Wednesday, September 06, 2023

 

Still Crafting

Yikes! It is 3 months since my last post and some of my readers have asked if I am still here.... Well, what with the cold, foggy, wet Canberra winter weather it has not been a good time to do much exploring outside, so the Oldies and I have been busy in our craft rooms. Craft rooms are strange places, usually with a large desk and lots of shelves. The actual useful space on a craft desk is usually just a couple of square metres/feet and most of the desk is covered by tools, plans and materials needed for the current project. The top row shows you some of Mum's craft room. It is fall of stamps, dies, card stock and paper. Finding the item that you actually need can be a major exercise. The bottom row is part of Dad's craft room. The shelves here are full of plastic and paper models of planes, ships, trains, lighthouses and special buildings. Today I am supervising the painting of a Spitfire in Dad's room and water colours in Mum's. I like water colours as I can usually manage to get a bit wet; long-time readers will know that Mum will not let me get wet, so I enjoy this game. So, lots of crafting going on but no travel. This is due to change in early November, we are all paid up and ready to go, watch this space.

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Friday, June 10, 2022

 

Kuranda Scenic Railway

A must-do thing anytime you visit Cairns is to take a trip on the tourist train to Kuranda. Kuranda is a small village in the rain forest on top of the mountain range inland of Cairns. The railway was built between 1886 and 1891 to provide a link between the mining towns on the Atherton tableland and Cairns. During WW2 it linked the ports of Cairns and Port Douglas with the military camps and hospitals on the tableland, and the railway between Cairns and Brisbane. The line is 75km long and rises to 327m above sea level. It was built entirely by pick, shovel and dynamite, one of the great engineering feats of colonial Australia. Today it is one of the world's great tourist railway trips. Although the engines are now diesel electric the carriages are restored vintage units, including a "luxury" Gold Class carriage (drinks and snacks all during the trip). I bought the Oldies seats in this one from my pocket money.The line passes through 15 tunnels, has 93 sharp curves and passes over dozens of bridges across ravines. From the train you see many waterfalls. The train makes a photo stop at Barron Falls, usually the most spectacular one, but this time the best was Stony Creek. The almost-last image is a view across the Barron Gorge to Stony Creek Falls and the long railway bridge which crosses the ravine here. We have done this trip 4 times now and will definitely do it again if we have the chance. And about those bars across the windows to stop passengers leaning out, well they don't stop determined small bears.

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Monday, June 25, 2018

 

New Things at Home

While I was away, two interesting things happened at home. Firstly, the empty block across the road is now a building site. There will be a two-story childcare centre there in a few months. That's OK by me as the building won't block my view of the mountains; there is snow on the highest peaks today. The really exciting thing is that testing has started on the new light rail vehicles. The workmen are still finishing laying the track and stringing the power cables on some of the route, but the trams have arrived and one is being tested on the first completed sections, just up from home. The complete route between Gungahlin and the City Centre is due to be operating by Christmas and it looks like the project is actually running on time. In a few months I will be able to watch trams running along the street at the front of our apartment complex, and (of course) ride them.

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Thursday, April 27, 2017

 

NSW Railway Engineering History

 
Last week, Mum had a few days off work so we did and overnight roadtrip to check out some historic things a few hours to the west of Canberra. The top images are of the Junee Roundhouse. Junee is nearly exactly half-way on the main southern railway line between Sydney and Melbourne. The line started operations back in 1878 and Junee became an important railway depot. In 1947 this huge roundhouse was built to service and repair locomotives and rolling stock. It is one of the few completely circular roundhouses and had the largest turntable in the southern hemisphere. The rail depot closed in 1993 and the roundhouse was taken over by commercial companies who use half of it to recondition locos. The other half is a museum. It is impossible to get a photo that shows the whole roundhouse, so I have copied a section of Google Eatrh that shows it. The bottom images are of a clever bit of railway engineering near the town of Bethungra, north of Junee. Here the line has to climb a steep gradient and until the early 1940s several extra engines had to be attached to boost the trains up the slope. The solution was to build a diversion that spirals around a convenient hill. That made the climb possible for all trains. Trains going downhill still use the original line, trains going uphill use the spiral. The closest I could get was a small parking bay off the highway where I could see three lines of track - the original line closest to the road and two lines of the spiral track going up the hill. Once again, Google Earth shows it clearly although you probably need to check it out using GE to get a bigger view.

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Saturday, September 10, 2016

 

Sunday Steam

I just love steam engines, so when I heard that the Canberra Railway Museum was running trains to Bungendore over the Fathers' Day weekend I organized the Oldies into doing one of the trips. Originally the engine was going to be a big 60 class Bayer-Garrett, the last operating one of its type in Australia. Bayer-Garretts were the largest engines in the southern hemisphere. I always wanted to see one of these huge articulated engines up close, but it was not to be. The Garrett had mechanical troubles and was replaced by a smaller 30 class. Still, it was live steam and the crew were happy to let this small bear see everything, even in the driver's area. At Bungendore the engine was uncoupled and switched to the other end of the train; it ran backwards on the way back to Canberra. The track from Canberra has a steep section through Molonglo Gorge. We have had lots of rain and the views down the gorge were impressive, with lots of rapids and fast flowing river and creeks. Actually, because the demand was so great and there were so many carriages, there was a diesel engine attached to give extra power for the trip through the gorge. Maybe next time I will get to see the Garrett.

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Monday, September 14, 2015

 

Lachlan Valley Railway

Just 2 hours drive north of Canberra there is a great railway museum. It is part of the Lachlan Valley Railway, based at Cowra in central western New South Wales. In the early 20th century, Cowra used to be a huge railway base servicing trains on the railway line joining the main north-south line to the main east-west line. The line, from Demondrille to Blayney, was built between 1885 and 1887. Cowra was the operation base and workshop. A large roundhouse and turntable were built in the early 1920s, and up to 30 trains could be at the base at a time. The line was closed in 2009. Lachlan Valley Railway was formed in 1974 to save as much of the locos and rolling stock as possible. It ran "tourist trains" from Cowra up to the time when the government closed all lines around Cowra. Now its locos operate from Cootamundra , Wagga Wagga and Sydney. The museum at the roundhouse is well worth the visit. You can see engines being restored, like this 53 class called "Rosie". I was allowed to climb into the driver's cabin and check out the controls. The turntable is still so finely balanced that it can be pushed around by just one person. I had a go, but it was a bit too big for me (can you see me trying?). If you look closely, you can see a scar in the concrete just to the left of the rotating part of the turntable track. That is the mark from an accident  (in the 1950s?) when a loco missed the rotating section and went nose-first into the turntable pit. Cowra rail museum is a place full of history, with staff who really know all about it. Another favourite place for this small bear.

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Sunday, December 02, 2012

 

Rainforest Railway

One of the best day trips that you can do from Cairns is to take the Kuranda Scenic Railway up to the market town of Kuranda, and come back down via the Skyrail cableway. I have done this trip 3 times now and absolutely love it. This time the train was very long, around 16 carriages, and needed two big diesel locos to haul it. Cairns was, of course, jam-packed with visitors for the eclipse and lots of them were visiting Kuranda. The train runs through rain forest for most of the trip and it has dozens of trestle bridges and 15 tunnels. It also has a station near the top of the climb where you can get out for a short stop to see Barron Falls. It was raining gently this day and it made the views a bit spooky, with clouds right down on the tops of the hills. We even saw a lyrebird fluttering down the embankment near where the bottom photo was taken. Do the trip if you are visiting Cairns, up by rail, back by Skyrail. Lots of shopping for Mums at Kuranda. You will enjoy it.

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Monday, August 06, 2012

 

Cane Trains

One of the things that I love about travel is the chance to see so many trains, in museums and restored ones that are now running in tourist spots. Here's a couple of small ones that I found in Queensland while we were staying with Unka Ray and Aunty Libby. The top one is at the Ginger Factory at Buderim. It started life hauling logs in New Guinea and then was used in Qld to haul sugar cane to the mills. Now it takes tourists around the grounds of the Ginger Factory. It looks like a steamer, but in fact it is diesel powered and the steam engine is only for show. The bottom one is called Invicta and it runs in the Bundaberg Botanic Gardens, near the Hinkler Aviation Museum. It spent its working life hauling sugar cane to mills in the Bundaberg region. In 2008 it was fully restored and is now one of the five loco engines of the Australian Sugar Cane Railway. These little trains are great fun and are working reminders of the hugely important contribution of steam trains to Aussie industry. Do ride on them whenever you can.

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Monday, July 16, 2012

 

Dubai's Magic Metro

One afternoon we decided to ride the Dubai Metro from end to end. This is a great way to see most of the exciting buildings in the city, because for most of its length the Metro runs on elevated tracks. It only goes underground when it has to pass through the old city and the creek. I really liked the ride because I could sit on a ledge right at the front of the train and see everything. Think about that for a minute; if I am right at the front, where is the driver? Guess what, THERE IS NO DRIVER. The whole system is run by computers. There are two lines on the system at present, the Red line and the Green. It is the longest fully-automated metro in the world. It seems to work superbly. The trains are always on time. The trains and the stations are air-conditioned and when the trains arrive at stations the platform doors open and seal against the train doors. I thought that was great, no chance of small bears getting too hot.

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Saturday, May 05, 2012

 

Saving the Trains

One day last week we went for a drive to Goulburn. It's not very far from Canberra and the Oldies wanted to get out of the house for a bit. Now, one of the things that you should see if you are ever in Goulburn is the railway museum. Goulburn used to be a big railway workshop and depot back in the days of steam. It had a huge roundhouse and dozens of engines used to be stored and serviced there. Once the diesels took over the workshops and roundhouse were no longer needed. Lots of the gear was sold and demolition of the roundhouse started. Fortunately, a group of railway workers and rail enthusiasts moved to stop the demolition. They saved half of the roundhouse and turned it into a railway museum and preservation site. There are lots of engines there being worked on. Some of them can even run again. One thing that I have never been able to do at other rail museums I have visited is to get underneath the engines and see the workings under there. Well, at Goulburn you can do that. Some of the engines are stored over the work pits and you can actually see and touch the machinery of these beautiful bits of our history. The engine in the photo is a Beyer Peacock S/C30 class tank engine, just in case you were wondering.

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Saturday, April 14, 2012

 

Bart's Been To Brisbane

Yes, I am just back from a week in Brisbane. The Oldies went up there for an astronomy conference, and then we went up with friends to stay at their place at Hervey Bay for a few days. The bags are unpacked now and the Oldies are busy catching up with the work that has piled up while we were away (I had to sneak time on the computer while they are out shopping). On the trip I traveled in planes, boats, trains and cars; not bad for an 8-day trip. When our plane landed in Brisbane we caught the train in to the city. You can see me waiting on top of the luggage for the train to pull in. If I look a bit anxious it is because Dad is always in a tiz until we get to where we are going and some of it rubs off onto small bears. Anyhow, we had a good ride in, found our motel, and headed out to explore Brisbane. The nicest way to see lots of the city is to take a ride on one of the City Cat ferries. Brisbane is built along a very bendy river, so you see lots of it if you ride a complete loop on the ferry. Of course I was not allowed to run loose on the ferry. Mum still has this theory that I would fall overboard at the first opportunity, so she held onto me while the boat was moving. I think that I could get to like Brisbane. It is not as busy and pushy as Sydney and Melbourne, and it is much warmer than home.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

 

Two Ways to See the Nile

There are two main ways to see the temples and towns along the Nile, by boat and by train. Of course you could walk if you wanted to, but it would take a very long time. The Oldies went by boat. There are hundreds of boats, most of them cruising between Luxor and Aswan. Here are a lot of them docked at the cruise wharf at Luxor. The Luxor temple is visible just behind the boats. It is close enough that the Oldies were able to just walk off the boat and into the temple. Notice how the boats are docked three abreast at the wharves. Passengers on the outside boats have to walk across through the lobbies of the inside boats to get to their one. Leaving Luxor is an experience as most of the boats leave at almost the same time and then race upriver to the locks at Edfu; the faster boats get through the locks first. It's fun to see. Boats have the big advantage that they are really comfortable and the food is good. The other way is to go by train between towns. This is faster but nowhere near as comfortable and the food is a bit chancey. This train was on a section of track north of Aswan where the sand dunes were almost on the river bank. One of the big jobs of Egyptian railwaymen is keeping the dunes from covering the tracks. No matter how you travel, the trip along the Nile is fascinating and well worth doing. I wouldn't like to walk it though.

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Friday, July 01, 2011

 

I Got A Ticket To Ride

Here I am at the ticket window of the Puffing Billy station at Belgrave. The ticket man was a bit confused and uncertain about how to issue the tickets for us. The Oldies were no problem, but he had never had to issue a ticket for a small bear before then. Anyhow, that was sorted out and we walked onto the platform where the train was waiting. I really like this train. Narrow-gauge engines like this are smaller than the big main line steamers so they look much cuter. They still make the same great hissing and puffing noises and the drivers are always happy to let small bears check out the drivers cab. You can see that the station is in a forest area, and most of the trip is through different types of wet and dry eucalypt forest. A great day trip from Melbourne, just make sure that the ticket man knows how to charge you.

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Thursday, June 09, 2011

 

Ah!! Steam!!

Our day trip on Puffing Billy was great. It was freezing cold, one of the coldest May days that Victoria has had for ages. The carriage we were in was a relic of the early 1900s and had no windows, so the wind blew straight through us. Despite the cold, we loved the trip. Just after the train leaves Belgrave station it goes across a historic 1899 wooden trestle bridge, Horseshoe Bridge over Monbulk Creek. The bridge curves across the creek and the road, so it is a perfect spot to get photos of the engine under full power with steam and smoke pouring out of it. There are always cars waiting on the road near the bridge, with people snapping away on their cameras. After the bridge there is a long stretch through forest and you can see spectacular trees and lots of birds and occasional wallabies. I found a good place to see everything on my side of the train. It was the ledge that would have been a window-sill if the carriage actually had windows. It was just the right width for a small bear to sit on, but it also had a sign below it that Mum says I should have taken notice of. Actually, I don't think it should have applied to me; I wasn't standing on the ledge. Naturally, Mum saw it differently so I had to spend the rest of the trip much further inside the carriage with the Oldies keeping a sharp eye on me.

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Monday, May 23, 2011

 

Critters in the Cabin

Here are Milkshake and I in the cabin of "Puffing Billy". The driver let us try everything while he was getting ready to go. You get a good view of the train and the tracks from the cabin of a Baldwin like this one, except for immediately in front. The view from most steam trains is like that and that explains why Australian trains have hit so many kangaroos and sheep. The controls of a steam engine are really pretty simple, the main ones are a brake, a throttle and a forward - reverse gear lever. Milky and I tried to get the train moving. Milky was handling the gear lever and I was at the brake and throttle. We could reach the main bits OK, but our legs just aren't long enough to reach the floor and get enough push to move things. I love steam trains. They have much more romance about them than diesel or electric ones. And I really like the smoke, the steam and the chuffing noises. Full marks to the Oldies for always taking me on steam trains whenever they have the chance.

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# posted by Bart Bear @ 11:47 am 0 comments

Monday, May 16, 2011

 

Puffing Billy

One of the things we did in Melbourne was to go for a ride on Puffing Billy. This is a historic steam train that used to link Melbourne with towns in the Dandenong Ranges from 1900 to 1953. It is a narrow gauge railway, just 2'6" (762mm) between rails. The track, bridges, engines and rolling stock have been carefully restored by volunteers and the trains now run from Belgrave to Lakeside or Gembrook several times every day. During the summer steam trains can't run as the sparks from the funnels could cause bushfires, so diesels do the runs. We wanted to go by steam train, so last week fitted in well; it was really cold. When you get to Belgrave station on the regular suburban train, you have a short walk to Puffing Billy station. There is a good path all the way, but it is not quick enough for impatient small bears. You can see the train down a nice straight, flat cutting, while the footpath has ups, downs and turns in it. So I left the Oldies and Milkshake to go by the path while I clambered over the fence and went straight for it. Actually, the Oldies got there quicker. I think that small bears are handicapped by having such short legs. Anyhow, we met up and had a good look over the loco, no 6A, an NA class Baldwin built in 1899. Puffing Billy Railway has 5 of these in service. Here are Milky and I sitting on the toolbox at the front of the engine. Just after this photo was taken the driver invited us into the cabin and showed us how things worked, so next time I will show you a photo of us at the controls.

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Friday, December 17, 2010

 

Not Quite a Ghost Town

This is a picture of Scruffy and I looking out of the window of the Indian-Pacific as it passes the tiny settlement of Rawlinna in Western Australia. Rawlinna was one of the main bases for the construction of the trans-Australia railway. Now that the steam locos have been replaced by diesels the passenger trains only stop here when needed. There are still goods trains though, taking lime from the Loongana mine to Kalgoorlie. Beside the railway station there are only a few houses and a Post Office. Rawlinna is almost right at the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain and as you go further west scrub and trees are visible from the train window once again.

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Monday, November 22, 2010

 

It's Been Four Years!!!

Wow, it's hard to believe that I have been writing this blog for 4 whole years! I didn't think that anybody would be all that interested in the doings of a small Aussie bear and his Oldies, but at last count people from 15 different countries were reading my ramblings. Over the four years I have shown you some of my favourite places, like Fiji, Norfolk Island, Hamilton Island, the Great Barrier Reef and lots of places on mainland Australia from the beaches to the central desert. I hope my travels by car, boat, plane and train have been fun to read about, and I hope the Oldies keep us travelling. And of course I haven't been able to resist bragging a bit about the craftwork and models that I help the Oldies with. Thanks for reading my blog; I really do enjoy your emails and occasional comments.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

 

My Phantastic iPad

I have a fantastic new techno-toy. Mum thinks it is hers, just because she bought it with her tax refund, but I know better. It is an iPad. iPads are great things. They can hold movies, music and games and you can do your email and Facebook stuff on them as well. I am the family expert on the iPad. Here are a couple of pictures of me in action. In the top one I am teaching Dad to play solitaire. He is not very good at it yet and can't finish a game of any of the dozens of types without help from me. In the bottom one I am showing the Oldies a really cool thing that I discovered on our way to Sydney in the train. If you run Google Earth and have "locate me" active, then you can see exactly where you are on the Google image as little blue dot that moves. In this case it was, naturally, moving along the image of the railway line and it even showed where we were when we were in tunnels. This is great fun because you can find out what all of the things you can see out the window are, and can see what interesting things are coming up ahead of you. No doubt about it, iPads are great fun and Mum will always be wondering why the battery is so low when she gets home from work.

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Friday, August 20, 2010

 

A Country of Contrasts

Australia is certainly a country of huge contrasts. I love travelling around it. It is so big that things change fairly slowly as you go so you have time to soak up the different scenery and the feel of the places. Here's a couple of pictures of two very different places. The top one was taken out of the window of the Indian-Pacific train on out cross-continent trip. It is somewhere on the western edge of the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. The country is very flat, very dry, and there are no trees, just some low bushes. The only thing that rises above the plain are the mullock heaps of a gypsum mine in the distance. The bottom photo shows a very different scene. It was taken at Red Point near Eden in New South Wales. Plenty of trees and water here, and spectacular views of ocean and ancient volcanic rocks. I like both sorts of scenery, but have to admit that when it comes to walking I prefer the trees to the open plain because there are more logs for small bears to rest on and shade to cool off in if the Sun gets too hot.

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