My trip to the Central West of NSW

["Eric Cartman" <erk_cartman@yahoo.com>]

Seeing as though this weekend is quite on here (with the Easter steam
weekend in Victoria and the ARHS ACT tour to Broken Hill, I thought I'd add
this for something that you might like to read. It is about my recent 2 day
trip to the Central west of NSW on 1-2/4/2000.

*********

I had a weekend to spare, money in the pocket, camera in the bag and fuel in
the car. What was I going to do? All points of the NSW rail system looked
good and all had good points about them and I changed my mind about each
direction about 5 times.

Saturday 1 April dawned fine as I pointed my car towards the westbound lanes
of the M4 Motorway. Despite trackwork being carried out on the western line
and some trains being diverted via the south, I headed west to Parkes hoping
that it was not going to be a foolish decision (it was April Fools Day,
after all). On leaving Springwood, my decision appeared to be a good one
with an 82 class ahead of me (it was larger than a speck of dust at that
stage but only just). Lucky for me that it appeared to be crawling.

A quick U turn and a short chase to the southern side of the line saw me in
position to greet 8220 on a ballast train on the up (with 8256 on the rear).
It was only due to the fact that it was a work train that I managed to get
the shots. Little was I to know that it was to be my first and last train in
service shot of the weekend.

With the weather getting greyer by the minute, I was expecting heavy traffic
on the Great Western Highway due to the trackwork and the roadworks. This
was not the case as I zoomed past Linden bends and could see a crane at work
with a new overhead staunchion and an overhead wiring train also working on
the overhead. After a quick detour at Katoomba, the Zig Zag Railway was
passed at Clarence with nothing at the platform before my first major stop
at Lithgow Loco Depot which was host to the usual 80 and 86 class locos in
plain view and the more hidden 81 and 82 classes. Also nearby were a couple
of V sets stabled due to the trackwork ready for Monday's peak. It was also
around this time that I had the cancellation of the weekend's Central West
XPT's confirmed due to the trackwork.

Next stop for me was at Bathurst which saw only 4881 in residence but a few
people awaiting the CountryLink Central West XPT coach replacement. I also
took the chance to get a tracksuit as I forgot one (it was at a good price
too)! I was feeling fine even though the weather wasn't and the train action
was nearly non-existant.

West of Bathurst was unchartered territory for me while driving so I had to
pay extra attention. Even at this late stage, I was thinking about another
change in direction, this time to Cowra. I thought about it briefly but
continued on towards Orange. By the time I had arrived at Orange, the
weather was very grey and the windscreen wipers were on full while passing
the station. I decided to check out Orange East Fork station (which serves
as the Orange stop for the Indian Pacific and Ghan). To say that I was
disappointed would be an understatement! It is a short platform (about half
a carriage length), no station sign on the platform and that is it! To add
insult to injury, I got up close and personal with the ground just prior to
getting a pic of the "station".

Aiming the car west again saw the rain stop and for some reason saw me
heading for Borenore station just west of Orange. Upon arriving at the
station, I saw a sign saying "keep off the platform" which was a very
unofficial one at best. Oh dear, I wondered what was so important that was
on the platform that I should not see? Judging by the rest of the day, it
was unlikely that I was going to be swept off the platform by a train so I
had a look. Let me be polite here and say that Borenore is named correctly
and keep heading towards Parkes.

Manildra was the next stop and it was a delight to see 7340 just at the
western end of the yard. A bit of bushwalking was completed to obtain the
shots of 7340 which performs shunting here for the Manildra Group's sidings.
There were also some container wagons in the yard (the busiest yard west of
Lithgow so far!) but no trains. I could not find a station anywhere, is
there one there now?

After some more rain, I finally arrived at Parkes. The station was full of
wheat wagons but no trains. There was a 48 class in the Comet shed but that
was it. I could quite easily imagine the Sliver City Comet at the platform
and not much has changed since then it appears. The only CountryLink sign
(as compared to advertising) I could find was outside the station in the
form of a coach stop sign. After exploring the town and finding steam loco
3075 stuffed and mounted outside the Tourist Centre, I found the loco depot.
I would have to say that this depot is one of the most legally accessible
depots I have seen for photographing locos. Locos I could see and photograph
included 48S31, Sliverton 36, 8181, 442S2, 442S6, 4514, 8145, 8182, 4890,
4891, 4892, 48150 along with a hidden EL class in AN green and a hidden NR
class. The next day, I also observed NR39. After checking into my
accomodation for the evening, refuelling the car and freshening up, I went
to Goobang Junction (just west of Parkes) to await any trains without
success. With sunset approaching, that was the end train-wise of day 1.

Day 2 (Sunday April 2) started as day 1 had finished, grey and maybe soon to
be wet. A quick loop of the town saw only the addition of NR39 in loco and
not much happening train wise. I had thought of heading to Cowra on the way
back to Sydney so this was the logical next desitnation. Right on cue, the
rain started and was a constant companion throughout most of the day. After
a brief stop at Forbes station (which is now the Tourist Centre), I arrived
at Cowra, where the rain was still falling. Cowra station was a nice looking
preserved station and also a shock - the toilets were open! After the usual
shots, it was time to head to the Lachlan Valley Railway (LVR) Museum at
Cowra Loco Depot.

The LVR Depot reminded me of Eveleigh Workshops in a way. Most of the
covered area was dark and gloomly with graffitied trains aplenty. There was
also some work evident on some of the rolling stock. Apart from the near
mandatory sleeping cars, there was my old mate 4473, CPH24, 5367, 4708 and
newly repainted 4703. There were other locos in areas I could not access or
see. After posing with 4473 (I really needed a friend or tripod here), it
was time to leave the LVR Depot. It was plain to see that there was
potential there but lots of work to be done on several cars - but the
freight side of things makes the money so the attention goes there, then
followed by the tour trains.

The next stop was the Cowra War, Rail and Rural Museum. Even though I was
interested in only one out of three things, it was interesting nonetheless.
The rail side of things was mainly station signs (NOT Engadine!) but there
was of course 4203 out the front. A highlight was the various horns and
whistles that you could operate including the horn from 4718 (complete with
the horn section from the train) and a 38 class steam whistle.

After leaving Cowra, it was grey and raining again (just for something
different) until Blayney (containers, no train), Bathurst (fuel, money and
lunch) and Lithgow (same as yesterday) were passed. I then stopped off and
explored Bell station, which someone has changed to read Hell. It is not the
busiest station and is isolated to say the least. It reminded me of a
CityRail version of Borenore!

After leaving Bell,