Train to the Southern Highlands to Celebrate 150 Years

G'day all,

Spent the day chasing trains. The Rail Transport Museum put a train on to visit Bowral (famous for Sir Donald Bradman) and Mossvale as this year these towns celebrate 150 years, nothing on the UK !! Below are some pics of the train consisting of 3642 (green) and 3265 (maroon), double heading there way south from Sydney. Unfortunately, locomotive 3830 should of headed this train, but due to mechanical issues, she wasn't able to. Anyway, it provided a great day of photography.


^ Ready to leave Revesby in Sydney to get back on its way to Mossvale in the Southern Highlands.


Above and below - Southern Highlander rounding the viaduct south of Burradoo.




Below, Passing by at speed enroute to Mossvale.




^ After the locos dropped the train off in the platform, they reversed back up the line to the triangle, north of Mossvale. This shot is of the locos reversing back from the triangle running around the their train on the loop.


^ here the locos have run around its train, then travelled across the up line to the siding to take on water and a little maintenance.


^ 3642 takes a little oiling as the water gin takes on water.

            
^ My boys taking interest ! They nicknamed 3642 'Henry'. 


^ 3265 and fireman taking it easy whilst the locos take on water in Mossvale.


^ An 'arty' shot… This still was taken from my video. I really like this pic as it shows off speed and motion.

Cheers, Gary.

Great photos Gary.

Next time I'm over I must get up into the southern highlands. We've done Katoomba and the south coast line, both of which were fabulous and I want the chance to do the zig zag too…. So much to do, so little time.



Cheers

Marty

Hi Marty,

No chance doing the Zig Zag, that line has closed due to not following procedures… I wanted to take my boys up there once they were old enough to remember, but unfortunately the doors are shut.

Cheers, Gary.

 

Ack, Noooo! 
Maybe by the time I get to Sydney again they'll have it sorted.
Thanks for the heads up.
Marty

Unfortunately I don't think so. It has been non-operational for well over 12 months…  :twisted:  Oh well, next time you come over, plan it with one of the RTM/Heritage Express tours…

http://www.nswrtm.org/index.html or the Heritage Express link ; http://www.heritageexpress.com.au/ This link will show you what they run throughout the year and upcoming events.

Cheers, Gary.

Ok, here is a link to some video I took yesterday of the Southern Highlander ; http://youtu.be/AkDikO1lgr4 I'm sorry that I didn't have the tripod with me, otherwise it may have been a lot less shakey…

I hope the quality is good on youtube as it is on my camera/pc ! Unfortunately, sometimes the visual quality drops when posted on youtube…

Cheers, Gary.

[user=878]Gary[/user] wrote:

Unfortunately I don't think so. It has been non-operational for well over 12 months…  :twisted:  Oh well, next time you come over, plan it with one of the RTM/Heritage Express tours…

http://www.nswrtm.org/index.html or the Heritage Express link ; http://www.heritageexpress.com.au/ This link will show you what they run throughout the year and upcoming events.

Cheers, Gary.

Thanks ;-)

Lovely photos Gary.  Thanks for posting them.  I'm intrigued by the vehicle immediately behind the second loco.  This is obviously a tank wagon of some sort.  Is it a spare tender to provide water for the second loco?

Terry

G'day Terry,

Yes you are right. It is what we call a water gin (in NSW). They were available as a four wheeler or bogie  These were used on passenger and freight services where long distances were involved, where there was no watering facilities present or the water was too saline. A similar wagon was used in conjunction with the weed spraying train. This particular wagon (in pics) was built/converted from the usual 40' gin that was built on a type E flat wagon. This wagon was built on an LLV 45' flat wagon using the 40' tank. This enable the pumphouse to be positioned on the loco end. Two of these wagons (SWT 5 & SWT 6) were built for 3801 and 3813 when they crossed the continent in 1970, known as the Endeavour, to celebrate the opening of the standard guage line built from Sydney to Perth.

Cheers, Gary.