Albury Railway Station NSW Australia 18th January 2020.

Featuring locomotive C 501 at Albury Railway Station on its way to Seymour.After coming from Junee it was placed on the Seymour Heritage Rail Centre train. www.srhc.org.au/

[@rikihanawhiu7637]

Awesome i lived on Hovell st from Albury 1983 to 2003 and use to ride all the way to the end of the road then ride that platform from end to end when travelling to East Albury. I could hear the trains at night linking up and their horns toot. Best memories of Albury was the train bridge and Murray River. Thank you Richard.

[@125sloth]

What? You "rode the platform?' How come I never caught you? Burt seriously, nobody cared except if a train was in and passengers about. Bikes were not permitted to be ridden on the platform.. haha I did the same thing. Yes the rail bridge you speak of was classic. And the river so unique. As a very young kid I remember hearing the trains shunting at night, mostly steam. My grandfather used to drive one of those wide cranes in the Albury yard in the 50's and it was shift work. They worked in those yards 24 hours a day. And so many trains too. . And later there was a timber platform just out of Albury, not even a carriage length long, basically behind the Grammar school, (which was the official school platform), where the rail motor from Wagga would stop to set down day students in the morning then pick up again in the afternoon. Most of these students would come from Henty, Culcairn, and Gerogery, but some did come from further up north, like Yerong Creek, and I believe even Wagga itself, but that would be a long day out. When I was a young kid my cousin and I would often ride bikes to the platform during school holidays and stand there waiting for the Daylight to go past just after it left Albury at 12.26. Why do I remember that time? Strange as it is, back then I never thought I would be working on the Daylight and other trains to Albury when I grew up!! Anyhow, the Daylight was almost up to 70mph by the time it got to the Grammar platform and you had to hold on to the rail at the rear if you didn't want to get blown off the platform. Jesus that train forced a lot of air out of the way quickly even back then.

[@beagle7622]

When was the platform at the grammar closed . I never knew it was there, Where was it. I used to listen to the Spirit come in at 11 pm and the shunting at night, when staying with relatives. It was very noisy in those days. If I was lucky I would still be awake at midnight when the Aurora came through.. I used to catch the Daylight up & go home on the 7am Albury Express in the Economy AC Blue Carriage, usually pulled by an S Class.

[@125sloth]

@@beagle7622 Funny you mention the old Grammar, (or Scots College now), platform as I was talking to an old rail colleague on Sunday and we were trying to work out when that "platform" was removed. It would have been in mid to late 60's. I remember we rode bikes there and used to go to it via where Wood street is, behind the sports fields. It was very short, like half a carriage length if that, and only rail motors could stop at it and I would say only one door would have been on the platform. Interesting you heard the Spirit arriving at Albury at 10.45, or at least departing at 10.55, (if on time). Try working on that train when it was late and you had to be up next morning to run the other one back to Melbourne from Albury at 6am. That would be a fatigue issue these days. The old Lancaster Lodge was quite a place to say at back in the day. And I also did the Daylight regularly and the 7am from Albury on Sundays , (we did the Spirit into Albury on Saturdays) stayed overnight, and worked the broad gauge back to Spencer st on Sundays. On weekdays we did the broad gauge to and from Seymour, either the 8.35 am, (which was changed from 8.30 and also ran as 8.32am departure), or the 4.45pm departure, and changed over with the Wodonga/Albury crews at Seymour, (conductor and buffet girls) but went right through to Sydney from Melbourne when doing the Aurora.

[@hazptmedia]

Love the old VR locomotives

[@125sloth]

As an ex VR employee on both intrastate and interstate trains, I have an affection for the old VR locos as well. What I do not like is the excursion trains or "heritage specials", where the trip for families in particular, is sometimes ruined by so called "enthusiasts", who think the trains are just for them. Some should shower before going out in public too i would suggest.

[@hobbitone2939]

@@125sloth haha 😆 yes 👏🏻

[@hobbitone2939]

My fav trains were the old red rattlers 😂 when you could pull down the windows, pull out those fancy designed foot warmers. The old metal luggage racks in the dog box compartments 😂😂😂 brings back childhood memories 👍 Thankyou

[@125sloth]

Those old metal luggage racks you speak of were often brass. I knew a conductor who was allowed to take as many as he wanted from some wooden carriages, prior to them, (carriages), being destroyed by the railways after being stripped. He and two other rail people spent a few days taking any fittings they wanted, with permission. Needless to say they made a nice return on their efforts years later.

[@hobbitone2939]

@@125sloth ahh ok, lucky men. I loved the ornate design on them. They don’t make *class* trains anymore. The old Red Rattlers were loud, they had that smell of hot brakes on metal, but so much fun as a child...always a great adventure to be had ☺️

[@125sloth]

@@hobbitone2939 I don't know if you ever travelled on the old NSW country carriages they used on second division Spirit of Progress from Sydney to Melbourne and reverse at busy holiday times, but if you liked the smell of hot metal, quite often an axle on a bogie would overheat and put out a real smell. This was because they had friction bearings, not roller ones, and were restricted to 100 kph in Victoria because of the possibility of the hot box. The funny part was that in NSW, these carriages were still permitted to travel at 115kph, (or 70mph in the early 70's), so if a box was heating up, you can imagine it would be warm at Albury, and then really heat up in Victoria. It was a regular thing, and all that could be done was to stop safely in a section and wait for the offending box to cool down, then proceed under speed to Spencer street with the guard watching , or really smelling it from inside with the occasional look out the window. Great adventures to be had like you say. Passengers were not that impressed though.

[@hobbitone2939]

@@125sloth YES haha 😆 I did as a child going on the poor kids holiday camps 🤩 I loved it. It was the one time of the yr. Point Wolstoncroft, I knew that it would be hours on the red rattler with the pull down windows the smell of metal 😆😆 it was an awesome time. That was in the 70’s...days of flared jeans, sharpie haircuts 😆😆😆 And the obligatory honey sandwiches that crystallised because of the Aussie heat oh wow the memories have come flooding back ☺️☺️☺️

[@125sloth]

@@hobbitone2939 Now you have me bringing memories back with your honey sandwiches and the heat. That got me remembering working on the "2nd Division" Daylight from Albury back to Melbourne, which arrived from Sydney into Albury with curdled milk in the old buffet car that had no fridge, just ice boxes. On a hot day the milk would be off by the time they got half way to Albury so no tea or coffee from Albury to Melbourne, not that too many people would want hot drinks on a hot afternoon. Later they used airconditioned NSW sets and buffets for the second division Daylight, which were actually more modern than the normal sets. Go figure. They also made the normal daylight longer so as to not need a 2nd division, as most bookings were made in advance so they knew approximately how many passengers to cater for so added extra carriages and used 2 engines in NSW to Abury.and attached 2 buffet cars, and the NSW buffet crew went all the way to Melbourne and back, instead of staying overnight in Junee as used to be the usual case with both NSW and Vic. buffet crews. A bit of trivia for you.. haha And the old Intercapital Daylight was far more reliable than any XPT that came later too.

[@125sloth]

Great video. Gotta love the "enthusiasts" at the end of the platform wetting themselves (a bit of satire there), as the C class came along the outer road. On a serious note however, some of these enthusiasts can be a bloody nuisance and are almost despised by some loco crews and other rail staff.. It only takes a minority to give the majority a bad name. The "C"'s on the North east tour a few years ago was ruined by a few "enthusiasts" who basically stuffed the day out for families with kids and most other proper "enthusiasts" who do the right thing. These "pseudo" enthusiasts are selfish and only think of themselves and some have no idea of basic rail safety around tracks, trains and platforms. I have seen some of them do simply plain stupid things.