The XPT - HSTs Down Under 

Such a shame that the Thai deal fell through, it would have been interesting to see how their sets would have looked

I once checked for XPT sleeper tickets. The problem with the XPT is that you can only choose between Luxury class (Bed cabin) and peasant class (Seat). The intermediate class (couchette cabin) which is available on all European Night Trains is missing. Also departing at 2pm and arriving at 5am (Sydney to Brisbane) is a really weird schedule. European Night Trains on similarly long routes usually leave at around 7pm or 9pm and arrive around 8am or 10am.

This channel has the longest sentences in the narration of any in the world, including, but not limited to, podcasts, RU-vid channels, radio, television (being itself radio with pictures at the same time), cinema, terrestrial or satellite broadcasting networks..... 🤣

Nice to see you cover the XPT, as a former SRA employee I rode on them quite a few times. They truly were a 20th century train on a 19th century network, Victorian era route alignments held back their potential so much (they could easily cruise at 160 Km/h all day if they had enough straight track. I'm honestly sad to see them get retired but I hope that at least several sets go into preservation.

XPT's run daily behind my place, from my backyard i see all the trains that run up along the coast between sydney and brisbane. Its a shame australia has such a weak track network, no matter what train sets they get its always going to be slower than driving and even slower than taking a plane despite all the airport nonsense

Public transport should be a service not a profit making business. Sometimes what isn’t profitable is still vital to remote communities.

Might want to run this one past a local. Lot of non NSW footage in there! You hit the nail on the head with the poor condition of the NSW rail infrastructure holding the XPT back. The track these days is vastly improved in quality but the alignments have hardly changed since the 1980's and the steam age before that. Unfortunately just like the UK passenger rail in Australia is seen as a necessary evil instead of an asset worthy of investment. Add in a far smaller and vastly less dense population and we have far less money to invest in the first place.

I've lived in Sydney 26 years, can confirm the S sets could get _dangerously_ hot in summer. They only left revenue service once and for all in 2019. They should have been heritage rail and razor blades twenty years ago! Just a note, NSW is a state not a territory. I know it seems a pedantic thing, but in the Australian context the word 'territory' explicitly denotes a distinct type of political entity within the federation.

I love your work but there is a lot of Queensland rail and Australian National Railways in your footage when you’re talking about NSW railways. And NSW is a state.

Excellent piece on the XPT however the reason the XPT design speed is 160 km/h (99.4 mph) and not 201 km/h (125 mph) is the traction motor gearing had to be lowered to enable the XPT to climb the long steep gradients in Australia, not to do with the slight derating of the engines for reliability in the hotter conditions. The XPT power cars are extensively modified from the BR Class 43 for Australian conditions. To cope with larger gradients the traction motors are lower geared resulting in a design speed of 160 km/h (99.4 mph); the engine cooling capacity doubled; revised engine air filtration; longer travel, more compliant suspension fitted to deal with poor tracks; stronger frontal collision protection and nice business like sounding horns are the main points I recall. Originally fitted with Paxman `Valenta', all power cars were upgraded to Paxman `VP185' around 2000 giving better fuel economy and less Diesel / lubricating oil smoke, also there is a weight saving of approx. 0.7 Tonne per engine. The power cars are mated with carriages based on a Budd design that appear to have a larger loading gauge than for IC125 , including Sleeper accomodation; power cars & carriages manufactured in Australia. Check out `XPT by COMENG' (3 videos) here on RU-vid if interested. Also `XPT at Wauchope' and `XPT leaves Penrith for Dubbo’ have great sound & no visible smoke. Edit: If I may be allowed one more recommendation `North Strathfield Train Spotting - Heritage Steam Train, XPT Explorer and Sydney Train' 0.18 has unique sound on RU-vid of the rear power car going by under load, reminiscent of an old Spitfire aircraft which of course also had a V12 engine. Edit 2: Video `Trains NSW TrainLink Move Over V Set, XPT Coming Through!' illustrates the good acceleration that can be achieved with a reduced formation ( 5 car) train when the driver `guns it', the low gearing helping to give almost electric train performance 1.11 N.B. Their normal operating configuration is with a power car at each end and up to 7 passenger cars (first, economy, sleeper and/or buffet), although there have been times when the Dubbo train has operated with a single power car and four passenger cars [source Trackside Videos - TRV125 - Comeng XPT (DVD)]. The original spec stated that a single power car should be capable of starting a train of 4 cars up a 1 in 30 gradient, although as far as I know the Dubbo service is always run with two power cars nowadays.

Love this style of documentary. A steady dripfed of introductory knowledge. Hence I'm none too picky about the stock footage choices, they're only to serve for illustrative purposes. Nor am I overly concerned by anything missed or skimmed over. What these documentaries do for me is open up something new for me to look into. So thanks for putting this together Ruairidh.

Small note. Referring to NSW as a Territory is like referring to Scotland as a County. Edit: Otherwise very good.

That accident in 2020 is very... contentious to say the least. A lot of small dumb factors coming together at once! People stealing copper cable meant the signals in that area were out of service for a period of time, and during a period of work on the track the loop was set to be used for 8 hours that day. Now it would appear that the XPT driver didnt have a copy of the circular showing this information, and the pilot was called in at short notice and may not have noticed it either.

Thanks for the video. I grew up in Wagga Wagga, NSW. I remember the excitement of the XPT's introduction as a very young child, and they continued to be part of the sights and sounds of my childhood and teenage years. I travelled on it quite a few times both to Melbourne and Sydney. I must admit, I'm surprised to see it still passing through on the rare occasion that I'm in town. Sad to hear they're finally being retired, but after 40 years, I guess they've done their job.

An interesting enough video but, as others have pointed out, there is footage of other states railways when NSW was supposed to be the focus of the doco. His attempts at pronouncing some place names were hilarious, I’m still trying to work out which towns he was referring to in some cases.

XPT is a worrying indication of how politicians and large sections of the public superficially think the problems of low performing railways are solved by 'fast' trains. No understanding of the quality of track, signalling, maintenance and management required to run them to their capabilities. Even less willingness to pay for the service preferring the free cash from the government approach.

For everyone pointing out the video footage that doesn't meet your personal standards: There is a limited amount of video available for use on a video of this sort. The realistic options are to combine a bunch of clips from a variety of stock footage catalogues or have a single image on the screen during the entire video. The video probably took over 100 hours to piece together to give something to look at that is better than nothing. Unfortunately, nothing is going to make everyone happy. If you think you can do better with the budget of a RU-vid channel, the world is waiting to see your contribution.

XPT celebrates it's 40 years service last week

Worked on these traction units while working for BR's then wholly-owned subsidiary "Transmark" (Tranportation Systems & Market Research Ltd). The guys down under were extremely accommodating.

A lot of South Australian, Victorian and Queensland Rail footage there, different system and operators to NSW. Still, a very good and well explained history of the XPT, thank you.

Another very interesting and well researched video. The depth of research that's put into these videos makes this my favourite RU-vid channel. Keep up the great work, very informative and enjoyable to watch.

8:08 That pack of Winnie Reds on the driver console though. Straya.

We have caf civity train here now in the Netherlands. As a train driver i can say they are shit. Just bad quality

Some shots of Adelaide railway station including my uncles raised cab suburban railcar also the Adelaide/Melbourne Overland overnight sleeper

Travelled on the 1st XPT set on a series of journeys from Parramatta to Penrith. It was a joy, and having been on many HST sets on an extended time in the UK in 1979, found it easy to compare, and they compared well. Speed was restricted to 160kmh, but given the average speeds at the time, it was revolutionary. Typically though rail is the poor cousin with regards to transportation in this country, and is only just know coming out of the major doldrums. And yes you can still ride a XPT in NSW. I managed to get a photo published in Modern Railway magazine of the inaugural unit at Sydney Central (I still have the copy) Actually got paid 2 pounds, which came as a cheque, but it would have cost more to put it in the bank than the cheque was worth!

An excellent video, however while you are talking about the NSW rail system being nationalised you were showing off the Melbourne Comeng trains @6:52

Great video 👍. Sadly as a former Sydney ( NSW) boy I feel such pain to see a few shots of Melbourne (Victorian) single deck cars spliced in..

The Sydney to Canberra route is demanding even for a tilt train because of very many extremely tight bends. If someone wanted to ensure that the tilt-train wouldn't be successful, they'd be well advised to choose that route for a demonstration. It's questionable whether the new trains are bi-modal for any reason other than green politics, since most of the track they will run on is not electrified, and is unlikely to be in the foreseeable future. The XPTs have the advantage that the passengers are not subject to significant engine noise. On the new trains, since they are multiple units, the passengers will experience some of the engine noise and vibration, as they currently do on the Xplorer sets.

Absolutely epic, thank you for this! Your videos make the start of my weekend even better

Ah, I'd been looking for a well-made summary video of the XPT like this. Very well done! They're a hot rod all right with the deep and burbly sound to match as they slow down and then take off again from stations, and to answer the whingers, there are certain lengths of straight and well-laid track where they can stretch their legs to 160+ km/h. I remember one such run up north of Sydney where for once we zoomed at striking speed for quite a length of time through the Hawkesbury region. That was toward the end of a Brisbane to Sydney trip. I've also ridden to Melbourne and back from Goulburn- a town they pass through every day of the week 3 hours south of Sydney, whose station now looks healthier than it did back in the 70s because the service is so good. Thing is, the XPT was slightly detuned and given shorter gearing than its HST forerunner in order to handle steeper grades because we didn't have the budgets to re-lay tracks. It nevertheless was a celebrity train that did sex up the image of the railways at that time, attracted more people to use the service, and proved a very reliable and comfortable beast. In fact the replacement seems to be running several years late so the XPTs will still be running for some time yet and I hear nobody complaining. I ought to book myself another trip on one while I still can!

Ruairidh, i am australian from melbourne i sometimes see the XPT at Southern cross.

When I was on holiday in Melbourne (near the end of June), I saw the XPT still going strong on the service to and from Sydney.

*Wrong!* (0:20) The XPTs were introduced on 9th April, 1982 and celebrated their 40th Anniversary on that date this year. But two days later, they were retired from service. I was at Maitland Station when two XPTs, rebranded as *Countrylink* passed through, one bound for the north-west, to towns such as Gunnedah & Moree and to Tamworth and Armidale after splitting at Werris Creek, the front three cars to Tamworth & Armidale, the back two shunted across to another side of the station to go to Gunnedah & Moree. The other Countrylink XPT I saw was Sydney-bound after coming down from the North Coast.

took a second to figure out that there is a tone of Queensland related film shots - not part of the NSW network obviously. A few Chums and EMD's from Queensland's old fleet. The dead giveaway was the trains name on the front "Queenslander", the others the colour and the others the narrow 3.6 foot gauge. QR had an old and un-sophisticated fleet for ages because of it's inadequate trackage - no point in buying more powerful and multiple unit engines if all your infrastructure isn't capable of holding larger trains, half the fleet hasn't got air breaks and the track can't handle the weight increase.

I go from Melbourne to Sydney quite often. I love trains & have for the 52 year's of my life. Taking my last possibly ever Intercapital Train in August 2022. Why instead of paying $93.79 - $131.97 for a seat $234.63 Overnight 11.3 hours. With only two services. When you can in 90 minutes fly the the route and pay as little as $60 one way with Multiple Departures throughout the day. Even with having to be at the Airport two hours before the flight. it still only comes out to be 3.3 hours slashing 8 hours of the journey time. Also interstate Buses take 10 to 12 hours at around $100 today. All prices current as of 3/05/2022.

If you are going to talk about Australia - please note that there are 6 States (NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, WA, Tas) and 3 Territories (NT, ACT, Jervis bay Territory)). NSW is not a territory. In addition there are 6 external territories.

06:51 ... the train shown ran on the Victorian railways....

I absolutely loved this introspective. Thanks for the enlightening details on high speed rail in Australia

As someone who has travelled on both the XPT and the trains it replaced, I would have preferred the older trains anyday. The comfort levels were far superior. I use to have to travel a lot between Sydney and Albury in the 80's and though journeys were long, they had comfort, even if you weren't in a sleeper cabin. XPTs have never been suitable for Australia.

I do like throwbacks to the Askin/Wran era, particularly because its a reminder of a dark time in Australia's history when Sydney was once one of the most corrupt places on the face of the planet

I wanted to know why don’t they dig a tunnel and do an extension for the main line Train so they extend the unused abandoned underground stations. Why couldn’t they use the part D78 Stock train doors on the sides and also restructure the front face of the A60 and A62 stock and remix and make them all together and also redesign them overhead line and also make them into 5 cars per unit and also having 2 Disabled Toilets on those 5 cars per unit A60 and A62 stock trains and also convert the A60 and A62 stock trains into a Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Engines and also put the Loud 7-Speed Voith Gearboxes in the A60 and A62 stock and also modernise the A60 and A62 stock and make it into a 11 car per unit so it could have less doors, more tables, computers and mobile phone chargers. A Stock Trains and also having 8 Disabled Toilets on those A stock trains. why couldn’t we refurbish and modernise the waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel and make it more bigger and extend it to bank station, making it into a Triple-Track Railway Line so those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden to convert the waterloo and city line Triple-Track Train tunnel into an High Speed train. The Third Euro tunnel Triple-Track Train line to make it 8 times better for passengers so they could go from A to B. then put the modernised 11 car per unit A Stock and put them on a bigger modernised waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel so it could go to bank station to those 4 European countries such as Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. The modernised refurbish 11 cars per unit A stock could be a High Speed The Third Triple-Track Euro Tunnel Train So it is promising and 37 times a lot more possible to do this kind of project that is OK for London Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. oh by the way, could they also tunnel the Triple-Track Railway Line so it will stop from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex so that the Passengers will go to Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and also extend the Triple-Track Railway Line from Bank to Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Stations so that more people from there could go to Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden Easily. Why couldn't they extend the Piccadilly line and also build a brand-new underground train stations so it could go even further right up to Clapton, Wood Street and also make another brand new tunnel train stations in Chingford and could they extend the DLR. All of the classes 150, 155, 154, 117, 114, 105, 106, will be replaced by all of the Scania N112, Volvo TD102KF, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXC and Gardner 8LXB Diesel five carriages to disabled toilets are air conditioning trains including Highams Park for extend doing roots which is the Piccadilly line and the DLR trains. Could you also convert all of the 1973 stock trains into an air-conditioned maximum speed 78 km/hours (48 MPH) re-refurbished and make it into a 8 cars per unit if that will be alright, and also extend all of the Piccadilly train stations to make more space for all of the extended 8 car per unit 1973 stock air condition trains and can you also build another Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive Companies and they can order Every 17 Octagon and Hexagon shape LNER diagram and unique small no.11 Boilers from those Countries such as Greece, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, can they make Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive speeds by up to 117MPH so you can try and test it on the Original Mainline so it will be much more safer for the Passengers to enjoy the 117MPH speed Limit only for HS2 and Channel Tunnel mainline services, if they needed 16 Carriages Per units can they use those class 40’s, class 44’s and class 43HST Diesel Locomotive’s right at the Back of those 16 Carriages Per Units so they can take over at the Back to let those Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s have a rest for those interesting Journeys Please!!, oh can you make all of those Coal Boxes’s 16 Tonnes for all of the 117MPH Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s so the Companies will Understand us PASSENGER’S!! so Please make sure that the Builders can do as they are Told!! And Please do something about these very important Professional ideas Please Prime Minister of England, Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister of Germany, Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister of Poland and that Includes the Mayor of London.😉😅😅😀😀😅😀😀😅😅😀😀😀😀😀😉😉

One thing I do wonder and worry about is how many of the XPT sets will be saved?

2:05: Talks above NSW in the 80's. Shows 60s Queensland train. (Followed by a quick tour of Australia.)

At 2:00 you show a Queensland Rail country train, not one from NSW. NSW is not a 'territory': it is the largest (by population) state. The onshore 'territories' are the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. You misspell 'Labor' as in NSW (and Australia, the socialist party is spelt thus, rather than the British and NZ 'Labour'). We've not had the 'Riverina XPT' for many years: the train involved in the Wallan 2020 accident was the Sydney to Melbourne Daylight XPT, train number ST23. I don't believe your comments as to the probable cause of this accident are correct, but we'll see in time. You've also used a lot of old footage of the XPTs when 'Countrylink' was the brand name: today it's 'NSW TrainLink'.

At 6:57 the green and yellow train is a commeng single deck Melbourne suburban train operated by Metropolitan Transit, the then suburban train, tram and bus operator (now Metro and Yarra Trams and various buses unified under PTV (Public Transport Victoria (symbol: “PT>”)

The green & gold trains (Melbourne) are Comeng built. Slowly being withdrawn from service

I love these trains and took one from Parkes to Central once (also the 7:09 footage is from the Melbourne Comeng sets and caught my yee) otherwise, amazing work!

Shouldn't it be called the ⊥SH?

We call the Explorer units "Exploders" cos if a Wombat gets on the track it will destroy the front end of the unit

"Dating back at least 20 years" _glances around at, oooohhhhh, half the trains in the UK _*_today..._* 6:45 "Oh my god, the PTC has disbanded!" _screams, jumps through plate glass window_

Australia need a regional high speed rail, not necessary a intercity high speed rail

That particular XPT sounds like the BR class 91 also known as Lucky that survived both the Hatfield and high heck rail crashes and eventually ran over a signalman

In the summertime of 1982, I rode the Intercity 125 from far north Scotland until London. The weather was very warm and the air conditioning was broken down in many of the 2nd class cars. The windows were sealed because they were supposed to be air conditioned. I am sure glad that they said that Australia would need more robust air conditioning. I sure hope that was true, because those would’ve been horrible sweat boxes!

ha ha ha love seeing QR trains while talking about NSWGR so wrong ,

Great video, but as a bonus there's some nice footage of STA passenger trains from Adelaide that, despite having little to do with the XPT, were nice to see nonetheless.

The XPT power car that ended up on its side in the fatal Wallan 2020 XPT crash was XPT power car XP2018, XP2018 was removed from service for 4 years to undergo major repairs and has now re-entered service as XPT power car XP2019, XP2019 is still in service to this day

As a regular user of the Grafton XPT I must say the train is a wonderful way to travel, with comfortable seating and a buffet, although the trip of seven hours from Sydney to my home station compares unfavourably with the one-hour airline service. Not much chance of an improvement though, as the new trains will have to deal with the same circuitous single-line track for most of the journey. I just hope the trip will be as pleasant.

A great documentary about the XPT's significant history. I hadn't previously known about the planned variant version for Thailand which was cancelled.

I’ve done the Melbourne to Sydney journey on the XPT, although a tiring huge journey - it was quite something to travel across so much of the country

Nice video. (Rogue vision of some none NSW train services appear throughout. 😜)

Please stop saying Haitch Es Tee. It's Aitch Es Tee. The word "aitch" does NOT start with an H.

Your pronunciation of Murwillumbah gave me a good chuckle. Now let’s hear you say Woolloomooloo.

Nice to see a video on our XPT's

I was vaguely aware that NSW had some high speed trains but was completely unaware of their pedigree. Another fascinating video and a (nice) shock to see a topic from here in Australia

When the XPT was introduced a large section of the travelling public were happier with the existing relatively new , twenty year old, Southern Aurora service. All first class sleeping with a choice of sleeping compartments from single accommodation and dual bed also with built in showers. So fondly remembered that a 60th anniversary re enactment run sold out quickly and had quite a bit of coverage on TV and RU-vid : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lQflOUHS2v8.html This train had far more impact on Melbourne Sydney travel than the minimal speeding up the XPT was pushed too and providing less sleeping accommodation for a still long overnight trip. Searching for the Southern Aurora train will provide many vids on RU-vid.

I took the Mel-Syd service in 2019 instead of flying and I would do it again (I was able to work on the train). But it can confirm the track is not very straight, and it's all a bit rattly, so it's very slow. The plane is less than 4 hours door to door, but the train takes over 11 hours!

I lived in Aus 50 years There is nothing express about these The bloody rocket is quicker

The parallels between Australia and North America in terms of the quality and service of their respective rail infrastructures are quite fascinating.

I would have loved to see a Thai xpt. A Hst with an alco engine would be an excellent site

21:10 The level crossing accident at Gerogery. I remember that, I happened to be nearby in Albury at the time, when I heard the news on the radio. I think the 5 (RIP) were driving a similar vehicle to mine: Holden Statesman V8.

Always enjoy your videos and enjoyed this but what I can't work out - why did you keep putting video of Melbourne trains in a video about NSW and Sydney? Also, NSW is a state, not a territory - Australia does have territories but NSW isn't one of them.

Sad to hear the XPT is retiring, but what a great video. Thanks, as always, for making and posting.

Oh dear, they went to CAF as a replacement. Crappy AF machines.

Thanks for looking at this train! Its one of my personal favorites, I remember the first time I went on one being surprised at how quiet it was compared to suburban trains.

Think it'll be a sad day when Australia says fairwell to there xpt's broadly the same life span as our hst's even shared the same power plants through their lives as our hst's not a bad record to have.

Good work on the video, although there’s a couple of issues: - A lot of the footage was of non-NSW trains; I recognise that it’s from Comeng’s showreel from the 1980s, where they had supplied or were supplying rolling stock all over the country, and - There we’re a few mispronunciations of place names - feel free to reach out if you need a hand (Gerogery, for example, is pronounced with soft Gs to sound like “Je-RO-je-ri”). Also worth noting are the series of diesel railcars/DMUs spun off from the XPT design and built by Comeng and its successors. The initial units were the Australind railcars for Western Australia in the 1980s, followed by the Xplorer and Endeavour railcars for NSW (as covered in the video). Later versions include the Vlocity DMUs built by Bombardier/Alstom for Victoria and the A-City EMUs also built by Bombardier for Adelaide suburban services. The car bodies for the Australind cars were built using XPT passenger coach jigs, with subsequent designs being evolutions of the Australind.

wtf .. XTP never run a country service in Victora ..Only to Melbourne ... Secondy ... why was i watching the (MET) Melbourne Comeng .. When the XPT is All N.S.W ... anad wtf hemmely Iron got to with the XPT ...

Meanwhile, South Australia had completely axed rural passenger trains outside Adelaide, with the exception of the Overland.

Neville Wran’s signature policy and legacy was the introduction of Mercedes Benz buses to the Sydney bus network.

Loved the cameo appearance of an old Queensland Rail Sunlander train from way back as an example of old rolling stock. Pretty sure I spotted a Brisbane City Council Leyland Tiger bus picking up some Brisbane Grammar School pupils too. I always intended making a return trip to Sydney from Brisbane on the XPT but that's off the bucket list since I moved to Tasmania.

New South Wales is a State not a territory

Great video a always still have my hornby xpt set worth some money now.

I love the Intercity 125. I had a model train set of the Intercity 125, and Class 90 90026 with working pantograph as a kid. Brilliant.

Thank you !!!! Engrish person, been here (Aust) since 1974 ....... and would never have guessed the story behind where we are in 2022. Thanks again, Ruairidh.

I’m glad you ventured down Uber in your videos, however you seem To have used Victorian railways footage to depict the Sydney Railway system

Thanks so much for sharing. 😉👌🏻

Damn, I never knew that australia of all countries would have been involved in high speed rail projects of the SRT. It's nice to see our railway getting some recognition :)

The one thing I would add to this is I’ve heard the XPTs are the hardest working passenger train sets in the world in terms of kilometres run. The long distances and intense usage adds up. It is a credit to their design and maintenance that their reliability has been so good. (FWIW: having travelled SYD-MEL a few times on the XPT in the passed 10 years it was always glaring that the standard to track work in Victoria was much worse than NSW with a much rougher ride.)

Wow, that's very cool. I didn't know the HST went anywhere else.

I used to drive the 43's out of Kings X up the ECML... With 4500 hp under the bonnet ( 2250 hp ) one up front and one up the botty there was plenty of power on tap... Pulling out of the station on notch five with the Paxman Valenta turbo's screaming their little heads off and clouds of exhaust smoke ( sorry Greta Thunberg ) was something to behold with more excitement to enjoy... 125 mph here we come although they would top 148 mph... Now there is food for thought but as I did not fancy tea and biscuits with the Boss well need I say more...

Sterling, thorough assessment. I’ve been interested in and lived through much of this, but you filled in so many gaps, I only just realised how little I knew. Last on the XPT late last year. I will miss them when they’re gone having been on them their entire lifetime here.

Interesting, a great history lesson

Took one of these from Syd to Melbourne once, a very pleasant journey.

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one nonetheless

Just one more example of bad, short-sighted Political decisions to add to the list of neglect of the development of a local solar power industry and solar powered Hydrogen generation. The CSIRO was leader in Solar LX but had to let it to to foreign companies because of the shortsighted lack of Governmental support. We could be a world leader if it was not for the HUGE amounts of money being trousered by LNP politicians to maintain anti-climate charge policies and the coal/gas industries.

I remember the old S sets. The only way to keep them kinda cool on really hot days was to open the carriage to carriage doors and leave them open. I think the last ones went out of service in the early 20 teens.

Thanks for making this video. Prior to this I had seen pictures of an HST looking train in Australia but no information about it

Absolutely fascinating! Very well done! I was curious: have you thought of doing a video on the PRR GG1?

There's a lot of conflation with the footage of Sydney/NSW & other cities/states. Similarly, S sets, V sets & others are conflated.

It's Glen In-nes, not (H)Ines, and Ge-rog -ery (as in Roger with a y). It's now July 2024 and the 'new' trains have only just begun testing. The 'new' trains were 'supposed to be' running in the first quarter (Jan - Mar) of 2024!