The Tour to Nowhere
Over my years as a railfan I’ve been on some interesting tours but this one would have to have been the worst that I have ever experienced. On Australia Day 2000 the rail museum out at New Norfolk in Tasmania ran a tour up the mainline to the Midlands and Toni decided that we should go – it was her first rail tour and it’s probably going to be her last.
I just forget where the ultimate destination was but wherever it was we didn’t get there. Not long out of Hobart X18 began to sound sick and the further we went the sicker it became. It seemed to stall several times but each time the driver got it going again until it finally expired at Colebrook and that’s where this photo was taken.
There are a few bleak places on the line from Hobart to the north and on a winter’s day Colebrook is one of them. Even though this was January it was cold and miserable and just as bleak as if it had been a winter’s day.
And this is where we sat for hours … and hours. The train crew who had been everywhere on the train while it was in motion suddenly disappeared when it came to a stop. There was no communication with the passengers, the toilets couldn’t be used and no one knew what was happening.
It wasn’t till late in the afternoon that the museum’s Y class arrived to tow us back into Hobart and magically the train crew reappeared. We were not happy campers that day and even though we were offered tickets on a subsequent tour we never took them up on the offer.