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Keirunga member rides Kuranda Scenic Railway
Mike and Dale Hartle recently visited north Queensland and spent a day riding the Kuranda Scenic Railway and Skyrail. The 12 carriage Kuranda train is pulled by two brightly painted locos from Cairns to Kuranda via the Barron Gorge.
Dale and Mike on board the Kuranda scenic railway.
The Kuranda train at Horseshoe Bend, heading up the incline.
View inside a Kuranda carriage.
Kuranda railway locos.
They also found an operational loco at Ravenshoe which travels up to Toumolin on weekend excursions, and a decommissioned loco at Atherton, which used to run to the tin mines at Herberton.
Loco at Ravenshoe.
Loco at Atherton.
At Townsville, they found a 7.25 gauge railway, and looked at their historic railway station from Oonoonba. This track operates on the 4th Sunday of the month. In the grounds of the park was another old loco on display.
Historic Oonoonba station at the Townsville DSME park.
Loco at TDSME park.
Keirunga member rides Zig Zag Railway
Keirunga member Mike Hartle and his wife Dale rode the Zig Zag Railway in New South Wales in September 2009. The steam train descends the steep gradient from Clarence to Bottom Points, through historic tunnels and over sandstone viaducts, revealing the engineering brilliance of the Zig Zag and the impressive Blue Mountains scenery. The return journey takes about 1.5 hours.
Mike and Dale arrived at the Zig Zag Bottom Points station on the CityLink train from Katoomba, and waited for the train to come down the incline with a full load of passengers. During the wait, Mike inspected the loco storage sheds and yard.
When it arrived, the loco (a Queensland DD17) was reversed and attached to the front of the train facing backwards, and after a 20 minute break, all the passengers climbed on board for the ride up the Zig Zag incline.
At the mid way point (Top Points), the train stops and the loco changes ends, then pulls the train up to the Clarence railway station, now facing the right way again. This was the return point for most passengers, and the starting point for a new load.
Once again the loco changes ends, and after a lunch and photo stop, the train begins the trip back down the incline to Bottom Points. Luckily Mike was offered a ride in the cab from Top Points down to Bottom Points, an experience he thoroughly enjoyed.
On arrival at Bottom Points, Mike and Dale caught the CityLink train back to Katoomba.
About the Zig Zag Railway
The Zig Zag is a full size, narrow gauge tourist railway located at Clarence, ten km east of Lithgow in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Built in the 1860s, the line was constructed to transport people and produce from the western plains of NSW to Sydney. It was replaced in 1910 by a 10 tunnel deviation. The trains, track and rollingstock are maintained and operated by the Zig Zag Railway Co-op Ltd, a voluntary, 'not for profit' co-operative. Visit the Zig Zag Railway website for more information.
Heritage Rail NSW - The Pay Bus and Cash on Tracks Exhibition
While in Sydney in September, Mike and Dale Hartle also inspected the Pay Bus and Cash on Tracks Exhibition at the Sydney Central Railway Station.
The Cash on Track exhibition charts the history of the unique railway pay buses (c1937). The pay buses operated across the state until the mid 1980s, delivering staff cash wages.
The Exhibition features stories from staff past and present, acknowledgements of the role of our apprentices in both heritage restoration projects and in the future of rail, and it also features the very first rail bus FP1 - the only surviving one.
The restored heritage rail pay bus FP1 is on show until May 2010. It has been beautifully restored to its original condition by a team of 16 RailCorp apprentices who were taught a combination of modern skills and heritage techniques during the 13 month project.
The Pay Bus Story
In 1937 the NSW Department of Railways introduced six rail buses to its fleet as an economical form of passenger transport on small branch lines. The concept derived from passenger rail motors, introduced in 1919, which used a traditional timber railway carriage mounted on a converted road truck chassis and drive train. Rail buses took the concept one step further and adapted road vehicle styling, coach-building and technology for rail use. Within a year of their introduction, they were withdrawn for economic reasons, having failed to attract sufficient passenger numbers to make the services viable.
By June 1939, five of the rail buses had been relaunched as mobile pay cars, while the sixth remained a rail bus until some time later.
For almost fifty years, the vehicles were used to move cash on NSW rail lines to pay employees at stations and maintenance gangs working on the tracks. The vehicles were a familiar sight on the network as they made the fortnightly pay runs and were affectionately known as 'pay buses'.
Today, they are no longer in operation, having been replaced by electronic banking. The sole survivor of the first fleet of pay buses, FP1, is today recognised as a significant item of rail heritage. Itvhas recently been restored by a dedicated group of apprentices as part of RailCorp's Apprentice Training Program in collaboration with RailCorp's Office of Rail Heritage, Training Division and Rollingstock Division.
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