Great to see 3801 back in steam, beautiful loco indeed. Followed this online from England for a few years now, would love to get out there one day to see it. Maybe when the current madness is over! Preserved juicer unit sounds good motoring up too. Thanks so much to all concerned and for posting this.
Thankyou for. The post brings back great memories of travelling on the train in my childhood for a day out shopping with my grandmother and my mother E
i remember so well when elec trains ran to Hornsby, and you had to continue to gosford on the 3801.lovely memories of my dad and i watched the big green steamer rolled,in.while im alive i will never forget those wonderful times.
Loved hopping on the rattler at Arncliffe in the 60's with my mum and great aunt so they could go shopping at Rockdale! Do you remember the man who ran the little shop in the lane way leading to Arncliffe station? Been trying to think of it over the years. Lovely man.
Welcome back to a local icon. There's some historic vision as she passes by the once great Everleigh workshops where over a dozen of her sisters were built and manufactured by good old Aussie know how. She and the next four were built at nearby Clyde. So sad that modern day politics sees today's rolling stock (Light Rail) enter this nation on the decks of ships from Asia and the like.
That was great thanks for sharing this I love the old steamer's especially the 3801 also the sound of the old red rattler powering up I am hoping to see it come through on its trip to the Mountains
Also interesting is 4201, the diesel at the rear of the train. It looks like an EMD F7 with 3 axle/6 wheel trucks (you Aussies might call them bogies). Ostensibly it's there to provide "head-end power" or HEP (electric power for lighting, heating, and air-conditioning) to the train and serve as a backup locomotive in case of trouble with 3801. Interesting. Stay safe and healthy.
I remember them both, having arrived in Sydney from Surabaya Indonesia in 1951. Rode the trains daily and occasionally was a passenger with steam travelling up to Katoomba and Blackheath and on to Bathurst.
Awe inspiring, one of the best AUS steam videos I have ever seen. How the heck you got 2 tracks cleared with nsw rail I will never know. Congrats to everyone involved in the restoration
Another fun fact: the "chassis frame" (according to the "Monarch of the Rails" newsreel footage at the beginning of the film "A Steam Train Passes") is the only part of the locomotive that isn't Australian, and guess what? It's American! That's right! Made in U.S.A.! 3801 has a little American in her! May she enjoy a long life in this the 21st century, and teach New generations about Australian steam. Roll on "Queen of Steam"! Stay safe and healthy.
That Grime is authentic patina, proof that the loco is alive and kicking. Spotless loco’s, stuffed and mounted in museums, are incapable of demonstrating their raw inner selves! But that doesn’t mean the Master Neverers were wrong.when they cleaned loco’s and cosmetically enhanced neglected British Railways infrastructure to enhance the final images of UK steam in 1967.
I am fairly sure 3801 still holds the speed record for the Newcastle Flyer from Central to the original Newcastle Central station done under specialised conditions way back in 1964. Just under two hours and two minutes.
Australian conditions of heat and dryness was a huge factor.. Even with spark and cinder arresters on locos there were still a number of bush fires attributed to steam engines back in the 60's and 70's.
Never was...I am not awarre of any scoop tanks in Oz.....tanks were always filled from huge overhead storages. Today, she pulls one or two tankers directly behind the tender depending on the length of the journey. See older vision from the days when she ran over most of the continent as an attraction. Some very good vision of her on YT with the Flying Scotsman when he visited. Her tankers were filled in some towns using the Bush Firies.
No. Never. So in Victoria a huge tender was made for our S class engines to enable a 311km non stop run to Albury with a heavy air conditioned consist. Carrying sufficient water for the entire trip including the climb over the great dividing range. Even larger tenders were needed for steam engines to cross the Nullabor deserts. The tenders you see here carry more coal than ours required because of the paucity of places to recoal the engine on long trips. It took a lot less time to fill a tender with water than to fill it with coal. Hence minimizing coaling minimized trip times.
