29 posts tagged “rail”
When I get a chance I have been scanning my old negatives and slides. It is fun as I find things I have forgotten and often find photos that are better than they were printed. I found these a while ago and don't remember taking them but I do like them. Also I haven't posted any train photos for a while!
What do you do when you are building a railway, you have a river to cross and the budget is very tight, most of the line is being built with second hand materials. One possibility is find an existing bridge and hang your railway on the side. That is what was done here in the 1920's when the Richmond line is western Sydney was being extended. In the 50's when the line closed the roadway was widened and now you can't tell from above that it is two bridges. But from below it is clear what was done.
The original road bridge, built in 1905, has heritage significance in its own right see here for more info but the addition of the railway makes it unique.
There is more information about the railway here and here.
I'm not sure what most people would call it but I prefer to think of it as grabbing the opportunities that present themselves. Once again I set out to take some photos and the one I like the best is not the one I went looking for.
I knew a steam train was running today so that was my target. But while I was waiting for it I noticed a thistle growing by the track and the bees that were feasting on it. So I quickly grabbed some shots. Not as sharp as I would like as they were hand held and not with a macro lens either. Still here it is.
Oh and the train did arrive. The locos were moving to Valley Heights depot ready for the weekend's activities.
Note to those in the Sydney area. The Mt Victoria Train Festival is on this weekend with displays and events all over Mt Victoria. See here for details. Included in the events are steam trains rides from both Mt Victoria and Katoomba. Should be a fun weekend.
There was a time when the Railway Station was one of the important buildings in the town. It was the place for farewells and greetings and it was the centre of the town's transport. In many towns the station has disappeared entirely or just been left to rot.
Fortunately a few survive and are cared for by the community. Some lucky ones still serve at least some of their original purpose even if like this one it is only one train a week, in each direction, that stops here.
Earlier this month Orso posted an article on the colour of trains. This is a response showing the colour of NSW (Australia) diesel (and an electric for good measure) locomotives during the era of government ownership, ie. up to mid 1990's.
The first diesels in NSW wore a scheme that was basically the same as that used on some steam locomotives.
The next colour was introduced during the mid 50's and was known as Tuscan. It was still used into the 70's.
In an effort to modernise the image of the railways a new colour was introduced which was soon known as Candy.
This proved to be an expensive scheme to paint so a simplified version was adopted for older locomotives. It was known as Red Terror.
The 90's bought a new colour scheme that was to be the last before the system was privatised. It became known as FreightRail Blue. A version of this survives today as the corporate livery of Pacific National but with different shades and design.
Electric Locomotives
Originally electric locomotives had an unique Maroon colour but later they wore the same scheme as the diesels.
Bridges are popular locations for rail photographers. They add a bit of interest often defining the location. This one for instance is an old timber bridge so the location is probably a line with light traffic, definitely not a main line.
The first light of the day as the sun rises over a steam locomotive in southern NSW.
The North West part of NSW often appears dry and inhospitable. It definitely is dry and hot during the summer months. However it supports a strong economy, even with the current drought, producing cotton, grain and coal. The railways were built into this area to link the grain producing regions with the ports.
Another night shot featuring steam trains.
It's the early hours of the morning, Easter in southern NSW so it is cool. All sensible people are asleep but the crew have just completed servicing their locomotives. If you think the photgrapher was mad to be here on the other, that is dark, side of the loco one of the museum volunteers is washing them.
I had difficulty deciding whether to post this image or not. It is technically poor with lots of grain (not noise as it was taken on film) due to be taken at night (0.25 secs on 400 film, handheld which considering the cold turned out better than I expected). But I like the atmoshphere of steam against the night sky with only the street lights for illumination.
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