G'day all, late again, the usual lather of indecision, scan this, discard that.......
So I finally made a decision.....hmmm, not sure though.
Just get on with it.
By the early sixties there was probably only one regular steam hauled passenger train out of Melbourne and that was the 4.23pm Bacchus Marsh. I rode out to the Marsh frequently on this train but I don't seem to have photographed it at all. But another train that was often, but not reliably, steam hauled was the 6.05pm Geelong.
I have posted this photo of 986 before but I think it was in the very early days of the Monday Morning Photo, maybe when it only went to Rick Dempster and his mates at RMIT. I would not be surprised if this was the last time an A2 ran a regular passenger train out of Spencer Street, maybe towards the end of 1962 but I couldn't be sure of the date at all. Does anyone know? I rode down to Werribee, that was as far as you could go back in those days if you wanted to get a passenger train back. I don't know why I wouldn't have travelled all the way, I could have got a goods out of North Geelong Yard or hitched home. I reproach myself still. Werribee was better than nothing though.
The night 706 ran the 6.05 I obviously wasn't travelling. I reckon the young bloke in the suit leaning out the door of the leading car might be none other than Dave MacCartney. If my eyes don't decieve me he's travelling 1st Class but if he has a ticket at all it would be 2nd Class, Economy in this day and age. Sounds so much nicer, don't you think!! Makes one feel better about oneself. Confession; back then I felt much better about myself if I hadn't paid at all. My conscience had not fully developed, riding for nothing was better than not riding at all. I'm not sure the Commissioners would have understood though.
Best regards,
Peter Bruce.
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