15 posts tagged “steam”
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!
Place names in Australia have a variety of origins but the two most common would be those of British origin and those derived from the names used by the first Australians. This has given us a wonderful mix of names many visitors find both familiar and foreign. It also has given us many names whose pronunciation is not obvious.
When I was young we had a relative who delighted in mis-pronouncing names to confuse and intrigue us kids. Some were easily decoded like Wagger Wagger but others not so simple. He often spoke of holidays in northern NSW near Warchoppy. Some names weren't so easy to disguise so he would totally change them. The following photo was taken at a place he always called Yow Yow.
OK so the photo name gave it away. The others are Wagga Wagga, (pron. wogger wogger) and Wauhope (pron. war-hope).
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.
In 2000 to celebrate the end of one millennium and the start of another, the NSW Rail Transport Museum ran a extensive tour. Over a period of 8 days the tour visited 2 states and rode on trains of 3 gauges utilising steam and diesel traction as well as Melbourne trams. This is a scene from the Victorian leg.
The first light of the day as the sun rises over a steam locomotive in southern NSW.
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.
This image was taken the day before the last rail photos I posted. It is the same train except that it is steam hauled. The first shot is in the ranges between Brisbane and Toowoomba and the second shot (which I posted earlier on BN) is on approach to Warwick.
Yesterday I visited the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney as I knew a Steam train was running. I was hoping to get a few photos. The day was cloudy with the occasional shower and even more occasional patch of sunshine. The higher into the mountains I went the darker it got. Cool damp weather does produce good steam effects but it makes photography challenging.
The shots I got were a little disappointing, so I tried converting them to black and white. The results were quite pleasing. Here's a selection of them with a couple of colour shots for comparison.
Below are colour versions of a couple of the above shots. I prefer the black and white, what do you think?
The Mount Victoria Great Train Festival is held each year on the last weekend in May. Following are some images from the last couple of years. As the photos show it is not only trains that feature over the weekend.
Mount Victoria is a reasonably busy railway location being on the main western line out of Sydney so regular services continue to pass through while the Festival is on including a heritage tour train.
See here for details on this year's festival. Railway location information for Mount Victoria is here.
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