I was just looking at the various photographs I have taken around Sydney over the years and realised that I have been photographing the railway scene in and around Sydney on and off since 1969. It's a bit of a mix of steam, diesel and electric, together with some oddities. Unfortunately I haven't dated many of them but I can remember roughly when they were taken. So, here goes..... First up is an XPT going through Pennant Hills on 8/11/2017: An unrebuilt Bradfield car on the Royal National Park line probably 1972: A rebuilt Bradfield car at Hornsby, probably in 1973: Double deck suburban in the short lived blue and white colour scheme (probably about 1974): C30T class 3026 at rest in Sydney Terminal in 1969: 3130 shunting at Sydney Terminal in 1969:
1969.. I had the permission slip in hand for 'photographing and recording' and to be found lurking in Eveleigh and other places of a weekend. Takes me back cheers Bob Comerford
It was based on British Rail's High Speed Train, with a number of modifications. The engines were downgraded and gearing lowered, as it was not required to operate at speeds over 100mph. There were also modifications to the cooling system to enable the train to cope with the hot dusty conditions encountered in country areas. I think the coaches might be different, but I'm not sure.
3024 and another 30 class at rest at Enfield in 1969: 48158 at Enfield in 1969: Enfield again - a warning sign on one of the roundhouses:
I like the old blue & white S set (suburban set) which are almost completely gone and being replaced by the Chinese made Waratahs... Personally I would like to see more pics from 1969, my year of birth.... Cheers, Gary.
I'm pretty certain I took these ones in 1969 - but then again it might have been early 1970. Darling Harbour: Sydney Terminal: And these ones at Sydney Terminal were probably taken in 1973
Good to see those photos .... name? I can't quite make out if 1952 has a porthole or cut-away cab. My recent scratchbuild bears that number, but it is entirely based on my birthday and has porthole cab. Ahhh the rumble of the long strings of trolleys mingling among the passengers. I spent quite a few nights waiting for the mail watching them go by. Andy the XPT cars are not based on the English ones, they are of Budd construction. If you were to be in a rail crash, they are the type of construction you would want to be in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_XPT cheers Bob
Hi Bob 1952 was a cut away cab not a port hole type so Modellers license or birthday grace with your 1952
A few more photos taken in the early 1970s - these are all at Central Electric (as it was called then)
And a bit of steam. It was back in 1969. My father was teaching at Asquith Boys' High and, as we lived at Turramurra, he had to go through Hornsby to get there and back. One day he was driving along George Street, Hornsby, and noticed a steam engine that had been left in one of the sidings at the northern end of the station. He stopped the car (no Clearways back then) and went to investigate. He was told that 5920 had just been overhauled (could have been at Eveleigh but I can't remember for sure) and was returning to the Newcastle area but had to stop at Hornsby due to overheated bearings - it seems someone forgot to grease them! He was also told that it would be early the next week before it was repaired and resumed its journey to Broadmeadow. Saturday morning saw the two of us in Hornsby yard and me with my camera.....
It always amazed me that even with such a complex suburban system, it was many decades before the operators suddenly realised some sort of destination display on the trains themselves would be a good idea. The big LED boxes they added to those comeng double deckers (S sets) didn't do their looks any favours, but they were practical.
The blue and white S set, (or is it ??, as it contains two Tulluch trailers) looks great in that livery ! The 59 looks great as well, pity they didn't give the smoke box door a brush over ! Cheers, Gary.
The S Set you refer to is a mix of Comeng motor cars and Tulloch trailers, not uncommon at the time. The leading blue and white motor car in the mixed single and double deck train is a 1940 Tulloch car, so the numbering of the set would just have reflected the shed it was allocated to. The red single decker in the mixed single and double deck train crossing Eddy Avenue (the presence of the brewery and steam locomotives gave the area an interesting smell, but I digress) is a "Sputnik" car, making this one of the original S Sets. The original S Sets were the first trains on the system to have power operated doors from new - there was one set of Tulloch cars (set F39 I think, from memory) that was experimentally fitted with power doors prior to construction of the "Sputniks". Double deck Tulloch cars, as they entered service, replaced the "Sputnik" trailer cars, so that all the S Sets eventually consisted of four single deck motor cars and four double deck trailer cars - The "Sputnik" trailer cars had the power operated doors replaced by manually operated doors, and were used to replace the old wooden trailer cars that had been converted from steam hauled carriages.
Three photographs of the North Shore line. First, a photograph I took when construction work was underway on the building above the previously open station (can't remember what year, but it was in the early 1970s): And, second, a photograph I can claim ownership of but not credit for taking. A photograph my father took in late 1958 (not long after we arrived in Australia) giving an overhead view of North Sydney station (or a bit of it - part of one of the canopies and some of the overhead wiring is visible towards the bottom of the picture)- no trains in sight, but an interesting photograph nevertheless: And another of my father's photographs from 1958 - Chatswood station (that's me on the seat) - it's a bit lost in the shadows, but the train has double cream lines on the side, something that began to disappear in the late 1950s, although I do recall that there was one carriage that retained them until around 1970 (one of the steel 1927 motor cars, C3102 it might have been) although by then it presented a rather woebegone appearance:
That bridge is iconic, your picture does it justice, as to it's massive size! Woolworths and a mini Wolseley! and in colour, very unusual for late 50's