.

On the way back to Sydney we passed 4461 on that evenings Canberra Express (19.17)

Local Area Rail Heritage Sites

Cooma Monaro Railway

Cooma Monaro Railway - Facebook

Friends of Bombala Railway Park

Canberra Railway Museum

Michelago Railway Station

Nimmitabel Railway Station

Updates from all these heritage sites appear on the Semi-Retired Foamer page from time to time.

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Thanks to:
John Auer, Karl Maftoum, Kevin Medley, Lindsay Richmond and David Xuereb