SRF20-TORONTO - ONE MONTH BEFORE CLOSURE

Please note: This is Toronto in Australia, not it's somewhat more famous namesake in Canada.
By chance, we turned up at Toronto to be told it was one month before closure.
Our other Hunter plans were cancelled, and the day was spent along this long closed branchline in Newcastle.
Cab Ride
Lineside
Passenger view.
A day worth of operations all along the line.
The Semi Retired Foamer
alcogoodwin.blo...

[@holiday197]

Thanks for uploading this video. Always wanted to see what a trip on this line would have been like back when it was open. The train seemed to shake a couple of times in this video which may have irritated passengers at times.

[@NeathSpadge]

Holiday197 You had to hold on well if standing :-)

[@karenmc3803]

Thanks for this, it brought back some great memories and fun times as a teenager riding the old rattler to get to Nobys beach back in the 70’s

[@NeathSpadge]

Thanks for your comment. Glad you liked it.

[@peejay1981]

Love how the speed "limits" were ignored in those days!

[@kimbuckles6535]

My father joined the nswgr and in 1954 i was a wee wee tot and we went on a holiday from mayfield to stay in a cottage on the lake at lake macquarie. We traveled in a fo platform carriage hauled by a steam tan c30? . Was onl 4yo at the time but i remember it :) Because dad was nswgr.staff .we got a free ride and the guard allowed us to stand on the platform between the carriages with dad

[@StephenHanson2323]

i really enjoyed this video it brought back memories , loved seeing the red rattler again

[@NeathSpadge]

Many thanks for the kind words mate. Am glad it holds so many memories for others as well.

[@lundsweden]

That's not a rattler, that's a DEB diesel railcar.

[@changkim6169]

i used to travel along the Toronto to Hamilton station for attending Newcastle High School for learning English in early 80's. & recently i visit this town on the way to Sydney. i miss these place so much.

[@davidhorner3139]

A nice bike ride these days. Another fabulous video thanks.

[@NeathSpadge]

Thanking you

[@fordlandau]

Fantasti content. Thank you!

[@NeathSpadge]

Thanks muchly for that. Happy memories of a sad time.

[@jamesfrench7299]

Oh thanks for uploading this. I caught the train from Woy Woy to Cardiff recently after years since I last rode a train to the Newcastle area and was surprised to see the platform intact at Fassifern. What a rickety old track it was. The writing was on the the wall. I discovered a bike track on a decommissioned branch from Adamstown a couple of years ago and I thought it was this branch but it turns out to be another much longer railway branch going for 15 km which I never knew about. It eleven has a tunnel you can ride through. That's far more interesting and had several stations along it despite always being a private railway mainly for goods.

[@NeathSpadge]

Thank you for your comment mate. In the 80s and 90s every Newcastle trip started witg both rhose branches. The old Adamstown to Belmont one had numerous mines along it. Hoping to find some video of it. I did take numerous still shots of it and rode the last railmotor out of Jewelscstation. Interestingly, the Toronto line also served a coal mine at one stage.

[@jamesfrench7299]

I was hoping you had one of it. I think it's nice that both Toronto and Belmont have a street named after their railways as a permanent reminder they had trains.

[@NeathSpadge]

@@jamesfrench7299 am up in the Hunter again this weekend. Hoping to get a chance to return to Toronto. Has been a very long time.

[@NeathSpadge]

@Aussie Pom ooohhh thanking you

[@jamesfrench7299]

@Aussie Pom That was much appreciated. Wish I saw your response earlier.

[@robertthomson1587]

Excellent footage. Thanks.

[@NeathSpadge]

Many thanks Robert. I went back last weekend for a before and after video. Terribly sad to see the way it is now :-(

[@robertkennedy1087]

Great video. My pop lived in Toronto and i had many trips on this old line. Can you tell me what year it closed?

[@kennyriach]

I remember taking a ride on it when I was at Newcastle Uni from 1988 to 1991. Think it was 1990 it closed - remember the stink it caused!!

[@neilforbes416]

I know a video I'd like to create but it would require content shot with a tripod, the camera positioned at the far end of Toronto's platform. I would then replicate the position with my video camera and shoot a 5-or-so minute sequence with nothing there(of course there'd be nothing there), then I'd superimpose the vintage shot, lining up the platform edge and any poles in the shots, crop out the black sidebars(of the 4:3 aspect ratio shot), and set the old image over the new with about 45% opacity. Result: *The Ghost Train Of The Toronto Line!* It'd be a heck of a job in editing though! LOL

[@NeathSpadge]

Well beyond my editing skills :-) Sounds great though

[@neilforbes416]

@@NeathSpadge As I said, it would require the initial content to have been shot with the camera mounted on a tripod. Stabilising the video can only achieve so much but there'd still be a degree of shakiness that would ruin the wanted effect.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

@@neilforbes416 You can get a mini tripod that acts like a hand held feature I have seen them at camera house they are very compact. and very affordable.

[@Mediawatcher2023]

@@neilforbes416 You must have those older tripods as i had one but you can get one now that is so compact you can also use it as a stabiliser .

[@DaMoOn555]

wow i dont think i have seen one of those awesome

[@TooManyProjectsNotEnoughTime]

My youth was spent on this line

[@canadiantimberwolf1]

Toronto Line.. May I ask where that is. As I am in Southern Ontario Canada and Toronto is 2 hours south of me ?

[@NeathSpadge]

Gday Stephen, actually it is a different Toronto. This is Toronto the suburb in NSW Australia. Far smaller than your one over there. I had not even thought about the two being confused. I shall go add Australia to the description. Apologies for the confusion.

[@forgemaster01]

Toronto Australia is in New South Wales on the Central Coast and is situated on the western shore of Lake Macquarie, (one of the biggest if not the biggest salt water lakes in Australia).

[@canadiantimberwolf1]

Oh No ,that is Ok, I love finding out New Stuff. I knew it looked very different to what Toronto is here. There used to be a THB Railway or Toronto Hamilton Buffalo years ago that went out of business. But, thanks for the Information.. And I subscribed to your channel

[@NeathSpadge]

Many thanks. I only recently refound a lot of old videos and decided I should do something with them. Am very very new to this KZbin and video editing thing. It is great fun though.

[@neilforbes416]

Does anyone know the whereabouts of Rail Motor Set 670/770 today? (2023)

[@NeathSpadge]

Our last update had them with Australian Train Movers. Not sure if that has changed or not. australianlocomotiverosters.blogspot.com/search?q=railcar

[@Yikiw88]

What year did the train stop running

[@NeathSpadge]

1990. The last night is covered on another of my KZbin videos

[@canadiantimberwolf1]

So what has happened to the Line now, did the government tear it up like they do over here. or is there a Heritage Toronto Railway going today?

[@NeathSpadge]

The line was left there and mostly still exists, very overgrown, to this day. One of those bike tracks has been constructed alongside it. Soon after closure, there was a proposal to run a tourist type operation along it. This was to be in the form of a replica Coffeepot locomotive. I believe two small shunting locos were purchased, mostly for the wheels. But I don't think it progressed further. If you have a look through my other recent videos, you have another showing the last evening of operations. The locals turned out in good numbers to farewell it. Gets a bit crazy near the end, with one person being arrested.

[@ClamTram96]

Semi-Retired Foamer I think that coffeepot project got canned. Also i really don’t get why they chose that instead of pygme (an original Toronto line 0-6-0 tank) considering the coffee pot was pretty much a failure

[@neilforbes416]

Okay, my theory's been blown completely out of the water. I always thought the Toronto line was run by a 620/720-class rail motor pair but this one is 670/770, which could be class leader, or the last of the 660/760 class..... hmmmmmmmmmm....... Vintage? I'd guess, somewhere around 1969/1970, considering the 620/720 class was introduced in 1962.

[@NeathSpadge]

With both types operating up there, I suspect they both rotated in use quitr often. I've another video taken on the last night. Can't recall what numbers they were now. Only ones I don't think ever saw use were the 600/700 type.

[@NeathSpadge]

australianlocomotiverosters.blogspot.com/2019/10/600620660-railcar-fleet-update.html

[@neilforbes416]

@@NeathSpadge The 600/700-class (601/701 to 609/709)would've been retired long before you shot these videos. Heck I never got to see them either. But I *HAVE* seen 601/701 and it's now wearing its original livery, as it should, and takes pride of place in the collection of Paterson's *Rail Motor Society!* It's also on show at the annual Steamfest weekend which will be on again this year after missing out on 2020 and 2021.

[@NeathSpadge]

@@neilforbes416 think they finished up with the electrification of the Richmond line. I remember travelling on them up there. But nothing after the sparks commenced.

[@neilforbes416]

@@NeathSpadge I can only speak for Newcastle/Hunter Region., I only ever saw 620/720-class rail motors here and they were retired in 2007, gradually replaced y Endeavour and Hunter class sets. As for CPH "Tin Hares", I never got to ride on them when they were still in service, they were retired about 1983 or 1985. Only ever got to ride them when the Rail Motor Society acquired them.

[@sti11q]

Will you bear my children?

[@NeathSpadge]

Unable to pull a woman hey? Deends, are you rich or good looking?