TRAINS

When I was a kid we didn't have a car so many a holiday was by train. The Riverina Express took us to Cootamundra for a holiday at Nan's, at nearby Temora, or we would head off to Gilgandra on the Central West (with sleeper carriages) to Dubbo and then a rail motor to Gilgandra.

The Gilgandra trips were special. A taxi to Penrith Station to join the Central West Express at 11 pm, wrapped in our dressing gowns and settling in for the night in a sleeper compartment. The train would head up the Blue Mountains and if we stayed awake long enough we would try and guess when we were going through the tunnel at Glenbrook (it was already dark!). At Lithgow the electric service would end and we would swap to a diesel or in the early days of this trip a steam engine. Further on a stop at Orange early in the morning was had while crews changed, goods on and off and passengers disembarked. If you wanted a stretch this was the time to do it, but it was always bloody freezing cold! As daylight broke the guard would come around waking us up and we excitedly waited for the a snack of Milk Arrowroot biscuits the railways had as we watched the countryside light up. We'd finally get into Dubbo mid to late morning when we would change over to a railmotor for the last leg to Gilgandra.

Needless to say these days the young lads (and the old one) enjoy their trains. Thomas the Tank Engine (with all the necessary accessories!) is a mainstay of the essential equipment for the boys playroom although Thomas does get intermingled with Thunderbird rescues!

In Cooma we have our own tourist railway, the Cooma Monaro Railway society where we can go for a trip out to places like Bunyan or Chakola.

Recent Train Pics (Click on Pics for larger pics)

Valhalla Railway, Victoria, 2006

Valhalla Engine At the back of the Valhalla train Four kids in Ore Carts

Puffing Billy, Victoria, 2005

Inside the engine compartment of Puffing Billy 7. Kids excited for yet another train ride!

Crossing the Trestle Bridge in the Dandenongs Piling the coal in

Puffing Billy Engine 12 steams up

Our Railway, Cooma, 2004

A Rare site two rail motors at Bunyan! Rail Motor 6, Bunyan

The Track Maintenance engine. Points Control Room , Cooma.

Train buff - famous yet again.

Jack and Darcy standing proudly in front of Railmotor 22 at Chakola railway station.

Other trains we have been on include Puffing Billy (Victoria), the Don River railway (Devonport), Glenorchy Transport museum (Hobart), the Bush Mill Railway (near Port Arthur), Zig Zag Railway

Puffing Billy railway images, 2001.

Puffing Billy images April 2003. (Steaming up, Jack and Darcy at the trestle bridge, Steaming out of the bush near the Selby Crossing.)

3801 steaming through Emu Plains Station

Updated 01/07/07