Another instalment in my photos from ten years ago series, but for May 2011 it’s something different – a road trip through New South Wales.
Heading east from Melbourne
I took the Monash Freeway out of Melbourne, passing the site of the future Lynbrook station on the Cranbourne line.
And Cardina Road station on the Pakenham line.
I detoured via the Hazelwood Power Station, since demolished.
And followed the railway east to the end of the line, where trucks had taken over the transport of logs from Bairnsdale.
The Raymond Island Ferry was another non-railway detour.
As was Lakes Entrance.
The Princes Highway continued on, where I found a disused railway bridge over the Nicholson River.
And a timber trestle over Stony Creek, outside Nowa Nowa.
The Princes Highway outside Orbost was burnt out following bushfires.
I turned off the highway at Cann River, where I found a retired Hitachi suburban train turned into a house.
And followed the Monaro Highway towards the Snowy Mountains.
Passing through Bombala.
And arriving in Cooma as night fell.
Across the Snowy Mountains
The next day I headed up into the mountains, where I found the Skitube railway.
A rack railway that serves the Thredbo and Perisher Valley skifields.
At Thredbo I found a fleet of shuttle buses parked during the off season.
Before I attacked 65 kilometres of winding road across the Great Dividing Range.
Reaching an elevation of 1580 metres.
With a dusting of snow.
I headed through Kosciuszko National Park.
Passing alpine huts.
And Australia’s highest town at Cabramurra.
But the thing I was really looking for was power stations.
I found high voltage power lines and pressure pipelines.
High voltage electrical switchyards.
And I went on a tour of the Murray 1 hydroelectric power station.
Into the Riverina
Every visit NSW ends up with me passing through Gundagai, and this time was no exception.
But this time I made a side trip off the Hume Highway to the Temora Aviation Museum.
They park their cars a little differently here.
I then doubled back to the Melbourne-Sydney railway at Harden.
Where I was surrounded by a flock of sheep.
Grain trains also use the railway.
Cootamundra and Junee being the hub for grain movements.
Disused grain silos are found all along the railway.
But have been redundant by modern bulk grain facilities.
Small towns like Gunning still had a railway station.
The Melbourne-Sydney XPT is the only public transport to towns like The Rock.
But towns like Binalong have trains pass by without stopping.
Relying on road coach connections.
And finally the Southern Highlands
At Bowral I found a CityRail interurban service stopping for passengers.
But the NSW Rail Museum at Thirlmere was my destination.
Exhibits filling the display hall.
And steam train trips outside.
And a last pit stop
The sun was setting, but I had one more stop to make before Sydney.
The ‘bridge to nowhere’ over the Cordeaux River outside Maldon.
I found the bridge just before night fell – achievement unlocked!
Footnote: new and old at Wodonga
In 2008 Wodonga railway station closed as part of the Wodonga Rail Bypass project.
Replaced by a new station at Wodonga West in 2011.
And my usual bits
Southern Cross Station management blocking the main entrance to the station is nothing new – May 2011 I found a skateboarding display there.
Unfortunately it’s still a problem today.
Meanwhile queues at the Myki gates were only just emerging as a problem – it wasn’t until March 2012 that I first start taking notice of them.
As an interim fix additional overflow gates were added at stations, but it took until 2014 for the first faster ticket gates to be rolled out.
And finally we end on something positive – X’Trapolis trains rolling out of the factory at Alstom Ballarat.
The plant shut down in 2020 following the delivery of the final train, but is due to reopen following a 2021 budget commitment to build 25 X’Trapolis 2.0 trains at the site.
Footnote
Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.
That was some road trip Marcus!
I just checked the dates – I was away from Melbourne for ten days.