SLIDING

SLIDING

Storm approaching Eugowra Yard.

Exeter Station - Australia

East Greta Junction.
Start of the South Maitland Railways

Eugowra yard

Grenfell station

Goulburn Roundhouse

Galong Yard layout

Semi Retired Foamer 

Videos

A selection of videos taken in 1989, showcasing the situation at Yass Town, Yass Junction, Bowning, Galong and Boorowa.

Yass Town

Join us as we follow the line from the town, to the junction.
A look at the stations, sidings and other infrastructure, not long after the line saw it's final train.
The video finishes with a selection of current-day photos of the line.

Bowning To Boorowa via Galong
A look at these three locations back in 1989.
Signaling and services that will never be seen again.
Boorowa yard is seen back when the yard was still intact

Stay tuned for more riveting 1989 railway footage.
Subscribe to my YouTube channel to be immediately notified of future episodes.

Another riveting selection of slides from back in the days before hatred and ego controlled the railfan hobby. They were great days, no internet, just lineside mateship.
You can excuse anyone for being bitter. Years of trying to make a better hobby, trying to further railway preservation in NSW, just to be attacked endlessly from people professing to run the railway heritage industry, or who run mediocre Facebook groups while carrying a huge chip of HAYte on their shoulders.  At least I have close friends, and a massive pile of memories left to enjoy. All of which I am happy to share with like-minded people who still care about the railfan hobby.

Beautiful Exeter station remains very much the same in 2018.

East Greta Junction on the South Maitland Railway.

Eugowra (terminus of line from Cowra)

Goulburn before the museum moved in.

Galong before a container train went through is.
Stay tuned for video footage from this station.

More old 80s/90s images (and videos) shortly.

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.

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.