Cab Ride 5910 Wollongong Sydney

28 Minutes This video also shows what life was like on the footplate of a steam loco in service

[@esmai1762]

Enjoyed watching this video, great to hear the banter at start especially the driver..that engine steams well. Very good cheers 🥂 greatly appreciated!!

[@tressteleg1]

Yes, that sort of banter is something that the average fan would not even think about. Unfortunately with all the rules these days, getting such a ride would be almost impossible.

[@librisfidelis793]

This is a very interesting cab ride with a very experienced engineer. I have run trains for 20 years on Southern Pacific including firing and running a couple steam locomotives. The engineer does not operate the way I would, but then he has his reasons and I do not see anything improper. The thing about this video is that I could feel everything happening as I watched, primarily since I have been an engineer. I really enjoyed this video. The crew was superb!

[@tressteleg1]

Jack started his career when nearly all the New South Railways Government Railways (NSWGR) was steam. He drove both freight and passenger services. His love for steam never went away even though he drove diesel and electric locomotives, diesel railcars and electric MUs. Thus he jumped at any chance to drive steam. While essentially train driving would be much the same anywhere, I suppose each operator and driver had certain ways of doing things. Most of this video was taken on miles of continuous climbing. Incidentally here most people called these men Train Drivers. More officially they were Locomotive Enginemen. Anyway I’m happy that you enjoyed the video. Unfortunately we lost Jack a few years ago so I can’t send on your comments. By the way, the NSW 59 class was built in the USA and delivered as oil burners but as we have plenty of coal and little oil, they were later converted to coal burners as you can see. If you google NSW 59 class locomotives you will see more details if you wish. (Typed on board Gold Coast Tram 12 😊)

[@Bennyboy1985]

Photographs tell me I rode an excursion train hauled by #5910 on the North Shore line in '88, when I was 3. I have no memory of it aside from a plume of smoke shooting up on its' approach into Chatswood, some kid going "Come on you stupid bloody train!" and getting told off by my mother for repeating the kids' wording! Despite how young I was, I have good memories of Central Station from the late 80's- the orange seats, the smell of railway grease and hot food, mixed-traffic loco hauled regional/ interstate trains, the shops all in the centre of the waiting hall... Sure the place needed refurbishment, but it lost something in the process. Waiting for a long-distance train back then felt important, like you were headed off on an overseas flight. Nowadays the interstate passenger section is just a bunch of wooden benches- you might as well be waiting for a bus. The plants and the shops in the centre of the waiting hall are gone too, and the place feels bare and lifeless now. I'd even take the orange seats back for that busyness and romance of the 'old' Central to return...

[@tressteleg1]

+Bennyboy1985 I was working on the trams in Melbourne by 1988. The North shore was a popular line for steam specials as, apart from the night time goods train, the line saw nothing but electric trains. Central has been changed many times over the years and has lost character in the process. Just hope they don't want to rebuild it like Southern Cross/Spencer St in Melbourne!

[@jcmgt]

Wonderfully atmospheric, every boys dream, every boy of my age anyway. thanks for posting.

[@tressteleg1]

Yes, my one and only mainline steam cab ride. New laws prevent any repeat. I also got at least one ride one one of the Hexham or Maitland coal locos as well, but much shorter and less impressive.

[@Shipwright1918]

Awesome stuff. One of these days I'm going to snag a ride on the footplate (or better yet, do the driving myself instead of just watching). Thanks for sharing!

[@bryanbryant9962]

Thank you for this excellent video! Now I've had a ride in a steam locomotive cab! The captions were very helpful and interesting.

[@tressteleg1]

I try to make informative comments. Videos which explain nothing are not for me.

[@critchley3819]

The steam locomotive was a beautiful man made work of art. like a Rembrant good to look at no matter how old it gets..

[@steeltrap3800]

Was lucky enough to get a ride on footplate on Zig Zag a few years before it closed. Nothing like this, but fun anyway. Driver was very friendly and seemed amused an office-type enjoyed steam and even knew a bit about how they worked. Nice memory.

[@tressteleg1]

Your ride certainly gave you a taste of the experience. I wonder if Zig Zag will ever get going again?

[@tressteleg1]

Good to see. Let’s hope all their problems of the past do not recur and that it becomes a successful operation. Perhaps now the future effects of Covid are the big unknown.

[@transformationinternationa6164]

great video showing the intricacies of driving a steam loco. It must be 30 or 40 years ago - Fairy meadow level crossing still in use! Bridge went in in the late 1980s.

[@tressteleg1]

Yes it was a great ride in the cab, and I’m pleased that you got something out of watching how the loco was driven. I left Wollongong late 1987 and to that time, the level crossing was still at fairy Meadow. In fact in one of my videos in recent months, that crossing featured due to a collision between a car and a train. If it’s not in this video, it was in the next one covering 1986/87. The crash was partly because of altered train movements due to electrification construction works. Trams & Trains in the News for Reasons Good & Bad 1984/85 kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZpTVpIeXYtSBidE

[@russellcasey616]

A correction, the Gold Coast Motorail was the only north bound express with car carrier. The Indian Pacific (westbound) and Spirit of Progress (southbound) were the only other trains from Sydney with car carriers.

[@tressteleg1]

I don’t know exactly what you are correcting as you don’t name any particular point on the video, but it does seem as though you forgot the Brisbane Express motorail which lasted until it was replaced by XPT services, same time as the GC service.

[@barryphillips7327]

Excellent video except i have no sound but on others it is there.

[@ClamTram96]

"We had brains back then" Lol, I'm betting that was true

[@markscrivanich6303]

Cab rides,hmmm,I’ve had a few.First time was riding with the crew of 3642 on the Thirlmere loopline running tender first.Have also had cab rides on SMR 10,3801 from Moss Vale to Robertson and remember seeing 115km/h on the speedo,Victorian K160 on the Goldfields Railway,have driven J547 under instruction.Had diesel cab rides too.4401 on several occasions,4501,4918 several times. I used to be a volunteer with 3801 LTD,and that’s how I managed to score a cab ride on 3801.

[@tressteleg1]

You have done quite well there, a total unlikely to be reached again these days by an enthusiast thanks to the paranoia about people being in cabs, even if it does amount to an extra pair of eyes watching the road ahead. I have a few more cab ride videos. Check out this playlist. Driver's View & Cab RidesTrains Sydney/NSW kzbin.info/aero/PLLtOIHp49XNBct-2plDktdgC_tgaYoufq

[@PeterWalkerHP16c]

My cab rides were on a 48 shunting and pissing about at Queanbeyan in '72 and a brand spankers 442 in '73. Totally illegal even back then. What I really wanted was a ride in a 44 (loved 'em) and a good sniff around in a Vickers 46 to check out the prehistoric sparky stuff.

[@tressteleg1]

@@PeterWalkerHP16c While cab rides have never been officially permitted, in the past there was little risk to the driver letting somebody on board. Letting them drive was something they had to be much more careful about and was usually only allowed at night but occasionally the driver took the risk. In later years, it was only drivers I knew reasonably well who let me in and just some who let me drive. Nowadays with cameras everywhere the chance of the driver getting caught is much greater and the punishment also potentially getting sacked. I don’t expect to get any more drives. If you have not seen this one before, maybe you will find it of interest. Sly Drives of Electric Trains. Melbourne, Sydney, London. kzbin.info/www/bejne/moObmI1vqa-Yr6s

[@robertmurphy4549]

Marvelous video, thanks. Pity the poor crew - such a bumpy ride; won't need a laxative - it sure shakes the s*** out of them!

[@tressteleg1]

+Robert Murphy Driver Jack Lawson would just about kill to drive steam instead of his usual diesels and electrics. Somehow steam gets into their blood.

[@collinblack8474]

Very nice.

[@tressteleg1]

Collin black Yes, and it was a fun ride too!

[@nswgrenthusiast3777]

My dad told me that my grandfather drove the green 3642 and it’s true! He has a picture of him next to it.

[@tressteleg1]

It’s good to see that you are carrying on with a family interest in rail.

[@jcmgt]

Btw I could only get sound on one channel.

[@tressteleg1]

The old camera only had one channel and I did not (or did not know to) connect the second sound channel.

[@robertgift]

Wonderful! Two locomotives really needed? Love the outside views. Too much of driver.Why adding coal when the pop-off valve is open?

[@tressteleg1]

+Robert Gift You may not know the Illawarra line as well as I do, but it is a climb, in places quite solid, practically all the way form Austinmer to Waterfall. Presumably the load was too much for just one loco. As for adding coal while blowing off, It is no good firing the engine after the pressure has started to drop. You can be absolutely certain that the crew knew what they were doing, and that another steep pinch was approaching. As for 'too much of the driver', Jack Lawson had been a friend of mine for quite some years and I had clocked up many miles in the front with him. He was about to retire and all the videos featuring him were taken compiling a video for him when he retired. Some people would be interested in what happens on the footplate while the loco is working. Don't forget also that when this was taken, the internet had not been invented. And KZbin was still 20 years away. Nobody in their wildest dreams could imagine such a thing. People took videos for their own viewing and maybe some family and friends. Some of my KZbin videos had never been seen by anyone until on KZbin.

[@bryanbryant9962]

"when this was taken, the internet had not been invented" Is the stamp at the beginning correct (1987)? Was this trip some kind of exhibition or tourist excursion?

[@tressteleg1]

I did quite a few electric train cab rides with Jack Lawson. I took this and other scenes which showed Jack driving as I wanted to present him a copy when he retired, not far away. It’s lucky that I did. There are very serious grades on all lines out of Sydney and grades of 1 in 30 are not uncommon, thus 2 locos. Adding coal while blowing off would be because the crew knew of even steeper grades being approached. And it certainly was 1987. My first video camera was bought in 1984. Some rail fans were still taking B&W photos years after that. Who prefers looking at such photos today where videos exist of the same subjects?

[@Nathan93Baker]

Has this got english subtitles?

[@tressteleg1]

Nathan93Baker I just looked at the first few minutes and there were plenty of English subtitles.

[@teamned6912]

Do you come with a brain? STRAYA!

[@kentrobison588]

Shovels full. Can't have a plural adjective.