Newcastle & Hexam Steam NSW Railways 1960s

Steam operations mainly transporting coal; shot in the Gosford, Newcastle and Hexam areas New South Wales Railways Australia in the mid 1960s - by reidgck

[@andrewr2825]

It’s great that we had guys that had the opportunity and equipment to be able to preserve these operations on film. Thanks for sharing them with us - it’s all history!

[@helmutsandner867]

Awesome video. Brings back memories from those times. When I observed these trains as a child. Especially the scenes around Cardiff.

[@thomaslusk7621]

Great to see this , Love the old way of doing things.

[@wezza60]

I remember those days at Hexham when we used to go and visit my Auntie and uncle at Raymond Terrace, Uncle John was in the RAAF at Williamtown, he used to take us to the Oak Dairy, the famous Oak Shake was the best milkshake in Australia.

[@robertcameron2808]

Thanks for the memories I worked a lot on the tf on the short north as well as every steam we had in those years late sixties great little video

[@TERRYBIGGENDEN]

Fabulous memories. Loved the goalies :-)

[@graemeforssberg3986]

This is very interesting historical footage but I too had to hit the mute button.

[@contrapunctusrex2499]

What excellent footage you have here! I had to mute it too, but the footage is fantastic. Thanks for uploading!

[@reidgck]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@simonf8902]

Robinson 2-8-0. Super rare.

[@larraineivanturnbull6702]

Hexham please, don't leave the H out. I lived there for the first 21 years of my life, great memories of all the rail activities. Two brothers worked for GovtbRail, Max as a driver and Brian in many departments Activity with coal boats supplying Sydney power at Mortlake. J & A Brown had the Stockrington and later the John Brown Hetton Bellbird had the Mortlake Bank and Pelton Bank and f inally the Hexham Bank , all loaded at Hexham

[@raycross1783]

First Depot shown is Port waratah.

[@Stanb662000]

excellent collection and thankyou for posting. 1:29 is actually Pt Waratah, and judging by the allocation , I'm sure at least some of the coal road footage footage was taken during 1971 & 1972 ( I half expected to see myself as a very small boys in some of these shots!)

[@reidgck]

Thanks for your comments. You are surely right. I am not of the area and only visited a few times to see some railway activities.. The films have been in the cupboard for many years and I have forgotten most details. Sections no doubt, would have been taken at different times or years. Any information you can add is appreciated.

[@Stanb662000]

@@reidgck probably cant add too much, there was a book going around a few years ago that outlined in some detail the withdrawal of steam from the short north, but for me, reading ( and later writing in the trip note book) the engine numbers was how I learned to read numbers - living in north Sydney at the time, the north was very accessible and I have many slides, and some super 8 taken by my parents mostly during 1970-72, so much of what you showed here is very familiar

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

Wish more locos were preserved in working order. You know a thousand or so would be nice. 38 s 59 s AD 60 s 36 s 30 class D 50-55 etc

[@adriankingston4338]

That music made me cringe ! Great revived footage but that music was a sin!!!! I watched it in scilence

[@reidgck]

It's a silent film anyway. The music is optional - as you demonstrated. It would be possible to add more acceptable sounds, possibly even original sounds but it is a lot of extra work on top of the reproducing of the film and the editing. You are quite welcome to add sound if you feel more inclined than I. The more important part for now is the visual content. By turning off the sound which is from the KZbin library, you saw the film as original. Oh well, at least you seemed to like the visual content.

[@adriankingston4338]

@@reidgck i loved the films dont get me wrong it just didnt need that music 😖 lol i whatched it a couple times because i love NSWGR films especialy the belbin collections, these films should be standard learning in all NSW primary schools to show how travel was befor we all had cars and social media!

[@reidgck]

@@adriankingston4338 Great of you to comment. I know what you are saying. I travelled a long way back then to take such fills as I knew steam as about to finish. The internet or digital conversion was not a reality those days and not even on the radar. The films have laid dormant for years until the internet unexpectedly came along. Such films were very expensive to make compared with income back then and not the quality of today's video.. Anyway, at least there a way to show them now which has made the worthwhile, especially to show those now interested.

[@darylcheshire1618]

@@reidgck I thought that movie cameras in the ‘60s were expensive and the processing expensive too, I took slide photos in the late ‘70s and movie taking required more expertise. Still I’m glad to see these movies.