One of the saddest parts of devoting your life to furthering the railway hobby is the hatred it attracts from those who either do nothing or those with some belief that they have competition.
  In recent weeks the 'Strange Modeler of Universal Trains' (SMUT) has been subject to a number of false accusations, along with hints aimed at our honesty in dealing with helping museums.
  The one being dealt with in this article is the accusation that SMUT members do not get their hands dirty in preservation. Given that membership is heavily drawn from museum volunteers, these comments have caused significantly upset and anger.
  Yes, we are not blind to the fact that these attacks were never made to be factual, their sole purpose being to try to stop our efforts to help. Over the years we have witnessed many good people forced out of the hobby, their biggest crime is that that they did something good for the hobby.
  Is that really the hobby we want?
  Do we really want a hobby at all?

  So, in light of all this, I bring forth an interesting selection of images covering the important work done almost weekly by members of our group.
  Yes, I know that this will only provoke further lies and hate, but we are lucky to have so many people dedicated to preservation and I feel it is about time they are all properly recognised.

Nathan at Neath during a tour of SMR10 and 18.

Paul on his beloved MARJORIE.
Paul is a very regular volunteer at the Richmond Vale Railway Museum.

Aaron getting his hands dirty at Thirlmere.

Michael and Aaron (Brothers Hobson) caught in a busy moment.

Quite possibly the nicest guy to exist in the railway hobby, Zane does a huge amount for the railway preservation and modelling scenes.
State Mine is one of his more frequent haunts and it is where he is seen above.

Zane at it again. State Mine.

Hunter legend Ray on the Goodwin ALCo owned 4833,

The SMUT team who made the Naradhan tour possible.
Left to right.
David X - Tour help.
Brad - Organiser: seating, ticketing, promoting, magazine and PR.
Greg - Organiser: Train, sales, LVR liason.
David H - Tour jack of all trades.
Hendo: Buffet car manager.
Rodney: Barbeque Cookerer and road support.
Sean: Tour help.

Rodney attending to the cooking needs of the pre-Naradhan tour party at Cootamundra West (not on ARTC property).

Lenny, one of the hard working volunteers at the Crookwell museum.

Ben, another volunteer worker at the Richmond Vale Railway Museum.

Thanks to everyone who sent in photos for this article and thanks to all those S*M*U*T members who go above and beyond for the preservation scene.

 

  Continued packing for a move of residence is bringing forth copious amounts of photos taken over the years.
  Many are newish, even more that bring on the depressing reality of how old I actually am now, all however just seem to sit around doing buggar all of use to humanity.

  Many of these shots are being gradually placed on my FLICKR SITE, so if your not content to wait here for my less than regular updates, then you are invited to take a squiz there.

Hendo and MrX find the excitment of going to Naradhan a little bit to much.

I suppose "reflecting on a long career" is the usual overused caption for this one.

4464 stares down the approaching storm at Ungarie while the patrons head off for lunch.

Mk2 Leopard 1722 nears the end of its days driving passengers around Sydney.
In the garage at Waverley bus depot.

1717 doing similar.

The long trip from Redbank to Rockdale saw a temporary stopover at Werris Creek.
Locomotive 4705 in the background.

D34 during some steelworks shunting action at Port Kembla.

A still clean 4717 hauls a mostly empty rake of container flats out of Port Botany.

GL104 prepares to run around its train at the Elouera dump.
A ceasing of coal production has seen this line fall out of use recently.

Always a great feeling when the day is about ended, you think your daylight shots have ended and then something like these 48ers roll up.
Still one of NSW's best engines.

More delicious picks shortly.

SMUT NARADHAN TOUR

Part 3

After months of organising and stress, the day had finally arrived that we were to set forth to Naradhan and into history.  But actually boarding the train was no guarantee of our getting to this far flung terminushe fact the train was at the platform eased concerns a lot, but until we pulled into Naradhan yard there was no to be total relief.

Stunning weather, sunny but not hot, greeted as on arrival at the station.
Spirits were high, a chance meeting of a ol Coota North Box friend from two decades ago had been considered a good sign, and we quickly offloaded the drinks and snacks for the weekend and loaded the train.

Mel tries in vain to keep her hubby from getting over excited and jumping up and down in from of the other tour patrons.

A good morning greeting from a passing steel train bound for Melbourne.

Colonel prepares of two days full of living in the good ol days, back when things were a lot more civilised.

I don't whinge..........much.
Those kind Lachlan Valley guys hang up our groups banner.

Roddy puts his little unit on display for all to see.

Excited travelers hop out for photos at Temora station.

Storm clouds threatened as we arrived in Ungarie for lunch at the local Central Hotel.
Luckily rail held off for our walk to the hotel and back again, and it did provide a lovely backdrop.

Time to eat and then we are off on our history making journey to Naradhan.

More to come in Part 4 - Control yourselves until then.

SMUT INAUGERAL TOUR

NARADHAN 2014

Part 1 of a photographic spectacular unlike any other as you follow me through what was a very historical trip to Naradhan (NSW).
Not only was it a first for the 'Strange Modelers of Universal Trains', it was also a first for any Alco World Series 44 class in Naradhan.
Equally special was that the Saturday coincided with the exact 20th anniversary of 4464 entering  preservation (Cardiff auction 1994).
A great tribute to an amazing locomotive class.
Over the next couple of weeks, a photographic feast will appear here - prepare to be excited, maybe even mildly tingly. 

A surprise text from Trevor at Roto saw as duck into Gunning after a quick brekkie stop at Goulburn (bakery opposite the servo with the big ram).
The servo itself has been a tradition of decades, but numerous changes have occurred over the years and now they just never seem open - at least not for breakfast trade.
The bakery does come highly recommended though. They have taken on the servos tradition of putting half a pigs worth on each roll. They are obviously not certified by the Halal Certification business.

Timing went well, with an XPT and PS6 passing through with not much time between them.

We were in no hurry to get to Cootamundra and found ourselves sidetracked by some interesting local Gunning history.

Baileys Garage in Gunning and its Holden tribute was amazing.
The things you miss when your the one usually driving.

A brief stop in Yass Town was had, the locals putting on a free sausage sizzle as part of a road safety campaign. Not the sort of thing a hungry Semi-Retired Foamer and pals would want to miss out on.
While leaving the town for Bowning and Galong, we were surprised to find an old friend from back home, now spending its time as a mobile op shop instead of carting around that which passes for Sydney society nowdays.

Galong Railway Station - Opened 1915 (2nd station)
Junction for the long since closed line to Boorowa.
Lots of Australian railway infrastructure photos and info can be found on our
Australasian Railway Infrastructure Group.

Finally, around one hour later than planned, we arrive in Cootamundra and catch up with some of the other group members and prepare for two and a half days of fun.

Stay tuned, more barely tolerable adventures on the Naradhan weekend will be coming up shortly.