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NuRail Pass - January 1977

In January 1977 I made use of a NuRail Pass, which gave me 14 days of rail travel throughout New South Wales. I kept notes in a spiral bound notepad and took a few photos. Unfortunately the colour negatives have not stood up too well over time, but I have managed to scan most of them, some of which I have posted here.

Click on outlined pictures (only) to view larger versions

A summary of the entire fortnight follows.

Sunday 2nd January 1977
22:10 departed Strathfield on Western Mail to Orange/Parkes, consist of the train was:
- 4627, MCS, CR, TAM, XBS, FS, FS, SBX, TAM, MHO, EDH.

Monday 3rd January 1977
00:32 Lithgow - detach 4627, add 4433+4489, dep 00:42
03:50 arr Orange, train divided for Dubbo and Parkes
04:35 Orange dep to Parkes with
- 4916+4906, TAM, CR, MCS, MHO, EDH
04:58 Borenore cross 44100 up refrig containers
05:19 Molong pass 4903+4913 down goods
05:51 Manildra pass 4480 on goods
06:30 photo from the train west of Bumberry (right)
06:39 Cookamidgera cross 44?+48121 on goods
07:00 arr Parkes, detach locos and EDH, add
- 4901, HLX, FHG, FS (for Forbes).
07:44 dep Parkes on Silver City Comet to Broken Hill
- DP102, DZF, DR, DC, DB, ETP
14:14 Manara crossed 4495 on an up freight
16:44 (CST) arr Broken Hill.

Broken Hill - saw 600+703 with an ore train departing to west (below, left):

Also photographed "Broken Hill Breakdown Equipment" van L45, a former HO (above, right).
20:07 (CST) Indian Pacific arrived from west with 705
20:24 (CST) caught Indian Pacific east with 4491.

Tuesday 4th January 1977
06:56-07:25 Parkes - 4495 added to Indian Pacific
Near Locksley crossed Central West Express with double 44s
Somewhere farther east passed 4910+849
12:45-12:59 Lithgow detach 44s, add 4629+4607
Katoomba passed 4603 on up wheat and oil
14:26 Springwood passed 4605 up wheat
15:49 arr Sydney.

A couple of hours at home then off to Inverell:
19:54 dep Strathfield on North Mail
- 4443, MCE, BAM, BAM, ABN, FS, LHO
We crossed a number of up freights before Broadmeadow.

Wednesday 5th January 1977
02:35-02:51 Willow Tree pass 44204+44?
03:25 arr Werris Creek, train divided for north/north-west and vans from 107 Parcels added
03:51 dep Werris Creek with
- 48?, LLV, TLX, BAM, ABN, FS, LHO, KB, KP, EHO
04:31 Watermark cross 4871 on goods
05:49-06:11 Baan Baa cross 48? on goods
06:55-07:12 Narrabri detach LLV, EHO
08:55 arr Moree - HPC401 waiting in dock.
09:28 dep Moree on HPC401 to Inverell arr 12:41.
Photo of HPC401 standing at Inverell station (right)
13:46 dep Inverell to Moree arr 16:48.
17:39 dep Moree on North Mail
- 4874, BS, FS, ABN, BAM, KP, LHO, KB, NRY
18:08 Gurley cross 4871 on a goods.

Thursday 6th January 1977
03:20-03:38 Broadmeadow our 45 class (presumably since Werris Creek) was detached and 4403 substituted
04:50-05:02 Gosford 4403 was detached and 4609 substituted
06:25 arr Sydney - consist of the train was not noted.

Day at home.

19:55 dep Strathfield on the North Mail again, this time heading to Barraba
- 4435, MCE, BAM, BAM, ABN, FS, LHO
Numerous up freights crossed before Broadmeadow.

Friday 7th January 1977
02:03 Murulla (I think) cross 4875 up parcels
02:53 Willow Tree cross 45?+44?+4469 up goods
03:16 Quirindi pass 44230+4516 down goods
Werris Creek train divided and departed as
- 48?+48?, LLV, MBC, MBE, MCE, BAM, KB, VHO, VHO
Arr Tamworth where CHP38 was waiting in the dock.
05:26 dep Tamworth in CHP38 to Barraba arr 06:58.
At Barraba 4851 was shunting a goods - mostly powder vans for the asbestos mine.
One photo of CHP38 at the station (below, left):

08:26 dep Barraba for Tamworth with 4 passengers,
photo from the front of CHP38 of cows on the line near Manilla (above, right)
10:28 West Tamworth 4860 stabled in dock, arr Tamworth 10:34.
10:56 dep Tamworth on Northern Tablelands Express (DEB set) to Sydney;
The down Northern Tablelands Express was crossed at Pangela and at Murrurundi we overtook 4303 on a goods;
17:37 arr Strathfield and I made a quick trip home to restock supplies.

22:30 caught South Mail to Harden
- 4448, JLX, JLX, LLV, MLV, MHO, FG, MCS, XAM, KP, EHO, EPT, SKB, EPT
This train was hopelessly overcrowded. The conductor was trying his best to make seating arrangements for families and the elderly, and I was persuaded to surrender my First Class seat in the MCS, on the promise of a Second Class seat. For my trouble I got to stand up in the vestibule of the FG all night, all the way to Harden... grumble, grumble.

Saturday 8th January 1977
04:25 Yass Jct crossed up Spirit of Progress; near Goondah crossed up Southern Aurora
05:56 arr Harden.
06:13 dep Harden on mixed 4824, KLY, MOA, HCX1187, arr Young 07:08.
Return working with 4824, GOX, LLV, GF34, S, S, S, Esso26, SCA111, HCX1187 (photo below, left)
10:39 dep Young to Harden arr 11:34.
13:27 dep Harden on Riverina Express (consist not noted)
14:13 arr Cootamundra.

14:19 dep Cootamundra on CPH11+CPH16 to Tumut
Truck seen crashed beside Hume Highway near Coolac
16:10 arr Tumut.
At Tumut dead CPH24 was attached for the return to "Coota" (photo above, right)
19:22 dep Tumut to Cootamundra arr 21:40.
22:25 caught South Mail to Sydney
- 4401, XAM, MCS, FG, MHO, EPT, KP, EHO
Got a good night's sleep in the XAM.

Sunday 9th January 1977
The customary wake-up cup of tea (sleeping car service) near Campbelltown :-)

Home for the day.

22:30 South Mail from Sydney again, this time off to Hay
- 4436, MCS, FS, XAM, KP, MHO, EPT.

Monday 10th January 1977
South of Cootamundra, remains of a derailment passed, (photo right)
07:53 arr Junee, changed trains.
08:26 dep Junee for Narrandera
- FPH606, SCT706, FPH604, CT704, EPT.
Crossed the Riverina Express at Ganmain, arrived Narrandera 10:20.
10:56 dep Narrandera on CPH2 for Hay. An extremely hot day and someone reported that it was 117 degrees F at Leeton. A cattle train with 48102 was passed at Willbriggie, and arrival at Hay was at 13:39.
I took a photo of the Rail Motor standing at Hay station (below, left):

The return left Hay at 15:23, and although I don't recall finding the line boring this was the best scenery that I managed to photograph (above, right)
Narrandera was reached at 18:07 where a change was made to the same 600 class motors and van for the run to Junee, arrived 20:45.
South Mail from Junee at 21:02 had
- 4436, XAM, FS, MCS, MBE, FS, MHO, KP and EPT (which I guess came off the Narrandera motors) for the run back to Sydney.

Tuesday 11th January 1977
06:16 arrival at Strathfield off the South Mail.
08:14 caught the Central West Express to Dubbo. The usual air-conditioned cars found their way onto other services and this left the "Central West" with a majestic string of older mainline cars
- 4615, FS, SFX, MBE, AB91, TBC, TFX, MHO must have made a fine sight climbing the Blue Mountains!
At Lithgow 4615 came off and 4913+4408 substituted
I photographed this train rounding a curve near Tarana (right)
Two up freights were crossed before Bathurst, and another at Newbridge
13:20 at Murrobo the Indian Pacific with 4470+4487 was crossed
At Polona a goods with 4499+4492 was crossed and I noted that works for CTC signalling were well advanced with trackbed and points for the new Polona loop laid;
14:03 arr Orange where the train terminated.
14:35 dep Orange on Dubbo connection with "Comet" set
- DP104, DB, DC, HFT
Passed a down freight at Wellington with 4875+4850
Running downhill from Wongarbon to Dubbo I noticed we were overtaking all cars on the Mitchell Highway, and I timed a mile at 45 seconds which is 80mph! "Comet" indeed :-)
16:43 arr Dubbo. Present in the yard were 7323, 4489 and 4705, with 847 shunting.
20:03 caught the Western Mail back to Sydney with
- 4526, MLV, LLV, GLX, LLV, FS, MBE, TAM, MHO, KP.
We crossed 4430 light engine at Geurie, and hit a sheep at Wellington;
at Orange the "Mail" from Parkes added XCM, MCS, EAM to the train.

Wednesday 12th January 1977
4620 brought the Western Mail safely into Sydney the week prior to her final fateful run.
Before long I was on the North Coast Daylight with
- 44217, KLY, KLY and air-con cars (not noted).
On the "Coast" freights were crossed at Paterson, Stroud Road, Gloucester and Bundook, with arrival at Taree at 14:03.
At Taree we were transferred to bus because of damage to the bridge at Warrell Creek, hit by a truck.
The delay caused me to shorten the journey (originally intended Coffs Harbour) to Raleigh where the up North Coast Mail was met at 18:45
- 442?, FS, FS, FS, MBE, TAM, KP, MHO, EHO, LLV, LLV
I soon fell asleep and little of the trip to Sydney was noted.

Thursday 13th January 1977
Arrived Sydney 06:45, then home for some more sleep.

19:41 caught the North Mail bound for Tenterfield
- 4532, XFS, MBE, XCM, BAM, BAM, ABN, XFS, MHO.

Friday 14th January 1977
03:50 arr Werris Creek where the mails/parcels were divided/amalgamated - 4532, XFS off.
The Moree portion left at 04:14 with 4870, BAM, ABN, XFS, MHO (plus vans?)
The Tenterfield portion dep 04:28 as
- 4536, MLV, MLV, MBE, XCM, BAM, VHO, MHO, LHO
The LHO was detached at Tamworth, and an MLV came off at Armidale where X215 and 44204 were lurking. The Northern Tablelands Express was crossed at Dumaresq and the other MLV was detached at Glen Innes.
Arrival at Tenterfield was at 12:16 and after turning 4536 I photographed the up "Mail" sitting at the station (below, right):
15:51 dep Tenterfield with
- 4536, BAM, XCM, MBE, MHO, VHO
Crossed the DEB set at Ben Lomond, and a 45 class hauled goods at Black Mountain. Between Exmouth and Dumaresq the air was lost a number of times but eventually the problem seemed to be fixed. At Limbri I noted that the brakes were "very hot" after descent of the Moonbi Range. After Tamworth I fell asleep.

Saturday 15th January 1977
Arrived Strathfield with
- 46?, FS, FS, BAM, ABN, BAM, XCM, MBE, MHO.

No point wasting the final day of my NuRail pass so I made a day return trip to Mudgee.
08:12 ex Strathfield on the Central West Express
- 4621, BS, BS, PHS, RDH, BH, RDH, MHO
10:38 arr Lithgow, change to CTC734, HFP634 dep 10:53
An up goods was crossed at Cooerwull, and at "Wang" a down goods with 4414+4905
13:39 arr Mudgee. 4863+4704 were in the yard and 4912 arrived with an up goods.
14:09 dep Mudgee, at Wang an 830+44 was crossed, and Lithgow was reached at 17:03.
The up Central West Express arrived behind 4498 with the same consist I caught that morning, and 4635 substituted. About the same time the down Indian Pacific arrived, also for a loco change. The return to Sydney was apparently uneventful.

So ended my 1977 NuRail adventure - over 11,500 km in 14 days on the railways of New South Wales.

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