Steam to Mildura Pinnaroo Tailem Bend Easter 1968

Victorian steam locomotive J515 and its Easter 1968 excursion to Mildura & Pinnaroo South Australia + SAR's 526 Pinaroo to Tailem Bend + the final part of the trip with R749 taking over from diesel electric locomotive B85 that brought the train from Serviceton on the Vic/SA border to Ararat.. R749 hauled the train from Ararat to Melborne

[@davidskipsey300]

the only lack of audio on this vid but, no,thanks anyway for uploading.

[@mikevale3620]

Excellent video with no expense spared with the expensive Super 8 film. Was good to see the local shots around Mildura compared to today and the Gypsum train from Nowingi was really great to see for the first time.

[@waynewhite2323]

Fantastic stuff. Mildura Apex park was a popular holiday spot for our family, made severely trips on the Vinlander overnighter, sometimes with a sleeper it was a great rail journey ..Happy Days Indeed. thanks very much!

[@reidgck]

Great memories.

[@lukeslocomotives8521]

Love the video mate! Especially love the bit where 526 is pulling that whole train on it's own. Keep up the good work and look forward for more videos like this soon.

[@MarkHenstridge]

What a fantastic short doco you have put together, I absolutely loved it and I plan to watch it many many many more times. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this all together to share with us all.

[@reidgck]

Thank you for your comment.. Thought it would be appropriate to post it 52 years since the event. The computer generated narrator commentary is an experiment.

[@CGT867]

Well done - a good coverage. You obviously had more money for movie film than I had in those days!

[@TheOzbob]

Marvellous. Thank you so much.

[@reidgck]

Thank you too. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Outdoorstype]

This is awesome.

[@TheLoz999]

Amazing yet again Graeme. These need to be in the National archive

[@reidgck]

Thanks for your comment. I'm not sure about that.

[@toyotapriebus]

Wonderful footage! Ararat yard is a shadow of its former self now unfortunately.

[@AH137productions]

Wow great video ! Would have been great to see the J and the SAR train together. Sad that this line closed as it would be a great way to get into Victoria by train and same for the Mt Gambier Heywood Line . Also sad that passenger services don’t run to Mildura again as it would be good to see that happen . Good to see the scenery of the time and I’ve been up to Ouyen and along the Mallee Highway

[@reidgck]

It's interesting country between Ouyen and Tailem Bend via Pinnaroo. That's the only time I have been there. It's been 52 years and much has happened since.regarding the railway which is unfortunately no longer a through line. That was in the days when interstate locomotives did not run in other states except to locations such as Pinnaroo where the state rail systems met. The double header was thus not a common occurrence back then but was enacted in in the shared rail yards. You are right about a passenger service to Mildura. You have to travel by train to Swan Hill now and then by bus for the rest of the trip which seems to be an inbuilt inconvenience and a way to turn many travelers away. The motorail service on the Vinelander where you could take your car on the train too was an innovation which is not possible now.

[@AH137productions]

Yeah would have been great to go up to Mildura that way ! Really sad how that has been discontinued. It wouldn’t really happen now since gauge conversion of the line from Dunnoly to Mildura . Trains would have to run via Geelong , Inverleigh and Ararat before reaching Maryborough which is a WAY longer route

[@michaelnaisbitt1639]

Trains to Mildura are a thing of the past. Because Vic Rail has deemed Mildura too long a trip and they lost money on every passenger train run The Mt Gambier to Heywood to Portland line is a victim of gauge conversion. Hamilton to Portland

[@robbruggink8937]

All it needs is for Vic. & SA, to Fund Gauge conversion to connect Murreyville to Pinaroo and , the States to the Grain Markets with a National Secondary Links, other than Serviceton on the Other Border Crossing....

[@narcotic-uy8qj]

Wow the trains in Australia are unique I'm there own right it's like American British and German trains were all mixed together and then the deisels all look just like America's very interesting to see alco and emds influence on diesel locomotives across the world in the early days of diesel

[@percyengineproductions061]

I'm surprised this has some digital audio

[@Dust6156]

Absolutely fantatsic video! The editing is great, and the narration you tell is interesting and insiteful. I especially enjoyed the part where you explained your story with the guardsmen! One thing worth noting is that the Automated voice sometimes makes mistakes and is not plesent to hear. Perhaps you could voice these yourself?

[@reidgck]

Yes the train's guard being left behind actually happened and I thought it was worth a mention. The automated voice is ok on most words but has trouble on some place names. Some are pronounced different to the way they are spelled. It can be overcome by changing the spelling. For example rather than spelling Ouyen the way it is spelled, it comes out more accurately if it s typed in as - owe yen and Mildura as mill dura. I missed a few but was experimenting..

[@stewartclarke3252]

Great video memories. Just had to turn sound off. Robo voice was soooo annoying!!

[@percyengineproductions061]

24:46 kinda looks like 3801 :)

[@woobyvr9654]

That black smoke out of 526, talk about over firing

[@reidgck]

I think those locomotives were both oil and coal fired. Could have been running on oil at the time. The powerful blast of steam up the funnel to draw the fire, sure drew it into a frenzy and produced some powerfully ejected smoke as seen in the Pinnaroo yards when double heading. .

[@woobyvr9654]

@@reidgck The J im certain was just coal at the time and 526 may have been on oil, i do not know though as my knowledge of SAR locomotives is limited

[@allstufftrainssa3618]

@@woobyvr9654 pretty sure 526 was oil burner before getting scraped I know a lot about SAR steam

[@darylcheshire1618]

Experienced drivers would hardly make any smoke and sometimes rail fans asked drivers to pile on the smoke for the photos.

[@vsvnrg3263]

fabulous. i'm sure i've seen another of your videos that seems to be a different excursion to this area and the "thing" (5:00). i'm sure a lot of your viewers would appreciate a cross-reference to that video if it was a different excursion. the robot voice says the "thing" is based on a t class. i think we both know that it is, in fact, a y class and it ended up being used for spares for the y that is still touring in these modern times. by the way, "tom" is one of the scambots infesting gunzel channels at the moment.

[@reidgck]

The video you refer to was just some clips from this one with the intention of editing the whole video eventually. I remember the converted steam to diesel loco shown in the video at the old power station at Ballarat beside the steam loco they were restoring. They were both being accessed for the best parts to use.. That was about 1990. You are right. I got the class wrong. Thanks for noticing.

[@vsvnrg3263]

@@reidgck ,righto. i had a good giggle at that video where i saw that that thing was called "the thing". suitable name.

[@TheDemocrab]

afaik the "thing" is at Pioneer Park restored to static display after spending decades in the Ballarat East depot being used as parts for Y112.

[@vsvnrg3263]

@@TheDemocrab , thanks for that. i might go and look for pikkies of pioneer park.

[@andrewrussack8647]

It is such short signed nonsense that the alternate link between states is now gone.

[@dunxy]

Priceless stuff as always. Id be happy to narrate for you (i dont want anything.not even a credit) if you want to get rid of the silly computer voice.

[@reidgck]

The computer generated voice comentary was just an experiment really. It's an improvement on otherwise silence. I hadn't previously tried cutting and pasting sections of a pre recorded sound file along the film in appropriate places.

[@matthewmassarotti2596]

is that lock still there today?

[@mikevale3620]

yes...but a little more modernised and landscaped.

[@matthewmassarotti2596]

@@mikevale3620 oh I c

[@ianomeara6263]

What the state of Victoria has lost over the years. Road trucks win out all the time.