ARHS-QLD Rangelander

Petey3801 · Joined: 04 Oct 2007 Posts: 25 Location: Brisbane

Gday All

Saturday afternoon was the day of the ARHS-QLD charter trip, The Rangelander, traveling from Brisbane to Toowoomba and return, led by recently restored English Electric locomotive 1620.

Passengers rode the train up the Range to Toowoomba in the afternoon, arriving just after dark, where they enjoyed dinner at the Restaurant on Toowoomba platform. While the passengers were enjoying their dinner, the (empty) train headed back down the range to Helidon, where the passengers would re-board after being transferred from Toowoomba to Helidon after dinner by coach (it is a hell of a lot faster to drive between Helidon and Toowoomba than to catch the train).

Anyway, here are some of the photos taken on the day:

First up, we caught up to the train at Forest Hill with the sun shining nicely from behind some whispy clouds, taking away the harshness of the light and really bringing out the colours:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=260364

Next we caught the train ambling through Gatton. We later found out that there was a 40km/h speed restriction between Rosewood and Helidon due to WOLO conditions (heat):

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=260365

After that, we headed to Helidon, then onwards to Lockyer for another shot. At Lockyer, the trees were playing silly buggers and casting shadows across the line, so I thought I should try something different:

Next stop was Murphys Creek, where the sun had unfortunately just dipped below the horizon by the time the train arrived:

After that, we headed to Toowoomba for a quick bite to eat before heading to the station to see the train again and hopefully get some more shots:

In that last pic, the drivers had just closed the door and turned the headlight on ready for departure, so once they were off, we were too!

Next stop was at Spring Bluff, where we heard a Coalie climbing the range. To our surprise, there was also a loaded coalie coming down the range, and the two crossed at Spring Bluff:

Once the loaded coalie had passed through (heading down the range), we realised that the empty coalie had stopped and was waiting for 1620 to head down as well, which it did, after about 10-15mins:

Next stop for us was Murphys Creek where we just beat the loaded coalie, however the photo isn't worth publishing! After another 10-15mins, 1620 popped its nose around the corner:

After that, we headed to Helidon, where we once again just beat the coalie. Said coalie now waited at Helidon for the special to overtake, so we took the oportunity to get a shot in the glow of the red signals:

Soon after, 1620 arrived, all the passengers boarded (they arrived about 10 mins before the train, due to the train being stuck behind the coalie!), and the tour train departed again:

After that, we headed back to Rosewood, where a sunstandard photo was obtained of the train racing through, so we waited to get the Rosewood shuttle train which turned out to be EMU06:

After that, it was home time after quite a long night, ready for work at 0600 the next morning!

Skraw · Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:

Some damn cool shots there, Pete. I like the night shots but you've done a pretty good job overall.
It's a pity there's not a regular passenger service to Toowoomba. Suffers a similar problem to going west from Sydney which is a bit faster but still with old grades and alignments. Needs a big bastard tunnel.
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26 March 2011... can't come quick enough.

flathog · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 57

Top stuff, especially love the time-exposures.

Having seen a few video's of 1620, I have to say, she must be the nicest sounding diesel I've heard in a while.

Tom