Newcastle/Maitland 27 and 29/12/99

[Scott Martin <semartin@idx.com.au>]

Aus loco discussion mailing list

Hello all,
          I've just been up to north to the check out the coalroads 
between Newcastle and Maitland and to ride the 620-720 class units again. 
Anyway, there were some great moments and I'd like to share them with you 
now.
On the way north on Monday 27/12, I saw XP2000, 7 cars and XP2018 flash 
past at kotara with the Up Grafton XPT. (This was interesting sighting, 
as I had seen the same power cars working the Up Melbourne XPT at 
Campbeltown on Xmas Eve. It shows the kind of mileages these sets run on 
a weekly basis.) 
At Wyong, two open wagons with sandstone blocks inside were stowed in the 
up Perway siding. The Endeavour maintenance centre at Broadmeadow was 
filled with only 620/720 class sets. a total of 5 x 2 car 620/720 sets 
were in the open. of these 5, only one was in the tuscan red-yellow 
stripe livery. The rest were blue/grey).  Lone diesel-electric locomotive 
4865 was also present in Broadmeadow yard. 
On the way to Maitland, 9028/9024/9004 were seen on the Up Coal road 
working hard through Victoria Street Station at around 4.30 p.m. 
On my way back from Maitland to Sydney this afternoon, NR59/NR27 roared 
through the Up passenger road at East Maitland with a mostly empty steel 
train at around 11.35 a.m. 
Just before noon, 8204/8208/8240 powered through Victoria Street station 
with an Up loaded coal train of older style hopper wagons. 
As the train I was travelling on (Endeavour set 2805/2855) braked into 
Metford station, 8212 sped by on the up coal road with an empty grain 
train. 
Newcastle terminus revealed  Endeavour sets 2852/2802 making up the 
Dungog service, 2855/2805 (the terminating service from Telarah), 620/720 
sets 626/726 and 621/721.  The 620's are coded NTC, while the 720's are 
coded NPF. There were also a number of Electric multiple unit stock in 
the station too, but being a diesel purist, I failed to record them !. 
Finally, Broadmeadow yard was much the same as on the 27th, with 4865 
still in residence. Today though, 8243/8231 were refuged in the yard with 
an up empty coal train heading for Teralba colliery perhaps ?.
 Thanks for reading this rambling report. I hope it is useful

Scott


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