Thanks for the priceless video, we used to travel to Keith and it was always a thrill for a young 7 year old to see a steam loco. I still call those years "the golden years" a time that will NEVER return; unfortunatley.
I read your comment on inside me my heart sadly agreed. I then asked myself the searching question, why? And I say this because I find for myself that that particularly relates to quiet sleeping steam engines. ALWAYS touches me deeply.
I was eight years old at the time, and tried to talk Dad into buying one of these from Ararat as they were being scrapped. "Just get them to put it in the paddock...
In the forties, these 'locomotives' were called stream engines. I used to 'haunt the Donald siding, the road crossing, and the turntable. often went from Spencer St Melb to Donald on 'The Mildura Express', leaving at 8pm and arriving at Donald at 2.30am, with my Nana waiting for Dad, Mum, my brother and me.
@@comengsh great stories bro. Care to explain or this just another condescending wink wink to those in the know comment you’ll keep to yourself? Like most gunzels and pass on absolutely no knowledge to other generations ?
Special footage of steam and diesel working together! The J certainly travels at a good clip in the pacing scenes, at least 80/90 kph? All those engines laid up at Ararat, they appear to be in store rather than fully withdrawn? The chimneys were covered and some still had coal in their tenders. Thanks for sharing.
Great piece of history,when rail played a vital part in country life,sadly since,rural and regional areas have been poorly served as rail is fed the crumbs from the table and many fine branch lines were left to rot
Great footage. Never seen any Victorian steam and new steam either as I arrived in Sydney in 1972. I do like Victorian steam and I think the R class are in my opinion the best looking steam loco in the country and better than the NSW C38. The streamline ones look like vacuum cleaners. Interesting how Vic steam has a mixture of what I would call British out line but with American cabs and tenders and not to forget the Kraut smoke deflectors.
there are still quite few steam locos preserved operational especially in vic, in fact a pair of R class were used by West Coast Rail to haul passenger trains until 2004
I keep thinking how to improve Ararat Stn, for Proper Rail Services. The Best I have come up with is to make the Platform Road, Duel Gauge. Are there any comments on this...?...
Looking at this you realise Jesus we were even useless in this country in keeping locomotives clean in the cab. Obviously no pride and the crew thought it ‘wasn’t their job’ to keep things polished and clean.
It seems oil burning steam J class were favoured in the last years. Easier to cart oil than coal and easier to fill up with oil than coal and no ash to keep cleaning out. The fireman would be happy not to be shovelling coal also. Half of the Js were oil burners
@@reidgck They were, and also if memory serves me so were most of the N class, and by the end of the steam era in Victoria, nearly all the J's were oil as well. I knew an old fireman in Maryborough, who hated the oil burners simply because he hated the taste of his breakfast bacon and eggs when he was on early morning shift, fried in the shovel, it tasted rather oily, he said, as he definitely prefered his bacon and eggs cooked over a coal fire.
It sure was a waste. There were 70 of them too. Obviously they came at the end of the steam age with those ordering them believing steam would continue but once the new diesels were introduced the Rs were stored and soon most were scrapped. Fortunately though some survive.
The railways were in a desperate position after great depression followed by the war. Run down. overworked. Worn out engines. They needed new motive power and they needed it by yesterday at the latest. Steam was proven. Diesels were not. The diesels were much more expensive and slower to get built. There really were no options. The system had to be kept running somehow. Ok the diesels were a greater success than people expected because they could do more work per engine per day, Although more expensive EACH if each diesel did the work of five steam engines this changed the balance sheet. Hindsight is a wonderful tool in economics
VR were planning to use B diesels just a few hours a day like steam. Clyde EMD said get value out of them, they can run 24/7. Running goods all night. Made VR soon saw the value of good quality diesels. Soon ran up a million miles on B62. Clyde GM EMD were then naturally highly regarded with this sort of customer service. Or so the story goes.
The Js were scrapped a short time after they were introduced. Apparently some were withdrawn when due for their first service. Regarding the Bs, apparently EMD were cool on the idea of double ended bull nose locomotives and the CME visited Detroit to discuss VR requirements.
Awesome footage
Thanks for the priceless video, we used to travel to Keith and it was always a thrill for a young 7 year old to see a steam loco. I still call those years "the golden years" a time that will NEVER return; unfortunatley.
Mesmerising. Fantastic footage.
Ararat had the 2nd Largest Steam Locomotive Depot in Victoria next to North Melbourne! I was born in Ararat in 1965!😀👶🚂🛤️⛰️🐑🐑🐑🍇🍇🍇
Being silent films in my opinion adds to the mystique of the locos. Great job!
Great footage, thanks a lot. Retired steam locos are the saddest sight 😢
I read your comment on inside me my heart sadly agreed. I then asked myself the searching question, why? And I say this because I find for myself that that particularly relates to quiet sleeping steam engines. ALWAYS touches me deeply.
I was eight years old at the time, and tried to talk Dad into buying one of these from Ararat as they were being scrapped. "Just get them to put it in the paddock...
Could have been handy for shopping trips
@@reidgck Imagine how much TP you could have hoarded by rocking up to the shops in a literal train.
What fantastic footage.
This is fabulous. Thank you for sharing it via UA-cam.
Locomotives that still exist today K157, K163, K177, K169, R700, R761
The railways use to play a big part in county town life. Sadly all gone.😢
In the forties, these 'locomotives' were called stream engines. I used to 'haunt the Donald siding, the road crossing, and the turntable. often went from Spencer St Melb to Donald on 'The Mildura Express', leaving at 8pm and arriving at Donald at 2.30am, with my Nana waiting for Dad, Mum, my brother and me.
it drives me up the wall whenever people say its called a steam locomotive.
@@comengsh great stories bro. Care to explain or this just another condescending wink wink to those in the know comment you’ll keep to yourself? Like most gunzels and pass on absolutely no knowledge to other generations ?
Special footage of steam and diesel working together! The J certainly travels at a good clip in the pacing scenes, at least 80/90 kph? All those engines laid up at Ararat, they appear to be in store rather than fully withdrawn? The chimneys were covered and some still had coal in their tenders. Thanks for sharing.
Great piece of history,when rail played a vital part in country life,sadly since,rural and regional areas have been poorly served as rail is fed the crumbs from the table and many fine branch lines were left to rot
Well, I know at least one of the engines in this vid survives to this day, but it’s still sad to think most will never be seen again
Those poor old J's are leaking steam where they shouldn't be! And all those places have NO rail freight now - what a shame.
Theres a few steam locos at Ballarat east loco
Interesting that this was the year that shipping containers were introduced to the world.
I am curious about the side protection on J 503 at 3.02 Never seen anything like that before.
Added when they were assigned to full time shunting for protection of the shunters
I saw a photo of a T class that had fallen into the Ararat turntable pit and was lying on it’s side, called a “regretable incident”
treasure footage.
Great footage.
Never seen any Victorian steam and new steam either as I arrived in Sydney in 1972.
I do like Victorian steam and I think the R class are in my opinion the best looking steam loco in the country and better than the NSW C38.
The streamline ones look like vacuum cleaners.
Interesting how Vic steam has a mixture of what I would call British out line but with American cabs and tenders and not to forget the Kraut smoke deflectors.
there are still quite few steam locos preserved operational especially in vic, in fact a pair of R class were used by West Coast Rail to haul passenger trains until 2004
Some of those idle Ks still have coal in them.
I keep thinking how to improve Ararat Stn, for Proper Rail Services. The Best I have come up with is to make the Platform Road, Duel Gauge. Are there any comments on this...?...
Maybe run standard gauge velocities between horsham and ararat to meet the services to melb, passengers would only have to cross the platform
Looking at this you realise Jesus we were even useless in this country in keeping locomotives clean in the cab. Obviously no pride and the crew thought it ‘wasn’t their job’ to keep things polished and clean.
I saw a SAR double ended 930 Alco
I believe the 930 brought the train in from SA that the B and J continued with. Back in those times they changed locomotives at or near the border,
Was it any different to the Class 44 in NSW?
Oil burners?
It seems oil burning steam J class were favoured in the last years. Easier to cart oil than coal and easier to fill up with oil than coal and no ash to keep cleaning out. The fireman would be happy not to be shovelling coal also. Half of the Js were oil burners
@@reidgck They were, and also if memory serves me so were most of the N class, and by the end of the steam era in Victoria, nearly all the J's were oil as well. I knew an old fireman in Maryborough, who hated the oil burners simply because he hated the taste of his breakfast bacon and eggs when he was on early morning shift, fried in the shovel, it tasted rather oily, he said, as he definitely prefered his bacon and eggs cooked over a coal fire.
The 59 class Oil Burning Mikados made a brief return to the Newcastle-Taree Goods runs during 1968 and 1969.
R class scrapped after only 16 years. Terrible waste of money. Should have been used properly or never built.
It sure was a waste. There were 70 of them too. Obviously they came at the end of the steam age with those ordering them believing steam would continue but once the new diesels were introduced the Rs were stored and soon most were scrapped. Fortunately though some survive.
The railways were in a desperate position after great depression followed by the war. Run down. overworked. Worn out engines. They needed new motive power and they needed it by yesterday at the latest. Steam was proven. Diesels were not. The diesels were much more expensive and slower to get built. There really were no options. The system had to be kept running somehow. Ok the diesels were a greater success than people expected because they could do more work per engine per day, Although more expensive EACH if each diesel did the work of five steam engines this changed the balance sheet. Hindsight is a wonderful tool in economics
VR were planning to use B diesels just a few hours a day like steam.
Clyde EMD said get value out of them, they can run 24/7. Running goods all night.
Made VR soon saw the value of good quality diesels. Soon ran up a million miles on B62.
Clyde GM EMD were then naturally highly regarded with this sort of customer service.
Or so the story goes.
The Manchester built NSW Beyer-Peacock Garretts only lasted from 1956 until 1972/73.
The Js were scrapped a short time after they were introduced. Apparently some were withdrawn when due for their first service.
Regarding the Bs, apparently EMD were cool on the idea of double ended bull nose locomotives and the CME visited Detroit to discuss VR requirements.
There.s a Spelling Error there should of Being Just !! Not hust Sorry People out There !!
No worries about the spelling. Not as bad as when one posts a video and then discover a spelling mistake in the video.