Track Record: In A Spirit Of Progress

[@robertcameron2808]

I remember that day at Granville a bad day i took one of the railway cranes from Enfield to the site.

[@RayLiehm]

This series played an enormously formative role on my childhood, it's amazing to see it up here on KZbin, thankyou! :D

[@johnsergei]

It's an informative series, but if the scrip is going to talk about money & funding the railways, can the actually learn how the monetary system works. Shame on governments for destroying the railways. Connected to this is the manager of Countrylink making excuses for the replacement of the much better equipped locomotive hauled trains with the XPT, which also has far less accomadation. Time flies, I though great, a modern docco on Australian railways. But today, I watch this every year or so, out of nostalgia. What's different? You won't see NSW 70 class or Queensland DH shunting or on branchlines. No electric locos in use in NSW anymore. No transfer of steel from standard to broad gauge @ Albury (yet the interviewee says it's sad to see the station so quiet, much quieter today) Australian National & the proposed National Rail no longer exist. Most of the locos hauling intermodel & mineral trains had not even been built yet. With the important mainliners you see here like Class 81, now hauling lesser train like wheat trains or even shunting. XPT trains are now very dated & beginning to get a little unreliable & will be replaced in the next few years. Note, no Explorers/Endevours yet & almost every V/line train was loco hauled, many dozens of runs every day. V/Line needed every loco they could get their hands on. Even 930s from South Australia hauled the odd V/Line pass. Today, the spluttering 930s & stuttering EE diesels are gone & you train now sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

[@bushranger51]

It's a tragedy that the four special S Class steam locos that were the "Spirit of Progress" were completly scrapped at the end of their use when the S class diesels replaced them.

[@johnd8892]

Scrapped by 1954, after the B class replaced them. The first S diesel was in August 1957. Unbelievable that one S steam was not saved. A murkey decision as to why.

[@hcdcgunner1748]

from what i've heard it was a bit of a "lets save one!" "sir they've already scrapped it" "WHAT!" "the scrapping company did an oopsie" "damn.... save a tender!" which is where we're at now

[@johnd8892]

@@hcdcgunner1748 my understanding was the railway staff at Newport Workshops were instructed to scrap them. Likely some of the same workers involved in building them. Legend is that they had tears in their eyes cutting up the last one. Another legend is that the instruction to save the last one for display on the lawn outside the head office at Spencer St arrived at Newport too late. Planned to be too late or a muddle? Tender tops saved due to being used as storage tanks for fuel oil or water. Roller bearing six wheel tender trucks used under the 24 wheel four bogie QW heavy duty well wagons for large transformer loads. At least one set of the nameplate letters were saved. Maybe all with the ARHS.

[@hcdcgunner1748]

@@johnd8892 Ah that second one is what I meant, however it is entirely possible that the first legend may be true, shame I can’t track down anyone who worked at Newport at the time...

[@johnd8892]

@@hcdcgunner1748 my father was involved with Newport Workshops scrapping steam in a round about way. He told me of his truck driving job to go to Newport to pick up a scrapped X class boiler to take to Sims metal. Was not happy with how they loaded it. Quote Are you trying to kill me. Still angry twenty years later. Indicates to me that the later X scrapping was all by VR not contractors. Contractors seem to be something from the last thirty years not from the 1960 X scrapping or earlier. Bogies also under QS well wagons but swapped around depending on how many wheels were needed for the weight.

[@wilks3620]

Such a shame all S classes were scrapped. Out of all Vic steamies from my knowledge the only locomotives to have their entire class scrapped were the S classes and V classes. Being 2 of the arguably most unique Victorian steamers I wonder why they made the decision to not save a single one...

[@robertireson1564]

We are still paying for the dishonesty of Our governments and several Trucking company owners who influenced the governments into using trucks. It appeared to be a cheap, easy option to use trucks instead of government having to invest in rail. We still have the same mentality in Vic, one recent candidate for Premier wanted to cancel the investment in rail and use buses. It's quite simple, Buses and Trucks cause congestion and wear on Our roads, rail doesn't. But You need to have a long term view, something sadly lacking in Australia nowadays.

[@beagle7622]

The fireman would have been to be fit on the Spirits of Progress’s S classAll the coal was fed in by Shovel. Most large steam Engines had a screw arrangement that fed coal to the steam box. The S class did not.

[@leonkernan]

"A genuinely national approach" And then we ended up with Pacific National...

[@DarkLordSauron100]

And ARTC....

[@saberracer026]

I have the DVD of this but this disc is scratched so you can't watch it.

[@rsinclair6560]

Ironic that the freeway road bridge between Wodonga and Albury is called the 'Spirit of Progress'.

[@csm101000]

This is the best train program I've seen, what year is it from and what channel used to play it? Thanks

[@johnd8892]

On the ABC TV in 1991. As I recall on its first showing

[@csm101000]

@@johnd8892 thank you!

[@jimpikoulis6726]

I would like to see an s class steam locomotive built from scratch

[@johnsergei]

You're on the wrong continent. It might happen if Australia was the UK.

[@jimpikoulis6726]

@@johnsergei Will See!!!!

[@jimpikoulis6726]

If I had a choice between two transport modes air travel and high speed rail, travelling to either Brisbane or Sydney... I'll choose HSR cause I know my ass is a thousand times safer on the ground than in the air.

[@fordlandau]

This is very out of date now. The very fast train. 😆

[@johnsergei]

Indeed, even more passenger services & line closures gone. Many of the smaller diesel locos here such as Queensland DH or NSW 73 are all almost gone now & the yards they show plenty of activity in such as Albury are no dead.

[@kellyswoodyard]

As far as high speed rail goes, it doesn't exist. There is no such thing, the technology doesn't exist. Tony Abbott told us that. A bloke who ate a raw, red, onion, skin and all, would be a world leader in this endevour.

[@samuelanketell8190]

Australian railway fares are pretty cheap are they? This bloke hasn't travelled first class sleeping from Brisbane to Melbourne return with his wife. You won't get any change out of $1600 . And for what 27hours without a smoke, eating reheated food and a 2 cans an hour rashen of midstrength beer at $10 a can ha ha ha no wonder everyone flies instead. An hour and a half of flying for $140 return to Brisbane. Nsw and Queensland long distance trains are useless now...... except for the spirit of the outback, it's the best trip in Australia because it's extremely comfortable great food great sleeper carriages and it's only $1600 Brisbane-Longreach return for two people, its just like the gahn but its not $12,000 return two people Adelaide-Darwin

[@johnsergei]

The script appears to have no idea of how the monetary system works "most of the money had been borrowed from overseas (Broken Journey). Well I'm glad somebody lent us the (in todays money) trillions of $ to build Australia's railways, when all they're getting is interest? But still, well over a century later, I'm sure you are living comfortably on that interest, in your 200th year. Where does money come from????