"The Rattler' ... the photographic story of a steam train.

john_s said:
Just as a matter of interest, Keith, do you know what gauge the tracks are? In this country with its bizarre mixture of railway gauges we are in the process of making main interstate lines standard gauge, slowly and at great expense and inconvenience. I live in Victoria, the worst offender: we share our 5ft3inch gauge with only Ireland and Spain.
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I don't know a lot about rail gauges but it would be narrow by any standards. This rail line only carries The Rattler and after going for a walk along a stretch of track I can see why. Maintenace is minimal and I'd say at least twenty percent of the sleepers are rotted or eaten by white ants and a surprising amount are just plain not there! 😱 When the train gets to Imbil they put it on a turntable to spin it 180 degress for the return to Gympie.

About the Mary Valley Heritage Railway.

The Mary Valley Heritage Railway had its genesis in 1984 when the Apex Club of Gympie and the Gympie and District Historical Society proposed that steam locomotive No 45 be preserved. No 45, after being withdrawn from service with Queensland Railways, had been placed in Andrew Fisher Park in Gympie. With the locomotive being exposed to the elements, it was in danger of becoming a health risk and being cut up and sold for scrap. On 4 January 1984, No 45 was moved to the Gympie Museum for preservation and conservation after Queensland Railways indicated that No 45 was to be preserved.

In 1985, Queensland Railways was approached to discuss whether No 45 could be returned to working order. The Railways outlined the procedure and the length of time needed for such a project. A daunting task was then undertaken and in 1992, seven years after the original discussions, No 45 was finally returned to working order at the Gympie Museum. The loco ran on a short length of track within the Gympie Museum grounds.

In 1993 the Apex Club proposed that a tourist train be based in Gympie to run along the Mary Valley branch line which was to be closed by Queensland Railways in 1994/1995. (Previously, in 1986, the Apex Club had approached the Gympie Museum to run a tourist train along the Mary Valley line.) Negotiations with Queensland Transport, Queensland Railways and the Gympie and District Historical Society were entered into, and operations of the MVHR commenced in 1998. Steam locomotive No 45 was the motive power and the first train ran on the 23rd May 1998. The Mary Valley Heritage Railway has been its own entity and heritage railway since 1998.
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The guy with the cap and safety jacket is pretty well what attracted me to the 'event' of The Rattler's arrival.

He's hilarious ... when he get's all the tourists off the train he parades up and down in front of them reeling off fact after fact about The Rattler and steam trains in general along with some of the worst puns you've ever heard ... and he hates being interupted!

eg .... "Why cant The Rattler sit down?" ..... "Because it has a tender behind!" 😱
 
john_s said:
Just as a matter of interest, Keith, do you know what gauge the tracks are? In this country with its bizarre mixture of railway gauges we are in the process of making main interstate lines standard gauge, slowly and at great expense and inconvenience. I live in Victoria, the worst offender: we share our 5ft3inch gauge with only Ireland and Spain.
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My memory of this from school is that Queensland was narrow gauge 4 foot.
 
The gauge is 3'6", same as in Tasmania, in South Australia once upon a time, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory (long ago). Nettar

P.S. The pictures are excellent!
 
There is a similar, yet completely different experience to be had in Cass, West Virginia. They use geared steam locomotives to push trainloads of riders up the side of a mountain, using switchbacks on the steeper parts. It's all standard gauge, and very well maintained, as it is a state park (11 miles long, and 50 feet wide!). Half way up, the short trip ends at an old logging camp, which was the reason for the railroad in the first place. The long trip continues up to Bald Knob, where one can look out over the valley below, and see the Greenbank Observatory, the worlds largest freestanding dish antenna, affectionately known as "Big Ear". It's used for radio astronomy, and the area around it is a radio free zone to cut down on the interference.

I took the long trip a few years ago, and shot seven rolls of negative film, six color, and one b&w. Got them scanned onto cd's, which I need to find, and get them posted.

Yours are a wonderful set, Keith, and I can't wait for the ride photos you'll come back with.

PF

http://www.cassrailroad.com/index.html
 
Keith, among railway photographers in the steam era there was a tradition, perhaps more of an etiquette, that (at least in 3/4 shots) steam locomotives should be photographed with their rods down, whenever possible. This made the image better balanced, and also displayed the wheels and valve gear more clearly. Plainly this was a daunting task when the locomotive was travelling at speed, although some photographers mastered it. It was de rigueur in builders' photographs, and although they were invariably taken when the locomotive was stationary, getting the rods in the right position often involved a bit of pushing or pulling with another engine while the photographer was setting up. But the main point, Keith, is that your first image is rods down! Nettar
 
Keith, first off, brilliant pictures. Second: Oh my God! I think I'm possibly just now piecing something together -- is this train what the Seekers' song "Rattler," from '67 or so, is about? I must say I haven't parsed the words carefully or thought about what they mean, but remember bits about "...one way ticket..." and "...take me home to my baby..." so it would make sense it would be about a train. I'm a bit slow here. But in my defense 🙂 I had no idea of this train (before our post) as I live in America and have never visited Australia.

Yes this Seekers reference is arguably obscure. I'm a 40-ish-year-old in America who owns almost every song the Seekers ever made, which is probably demographically quite unusual.

--Dave
 
Nettar said:
Keith, among railway photographers in the steam era there was a tradition, perhaps more of an etiquette, that (at least in 3/4 shots) steam locomotives should be photographed with their rods down, whenever possible. This made the image better balanced, and also displayed the wheels and valve gear more clearly. Plainly this was a daunting task when the locomotive was travelling at speed, although some photographers mastered it. It was de rigueur in builders' photographs, and although they were invariably taken when the locomotive was stationary, getting the rods in the right position often involved a bit of pushing or pulling with another engine while the photographer was setting up. But the main point, Keith, is that your first image is rods down! Nettar
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LOL .... I never realised the etiquette of photographing a steam locomotive but it makes sense that if your going to photograph something for it's aesthetic appeal get it right! And these things really are beautiful ... no doubt about it.

The fact that eighty tons of iron, steel and brass can look so graceful is truly amazing! I'm really looking forward to the eventual ride. 🙂
 
Argenticien said:
Keith, first off, brilliant pictures. Second: Oh my God! I think I'm possibly just now piecing something together -- is this train what the Seekers' song "Rattler," from '67 or so, is about? I must say I haven't parsed the words carefully or thought about what they mean, but remember bits about "...one way ticket..." and "...take me home to my baby..." so it would make sense it would be about a train. I'm a bit slow here. But in my defense 🙂 I had no idea of this train (before our post) as I live in America and have never visited Australia.

Yes this Seekers reference is arguably obscure. I'm a 40-ish-year-old in America who owns almost every song the Seekers ever made, which is probably demographically quite unusual.

--Dave
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I just did a google search and apparently 'rattler' is cockney banter/slang for a train ... so I suspect ours is just one of many 'rattlers' around the globe!
 
farlymac said:
There is a similar, yet completely different experience to be had in Cass, West Virginia. They use geared steam locomotives to push trainloads of riders up the side of a mountain, using switchbacks on the steeper parts. It's all standard gauge, and very well maintained, as it is a state park (11 miles long, and 50 feet wide!). Half way up, the short trip ends at an old logging camp, which was the reason for the railroad in the first place. The long trip continues up to Bald Knob, where one can look out over the valley below, and see the Greenbank Observatory, the worlds largest freestanding dish antenna, affectionately known as "Big Ear". It's used for radio astronomy, and the area around it is a radio free zone to cut down on the interference.

I took the long trip a few years ago, and shot seven rolls of negative film, six color, and one b&w. Got them scanned onto cd's, which I need to find, and get them posted.

Yours are a wonderful set, Keith, and I can't wait for the ride photos you'll come back with.

PF

http://www.cassrailroad.com/index.html
Click to expand...

I've been to Cass a few times on rail photo charters where we make 40 or so runbys and get plenty of pictures. If I were on the computer with the digital stuff, I'd post a few. Anyway, going to Cass is great, as the valley is a ceel phone free zone due to the observatory.

BTW, the observatory tour is well worth a side trip on your way to or from Cass.
 
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