Monday Morning Photo; Wednesday Afternoon, 25/07/2012.

 The eastern edge of the Ballaarat commercial district, the corner of Victoria Street and Main Road which was the junction for the Victoria Street and Mount Pleasant tram lines, the right hand rail of the latter is visible at the bottom right corner of the frame.

I remember that it was a Sunday afternoon and the lack of life in the street certainly points to that. Sunday was certainly still the day of rest back then.

Single trucker number 26 is drifting down the hill in Victoria Street while that kid with the old fashioned bike looks on.... mildly interested.

The entire scene is very dated but there is an exception. The young woman crossing the road, oblivious to number 26. This was 1971, her grand daughter in 2012 could be dressed almost identically without seeming in the least old fashioned........ but there would be an iphone in her pocket!

P.S. You can still ride 26 today at the Ballarat Tramway Museum in Wendouree Parade. It is a very nice little tramcar.

www.btm.org.au

P.P.S. my previous posts can all be read at http://teenagerailfan.blogspot.com.au

Monday Morning Photo. 16/07/2012.

G'day all, this is Ballaarat [that old spelling again!] in the miserable winter of 1971. Single truck car number 30 is in Barkly Street heading for Mount Pleasant and as I recall it is early afternoon. But it is well into the twilight for the city's tramways.

Mud, slush, broken kerbing, corrugated iron and no trees, essentials of any Australian inner city landscape of the time. As are the other vehicles in the photo. A couple of work-a-day Holdens and a Yank Tank, a Dodge I think. The Holden deferring to the Dodge back in those days of the lethal "Give Way to the Right" rule. The Dodge probably driven by a bloke who had made his way up in the world, a successful plumber or butcher perhaps!

Residential Mount Pleasant is just visible at the top of the rise. A mostly weatherboard late Victorian era suburb.

I'm sure the whole scene is tidier these days...... but methinks much less interesting without number 30.

Regards,

Peter Bruce.

P.S. Two books which may be of interest.

The Golden City and its Tramways by Alan Bradley. Published by the Ballarat Tramway Museum.

Last Tram at 11 by William. F. Scott. Published by Full Parallel Productions.

My blog/archive:

http://teenagerailfan.blogspot.com.au 

Re: Thursday Arvo Photo.

Re: Thursday Arvo Photo. 21/06/2012.

For what it is worth, the existence of three gauges at Port Pirie was noted by Prof C. Below in his monumental work, the Vedgymight History of Australia. I attach a pic of the relevant pages.

See pic above. PB.

Thursday Arvo Photo. 21/06/2012.

G'day all, it's been a long while since I last posted, and I know that I have posted this photo before but I decided to give it another run. I know some of you wont have seen it anyway..... it was a long time ago.

I was visiting my friends Jenny and Mark last week and we were looking at some of my pictures and Jenny took a fancy to this one. Not so much as a railway photo, more I think as an image of a time and a place.

And that got me thinking the same way. I've always been interested in the setting as much as the subject.

Going by the open doors on the leading baggage motor it's my guess that the three car Bluebird is the morning service from Adelaide and it has just left Solomontown and is heading for Ellen Street where the remaining passengers will step carefully down onto the roadway.

I've had a look at Google Earth to try to locate those background houses with the towering TV aerials but today's railway alignment is different. I think those houses may be on Albert Terrace and that the broad gauge line was originally closer to that street. Maybe Cliff Olds can shine some light for us.

And speaking of light I really like the way the mid-winter light has picked out the contrast between the stainless steel fluting and the dark blue window band on the sides of these Bluebird railcars.

For those unfamiliar with 1960s Port Pirie it was served at that time by three railway gauges, the 5'3" and 3'6" of the South Australian Railways and the standard gauge, 4'8 1/2", of the Commonwealth Railways transcontinental line. Only the standard gauge remains, it connects south to Adelaide, east to Sydney, north to Darwin and west to Perth.

Apologies for my sketchy memory.

Best regards,

Peter Bruce.

My previous postings can be found at:

http://teenagerailfan.blogspot.com.au

And also the National Library of Australia's Pandora database, which I must check myself. 

Fw: Monday Arvo Photo. 16/04/2012.

This photo leaves a lot to be desired technically but I've kept coming back to it over the years, the scene and the setting has drawn me back.

Like my memory it is hazy and indistinct but still to me it is full of interest.

The low sun, the long shadows, the distant trees and the dirt road, the track in through the railway fence and the pole line, the fettler's sleeper pile and water tank.

All leading the eye to a steam hauled local goods train on a main line railway.

It is late in the day for the steam locomotive in Australia and getting towards the latter days of the railway as THE common carrier and as a large scale employer of all grades and skills.

Western New South Wales 1964.

Fw: Monday Morning Photo. 19/03/2012.

G'day all, it's Friday 24th of June 1964 and W44 the ore train from the  Broken Hill mines has just arrived at Orange East Fork behind the two 60 class Garratts that have brought it from Molong. I had arrived at Parkes the previous evening and had bedded down in the waiting room at the station trusting myself to wake at 6.00 am in plenty of time to join W44 about 6.30 and ride through Molong to Orange. I expected a single Garratt as far as Molong where it would be joined by a second one for the grades east of that point.

I spent a rather restless night waking every hour but somehow I missed 6.00 am and was woken at 7 o'clock by a little 32 class loco struggling to lift the Peak Hill goods out of the yard so I bolted down to the highway and managed to hitch a ride with an old bloke driving a '48 Ford ute.

We beat the train to Molong, it rolled in shortly after behind a couple of 49 class diesels so I hadn't missed much.

The two diesels came off in a yard full of trains and after quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing we got two of the big Garratts coupled to the front of the ore train, both bunker first. I thought I'd probably have to ride the van but I managed to get invited up onto the second loco after I got a curt knockback from the blokes on the leading engine.

The full goods load for the section for these two engines was 1000 tons and they had their work cut out for them over an undulating road. The 60s rode fairly smoothly up to about 40 mph but any faster they developed a pretty violent up and down motion, at least our 6042 did.

So here we are at Orange East Fork, the lead engine, 6011, is cutting off and 6042 will take the train on.

East Fork was the yard for through trains to and from the west and also the loco depot. Like the other main lines in New South Wales the West was constantly busy and at this time almost 100% steam as far as Parkes, the ten 49 class GM diesels mostly worked west of there.

I got a lift into town with the engine crew in the driver's Holden EH wagon. I was ravenous by this time but a steak with chips and salad, some bread and butter and a pot of tea soon fixed that.

Regards,

Peter Bruce. 

All my previous postings are at http:// teenagerailfan.blogspot.com