faulcon1

Here's a song that brings a lump to Australian's throats. Many feel it should be our national anthem.

Here's a tourism song for tourists who wish to visit Australia.

Here's another compilation and Ann Maree Biggar who is now 62 said that this show couldn't be done today because we were so politically incorrect in those times (thank heavens for that!) She also said that she could preempt what Jamie Dunn (the voice of Agro) was going to do and said if you can do that sort of thing then that's half the battle won. Some people thought that Jamie was "feeling up" Ann Maree from his position under the table but Jamie said he only had to touch her ankle and she'd jump. To this day Jamie has Agro in the boot of his car and if people recognise him then he does photos with them and with Agro. After Ann Maree left the show it slid in the ratings chiefly because she and Jamie had such great chemistry working together. Although the show aired American cartoons, many of the jokes in this compilation are what Ann Maree called F1 or Formula One jokes in that they went straight over the kids head's but the adults got them.

The "Coffee Pot" recently had a major overhaul including a new boiler fitted. It only runs on selected days and needs to be booked months in advance. It runs from Quorn to Woolshed Flat where there's a large shed and where a multi course lunch is served and then runs back to Quorn. It's not an auto train but a Steam Motor Coach as the engine is permanently coupled to the coach. There were actually two of them and the other SMC had windows in the rear of the coach but only this one survived long enough to reach preservation due to having been mounted on a plinth for many years.

Here's a show that ran from 1994 to 1997 with a cheeky puppet called Agro being cheeky to Ann-Maree. This sort show is forbidden from TV in Australia these days........more the pity.

Just got my car back from the panel beaters after reversing into a brick wall (at extremely slow speed) at my brother's place. I was so busy trying to avoid the rose bushes in pots I didn't think about the brick wall. So here's two photos of my "little" car when put right. The damage was under the rear left tail light. It didn't crack the plastic bar so the bar didn't need replacing just respraying but the whole bar had to be removed and resprayed. The previous owner had scraped something out of the boot onto the rear bar which I covered with some touch up paint but now it's been professionally resprayed it looks like new. All up $750.00. It may not look it but the car is 15 years old this year and the work was done over three days by Valley Heights Smash Repairs which is local to me. Last month the car was serviced and passed it's annual rego check with flying colours as always and done by Pit Stop Tyre and Mechanical Services who are ten minute walk from my place.

Here's the final part and the part of the line many tourists know.

Here's part 7.

Here's part 6.

Here's part 5.

Here's part four. I've excluded Part 1 because it's this video but the other way from Mount Surprise to Einasleigh.

Here's part three

This video is the beginning of a journey in far north Queensland from Forsayth to Cairns. It's a four day journey with the passengers staying overnight in pubs.

I was driving on the far north coast of NSW on a new section of road and the road construction people had put out mobile LED signs reading "ignore Sat Nav directions". My Sat Nav kept saying "in 300 meters turn right" and on reaching the point to turn right there was no right turn to take. Then it started with the constant "turn round turn round etc".

A documentary on the Darjeeling Hill Railway by Nick Lera who's said with the advent of You Tube it's hard to sell DVD's now. So he's uploading his programs to YT and this is just one. Some are in German too. The steam engines are used these days for tourist trains and new diesels are used for ordinary service trains. At one stage the whole journey cost the princely sum of 3p for an eight hour trip behind steam.

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions much appreciated.

I have an early Bachmann 2251 32-301 and I only took it apart the other day for the first time. On screwing it back together the rear screw screwed up nicely but the front screw wouldn't meaning stripped threads. Is there any way of fixing it as I don't want to have to buy a new body. I have seen online of people using super glue with baking soda but the screws they use to "cut" a new thread are all pin point screws and the chassis body screw on model locos are not pin point screws. The loco is not a split frame chassis but the first run of the later chassis which at that time was not DCC ready. I think the model dates from about 1998. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

This is a blow to us all and from the comments above and on previous pages we've all come to rely on Hattons as always going to be there. It's very sad but shows that even a huge retailer is not immune to the forces now at play. I sincerely hope everyone there at Hattons can find another job and I can only wish them all the best for all their futures.

Thanks for that info, much appreciated.

After the Lapstone ZigZag was rendered obsolete the first deviation was the construction of a single bore tunnel without air shafts on the false assumption that the smoke would be blown by natural wind out of the tunnel mouths. It was on a continuous uphill 1 in 33 gradient curving it's entire length. It was notorious in service when steam crews would lie on the cab floor with the fall plate up desperate for some fresh air. Assistant engines would be used on the rear and their crews not only had to deal with the smoke and fumes from the train engine but their engine too. There was one accident where the assistant engine finding the task too much stopped and reversed out of the tunnel coming to a halt outside the tunnel mouth. The train engine had stalled and the train engine crew overcome by smoke and fumes had passed out. The train then free wheeled out of the tunnel to smash into the assistant engine.

Here's part two,

Here's a video done by two blokes of the Lapstone ZigZag bypassed many years ago and now a walking track. The history is fascinating however the steam train sound effects are American as you can here a bell ringing and we never had bells on locos in New South Wales government service. The B&W photo of a 60 class Garratt is also incorrect as Garratts never traveled on this line which had fallen into disuse many years before the Garratts even entered service. At the time of the Lapstone Zig Zag was all locos in New South Wales were of English design and many were built in England namely by Beyer Peacock.

Here's part two from Critters Camp to Croydon. This famous railway goes from nowhere to nowhere much and is completely isolated from the rest of the Queensland railway network. There were plans to connect it to the rest of the network but, well, they just never got round to it.

Here's part one of the a cab ride trip on the Guflander from Normanton to Critters Camp. The maximum speed on the line is 40kph or 25 mph.

Quite early on in this thread someone in the UK said that a V8ute would be expensive to run in the UK. Well someone has imported a Ford AU V8 Ute into the UK and uses it on a daily basis as this HubNut video shows.