Model Trains and Things

The Government railways and the west coast narrow gauge lines weren’t the only interesting railways in Tasmania. The Emu Bay Railway was an amazing private line that was built from Burnie across to the west coast to haul ore out of that bleak and inhospitable region.

And that’s what it did for many years using an interesting variety of steam locomotives including Australian Standard Garratts that came after the war and several ’stock’ Beyer Garratts that come from England in 1930 and were still in service 30 years later.

But once the economies that came with dieselization were apparent the writing was on the wall for steam on the Emu Bay Railway and in 1963 the first of four diesel hydraulic locos arrived from Walkers in Queensland. Walkers built the first three locos and 1004 was built by the Tasmanian Government Railway workshops three years later.

These became the 10 class and served the Emu Bay Railway for many years. Here is an official photograph of 1004 taken around the time it entered service.

Photo used with the permission of the National Archives

These locos were rated at 700hp/520kW and served the Emu Bay Railway for many years before being placed in storage in mid-2000. In later years these locos were fitted with auto couplers and multiple unit connections and could often be seen spliced between the Emu Bay Railway’s 11 class diesel hydraulics.

1004 was subsequently sold to the Zig Zag Railway in New South Wales and the other three in the class have also been preserved.

In 1998 the Emu Bay Railway was sold to ATN-Tasrail which was subsequently bought by Pacific National and today the line from Burnie down to the west coast is still in use. It rarely makes the news but it did last week when a derailment saw 10 loaded ore wagons derail and end up in and near a river.

If you’re interested in reading more about the Emu Bay Railway then look for Lou Rae’s book - The Emu Bay Railway - it’s a fascinating read and full of some wonderful photos.

I thought that this week we might spend some time down in Tasmania. I visited there with the kids and my first wife in the early 1990s and then went back to live there in 1996 - before finally heading to Queensland to get warm in 2004.

Tasmania was definitely a place of contrasts and that was certainly obvious when it came to the railways down there. Some of the most unusual steam locos in Australia ran in Tasmania on both the mainline and the 2′ gauge tramways. They were one of the first states to introduce diesel locomotives; they were one of the first states to introduce 2000 hp mainline locos and yet they persisted with vacuum brakes, couldn’t make a profit and quickly gave up their railways to the Commonwealth when the Federal Government offered to take over.

And it was after the Commonwealth took over that the face of Tasmanian railways  really began to change. Locos from Queensland and South Australia were brought in to ease a shortage of locomotives that had been allowed to develop.

Among the first foreigners to to arrive from the north were the 45 members of the Queensland Railways 1300 class. These English Electric locos originally entered service in 1967 and were rated at 1795 hp. While all the locos were shipped to Tasmania not all entered service but those that did were reclassified as the ZC class.

Here is ZC41 laying over at Hobart in the early 1990s.

These locos had some interesting travels over the years. They went from Queensland to Tasmania and from there some moved on to Africa, Malaysia  and South Australia while others were scrapped and a few more were left in service in Tassie.

The locos that went to South Australia were rebuilt into the MKA class and ran on BHP’s iron ore lines in that state. Some of those that went to Africa and Malaysia came back to Australia where they too were rebuilt into the MKA class and sold to Pacific National for use in Queensland - where they were universally disliked and spent quite some time in storage at Gympie - and now three of them are back in Tasmania.

Contrast the above photo with this one of ZC32 in a rather sad and sorry state at Don River. This loco was originally going to be shipped to Western Australia but the deal for this and two of its sisters fell through.

You’ll find more photos of the ZC class and a short movie clip of them in action on this page of the Tasmanian Railway Index.

There’s no doubt that coal is extremely important to the Queensland economy but unfortunately Queensland railways - who currently hold a monopoly on coal transportation in Queensland - isn’t doing such a good job of getting the coal from the mines to the coast. In fact the situation is so bad that at least one of the mines is now laying off workers because the above ground stockpiles at the mine have grown too big.

There have been some half-hearted comments from the State Government about finding extra locomotives and rolling stock but it seems that Pacific National are doing more that making half-hearted comments. According to this Reuters article Pacific National are already putting in orders for more locos and coal hoppers with a view to breaking into the coal carrying business in Queensland.

Actually, when you think about it doesn’t it make you wonder why Queensland National are working in the coal carrying business in NSW when they can’t meet the demand in their own backyard?

PN010 on a up container train at Maryborough West on 28.02.06

This is what one end of Portland (NSW) yard looked like sometime in 1977. The unusual wagons just to the right of the goods shed is a cement wagon and cement wagons were fairly common in Portland yard.

While the station was on the outskirts of town the Portland Cement Works was right in the middle of town and it was linked to the NSWGR via privately owned line that featured a very nasty grade against loaded trains. Empty wagons would be dropped off in Portland yard by government trains and, even in 1977, steam locos operated by the cement works would run up to the Portland yard and exchange loaded wagons for the empties.

In 1977 the cement works had a former NSWGR 26 class  saddle tank loco in service. It was in such poor condition that it could just manage to pull two loaded hoppers up the grade to Portland yard. Before that they had used several different tank locos including an Andrew Barclay 0-6-0T.

I’m not sure if the cement works are still in operation but by the late 1980s the works were looking to dispose of their locos. The 26 class was donated to the rail museum in Lithgow while the Andrew Barclay was given to Barry Dean - a well-known modeller in Orange - if he could remove it from the site in Portland.

Now Barry is a very resourceful fellow so there was never any doubt that the loco was going to be delivered in Orange. And so it was, on the back of an Army tank transporter. The sight of a steam locomotive travelling through town on the back of a huge Army truck was  enough to bring out the local television station and the images were broadcast right across the central west.

Sadly I wasn’t there to get any photos.

Here’s another interesting clip I came across on YouTube. You can stand on the platform at Gunnedah and watch the Manildra Flour shunter go about it’s work in the yard. The video starts with a an XPlorer set working through Emerald Hill and ends with double 82s on a loaded coal train from Gunnedah Colliery

I love the sound of a GM diesel

Last week I posted a photo of a large scale model of 8172 that I took at an extensive live steam complex on the outskirts of Melbourne and you can find that one here.

Today I thought I would show you a couple more from the same location so let’s start with this exquisite model of a VR S class.

If you take a look through the cab window you’ll see that there’s actually some detail inside the cab.

And just to show you that there were live steam models there that day:

I would have loved to have had time that day to take a ride behind this one.

If you come from the south like I do then much of the old Queensland Railways - or what’s left of it -  appears almost quaint while the modern version of the Queensland Railways appears to be right up there at the cutting edge.

The contrast between the old and new is therefore like a major culture shift and no where is it more noticeable than in the humble signal box.

The picture on the left was taken in the signal box that is a integral part of the preserved and restored Archer Street station in Rockhampton. This station was once the main railway station in Rockhampton and the signal box was built inside the station building which had a covered platform.

The floor of the box was actually slightly elevated above the platform and was accessed from the main station office. You can see the position of the restored station in this Google satellite map - it’s the long thin silver roofed building . Even though the station has now been closed as a stopping point for trains Google still shows it as the main Rockhampton station.

If you have a close look at the map you will see that the railway line does run right down the middle of the street - and it’s not some quiet branch line, that’s the main northern line to Cairns embedded in that street.

Compare my photo with this one  by Jeff Grenfell of part of the current Rockhampton control centre and you’ll see how far signal boxes have come in Queensland.

And if you want to see a train running down the middle of the street then check out the Streets of Rockhampton

I was sitting here this afternoon wondering what photo I should put up next and decided that I should publish something from my years in Tasmania so I went through my photos and came up with this one.

It was taken during my time in Tasmania - but we were actually in Melbourne for a few days on business. This was probably taken during the winter of either 1999 or 2000 and the name Diamond Valley keeps popping into my head although I’m not sure if that really was the name of the live steam club where this photo was taken.

All I can remember was that both Toni and I were taken with the look and ‘feel’ of this beautiful model. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop and have a ride behind it because we had a plane to catch back to Hobart.

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

I’ve read about the 14 Class diesels with a lot of interest but, living in Queensland means that it’s unlikely I’ll see one this side of Christmas. However, while wandering around YouTube this morning I came across this movie of one tackling Cowan Bank.

All I can say is, why isn’t the Environmental Protection Agency all over these locos. If you dared drive a truck with an exhaust like that down the highway you wouldn’t get very far before you were pulled over and issued with a fine for pollution.