Wollongong to Moss Vale & Return by CPH Rail Motor

25 Minutes NOTE!
In the scene showing the guard using a hand pump, he is topping up the radiator coolant, not the fuel oil!

[@lundsweden]

Gotta love the old time look of the CPH railcars with the cow catchers.

[@tressteleg1]

My first preference is for electric, but the CPH rail motors come in as a very close second choice. Also eye-catching is the radiators standing up at the front of one end of the carriage.

[@andrewr2825]

Great bit of history, thanks for posting. Very evocative, from an altogether different era. Those CPH’s sure had a great turn of speed as I remember them, and if you could sport a seat at the front then you were in heaven! I think I felt every bump in the video!!

[@tressteleg1]

Actually the bumps and shakes were a bit greater before I Stabilised it a little.

[@marcconyard5024]

Didn't that bring back some memories!! Thanks for sharing. The Gong-Moss Vale CPH was one of my favorite boyhood weekend and school holiday journeys. One trip in particular always comes to mind. One Saturday afternoon we departed Wollongong on time in CPH 37 with about two thirds of a seated load and a fair few parcels, the year was probably 1974-75, I was 13. The driver was Ted Wayne and the guard I only recall as Gerry whom I met years later in 1989 as a trainee bus driver, like myself at the Dangar St training facility. After departing Dombarton somewhere before the long tunnel it was discovered that the sanding system was faulty as No.37 slipped to a stand on wet rails. Ted made the suggestion that the passengers could assist by spreading small stones on the rails to help with adhesion which I, the guard and about half a dozen others duly did. It was enough to get us going and from then on we had no more problems, passing Summit Tank fairly late. However, between Robertson and Moss Vale a large cow ran onto the track and we struck and killed it as it was rolled under the motor and somehow out the other end clear of the line and miraculously without derailing us! I loved the brief segment at Summit Tank where 37 is idling and that haunting knock-knock of the compressor is heard! Those GM 6/71s which the CPHs were fitted with probably helped to extend their service lives by many years longer than would've been contemplated with less reliable machinery. Just a small point I should make. The hand pump being used was in fact the coolant pump for the roof mounted radiator. CPHs used a reticulating cooling system which required fresh water to be pumped through the system before working over heavy graded sections and one reason CPHs nearly always ran upgrade with the radiator leading, as was the practice on the Carlingford line. I always remember a mate's mum who used to stare out her kitchen window at Telopea seeing the CPH screaming as it climbed to Carlingford and shout, " there goes the Coffee Pot special"!

[@tressteleg1]

Many thanks for all that information. It’s great that it reminded you of your younger days. I had my doubts about stating the pump was for fuel and have no doubt you are correct about the radiator. I was probably told that years ago but forgot. I can’t modify the video text but I can put a footnote which computer users will see. My favourite school holiday outings were the steam train to Camden and Randwick tramway workshops which both disappeared in 1962. No movie camera then unfortunately.

[@richardsmith8654]

That's fantastic. We really are in your debt for sharing these videos. I loved the old rail motors.

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks!

[@richardsmith8654]

It was always a regret of mine that I never had a trip on a regular scheduled service on this line. Your video has opened it up for me with its drivers eye view. Thanks again.

[@kevharper1378]

I worked that line back in the 80's, at the time of both these videos I was a SWSA at Unanderra. Shunting the Limestone trains into AIS sidings, there's one at Mossvale in the vid, and doing ticket and parcel duties there . I also worked at Dombarton as a signaman and Summit Tank too doing the lonely backshift where the best thing was the drive up there in my Cooper S and the view from the lookout. One time I worked a group of track machines up to Carooma ? and came back from Mossy on the motor through fog most of the way, only seeing daylight once we got to Dombarton snow sheds. These two videos are some time apart as the down trip shows no wiring stanchions at Wollongong but the return up trip shows the work well in progress with much of Wollongong yard being removed. Can't remember the name of the Signalman at Dombarton in the vid but he lived on site there just near the up distant signal. (Note for newbies that up is down on the Unanderra - Mossvale Line due to Railway Logic).

[@tressteleg1]

Thanks for your job reminiscences. That would have been a very interesting line to work. A friend had video he took of the line and was added to my own, both taken at different times as you observed. My video was a joyride, but years earlier I did use the line to get home from Melbourne via the SoP.

[@lisa-mariegray5510]

This is great! I used to catch the Rail Motor from Douglas Park to Campbelltown and back when I was a little kid going to school!

[@tressteleg1]

I can’t imagine what a young school would have thought of these noisy ‘monsters’ but they certainly were unique in many ways.

[@lisa-mariegray5510]

@tressteleg1 I thought it was great fun catching the little train every day.

[@tressteleg1]

Certainly with a keen driver, a ride on these rail motors could be rather exciting in many regards, particularly on track which was not first class!

[@lisa-mariegray5510]

@tressteleg1 Sometimes the driver would let me sit in a little seat beside him.

[@tressteleg1]

Sometimes the guard would sit there even if he should be in the middle of the carriage. The other seat, or sometimes both, were up fro grabs - literally. First in… Nowadays no trains have a forward view for the passengers apart from the metro.

[@edwardtsoukalidis2071]

The triangle at Moss Vale still proves to be useful as I have seen steam locos turned here on runs to and from Sydney Central.

[@tressteleg1]

Possibly the occasional diesel gets turned there too.

[@artyz2002]

Thank you for sharing, brought back lots of memories.

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@peacemeal3196]

awesome footage - thanks for sharing

[@tressteleg1]

😊👍

[@peejay1981]

Wow, what a goat track! Great video, thanks for sharing.

[@griffinrails]

That one small platform was Ranelagh House station.

[@tressteleg1]

griffin rails 😊👍

[@robertthomson1587]

Lovely video. I remember travelling that route to Moss Vale at some time in the late 1980s when there was still a timetabled service on weekends. We stopped at Summit Tank and all walked out to the lookout over the coast.

[@tressteleg1]

Yes, there was a relaxed atmosphere on that line, as well as this being common on QR as well in those days. The overbearing rail safety act seems to have put an end to all of that.

[@tressteleg1]

I just now came across a short bit of video which shows the last CPH leaving Wollongong for Moss Vale at 18:07 on 15.12.85

[@dieseldavetrains8988]

I really enjoyed that, I am not a passenger train person but have a soft spot for those little Tin Hares, have been looking around for a Tin Hare video filmed on the Tottenham branch line in western NSW but zero, hopefully someone has something on Super-8 hidden away that will appear on You Tube one day!

[@tressteleg1]

Unfortunately I don’t have any on that line. Movie film was rather expensive, and most railfans were happy to stick with black-and-white photos. Maybe one day you will be lucky, but I doubt it.

[@davidmatters5745]

Lived at Summit Tank and went to school at Unanderra, Came down that slope on Goods trains.

[@tressteleg1]

You had a unique life there!

[@locos8]

Great CPH oldtime film ！

[@imacgra1]

That is a seriously interesting bit of film. I recall riding a CPH to Richmond in 1982: the ride in the seat next to the driver sure stuck in the memory of the 6 year old I was then! With this video, there are several interesting points: the CPH itself, the staff exchanging, the Maldon-Dombarton works (Will they ever finish them?) the motley collection of non-air-con passenger cars at Moss Vale (I doubt they'd need 2 x 80 class to keep the timetable!) and at 8:50 that has got to be the quickest direction change by a train I've ever seen. Seriously, most cars drivers couldn't do that! Thanks for posting.

[@tressteleg1]

I checked it a few times. There is a slight jump as the car stops. Maybe the camera was paused. Maybe I chopped some time out. Also the driver may have been driving it backwards outbound. Just the guard keeping watch at the far end.

[@imacgra1]

@@tressteleg1 Nice bit of filming either way. At about 18 tonnes the CPH were always going to be pretty light on their feet - more like driving a medium size rigid truck than a normal train. Thanks again for posting.

[@tressteleg1]

Only driving one axle out of 4 was a problem occasionally.

[@imacgra1]

@@tressteleg1 I suspect so: not a great percentage of weight on the driving wheels. Still, sixty years in service wasn't a bad run, even if they were a bit cramped!

[@tressteleg1]

Generally though they did quite. I think they always had cast iron brake shoes so gripped the rails fairly well. After all, two of them hauled trailers on the Waterfall and Richmond shuttles.

[@tramwayjohn]

The good old days, for sure. I rode the LAST rail motor to run from Wollongong to Moss vale.

[@tressteleg1]

Did you happen to record the date? Nobody knows when, but many would like to know when.

[@tramwayjohn]

Ask Richard Jones. . . . . whom I have known since the 1970's, by the way. I have a friend who SHOULD know the date. . . . he was on that train and he keeps a diary.

[@tressteleg1]

I have already discussed this with Dick. This is what he said : “They did hang around a bit after electrification, as I recall but David Hill visited Wollongong about that time and said, more or less, “What’s that thing? Get rid of them!” It would be great if your friend has the date recorded.

[@callum_bracht]

Robertson looks so different! Amazing Edit: and the old dock platform at moss vale! I’ve only seen it covered in grass

[@tressteleg1]

Most places change with time 😊

[@callum_bracht]

@@tressteleg1 they definitely do. I live in Robbo and was walking past the station this morning. I quite literally couldn’t recognise the station in the video

[@tressteleg1]

With no passenger train service there any more, I will just take your word for it. Around that general time somewhere there was a major freight train collision which I seem to recall I visited and took some photos.

[@callum_bracht]

@@tressteleg1 it hasn’t changed much since then. There was actually a train derailment at dombarton last week, so the line has been closed since then, and doesn’t look like it will be open for a while

[@tressteleg1]

Oh well. I suppose with a detour via Sydney available, there is no great rush to clean up the mess. Spilt freight does not complain about the delay even if the sender might get a bit upset.

[@timwilcox4972]

Fantastic

[@graememellor8319]

Was the best roster for a Sydney Guard, although I never did get the hang of the staff machine at Summit Tank

[@tressteleg1]

Graeme Mellor I suppose you did not have to use it enough 😊

[@patricktongs9766]

Haha me too, those rolling pins all dented and a bugger to get extract sometimes,my first or second trip after they closed some of the signal boxes I had an older signalman on the way up and got to Summit Tank and had trouble getting the staff out so I asked him for some help and he refused said it was my job now shit I was dirty and the bugger had the hide to ask me for the use of my comb on the trip down the next morning I just laughed and pointed to my hair which was way curly and obviously I had no need for one..thanks for the reminder.

[@tressteleg1]

👍😊. Some people only see life from their side of the fence. 😆

[@troydavis6579]

best train line 3801 used go up to up it as well also seen xpt coming down it

[@tressteleg1]

Well maybe 3801 will be doing that trip again before too long now that it has been overhauled.

[@darylcheshire1618]

I attempted this in 1983 and one of the CPHs overheated on the way up and had to set back to Unandera. I eventually did the trip on a Cockatoo Run. The train that took me from Unandera to Wollongong was made up of four CPHs.

[@tressteleg1]

That is very bad luck at your CPH overheated and you missed the trip. At least you did the line on the Cockatoo Run. Living in northern Wollongong, I made the trip to Moss Vale and back once for fun, and at least once got off the Spirit of Progress from Melbourne and used it as a shortcut home. If I did such a trip today, and still lived there, I’m not sure that I would want to bother with a bus trip down the mountain.

[@darylcheshire1618]

@@tressteleg1 yeah, I live in Melbourne and never travelled from Moss Vale to Wollongong off The Spirit. In those days I travelled up from Cobram/Tocumwal on the CPH to Narrandera, then via the South Mail. I travelled on the Southern Aurora a couple of times, I travelled throughout NSW on the Nurail pass a couple of times.

[@tressteleg1]

Well you probably covered more country branches than I ever did. Walgett was probably my most adventurous. Normally holidays were spent chasing trams, but obviously some thought should have gone into country branch travel. Too late now.

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

Very interesting footage, thank you for sharing. The good news is that quite a few of these charming CPH's have survived into preservation and have been restored to operational condition and do regular tours...with no doubt a few extra to be restored in the years to come. People get a chance to ride these trains that they would have otherwise missed out. It's interesting to listen to them accelerate from standing - it sounds like it's such an effort for them. I wonder what their top speeds were? maybe 80 to 90kmh?

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

tressteleg, I'm actually curious, what were the stopping patterns for electrics in the late 1980's for express services to Wollongong? Was it similar to what it is now (except without the stop of Wolli Creek since that didn't exist until 2000). I'm guessing the stopping pattern was out of Sydney Terminal, Redfern, Hurstville, Sutherland, Waterfall (sometimes?), Helensburgh, Thirroul, North Wollongong, Wollongong? (and vice versa)

[@tressteleg1]

It’s hard to think back all those years and unfortunately I don’t have any old timetables. However I think that just about all trains went to Port Kembla to terminate. Also I don’t think that patterns of express and local services were as clearly defined as today with some semi expresses stopping at places like Bulli and Corrimal as well. For some years 4 car U sets followed the expresses starting at Thirroul and all to Port Kembla. But don’t quote me on any of this. I could be wrong.

[@JohnSmith-sh1cu]

@@tressteleg1 This is not my video, but this was taken during the Transport Heritage Expo over the weekend, both the rail motors from Lachlan Valley Railway and Rail Motor Society (first time) were in attendance doing runs to Olympic Park and the Chullora Freight Lines. You might get a kick out of it, especially seeing the CPH and a Waratah in the same frame kzbin.info/www/bejne/q33aY5acp9FlfbM

[@tressteleg1]

Very nice, thanks John. While the green and cream set looks very nice, I wonder if there is any historical basis all that choice of colours. I don’t remember anything like that back into the 1960s.

[@TrickyMario7654]

Nice video. 22:31 - We were talking about the crossing seen here on rxrsignals.com earlier this year. Strange how the bells are on the median signals...

[@tressteleg1]

I trust the video helped clear up a few points. I think the rail line crosses the Princes Hwy on a bridge now.

[@TrickyMario7654]

It does, I believe it replaced the crossing not long after the video was shot (you can see the early works in the video).

[@Scott-fi6ml]

I always wounded how that service ran. Did it go pass as whats now known as Albion Park & Dapto station?

[@tressteleg1]

No. The rail motors turned off at Unanderra as do the freight trains to Moss Vale.

[@Scott-fi6ml]

@@tressteleg1 know wonder I recanied the Prince highway level crossing thanks tressteleg1

[@tressteleg1]

Bridge now I think.

[@Scott-fi6ml]

@@tressteleg1 it is now lot has changed since 1985

[@dfirth_]

They were interesting units, werent they?

[@tressteleg1]

Sure were!

[@jamesfrench7299]

Is the line in any form of regular use today? Why was it built and how long did the journey take?

[@tressteleg1]

No regular passenger trains but I expect there is still a lot of freight which goes up and down it.

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@tressteleg1 what an amazing railway. I'm glad it's still being used. They must revive the Dombarton to Maldon project. I read it cost more by cancelling it than if they completed it. Meddling Nick had to come along. I wish you didn't edit out the tunnels. They're my favourite part. Thanks all the same.

[@tressteleg1]

Re your first post, I forget how long it took. Maybe around an hour but I forget. As you may have seen, it connected with the Spirit of Progress and I used that connection at least once coming home from Melbourne. They only reason I would have cut out the tunnels was because there was nothing to see. As for Maldon Dombarton, NSW is spending so much on metro lines that I doubt they would have any money to finish that line. It would also depend on coal traffic for export.

[@jamesfrench7299]

@@tressteleg1 ahah! Saved you going to Sydney. You answered my questions well.

[@tressteleg1]

@@jamesfrench7299 I think I worked out that I was in my house before the SOP got into Sydney Terminal.

[@Austinniya.]

What date was this was filmed.?

[@tressteleg1]

You must have missed or skipped the dates which I put as accurately as possible in all my videos. The uphill run was around 1983. The downhill date was November 1985, 3 months after Wikipedia claimed the service ended and we believe they lasted into the early days of electrification to The Gong.

[@Austinniya.]

00:18 Obviously I did missed it..lol... In my line of defence; it's hard to read the red words when playing at double speed and 144p, plus I'm too busy looking at the train than wondering my eyes down to bottom of screen :D Thank you for replying and adding more information, possibly something you could have added to the description (Y)

[@tressteleg1]

It’s a pity that people’s lives are so rushed that the have to watch at double speed or just in little grabs. I’ll add that info to the notes even if those notes cannot be seen on phones or tablets.

[@jamesbaxter2812]

When did that unit stop running

[@tressteleg1]

Despite what you will read elsewhere, an upcoming video on rail motors and railcars will show it to be 15 December 1985, the day electrification to Wollongong and Port Kembla opened.

[@jamesbaxter2812]

Mot long after that, They when to Kimai. I love to see the stream loco's going down there

[@jesserobertson8397]

when was this recorded?

[@tressteleg1]

2 cameramen were involved but it was around 1985, not too long before railmotors ended which was the same day as Wollongong electrification opened.

[@jesserobertson8397]

@@tressteleg1 glad to see how it was before i was born

[@tressteleg1]

Unfortunately a lot of good stuff has disappeared over the last 50 or more years.

[@Thebibs]

Shorts and long socks for me

[@tressteleg1]

@@Thebibs Just in the warmer weather? Winter mornings would be chilly up there.

[@locos8]

why the railmotor name is CPH ?

[@tressteleg1]

All railway carriages in NSW and probably all Australian states were identified by one or more letters which in some cases described the nature of the service they performed. However I can find no explanation for the choice of CPH. Also known as 42 Foot rail motors or Tin Hares.

[@locos8]

Thanks !

[@imacgra1]

@@tressteleg1 According to Estell et al Coaching stock of NSW Railways vol 2 there was something of a pattern, although of course it was the NSW railways so there were exceptions. However the CPH code did follow the pattern, whereby. C eant composite (1st + 2nd class) P was a self-propelled vehicle (eg railmotors) and H indicated a guard's compartment.

[@tressteleg1]

I daresay, but I am much more of a cameraman than a historian. I forget dates and numbers far too easily. My ‘knowledge’ in videos often comes from Wikipedia etc, even though sometimes dates on my movies have proven dates wrong on Wikipedia, often wrong by months or even years sometimes.

[@imacgra1]

@@tressteleg1 It's a strange kind of fun finding something in Wikipedia that your contemporary documents contradict, that's for sure. Schoolteachers (like me) are forever warning students about the reliability of information gained from Wikipedia. But oftentimes there is genuinely valuable information there, even if it's just the references or anecdotes.