Queensland Rail - 1992 VHS edit part 1

A variety of subjects and locations of what was QR from back in 1992, including:
- English Electric 1620 class running the Ipswich workers train towards Helidon
- Toowoomba to Dirranbandi and return on the 'Dirranbandi mail'
- Some shots on the Kingaroy branch
- EE 1652 on the Pialba (Hervey Bay) branch
- North Coast mainline between Maryborough and Mackay including Galdstone and Rockhampton yards
As with some other postings here, this is very average quality as it is a VHS to VHS edit and time permitting in the future will be re edited digitally which will improve its appearance a little. I could also be convinced to post the entire field tapes unedited!

[@derekrowanphotograpics]

Memeries as a grown up Railway Brat 😅. Also whomever recorded this video, the cinematography in telling a story is near perfect ! Fantastic film to watch 🤩

[@tedbear4243]

Cheers Derek. These were shot in my very early and young days. I like to think Ive improved a little bit following considerable professional influence and access to professional gear a bit later on.

[@G516R700]

Very nice, great to see how QR was back in the 90's. Great to see the 1620's & 1720's and the other locos as well

[@johnmunns5964]

1620's what a sound 😊 no graffiti and just think how many lifetime jobs the railroad created. Loved the Dirranbandi Mail shots.👍👍

[@gordon9306ify]

Thank you 💙👌 Nothing better than QR Blue Clydes and EE's. The Dirranbandi Mail was a must do trip, very thankful I did it but your footage is wonderful.

[@tedbear4243]

I have very fond memories of the Dirranbandi mail and the Forsayth mixed.

[@scotthutchings9656]

1600 class, two toots on start, reminds me of visiting my Aunt and Uncle at Deagon in the 70’s - fascinated by the trains passing the end of their street.

[@raybot1]

Thanks for sharing this. Brings back very fond memories of my childhood. Brothers would to take me to Gladestone train station as a 2-3 year old (that was in 1992 and 1993). Despite the young age I still remember all the various types of locomotives, particularly the electric ones. Later moved to the South Burnett (1994 to 1996) and it was always a treat when in Kingaroy to see the grain trains come to town. Also remember being on a diesel loco hauled commuter to train in Caboolture around 1997, must have been one of the last given the electrification of the network by that time.

[@darylcheshire1618]

When I travelled to Dirranbandi in 1987, The train arrived around 10:30am and I walked around the town but the burger joint apologised because there was no lettuce because it was still on the train that had just arrived. Likewise today’s newspaper. Being from Melbourne I was surprised to see how the train affected daily living. Victoria stopped that type of service in the 1940s but I was privileged to see it for myself in 1987.

[@tedbear4243]

Hi Daryl, thanks for the comments. I also consider myself privileged to have had the opportunity to experience a trip to Dirranbandi as well as Forsayth - two of the most memorable railway related things Ive done.

[@adriannettlefold9084]

Please do post your Queensland footage mate, I was a kid going to work with his father who was a Driver for QR during this period and I now have been with QR 22yrs myself. It's like reliving my childhood seeing all the places I have lived grown up and worked in. Not to mention the locomotives that I have driven I see in your footage. Great Stuff.

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

The way we were...great video, many places I've never heard of before.

[@tedbear4243]

Road (and rail) tripping around Qld was always enjoyable. There was always a rail line not too far away back then

[@NeathSpadge]

Everything about this is amazing. But those EE sounds. Well they are even better. Love it.

[@tedbear4243]

Without a doubt, by far my favourite loco type has been the English Electrics

[@aussiesean5140]

Great montage of what it used to be like.

[@WHDRWN]

Terrifically considered production all round!

[@tedbear4243]

Thx mate :-)

[@peacemeal3196]

Love everything about this, the NG, the music, the production and footage- brilliant job all round! New subscriber!

[@tedbear4243]

Thx heaps :-)

[@kylestennings456]

The montage with ice house is just epic 👌🏻 keep up the good work

[@tedbear4243]

:-) If only we had something better than VHS to record stuff with back then. I do hope to eventually re edit some of these that have been previously edited VHS to VHS. It will improve the image quality a little bit.

[@kylestennings456]

Must of be a night mare editing with tapes compared to the digital stuff now. What was the best quality commercial film/video you could get ? I know beta max was up there at the time

[@tedbear4243]

@@kylestennings456 Betamax was indeed better than VHS but limited availability compared to VHS gear. S-VHS came along abit later and provided some improvements

[@kylestennings456]

Ah i see, thank you for that ☺️

[@geepee33]

1:12 sometime later, this locomotive was sent to the Philippines along with 7 other locomotives and various equipment to be used for railway rehabilitation. They were scrapped in 2005

[@louisharper1471]

I love these narrow gauge scenes, always been a fan of narrow gauge and it's great to see some high quality footage of it.

[@tedbear4243]

There is something a bit special with narrow gauge :-) All these initial video postings are VHS to VHS edits and over the next couple of years I will digitally re-edit them all. I'm currently digitising all the original camera tapes. This will slightly improve their technical quality.

[@louisharper1471]

@@tedbear4243 Personally, I love the aesthetics of VHS footage, it makes the videos feel like a time machine.

[@katrinalaw1479]

Nice shot on the Kingaroy branch

[@trevormaxwell3480]

Yep a lot has changed but not for the better unfortunately

[@interceptor7905]

3900 class built in Maryborough

[@samuelanketell8190]

Ripper film mate 👌

[@tedbear4243]

Cheers. If only we had drones and digital cameras back then!

[@trevormaxwell3480]

The good days

[@jamesbradley7306]

Had forgotten what a show it was!

[@marcconyard5024]

Those turbos ARE the voice of EE!

[@tedbear4243]

They are awesome :-)

[@BronsonTheCat]

Love the port west footage!

[@tedbear4243]

So much has changed and if only we had drones and digital cameras back then.

[@jackcapewell4373]

Toowoomba my home town!

[@tedbear4243]

Spend quite a bit of time in the Toowoomba area in times past. Considered moving there at one point.

[@trevormaxwell3480]

They could have least kept the one mail train if nothing else

[@WHDRWN]

opening footage is out front of d;arcy doyles house

[@tedbear4243]

it is indeed

[@trevormaxwell3480]

Now they have some lines back what a shame

[@taureanlea3777]

Ah, the corporatisation of QR from a department into a Government Owned Corporation under Vincent O'Rourke 😀

[@tedbear4243]

Then totally finished off by that Anna Bligh thing, now head of the bankers association. Like, WTF?

[@Cinesound01]

Incorrect. In a bit of context: Vince O’Rouke was against privatisation/corporation of Queensland Railway as he saw the disaster coming however it was never his decision, it was Wayne Goss & David Hamill who as part of their botched reforms closed down stations, closed lines, destroyed country passenger services and sowed the self destructive culture. Vince actually fought back with QR the best they could and a little help from the Unions. But the damage was done and then Beattie & Bligh killed it with privatisation which Goss tried to do but was kicked out of office before he could. It is a shattered mess that nothing will recover.

[@taureanlea3777]

@@Cinesound01 And now the Queensland Rail and Aurizon of today are not the QR as it was back in the old days.

[@adriannettlefold9084]

@@Cinesound01 Hear Hear!! Exactly. We are a skeleton of what it once was and just this week was shown through the station at Roma, the majority of which is disused with a few rooms for traincrew down one end. The rest abandoned by Aurizon staff. I hope the wheels stay on long enough to see retirement.

[@H3avyHaul3r]

Queensland Rail was destroyed by Labor Govts how ironic considering how union centric it was and still is…the unions won’t save you…

[@katrinalaw1479]

Nice shot on the Kingaroy branch

[@tedbear4243]

One day I shall digitally re-edit the QLD videos from the camera tapes and fix up the erroneous frame rate too.

[@sky-zc3uz]

@@tedbear4243 you would have one very grateful fan if you just uploaded the raw tapes. i spent my childhood riding the rail trail that now exists on the kingaroy branch and this footage from before i was born fascinates me.