Well on Sunday myself the wife and son woke at 5am, headed to Miranda caught the NSW woeful public tpt system to Central stn. Clambered to the country link platform up stairs etc, and there it stood.. next to the buffer.. 4401.. HANG ON THIS IS A STEAM TRAIN RIDE.. 44 is a diesel that was used in great amounts on the freight rail side of the NSW railways. Panic set in as I paid money for this STEAM TRAIN run. The story is that 4401 is on the back of the train to push up the grades encountered on the way! We looked for our car, we were next to numner 10, we were in No1, which was right behind the tender, oh damn there goes the good fotos of it going round some of the bends on the way! We settled in ok, little cramped for my bad leg, but hey Im buzzing at this stage. The people next to us were already into the beers... 7.20am this is! Hey Im old aint done that in years! We left the stn in a blaze of glory, with onlookers everywhere. We had 2 stops at Strathfield and Hornsby on the way, and every bridge and stn the looks were amazing! The 44 class in aussie has also been retired, and this machine has been restored nicely. I was talking to the fireman on it, and he said that his job was button pusher.. Sounds like ... fun? Nice looking machine I think. The sound of 3801 was amazing, having not been on a steam train for about 20 yrs, I had forgotten. And the speed this thing does through the stns was scarey! Man this thing can MOVE! It would be interesting to find out information like speed etc, but couldnt on the day. Also dont look out the window in a steam train.. Your hair and face get covered in little black lumps of (wait for the term) lumpy stuff! This took 2 hair washes to clear! But the wind in the hair, and the soot in the face were worth it to hear that machine working up that hill! We arrived in Gosford to fill up with water, there was about 50+ people waiting! Actually there were people all along the tracks, in front yards, waving and some even brown eyeing the train, others just with cameras, videos, etc. Was something I wasnt expecting - that many people knowing about the old girl running along the lines. Then onto Maitland arriving a little bit before lunchtime, and it was straight onto the bus. The trip was known as the Lovedale Long Lunch. A tour of 4 wineries, bus transfers was included in the price. I think it was a bargain! Brilliant day out and it was a DAY out. www.globalpresence.com.au/3801/3801.htm We had 1 hour at each winery which was a good time. Not too long, and not too short. You could taste plenty and then have lunch too. the food was crap, at all the wineries, but hey what do you expect for $13... (a lot more than I got)... We arrived back from the wineries at 4.30pm and waited until 5 for the 44 to drag the train back in for us.. Everyone was very well full at this stage, and it was a little dangerous at Maitland stn, with bodies bouncing off each other and I was waiting for someone to fall onto the track. The announcer was calling for people to move back from the edge, but nobody was sober nuff to hear. We mounted up and it was getting dark, and COLD. This train would look more than awesome at night, and next time I may just go and take some fotos. They are having a 38 class double soon in the blue mountains. Heading to Mudgee! The run back up the Hawksbury was slow with the 44 pushing we managed to get there. That loco was runnin hard to drag up. We arrived back in Central 15 mins early and boy were they all blind by then.. MT wine bottles everywhere! Trying to get fotos of the loco was near on impossible with the onlookers, and passangers all trying to do the same. But Kandee managed to get a few we hope!
