NSW Rail Motors and Railcars in Regular Service. Silent Movie

13 Minutes. This movie with some photos shows CPH Rail Motors and 620 type and other Railcars in regular service, often on lines which are long gone.

[@robertcameron2808]

Thanks for the memories I remember we used to work a rail motor job from the abbitors to Richmond

[@tressteleg1]

That is an interesting working. When would that have been?

[@robertcameron5007steelwheel]

Thanks for the memories yes I drove many of the cph 620 endeavours a great little video

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@gregmorley1997]

Had many a fun ride on the old tin hares on the main South line when younger

[@tressteleg1]

Often drivers of these motors did not muck around although the Moss Vale run did not offer much opportunities for speed except maybe at the upper level to Moss Vale.

[@simonf8902]

Great performers. The Budd RDC was the glamorous South Coast Daylight Express.

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@lundsweden]

I'm not sure if I'd describe it as glamourous, lol. They were pretty run down when I travelled in it from time to time in the late 80s, early 90s. Didn't they have a buffet car though? I think so.

[@simonf8902]

@@lundsweden I’m being ironic. They had service to your seat by a hostess.

[@margarethennessey5182]

I grew up in the Sutherland Shire when the rail motors ran from Sutherland to Waterfall. That was before 1970.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks. I was also quite familiar with that service, with friends at Sutherland, and moved to Wollongong a little later.

[@imacgra1]

so glad you put this up. Growing up on the illawarra in the 1980s I only remember seeing the Budd cars when they were loco-hauled. The CPH were always interesting to me; so versatile and long-lived. Even as a kid I found the seating a bit cramped, but the seat next to the driver: what a view for a little tyke heading out to Richmond!

[@tressteleg1]

Glad you liked it. My main regret was that I lived in northern Wollongong in the 70s and 80s, but never bothered to take any movie or video of the Budd cars. It’s a railfan’ss biggest mistake - assuming that modern things will be around forever then suddenly they are gone. The 86 class electric locomotives are a prime example of that.

[@vjet]

Thank you sir to yourself and blokes like you who filmed what to most people would be everyday stuff. Seeing videos like this is a link to heritage that can so easily be forgotten. Bravo!

[@tressteleg1]

I could have taken a lot more but what for? In those days we only took vision for ourselves. KZbin was not even a distant dream then. But I am glad I took as much as I did.

[@railbuddy8372]

nice one friend...greetings from india

[@tressteleg1]

I’m pleased that you like it. 😊👍 Perhaps you could do me a favour. I have occasionally seen Mumbai old electric trains on TV shows but they never let us hear their noises. I bet they make good growling sounds when starting off and running. If you know of a video which gives these sounds, I would be very happy to receive the link. Thanks.

[@railbuddy8372]

@@tressteleg1 sure friend....let me search

[@tressteleg1]

😊😊

[@trainluvr]

Very good. First time seeing these venerable workhorses, especially the Budd RDCs.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks. I’m pleased you liked it. The Budd cars were unusual in that they were locally built while one was a trailer, its engine being used to generate electricity. Unfortunately all were scrapped in 1994. A Wikipedia search for ‘NSW Budd Railcars’ may be of interest.

[@BRETTYZCAR]

Fantastic footage and a fitting farewell as they served us with pride and grace those CPH’s. I grew up in Loftus and remember them well in a time before vandalism and graffiti because you always had staff onboard. Swing the seat back over , lift the window up and of we go.

[@jimmynswgr]

Fantastic video. Thanks for uploading

[@tressteleg1]

I’m glad you liked it.

[@greeneel6518]

Awesome video 👍 a lot of good train's you filmed and it's always good to see the 3801 be even better to see it back on the tracks again

[@tressteleg1]

I have a lot of 1970s train tour movie film to process. Maybe 3801 is in there too.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

Great footage, I wonder if any footage exists of the Tin Hares and 600 class rail motors running on the Oberon and Tottenham branch lines?

[@tressteleg1]

If so, unfortunately I don’t have any.

[@marcconyard5024]

Interesting that trailers never seemed to be allocated to the Woolongong depot.

[@tressteleg1]

The rail motors, after Waterfall was electrified, often did the Wollongong to Waterfall shuttle, connecting there with the electric trains. The trailers would have slowed them down to much on the twists and turns and long climb north.

[@richardsmith8654]

Once again thanks for sharing with us your fantastic collection. There are some absolute gems here and watching the video brought me a lot of pleasure. I had never seen a 620 class in a 6 car set before. It is also amazing to look back over the changes that have taken place over our life time on these lines.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks. It is good to hear from satisfied regular viewers. Unfortunately my vintage movie and video from Australia will run out sooner or later.

[@tressteleg1]

But if you are a fan of the 620 type railcars sets, there will be coverage of the Byron Bay Train sooner rather than later, I expect.

[@richardsmith8654]

We have been very lucky to see it any event. It really is a treasure trove. I am looking forward to seeing the Byron bay train.

[@tressteleg1]

I have come across several scenes of twin 46 class bringing the Indian Pacific down the Blue Mountains. Colour and exposure is not great but it may scrub up OK. There are quite a few steam fan tours from 1965 to 1984 on film. Maybe some on video. I wonder if anyone would be interested. Ballarat trams is nearing completion, Bendigo and Adelaide to go. There’s plenty taken overseas but the average Oz railfan is not much interested.

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

the 46's hauling the IP would indeed be interesting as such footage is rare. Speaking of electric locos, this video posted (not by me), but may be of interest to you tressteleg kzbin.info/www/bejne/b56YaZWoZ8d-acU

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

I'm posting this as a new post at the request of tressteleg1. This video actually shows Steam locomotive usage in NSW during the late 1950's and early 1960's. However, there is a few minutes worth covering the history of the Carlingford branch and CPH rail motor use on the line, including Sandown, which would otherwise perhaps go unnoticed, given that the video more strictly focuses on steam. The link to the video is below and the footage covering the Clyde - Carlingford/Sandown CPH rail motors can be seen from 7:50 onward in the video. It was filmed during early 1959 prior to electrification of the line. As for CPH 14 which is shown departing Clyde for Carlingford, it is said it is preserved by Dorrigo when in fact it is now preserved by the Rail Motor Society Paterson. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iam0pGivi7enpqc

[@tressteleg1]

That came through nicely thanks John. 14 is lucky it is at Patterson and not Dorrigo. I suppose you saw my Macksville and Dorrigo video earlier this year. Hopefully I can watch it before long. A LOT of work is going into future videos dealing with Queensland steam cane trains.

[@tressteleg1]

I just had a look at the video. There’s some rather good scenes there and Carlingford was certainly done thoroughly. It would be nice if the film could be transcribed digitally now that this is possible instead of the ‘VHS camera onto the screen’ method of earlier times. I think Jim Powe may have even used 16mm film but I’m not sure of that. Worth the watch anyway.

[@hamwank]

Wonderful memories

[@tressteleg1]

I now what you mean. I enjoyed discovering scenes I had taken years ago and forgotten about during preparation. I’m pleased you enjoyed it.

[@graememellor8319]

Fond memories of coming down the Dombarton range heading to Moss Vale and hearing the driver exclaim rather loudly HANG OOOOOON, before we hit a rather lazy wombat, we got through to Moss Vale after some ingenious bush engineering, with no injuries to the three passengers we had onboard

[@tressteleg1]

So many interesting services that once existed are gone now. And with them the stories like this one of yours.

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

Having attended the Transport Heritage expo which is running June 9 - 11 long weekend featuring LVR's CPH 12-25-24, steam locos 3526, 3642 and Garratt 6029, red set F1 and more, I noticed in your video at 5:52 at Wagga a service hauled by preserved diesel locomotive 4403, so that is a another nice catch of a preserved loco. Saw good old 4403 at the Expo as well attached to the rear of the train with 3526. Like with the steam locos, they were allowing people to go inside it's cab (bull nose end) and take shots through it's window. If you search youtube for "Transport Heritage Expo 2018" without quotes you'll find some videos people have posted up, might interest you!

[@tressteleg1]

It’s great that NSW still is proud of its history and puts on such shows. And sometimes now-preserved locos appear in normal service in old movies and videos. In that video, 4403 was supplies by a friend. I’ll check out that site later.

[@robertscorse7399]

I used to travel in a CPH between Sutherland and Helensburgh. I believe the photo at 8:45 is the swooping 180 degree bend between Helensburgh and Waterfall, not far from where the Tangara derailed in January 2003.

[@tressteleg1]

You could well be right. My main experience was between Wollongong northern suburbs and Sutherland, later Waterfall. Magic machines.

[@robertscorse7399]

@@tressteleg1 They were indeed. Being so light they felt fast, even if they were only travelling at 60KPH. Here's a story I recall. In the late 1970's if I was in town on a Friday night, I would hang around to catch a Saturday morning 12:15am service from Central to Wollongong. This was usually a CPH set consisting of two power cars and two trailers. One night past Redfern rusty water began pouring from the radiator above the driver, flowing down over the driver's window. He had the single wiper working to see ahead. At Hurstville he got out, got the station hose (they used to hose down the platform in those days), climbed onto the roof and filled up the radiator. No more trouble at least as far as Sutherland where I got off. Oh what fun it was!

[@tressteleg1]

I was told years ago that they were good for 60MPH or 100km/h but that would be without trailers. The 12.15 am departure tallies with my memory of the last to Wollongong post electrification which left at 12.10am. Usually a U set which I sometimes got to know somewhat more intimately.

[@marcconyard5024]

Read somewhere that the IHO parcels van hauled from Central by a U set was for a time attached to a railcar set for Newcastle.

[@tressteleg1]

I recall seeing the parcel/guards type vans on the rear of U sets in earlier times but cannot confirm your thoughts on the matter which probably are correct anyway.

[@andrewr2825]

Nice evocative video. Didn’t those rail motors have a great turn of speed? I remember one being rostered to run the Carlingford line on Sunday evenings in the late 70’s. Great memories!!

[@tressteleg1]

I was told by drivers that they were good for 60mph (100 Km/h) but on indifferent track it felt like 100MPH! Carlo at night, yes I believe.

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

@@tressteleg1 There was an interview with Lachlan Valley Railway earlier this year and one person mentioned in regard to speed that they can indeed go over 80 however they have a maximum speed of 80 km/h on them in order to preserve the older motors. The heritage F1 red set also has a maximum speed of 80 km/h imposed on it for similar reasons. Also in regards to the Carlingford line I came across some interesting footage with CPH's doing runs on that line and if you are interested I can give you the link to the video.

[@tressteleg1]

Yes, John, that 80km/h limit makes sense for the CPH these days. As for F1, I thought that ‘Standard Sets’ were rated at 50mph anyway, but that would be on level ground. If you have not heard it yet, I think you will hear much faster speeds during my sounds only ‘Sounds Wooden Bradfield Motor on Tour’ video. Use good quality speakers or headphones turned up loud! As for the Carlo CPH video, yes please. If you can, start a new post so that others will see the link as well.

[@markaylott1780]

Great footage, exept the picture at Menagle is showing south bound , not towards sydney. A great trip through history all the same

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks. I though I got it right from maps etc, but not this time.

[@66tas95]

Such pristine carriages with not a single bit of graffiti on their livery. How has it come to pass that we allow willful damage to public property.

[@tressteleg1]

Graffiti vandals were less of a problem in those days, and transport operators have always been fairly quick to remove any filth that was applied.

[@sylphil51]

Those CPH's can scoot.

[@tressteleg1]

Officially they were limited to 50mph/80km/h but without speedos, who could prove if there were going faster? In fact in the right situations something like 60/100 was more likely with just a token acknowledgement of speed limits on curves.

[@stephenbrogan215]

remember having to change at Sutherland to go to Engadine before line electrified.

[@tressteleg1]

If you didn’t nod off on the electric and wake up at Kirrawee!

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

Thanks for posting this fascinating footage. It's great to see some of the 620/720 sets and CPH's in this video that have survived including sets 621/721, 623/723 (now under restoration back to heritage service) and 726 which is now paired with 661 at Byron running shuttle services. I enjoyed the parallel run (4:20) from Redfern through the inner west between CPH 18 (+ others) with the train you were on (I assume it was an S-set as seen in the photo after this scene?). In case it may interest you and others here is a list with the RMS Paterson giving info on each CPH Rail Motor (those that survived and those that did not, etc). www.railmotorsociety.org.au/rm/rm_0003_tech.htm CPH17 which is seen in your video was damaged in a collision at Waterfall on 21.03.1973 and subsequently scrapped.

[@tressteleg1]

Yes it is good that so many have survived into preservation. It’s too long ago to remember just what I was riding when I took the film of the parallel run but I did ride Red Sets as much as possible so was probably standing in an open doorway when I did it. S set doors were shut and open windows difficult for photography. Re Byron Bay, it is only an hour away so I plan to go there when the weather forecast is fine for a couple of days mid week. Unfortunately that link was inaccessible. Something to do with needing a secure network???

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

@@tressteleg1 Something that might interest you, the NSW Liberal government will commit 5 million dollars to re-open the 34km from Buxton to Colo Vale. This is something that was just announced in the last 24 hours on the eve of the Thirlmere Festival of Steam. This is of course is if the Liberals get re-elected on March 23. I mention this because of the footage of CPH 35 scooting along that stretch of line in your footage. Haven't traveled on that line but as far as I understand it is operational from the deviation near Picton to Buxton and the NSWRM runs shuttles with CPH's and steam locos from Thirlmere to Buxton, so ultimately this is to further extend to Colo Vale.

[@tressteleg1]

I thanks for that information which of course is good news. Isn’t it marvellous how governments suddenly find money to throw all over the place just before they they are about to get kicked out in an upcoming election? Anyway I hope it comes to pass whoever gets into power. However I’m not too sure that 5 million will go terribly far if the 34 km are not terribly fit at the moment.