I got up early this morning (but not early enough - kept missing the train from Hornsby to Berowa) and caught 3830 at Hawksbury Bay. For those of you not from around here, she's just come off a long steep down grade and is about to cross the Hawksbury River. I was hoping to get to the far end of the platform for an unobstructed shot but as I was coming down the stairs, there she was - highballing (I would guess about 50 mph) and not making much noise (gravity was doing all the work for the past 30 min or so for her.) Fortunately the camera was on and I was able to fire off a half dozen shots. Here's the cream of the crop. [ 17 February 2002, 04:38: Message edited by: yankinoz ]
Good catch, Rob! Is that a regular run, or a one-off special? I see the line is electrified, so I hope to see pics. of some of your current power and trains, as I know little about Aussie stuff! You seem to be handling the new Nikon ok already
Thanks Alan. The suburban trains are electric but the regular freights that runs through there are diesel. Some really interesting motive power as well. There are (AFAIK) two steamers that run fairly regularly in Sydney- 3830 and her sister 3801. They run fairly regularly on the south coast and a few times a year they run up to the Newcastle (this is the train to Newcastle.) They also run up to the Blue Mountains once in a while (I'll be keeping my eyes open for one of those - that's quite a grade up to Katoomba and I have heard they double head 3830 and 3801.)
Rob, Thanks for the excellent photo. Personally, I think the angle you have is more interesting than it would have been from the platform. The train is nicely framed, and it shows the whole train with a feeling of speed. Please take more "poor" shots, they are GREAT! [ 17 February 2002, 14:23: Message edited by: Hank Coolidge ]
