Enfield No 3
Today Enfield is still a hub of rail activity in Sydney but back in 1967 and 1968 Enfield was much bigger than it is today and the western side was a mecca for steam enthusiasts. One the western side of the yard - quite close to a public road - was Enfield No 1, Enfield No 2 and Enfield No 3.
These were the three roundhouses that made up Enfield Loco - the biggest steam depot in New South Wales. Even though steam was on its way out by 1967 there was still plenty of activity on just about every day of the week. Even if nothing was moving there was always plenty of interesting things to see.
In 1967 this was a weekday looking down on Enfield No 3
There’s plenty of interesting things to see here. There’s a short transfer goods running across the turntable; it’s hauled by a 30 Class tank loco and consists of a three empty coal hoppers, an unusual little tank wagon that you’ll see more of in other photos that I’ll post and a GHG guards van.
To the right of the guards van there’s a 60 class, to the left of the train there are several standard goods locos and behind them that could be a 59 class. And in the foreground there are several strings of coal hoppers.
Back then they were coded BCH and were used wherever coal was mined in New South Wales. They were introduced in the early 1950s so by 1967 they were rather well-used but that didn’t mean that they were stored here pending an appointment with the scrappers torch.
These hoppers stayed in service for many years. Some were reclassified as HCH with the addition of higher capacity bogies and others were put to different uses.
Suprisingly some of these hoppers are still in service and you can find a particularly good photo of one taken last week by Raichase here