A Steam Train Passes

[faulcon1]

A film made in 1974 but trying to depict and earlier time as in WW2.

 

 

[dibber25]

9 hours ago, faulcon1 said:

A film made in 1974 but trying to depict and earlier time as in WW2.

 

 

I had this years ago on a VHS tape bought, I think, in Woolworths (remember them). It was part of a much longer programme which included the 'Gulflander' and it was that which really interested me. It was an AEC bus mounted on flanged wheels and running on a railway completely engulfed in grass, so you couldn't see the rails on much of it. I was so fascinated that I built a battery-powered model out of plywood to run on a friend's O gauge garden railway. Haven't seen that model for years - it must be in the loft. Merry Christmas Faulcon 1(CJL)

[James Harrison]

8 hours ago, dibber25 said:

I had this years ago on a VHS tape bought, I think, in Woolworths (remember them). It was part of a much longer programme which included the 'Gulflander' and it was that which really interested me. It was an AEC bus mounted on flanged wheels and running on a railway completely engulfed in grass, so you couldn't see the rails on much of it. I was so fascinated that I built a battery-powered model out of plywood to run on a friend's O gauge garden railway. Haven't seen that model for years - it must be in the loft. Merry Christmas Faulcon 1(CJL)

 

I think I had the same VHS, it also had

 

 

"The Rail Way" and

 

 

"Journey of a Nation"

[The Stationmaster]

Easy enough to remember Woolworths in Australia as they are still very much a 'High Street' presence there with their supermarkets.  I regularly used to go food shopping in their Town Hall branch in Sydney when I was working over there - long after they'd vanished from British towns & cities.

[Johann Marsbar]

I've still got that Tape -  "Just Australian Trains" - and it still works, though I bought mine from the Midland Railway Centre according to the sticker on it!

There are 7 different features on it, all produced by Films Australia.

[faulcon1]

22 hours ago, dibber25 said:

I had this years ago on a VHS tape bought, I think, in Woolworths (remember them). It was part of a much longer programme which included the 'Gulflander' and it was that which really interested me. It was an AEC bus mounted on flanged wheels and running on a railway completely engulfed in grass, so you couldn't see the rails on much of it. I was so fascinated that I built a battery-powered model out of plywood to run on a friend's O gauge garden railway. Haven't seen that model for years - it must be in the loft. Merry Christmas Faulcon 1(CJL)

Yes that's right Chris the Gulflander which still runs today and was built between the towns of Normanton and Croydon. It's a line totally isolated from the rest of the Queensland railway network and now runs for tourists. It has a maximum speed of 40kph and the "ballast" is earth hence the low speed. Merry Christmas to you to Chris and the family, Roy. 

[faulcon1]

Some facts stated in a Steam Train Passes are not true. "In the great railway workshops at Eveleigh Sydney they make the 38 class". Well no they didn't not in January 1943 for the first five of the class (3801-3805) were constructed by Clyde Engineering at their Granville plant in western Sydney. Another "that great frame casting is the only thing not made here the rest is all Australian". Well no not quite, for the streamlining was a copy of the New York Haven and Hartford Railroad's I5 4-6-4 of the 1930's. It was designed by Arter Cooler and modified to suit the first five 38's. The cylinders were separately attached and were not cast as part of the one piece frame the reason being that if a cylinder fractured then a whole frame would have to be replaced. One piece cast frames were introduced in the 1920's on the 57 class 4-8-2 and used on the 38 class, the 58 class 4-8-2 and the 60 class Garratts 4-8-4+4-8-4. The one piece cast frame is incredibly strong for when 3801 was restored there were no hair line fractures in it's cast frame, the frame it's had since being new in 1943.

The film locations jump about all over the place with the thumbnail shot being between Eveleigh and Redfern. The shot of it going across a large girder bridge is the Hawkesbury River Bridge at Brooklyn. Then there's the shot looking down into a deep cutting which is on the old main southern line and the loco is climbing a 1 in 30 grade to Hill Top. The line now forms part of the NSW rail museum's line and is known as the Loop Line. Much was shot on the main western line with the loco taking water at Tarana which was the junction for the branch to Oberon. Many of the stations shown in the film have now been obliterated including the one at the end Brewongle Station.

Woolworths has gone from the UK but Woolworths known here as "Woolies" is a supermarket giant and still very much in business. It's main rival is Coles and like Woolies have diversified and now own petrol stations. Woolies owns Caltex (now Ampol) and Coles owns Shell. The fuel is still supplied by the oil company but like the UK where the cashier is has been turned into a mini supermarket but selling nothing more than junk food.          

Edited December 25, 2021 by faulcon1

[faulcon1]

The Gulflander that still runs today and here's a short journey of 5 miles out from Normanton This isolated line has no turntables but triangles as there's oodles of room for them.

 

 

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, faulcon1 said:

The Gulfland

er that still runs today and here's a short journey of 5 miles out from Normanton This isolated line has no turntables but triangles as there's oodles of room for

 

Back in 2007, we booked a trip on the Gulflander - all the way from Croydon to Normanton.

 

It transpired that my wife and I were the only passengers, in a railcar with three crew!

 

We could halt the train wherever we wished at any points of interest, and we stopped for tea and scones at a lineside cattle station.

 

A unique experience - even better than the 24+ hour sleeper journey in Queenslander Class on the Sunlander train from Brisbane to Cairns.

 

During the same holiday, we experienced a trip on the steam-hauled Mary Valley Rattler from Gympie, which at that time still ran the full length of the line to Imbil.

 

John Isherwood.

Edited December 25, 2021 by cctransuk