I thought railway buffs might like this!!

I didn't know where to put this link so I put it here. I've just been looking through my old "blog" from when I'd travel around the country annually. Here is a quick piece on some of Australia's rail history. I loved it here

The National Railway Museum! | Travel Blog

 

themnax Is Going To Love This.....



Cheers Glen.

 

Some very interesting pictures of engines that I have never seen here in the UK.
08, looked as if it has double expansion cylinders. No doubt economy was a priority due to she distance between cities in Australia.

 

These Abandoned Steam Locomotive Train Cars in Northern Maine’s Allagash Wilderness Waterway are a must see

 

I''m glad it's been enjoyed! It's a magnificent museum in Adelaide and features Australian trains from the past. I got another insight into the Tea and Sugar train when I went up to Cook on the Nullarbor in 2009. I believe that's in one of the blogs .... somewhere. The towns along the Trans Australia railway line are all but deserted these days but they used to be busy and dependant on it. I know Australia has a very short history but at least it's a good one!

 

Man, those old locomotives need restorations. I've seen some restored ones--(on the web) and they're beautiful.

 

i'm actually an environment buff, who sees railways, when built to the smallest practical form factor,
and propelled by the cleanest available forms of energy, as being the most environmentally friendly form of mechanical transportation.

i did happen to grow up with them being a major element in my life, and have a great fondness for what i see as their aesthetic,
neither of which are rooted in historical nostalgia.

i'm not against fascination with the history of their technologies. just not the principal motivation for my interest in them.

 

yup. he does. not often i leave the cocoon of mind trips, so its sort of only by chance and only now that i'm seeing this at all. thanx for posting it.

 

About 1944, I took a steamer from Hanford , Cal to the bay area. I was 5 years old and really impressed with the noise of the train----chunk---chunk---chunk as it sat there and a loud spout of steam from somewhere down low on the rig when passengers were loading. The mechanics of the rods driving the wheels were mesmerizing and when the train began to roll, the engineer spun the wheels like a kid in a hot rod. There's not much to admire in the diesel engine era.

 

You're right. I'm a stream train person. In fact we used to take the overnight sleeper quite a lot from London to Glasgow. There is something really exciting as a small child going to bed on the train. Top bunk was a privilege for the best behaved!

 

I think I posted one about Hotham Valley Railway ...... if not, I better get the pictures up somewhere! If you view a list of the blog entries, you should be able to find the one I did on the Pichi Richi Railway over in South Australia. This one was magnificent.

 

pretty colors and simple lines.
i grew up during the transition.

steam was old. diesel was new.

not brand new of course, and it was going to save the railroads.

well it did save freight service.
politics prevented it from doing as much to save passenger rail,
as electric catenary did in europe and asia.

never got to ride the key system because my dad always wanted to ride the steam powered ferry boats.
one or two of the really old ones with the walking beams on top were still in service.

and his pass, because he worked for the sacramento division of the then southern pacific, meant the we, himself and the members of his immediate familiy,
meaning my mother and me, allowed us to ride free any non-reserved seat train for free, and the not free ones for only the price of the seat fee.
(and his pass was good on the ferry boats also, so that may have had something to do with it)
so that is how we went to the bay area, several times a year, from about the mid 50s,
right up until the time my dad got his first car, which was the year i graduated high school in 1966

the big cab forwards were still in helper service until the mid 50s
in the early 50s they could still be seen on the head end as well,
even one passenger train that was discontinued about the same time they were relegated to helper and snow service only.

daylight painted alco pa's replaced them in passenger service on the hill, and black widow painted f units on freight.

down in the valley and on the peninsula, there was still some small steam, and of course on all the little backwoods short lines.

 

That's spooky! Lot of weight hurtling down those tracks. If something showed up ahead---forget stopping. I think that I saw years ago, that Australia had the longest stretch of straight track in the world. Where is that?

 

The Nullarbor!! It's dead flat and there's not a tree in sight. The line turned 100 years old recently. One of those entries on my Travelblog was actually done after I visited a town called Cook. The Tea and Sugar Train which I mentioned used to service the small settlements along the line but when I went up there Cook was all but deserted. The line is about 200km north of the highway so no one goes up there. Only the trains. Driver's will often stay overnight in the houses that are left.

I found the entry and it took me back there! It's a nice little place if you can keep yourself busy but you're literally on your own. No shops, no nothing. There is a tourist train called the Indian Pacific who go to great lengths to create an experience so far from reality that stops there for a dinner under the stars.

What a day ........ | Travel Blog

There were five people living there when I was there AND they gave me a house for the night!!

 

roseville california had been the biggest gravity yard west of the mississippi, until the built an even bigger one at near colton.
lived and worked many years in roseville myself. some of those years actually for the railroad. (early 70s, not long after i got out of the air force)

oh and i love cab ride videos. there's lots of them on you tube, especially from japan but also many from europe and even some from great britain.

 

Wonder if there are any workable Stanley Steamers around. Never saw one--never heard one. Maybe Leno has one in his collection.