Queensland and NSW Railways Steam Engines and other Images
by Kimball Thurlow
Year 1961. Class C19 type 4-8-0 #702 at Harristown yard near Toowoomba, facing north. This locomotive was named "Centenary" in 1923, because it was the 100th locomotive built by the Queensland Railways workshops at Ipswich near Brisbane.** Note the tarpaulin covered wagons, a typical feature of Queensland goods carriage.
A photo taken in January 1965 using a 35mm Voigtlander folding bellows camera. The film was Ilford 400ASA which was more expensive than the usual negative film. I think the summit was (and still is) about mid-train. Exiting the western portal of Tickhole tunnel with engine 3822 on full power the morning Sydney Express from Newcastle is getting into its stride. The cylinder drain-cocks appear to be still open about 8-10 minutes after leaving the terminus. In 2 hours and 20 minutes the passengers will be alighting at Sydney Central, a time it would be difficult to achieve by car or train even now.
I'm a guy who's run a few gauntlets, made a few friends, and generally amassed very little of anything apart from memories.
So I thought I would share some Australian images that I managed to preserve on photograph from when I was 15 years old. I still get a great deal of pleasure from these, because they were usually taken before or after school in Queensland with a little postwar 2.1/4 square twin lens Russian made "Lubitel" camera. Some film was also shot in New South Wales until I was 19. With all these photos my dad would help me fix up the bathroom in an evening to process the negatives and run some prints.
I sold vegetables grown in the family garden, around the neigbourhood, to pay for the film and the chemical stuff. I can still remember my marketing catchcry "These are a little cheaper than the green-grocer, but they've only just been picked, so they are MUCH fresher". We even competed against the kids next door, but always managed to knock on doors on different days, or in different streets. There was an unwritten rule that there was some business for each of us.
This site is dedicated to Mum and Dad, and to working railwaymen everywhere.
Being part of a railway town, the Toowoomba Chronicle newspaper often had articles on railway progress overseas
* I wish to acknowledge assistance given me, by David Lord of NSW, in preparing some of my transparency images for this site.
* For those wanting a definitive illustrated reference work on the steam locomotives of the Queensland Railways, I recommend Locomotives in the Tropics, Volumes 1 and 2, by John Armstrong, publ. Australian Railways Historical Society, 1985 and 1994.
* An illustrated book on the 4-8-0 steam locomotive was published by David and Charles, in 1971, entitled "4-8-0 Tender Locomotives". It was written by D. Rock Carling, and covers all continents.
I have no official connection with Queensland Railways, or Aurizon (prev. QRNational) corporate, past or present.
