Footbridges

 Wagga Wagga railway footbridges.  

As part of the Inland Rail upgrade, both footbridges crossing the railway in Wagga are going to be replaced. 

Mothers Bridge.

I am not sure why the footbridge connecting Railway Street to Station Place was called this, but it is ideal as a railfan viewing platform.  It doesn't provide any passenger connection off the station platform

June 2007 - railfans line up on the bridge for 3801's arrival. This is the view looking east (towards Sydney)

A 1934 NSW Railway department drawing shows the bridge - looking west.  Some changes have been made to the northern ramp, but generally there doesn't appear to have been many changes

Fortunately, I don't need to measure the bridge, as the above plan, when enlarged, shows the dimensions quite well

At the Station Placeend, the original ramp has been kinked, to provide for the enlarged roadway

The railings are attached to the uprights with "U" bolts

Cassidy Bridge

Lost Wagga Wagga facebook site occassionly provides some interesting Railway related material

Looking west. Note the lineside poles get much taller as they get closer to the footbridge

Looking east - poor picture, but does show the Best Street road bridge

Mount Erin school in the distance.  The closeness of the school was the main reason for the bridge to be built

At this stage, I do not have a firm idea of the width of the baseboards, so making either bridge may be premature.  But at least I have pictures - and their replacement by Inland Rail should not impede my modelling of them.

An excusion to Cootamundra by Railcar

Yesterday (Sunday, June 12), I had a pleasant ride on restored 621/721 railcar to Cootamundra and back.   The railcar was supposed to arrive in Junee at 10:22 - but there were some unplanned interuptions, which made for some extra photo opportunities

The Down steel train suffered a major engine fault, and it was sidelined to the old disused platform road, awaiting a replacement engine.  Traversing the crossovers was taken slowly.  Once stopped, I could take some pictures - particularly the "out-of gauge" wagons.

Following the steel train, came the VISY container train.  This train is broken up in Junee yard, and shorter shuttle trains are then sent to Harefield Intermodal yard.  I get to view (and hear) these shuttle trains - regularly hauled by alco power, heading up the 1 in 49 grade out of Junee.

I understand, after  speaking with the driver of the Visy Train when we returned from Cootamundra, that one of the engines was taken off the Visy train, and added to the Steel train.

We still had longer to wait for the railmotor.  The Griffith Explorer train was also running late and had priority.  

Approaching the platform.  The train from Griffith has to reverse direction once it arrives in Junee

Finally, the 621/721 railcar makes an appearance - around 40 minutes late - the Griffih Explorer trundles past, heading north.  The old and the new.

621 aqpproaches Junee platform.  The Railmotor society have done a real good restoration

Interior View from my seat - the internal bulkheads are for the engine in 621.  Not sure I ever remembered blue seats when I travelled on these in the late 1970s.   

With the weather so gloomy, there was little point in trying to chase the railmotor back to Cootamundra in the car, in the hope of capturing a great picture.   In any case, it was a good day.

Until next time

Albury Model Railway Exhibition 2022

 Murray Railway Modellers - Annual Model Train Show

On Sunday, May 22, I joined Pete and Ben, and car pooled our way from Junee south to Albury.

After a manditory stop for morning tea (at Culcairn), we arrived at the exhibition about 11am.  

Culcairn station

The Albury Exhibition was back at its normal venue in Lavington, and almost back to normal with eased covid restrictions.  

For a regional show, Albury has an advantage being reasonably close to the Victorian population centers, so there is a high chance of seeing layouts that don't venture further north.  Other advantages are good retail support, close parking, great catering, and a second-hand area.

Being Sunday, I doubted that there would be anything left in the second hand area.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.  An ANEModels DCC Smart switch servo driver set for $20 was the pick, although I did find a campbell's stock yard kit; both destined for the future layout.  Plus some books.  (The servo driver kit was near complete - had all servos and electronics, only missing the toggles, and instructions - both of which I had). 

Then off to the retailers.  I like to support the retailers that support the hobby.  SDS was a major sponsor, and they had a stand full of temptations.  My mastercard says I spent $360 there.  Other retailer were RW Hobby, Paul's 3D Prints, Road & Rail, The Model Emporium, Byron's Trains, Hayward, Stafford Stamps & collectables, Lyndon's Trains, and Trackrite. 

Inland Rail also had a public information booth at the exhibitioin - and were giving away a few freebies, and pamphlets on the changes occuring for double stacking in the Albury-Illabo section.

Some of the Layouts.

Culcairn in N scale - Mark Jesser has been making this model since 2017, and uses T-Trak standards. All the buildings/bridges are scratch built and  modelled after the real structures in Culcairn. 

Mid Valley by Greg Hughes included a sawmill.  This had some interest for me, as I will need a small sawmill for Tumbarumba

Healesville was a "new" layout for me.  Whilst the prototype line is being restored as a tourist railway, trains running on this layout are both from the past, or current Victorian railways.  Possibly the lack of a backscene is its only shortcoming for taking pictures.  

Somewhere Creek by Stuart Cray was another "new" layout for me.  Started around 7 years ago, it features a lot of scratch built structures, following a freelance Victorian Railway theme.  

Ettamogah by Peter Allen & Graeme Shultz is a sizeable layout, depicting the large former paper mill sidings,  now a Rail Hub Container handling site, besides the Hume Highway 

After about 3 hrs at the exhibition, including a light lunch, Ben, our driver, decided he wanted to do a bit of sight seeing.  

The Tallangatta branch

Our first stop was the Hume Weir.  There was once a lot of narrow gauge railway activity to build this dam, but there is little evidence of it now.  Not even a display.  Good to see Hume Dam almost full.

I had not ventured along this branch since 2002, when I returned to Canberra from a karate tournament via Tallangatta, Shelley, and the snowy mountains, to avoid a boring drive up the Hume Highway  In 2002, there was no rail trail.

Ebden station site.  Now a stopping place for the cycletrail

Huon Goods shed

Abandoned Walkers Railcar at Huon.  This relic was left behind by a group that wanted to restore a section of the Tallangatta line as a tourist venture.  I had seen the accumulation of railway vehicles in 2002, but this is the only thing left.  Rather sad to see it stripped and left to the elements.  

I have a brass model of a Walkers Railcar, and Trailer - this one made by Ajin, for ALCO Models (australia) in the 1990s

The long viaduct over the dam water is now a highlight of the rail trail.

Site of the Tallangatta station

Tallangatta Goods Shed.  This end is as built - the other end had been extended at some stage

Some interpretive signs as displayed beside the railtrail. Click on an image to enlarge to read it better.

We got back to Junee around 8pm, after a stop at KFC for tea.  A most enjoyable day.

Until next time....