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Nothing could be better than life on
the footplate. At least that was the
opinion of loco driver Dave and his
fireman Dan. The pair had been
together for several years, running
the daily goods train on the
Tallanguah line. Tallanguah was in
the western foothills of the Great
Devising Range, in the north of New
South Toria.
Dan
and Dave began their day at the
Holdenford loco depot, where the
Tallanguah branch left the
Staytecaptal - Boredurrbury
mainline. Many of the New South
Toria Government Railways (NSTGR)
trains were dieselised these days,
but the loco allocated to Tallanguah
trains was one of the
once-ubiquitous D3 30T class 2-8-0
locos. It was well looked after but
had seen better days.
After signing on and taking charge
of the already steamed up D3 30T,
Dave was shunting the Holdenford
yard and assembling the train ready
for the 7:30 departure for
Tallanguah, with Dan taking care of
the coupling of the wagons and air
brake hoses. The load for the day
was fairly typical for the line:
-
10 BF wagons of bagged flour for the
big bakery in Commercial Rd;
- a few L louvre vans filled with
fruit in wooden crates, tinned
honey, biscuits and other produce
for the Tallanguah General Store;
- 2 IC iced vans of cream for the
Zigunzag ice cream factory, on the
corner of Peters and Pauls Streets.
- 1 RNCID van of butter, cream and
other dairy products for Sharpe &
Rytangel’s Corner Store.
- 7 BAH wagons of sheep for the
local abattoir.
- a JD flat wagon with a pair of new
tractors for the John Deere
dealership.
- a HW full of cast iron porcelain
enamel baths and concrete laundry
troughs for the hardware store.
- a KLD wagon of bundled sawn timber
and asbestos sheets for Mac’s
Building supplies.
- 2 WIR vans with an order of
wardrobes, linoleum, drapers
material and treadle sewing machines
for Carter’s Emporium.
- a GG horsebox and of course, a ZZZ
van for the guard.
At
the scheduled time of 7:30 precisely
(?), the Holdenford ‘D’-box
signalman pulled the lever for the
Tallanguah line departure signal,
and D3 30T No. 67 started its train.
Rounding the first curve, Dave
whistled for the Rayel Rd. level
crossing and opened the regulator to
prepare for the fourteen and a half
mile length of the 1 in 37 Effenell
bank.
Most of the stations along the
branch offered little traffic. The
occasional wagon load of hay or a
stock wagon during times of drought
was about all that Dan or Dave had
seen in the 7 years they’d worked
the line together. They were all
tiny settlements, which never really
grew as the railways expected when
they built the line. Everything in
today’s train was headed, as usual,
for the terminal at Tallanguah.
The crew enjoyed their job. They
knew their branch line and the
people it served very well. About
halfway along the line, just past
the rock cutting, was an isolated
old-style homestead. It was fairly
run down and owned by one of the
early settlers of the area, who was
always sitting in an old chair on
the verandah. He would always wave
at the train, and Dan and Dave had
never missed waving back. They’d
never actually seen him around town
and as there was no reason to stop
the train here, they didn’t really
know much about him. They’d
sometimes say to one another that
they should stop there one day, but
it just wasn’t the done thing. The
guard would probably have made notes
to officialdom if they had stopped
for such a frivolous reason.
Further along the line was a disused
quarry, near Tienee Yallock station,
which once had a short line leading
to it, and just past the quarry was
the dangerous Diemany Rd level
crossing. At this point the railway
crossed the road at an acute angle
as it emerged from a low cutting.
There had been a lot of accidents
here, but with the installation of a
wig-wag signal 2 years ago, so far,
there had been no further incidents.
After crossing the Kloreene
Reservoir viaduct and passing the
state school, the train arrived
alongside Tallanguah station
platform at 9:37. Until recently,
the crew would’ve been required to
stop in No. 2 road to allow the 9:50
up Holdenford ‘Runner’ rail-motor to
use the platform, but the passenger
service was withdrawn and replaced
by a bus only a few months ago.
Assorted local business people were
always assembled at the station
ready to receive their goods and
generally have a chat about the
things that country folk always seem
to enjoy discussing - the price of
things in the city, the
effectiveness of the new ‘Llamfresh’
sheep-dip compared to the tried and
true ‘Drown-All’ sheep-dip, and of
course, the all-time favourite
subject, the weather, and the
associated competition to see who
had the highest rainfall on their
property. Harry Stonethacroes always
seemed to get at least 2 points more
than anybody else.
It
took a good 3 hours to complete the
shunting duties in the yard, as the
layout of sidings was never really
satisfactory, especially on a good
day when there could be up to 60
wagons in the yard. After their
‘crib’ break (bacon and sausages
cooked in the loco’s firebox today),
Dan & Dave readied the train for the
return trip to Holdenford. After
oiling 'round the loco, inspecting
the wagons and running gear, it was
time for the 2:38 departure.
The usual sights were noticed along
the line - the remains of the old
quarry siding near Tienee Yallock,
the unusual triple-trunked gum tree
down near old man Johnson’s farm
shed. Then there was the view out
over the Cooker Range, the dog at
Eyih E’eyeoh’s farm who would always
chase the train as far as the
culvert beside the 142-mile post.
And of course there was always the
old timer waving at the train from
the old house near the halfway
point.
As
the years went by, traffic on the
branch slowly dwindled, and the
daily goods consist got noticeably
shorter. Dan and Dave didn’t really
seem to mind that the shunting
didn’t take so long any more, or
that the slog up Effenell Bank had
become easier for the ageing D3 30T.
Eventually, the notice came down
from the NSTGR Commissioner that the
Tallanguah goods was to be cut back
to 3 days per week. As they passed
the waving old-timers house, the
driver and his fireman jokingly
wondered what the old chap did on
the days when the train no longer
ran. With 2 or 3 days' worth of
wagons building up for each run, the
train became slightly longer at
first. “A little like it used to be,
hey Dan?” the driver yelled out to
his mate. But with the less frequent
service, it wasn’t very long until
even more goods went by road. Dan
and Dave’s workload was still pretty
much the same however, as the
station staff at Tallanguah had now
been transferred to other regions,
so they had to do all the paperwork
and safe working themselves. With
the line beginning to lose more
money, track maintenance was
minimised, and track speeds lowered.
Some of the sidings at the smaller
stations were closed and the points
spiked out of use. The branch was
dying.
With the lower speeds, journey times
began to increase. Even more traffic
went to the roads, as it was now
about an hour faster than the train,
especially since the road had been
realigned near Tuffluk Spur.
Otherwise, life on the footplate
stayed much the same for Dan and
Dave. The slog up Effenell bank
still made the loco bark, the
triple-trunked gum at Johnson’s
leaned over a little more towards
the shed, traffic continued to
screech to a stop at Diemany Rd.,
motorists never expecting to see a
train on such a run-down line. The
dog at E’eyeoh’s farm still chased
the train to the 142 mile post.
“Silly mutt!” Dave would grumble, as
he readied himself for an emergency
stop. With the train going so slow
on the weed-infested track, it may
not have seemed much of a challenge
for the dog any more. However, it
only had 3 legs now, due to getting
too close to the wheels one morning.
And of course, the old-timer still
waved as the train went by, and the
crew waved back, but there was
rarely anyone at the station to meet
the train any more.
After a few more years of this, it
came as no surprise to the crew to
be told that the Tallanguah goods
would be cut back to once a week. As
the train passed the old homestead
and they waved back at the
old-timer, the crew wondered what
the old man did to fill in the other
six days of his week. “Must be
pretty boring for the old fella
nowadays,” mused Dan. “Mmmm!” was
the only reply the driver gave.
The old D3 30T was on its last legs
by now. Steam wheezed from places
that steam just wasn’t supposed come
out of a locomotive. Only 12 steam
locos were still in regular use in
the whole state. The flanges
screeched on the
increasingly-neglected track.
Trainloads rarely exceeded 10 wagons
any more. It was obvious that the
line wouldn’t remain open for much
longer unless a lot of money was
spent to upgrade it. Neither man
thought that that was very likely.
And as expected, in June that year,
the NSTGR announced the imminent
withdrawal of services and closure
of the Holdenford - Tallanguah
branch line.
A
few weeks later found Dan and Dave
preparing the last train to
Tallanguah. Dan chalked a “LAST
TALLANGUAH TRAIN” inscription across
the smoke-box door, and the
Holdenford track gang had laid
detonators at the junction to
farewell the train.
The departure signal was slowly
pulled on, and Dave eased the
regulator open. With a tinge of
sadness, he blew a series of long
whistle blasts as the train rounded
the curve over Rayel Rd. crossing.
Some knowing motorists tooted back,
the ‘BANNG......BANNG......BANNG’ of
the detonators on the track adding
to the morning’s racket. A few
people stood out the front of their
homes to witness the last train as
it attacked the Effenell Bank for
the last time. With only 3 wagons
though, it wasn’t really much of a
struggle. There would be 15 other
wagons to bring back from Tallanguah
on the last up train, but as the
return was mostly downhill, there
wouldn’t be any challenge for the
loco.
Running along the line, the crew
reminisced about old times. Most of
the remaining sidings at the smaller
stations had been torn up over the
last few years, and little remained
to mark their sites.
Rounding the curve before the
old-timer's home, the crew had
decided to stop and offer the
elderly gentleman a ride on the loco
into town and back. It might be a
chance to have a chat with him at
last. These old settlers usually had
many interesting stories to tell.
They came out of the cutting and
looked out for the familiar figure
sitting out on the verandah. And
there he was as usual. The train
came to a halt, and the crew waved
at the old man as they got down from
the cab and started making their way
towards the house. Strangely he did
not wave back this time. "Probably a
little upset at seeing the line
close," they thought. Dan yelled out
“G’day”, but the old-timer just sat
there, lifeless, staring back at
them.
And as the crew walked up the
verandah steps - sadly, they
realised that the branch, truly, was
dead. |
A
day or two ago, there was an
China
says the line will promote the
development of impoverished Tibet. The
exiled Dalai Lama said the railway was
one of the tangible economic benefits of
being in China - if only religion and
culture could be protected.