Crew change

[Pete_W]

I finally got out with my camera for some railway photos on Friday, first time for the year and in fact first time since November. Life's been a bit hectic!

Anyway, here are a few shots taken in the regional town of Moss Vale in NSW, a favourite spot of mine as it's a junction and one of the rail operators has a base there so some trains stop for a crew change.

It was unfortunately an overcast day with very flat light. But I had fun and got quite a few photos.

This first shot is of Pacific National's train number 2120. Affectionately known as "the garbo" because it hauls garbage from Sydney to a waste processing facility further south. This train is the empty running back to Sydney.

PN's 2120 at Moss Vale by Peter Watters, on Flickr

The next shot is the same train having just stopped to effect a crew change.

Crew change at Moss Vale by Peter Watters, on Flickr

 

[1971_M5]

Thanks for posting and glad you were able to get out and shoot. I need to make time for myself to do the same. Nice picture (#1) and an excellent vantage point. The rail photographer's goal... finding a good vantage point! Always. Very nice exposure and IQ for both images. I looked at the map and found Moss Vale. I can see a pedestrian bridge between Lackey Road and Dalys Way. That's nice. The containers are very uniform (gray) -- with no shipping company markings. Do you have any insights in this regard? I did some poking around and found locomotive info: 81-Class EMD JT26C-2SS. by Clyde Engineering in Kelso.

 

[1971_M5]

Ahhhh... a garbage train! That explains the gray boxes. I need to READ the whole post. Yes, we have these as well (unfortunately) and they are especially common here locally since there is a major staging area/yard in Seattle. Once the trains are assembled in the Seattle yard, the garbage is hauled to a couple of very large regional landfill sites in the vicinity of Roosevelt WA and Arlington OR.

 

[Pete_W]

Thanks for posting and glad you were able to get out and shoot. I need to make time for myself to do the same. Nice picture (#1) and an excellent vantage point. The rail photographer's goal... finding a good vantage point! Always. Very nice exposure and IQ for both images. I looked at the map and found Moss Vale. I can see a pedestrian bridge between Lackey Road and Dalys Way. That's nice. The containers are very uniform (gray) -- with no shipping company markings. Do you have any insights in this regard? I did some poking around and found locomotive info: 81-Class EMD JT26C-2SS. by Clyde Engineering in Kelso.

Thanks! Yes, I was on the pedestrian bridge. Moss Vale railway station is a bit unique in that you can actually drive into the middle of it and park you car in between the two mainlines. I've copied a screenshot of Google maps below. The footbridge goes over the 'up' line (i.e. the one heading north towards Sydney) which I've labelled with a red '1' and the road bridge goes over the 'down' line (the one heading south toward Melbourne) which I've labelled with a red '2'. So you can walk between the two spots in 30 seconds. Great when the trains are running!

This is a photo I took from the platform (another crew change) which shows the footbridge. The railing height is perfect for resting your arms on with camera in hand.

• Panasonic - DC-S5M2
• LUMIX S 24-105/F4
• 105.0 mm
• ƒ/8
• 1/800 sec
• Pattern
• Auto exposure
• ISO 640

Ahhhh... a garbage train! That explains the gray boxes. I need to READ the whole post. Yes, we have these as well (unfortunately) and they are especially common here locally since there is a major staging area/yard in Seattle. Once the trains are assembled in the Seattle yard, the garbage is hauled to a couple of very large regional landfill sites in the vicinity of Roosevelt WA and Arlington OR.

Yes, no markings on the containers as this all just goes to the Woodlawn waste processing facility at a town named Tarago. It is a bit sad when you see the size of the hole in the ground but they say that energy is recovered from it via some kind of bioreaction.

Hope you find the time to get out for some trackside photos soon!

 

[Pete_W]

Do you have any insights in this regard? I did some poking around and found locomotive info: 81-Class EMD JT26C-2SS. by Clyde Engineering in Kelso.

I forgot to respond about the locomotives. Yes, the 81 cass is an EMD unit and began operating back in 1982 when I worked for the railways as a young man. There were 84 of them built and I think all but one are still in active use. The second loco is an 82 class which is an EMD model JT42C, of which 58 were built in 1994-95. There are still 54 of them in active service.