Re: [VIC] R766 and R711 Ballarat tour.

[Michael Kurkowski <mk@netstra.com.au>]

Hi James,

Today was great. Some of the interesting hightlights, were the fire that we 
started just out of Bacchus Marsh, but especially the ride in the BL car :)

I am not sure if this happened or not, but was there a time when R711 and 
R766 sat next to each other at Ballarat? If not, this would have been a 
really good photo opportunity. As far as the headboard goes, it was kind of 
a special occasion today, in that this was the last ever run of R766 in 
it's 'normal' state. For this one reason, the headboard should have stayed 
off the whole way. 

I think, for me, the highlight of the trip was the return journey, with the 
lovely sounds of the 567's in the T class locos roaring away like all good 
locomotives should. Don't get me wrong, I like the sound of a steam loco, 
but the GM does it just that bit better :-) Now wouldn't two flat-tops have 
been nice :-) Simply for the T classes, I and the people I were with ended 
up sitting in the first car, close up to the front as possible :-)

As far as other things thorough the day went, I discovered that modern 
Pentax cameras really are stronger than they look, as I took one giant leap 
for man and landed camera first into the ground, at one of the photostops. 
Moral, any SLR owner should get themself a UV filter to protect their lens. 
I did and it saved my day :-)

Finally, did anyone notice the lack of a certain motormouth today? 
(Wouldn't those two be flattered about this aus.rail idolisation). I did 
notice the previously mentioned crossdresser standing the in the buffet 
car. I really did not believe it until I saw it! RRL was also noticed 
taking a swipe at a poor defenseless kid on the platform at Ballarat this 
afternoon, it's a pity the kid's parents weren't in the vicinity to witness 
this, and punish RRL accordingly.

It was a great day, but, there should have been some photostops scheduled 
on the return journey. Not all rail transport conoisseurs are steam ones :)

and... R.I.P. R766


Regards
Michael


James Brook said in message <385CC5D6.2209E25F@ozemail.com.au>, I therefore 
quote:

>I went on the R766 and R711 Ballarat tour today. Great job WCR! In my
>opinion this was the best broad gauge tour of 1999. Anyway the train
>left Spencer Street one minute late at 1021 and reached Bacchus Marsh on
>time after having a great photostop on the Melton Weir Bridge. I think
>we left Bacchus Marsh a little bit late, but I forgot to write down the
>time. There were three great photostops up the Ingliston Bank and we
>arrived at Ballarat exactly on time at 1405. The first shuttle was R766
>with R711 banking to Warrenheip and then it returned to Ballarat. The
>second shuttles was a parallel run to Warrenheip. R711 hauled the K and
>S cars to Bungaree Loop and R766 hauled two ZD vans, a BV and 13BL
>(Pioneer) to Warrenheip. The parallel run was good although the both
>lines are a little bit close for this sort of trip. The up special left
>Ballarat at 1727 (scheduled 1725) and was five minutes late at Ballan
>(scheduled 1755, actual 1800). It then arrived at Footscray at 1905
>(scheduled 1903) and arrived in Spencer Street one minute early at 1914.
>
>I one complaint about this tour. While the headboard was left off R766
>for most of the trip (which was a pleasant suprise), it was put back on
>the loco at the second photostop. :-( For a tour like this where it is
>the last chance to see R766 before its converted I think they should
>have left it off at all photostops. Everybody has plenty of photos of
>R766 with the headboard but there are hardly any photos of R766 without
>the headboard. I don't think it would have killed Steamrail to have left
>the headboard back at Newport today. (Note: I am not criticizing the
>overall concept of the headboard in this post. Go back to the other
>threads to see my arguments against the headboard. I am just criticizing
>its use on this particular tour, which is a special occasion, ie: R766's
>last run before conversion.)
>
>I would also like to say that the organization and the efficiency of the
>photostops was outstanding considering the number of people on the tour.
>At the second photostop a kid walked out in front of the photographers
>and he was banned from getting out at all other photostops. I think
>organizers should ban anyone who doesn't do what they're supposed to. On
>some tours (I won't name the operator here) photostops are really slow
>because of the number of people who just stuff around instead of joining
>the photoline. Also I think really small children should be
>automatically banned from photostops because they end up getting in
>people's way, crying or doing just about anything else that wrecks a
>good photostop. I think all organisations should take a tougher stance
>on idiots who wreck photostops and end up making the tour late because a
>10 min photostop turns into a 20 min photostop. When this sort of thing
>happens other photostops end up being cancelled because of the late
>running.
>
>Here are two image captures from the video of the trip. These images
>will be available through the news section on my website later tonight
>or you can click on these links here:
>
>http://www.railpage.org.au/vr/pics/vidcaps/r766_r711_dtgully_rd.jpg
>http://www.railpage.org.au/vr/pics/vidcaps/r766_parallel.jpg
>

-- 
Michael Kurkowski
Email: mk@netstra.com.au
Website: http://www.netstra.com.au/~mk
ICQ: 1459118
Telephone: 0416-044-124

What is the point of having quotes at the end of your .sig?