70 Class Diesels and Railway Barges in Sydney Harbour
There’s been some interesting articles appearing in some of the railway history magazines here in Australia lately. Perhaps the most interesting of all was in the August 2008 issue of Light Railways.
In an article entitled ‘Standard gauge industrial sidings in Sydney: Lower North Shore’ author Jim Longworth discusses several unusual railway sidings. Perhaps the most unusual was the siding into the Pastoral Finance Association Ltd’s meat preservation works at Kirribilli Point.
The rather large works was built right next door to the house that has since become the Sydney home for Australia’s Prime Ministers … and of course it had absolutely no rail access whatsoever.
So how did something that had no rails rate as a railway siding?
Wagons were transferred from Darling Harbour by a flat barge fitted with railway tracks. The loaded barge would be pushed into an unloading bay inside the factory and wagons unloaded.
So if you’re an Australian modeller looking for a prototype railway barge operation then here is the prototype for you.
The July and August editions of the Australian Railway History magazine carry an interesting two-part article on the life of the NSW Railways 70 Class. For some reason odd-looking little shunters have always attracted me and so I’ve always been interested in the 70 class.
It’s good to see that at least one is preserved in operating condition because, even though they weren’t a raging success, they did further the development of diesel hydraulic locomotives in Australia.
The August edition also has a look back at the visit of the Flying Scotsman to Australia. Last year I had the chance to talk to a couple of NSW drivers who were involved with the Scotsman while it was touring that state and it seems all was not sweetness and light between the British and Australian crews.
It seems that the British crew as rather hard to deal with and a jibe that I once saw on a tshirt was fairly close to the truth. The tshirt had an image of the nose of 3801 on the front together with the words “I pushed the Flying Scotsman around Australia”.
Admittedly the Scotsman did have trouble with some of the coal it was fed here in Australia but some of the other problems it seemed to encounter here in Australia were related to issues other than mechanical.