By the early autumn of 1965 whilst still employed as a Class 3 signalman at Earlswood Lakes Box it was becoming obvious that the writing was on the wall for the end of steam on the North Warwick Line coupled with the rumours that BR (Doctor Beeching) wanted to close this route, something it eventually succeeded in doing between Stratford-upon-Avon and Cheltenham. Like many a railwayman in the mid-sixties I was becoming disillusioned as to what the future would hold.
Quite by chance, whilst on a visit to Birmingham, I met up with a former colleague, Mick Black, whom I had worked with at an Insurance Company in 1962 and 1963. He too had been looking for a new start in life along with a pal of his, Ted, and had decided to apply to emigrate to Australia. To cut a long story short I too decided to up sticks from the UK and join them on this venture into the unknown. Whilst I was still aged nineteen both Mick and Ted were a couple of years older.
So it was that we made our departure from these shores and our loved ones and departed from Heathrow Airport in a Boeing 707 on a freezing 14th January 1966. Our destination was Sydney, New South Wales via Zurich, Beirut, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore and Darwin.
Upon arrival at Sydney Airport we were taken to our first place of residence, a men only hostel for emigrants from the UK at Neutral Bay, close to the Harbour Bridge. Our stay was brief for it was not long before we rented a place of our own a semi-detached bungalow at Watsons Bay near to the Sydney Heads.
SYDNEY OPERA HOUSETaken from a ferry between Neutral Bay and Circular Quay on 17th January 1966 the opera house was in the throes of being constructed and one can only assume that in 2016 it is celebrating its Golden Jubilee. Photograph – Peter Hands
Joining the New South Wales Government Railways in January I was briefly employed as a cleaner at the large Motive Power Depot at Enfield but this was short-lived and my enthusiasm curtailed when I was transferred as a cleaner to the near-at-hand Diesel Depot (DELEC). I escaped the boredom of the latter location after applying for and succeeding to obtain a job as a shunter. I did not know it at the time but working in different shunting yards gave me the unique opportunity to take photographs in locations denied to the general public – history in the making I suppose.
Shunting in the yards at Sydney was an extremely dangerous vocation in 1966 and one of the yards I worked in I absolutely hated – this being:
DARLING HARBOUR
This was a very long yard, but quite narrow and accidents (collisions) were a common occurrence. On one side of the yard were grim smoke-stained warehouses (especially forbidding and depressing at night) whilst on the other side there was a section which held multitudes of wagons in numerous sidings. Collection sheds of all shapes and sizes were scattered around the edges of the yard and to me it seemed that chaos reigned supreme. There did not appear to be any order or discipline. How on earth goods transhipped through Darling Harbour yard reached their destinations is still a mystery to me fifty years later. To add to the doom and gloom at each end of the yard were smoke-filled tunnels – stygian hell-holes.
NSWGR 0-6-0 No. 1941The mainstay of the shunting locomotive stock at Darling Harbour were the delightful 0-6-0’s like No. 1941 seen here between duties in May 1966. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR 0-6-0 No. 1948Its tender filled to capacity 0-6-0 No. 1948 at rest between duties again in May 1966. Note the detail differences between the tenders of 1941 and 1948. In the right background, if memory serves me correct, is the Sydney Central station clocktower. Photograph – Peter HandsToday, Darling Harbour Goods Yard no longer exists. It was swept away many years ago being replaced by a modern shopping complex. Although I disliked the yard I am glad I took a couple of photos of it. At the very least it bears testimony to the fact that it once existed.
DARLING ISLAND
I liked working at Darling Island Goods Yard. It was small and compact and in the main open to the skies with Docks on the one side. In 1966 the British Merchant Marine ruled the waves and the majority of ships that docked in Sydney were British. This was the year of the bitter shipping strike in the UK and for weeks and months the docks at Darling Island lay empty with little employment for the dock force.
NSWGR 0-6-0 No. 1952This is a fine colour portrait of 0-6-0 No. 1952 at rest in the yard at Darling Island on 8th August 1966. Note the Westinghouse pumps situated by the boiler. Note also the detail difference of the tender of 1952 to those of 1941 and 1948 at Darling Harbour. Photograph – Peter Hands
All in all I logged a total of eighteen of these 0-6-0 locomotives.
ROZELLE – except where stated all the photographs were taken between May and July 1966.
The Goods Yard I loved to work in most of all was at Rozelle a twenty minute bus ride from the centre of Sydney. Split into two sections divided by a bottleneck it was immense but spacious and the staff employed here were, for the most part, friendly and helpful and I quite often went with a number of them for a schooner of beer at the near-at-hand White Bay Hotel after the shifts ended.
LOWER YARD AT ROZELLEThis view is taken from the overbridge at White Bay, Rozelle on 9th May 1966. Immediately in front of us is the ‘cripple yard.’ In the left hand side of the maze of lines in the distance are ‘trains’ of coal hoppers. Some would be full and waiting to be hauled to the upper yard whilst others would be empty and awaiting return to the New South Wales coalfields. Note the ‘bottleneck’ between the lower and upper yards. Photograph – Peter Hands
UPPER YARD AT ROZELLE
NSWGR 4-6-0 No. 3020Built at Gorton Locomotive Works, Manchester in 1892 4-6-0 No. 3020 was one of only three of its type that I managed to log, the others being Nos. 3017 and 3127. No. 3020 poses for the camera near to the road bridge featured in the previous photograph. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR 2-8-0 No. 5102One of forty-eight locos of the Class logged during my spell as a NSWGR employee No. 5102, seen here in a begrimed external condition, drifts into the upper yard at Rozelle with a mixed bag of wagons. This Class of engines were constructed at Clyde, Everleigh and Granville Workshops – circa 1930. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR 2-8-0 No. 5262Sister locomotive No. 5262, coupled to what appears to be a guards van, waits tender-first to leave the upper yard with a mixed goods train. These locomotives were a common sight at Rozelle and I spent many a happy time on the footplates of the same trundling back and forth between the lower and upper yards. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR 2-8-2 No. 5910Although a modern design, 1950, equipped with stove-pipe chimneys, I only laid eyes on four of these locomotives – Nos. 5904, 5910, 5911 and 5914, but managed to photograph two of them. No. 5910 has come to a stand as the footplate crew await instructions from the shunter after arrival with a mixed freight. Photograph – Peter HandsI will now return to the theme of the trains of coal hoppers mentioned early. The lengthy hoppers, loaded with coal slack for export to Japan, that arrived in the lower yard at Rozelle were divided into two and taken up the incline to the upper yard. They were then sub-divided and shunted onto a raised line which led to a metal unloading shed. Two at a time were allowed into the shed. The hopper doors underneath would be opened and the majority of the coal slack would drop onto the conveyor belts taking the same to the Japanese ship. Metal grabs then came down and seized the wagons shaking them violently in order to release the remaining slack. The noise and the dust were a sound and sight that one had to witness to be believed – health and safety!!!!
NSGWR 2-8-2 No. 5914Overshadowed by a large ICI tower, 2-8-2 No. 5914 propels loaded coal hoppers towards the confines of the metal shed. By the end of their shift the footplate crews allocated this task must have been bored out of their minds it was so slow and repetitive. Note the empty hoppers in the foreground awaiting return to the likes of Balmain. Photograph – Peter Hands
EMPTY COAL HOPPERS/CONVEYOR BELTSOne of the many jobs allocated to a shunter at Rozelle was to take the empty hoppers away from the loading shed and back into the yard to form the return trains as seen in the previous photograph. Released from the shed two at a time the shunter jumped aboard between the wagons. The wagons travelled up a ramp (overlooking the waters of White Bay) stopped and then reversed using their own momentum. As they approached the other empties the shunter would slow them down by hand and hopefully the jaw couplings would marry up. Here we see a cheerful wave from Mick Black who joined as a shunter some months after I originally started. Note the ‘Octopus Tentacles’ of the conveyor belt systems in the background. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR CLASS 60 4-8-4 + 4-8-4 Beyer-Garret No. 6026Constructed by Beyer-Peacock in Manchester between 1950 and 1952 these mighty locomotives were employed on the heavy coal hopper trains in New South Wales. I was privileged to note sixteen of these engines including No. 6026, seen here in abysmal external condition as it returns light engine from the upper to lower yards at Rozelle after bringing in a train of hoppers. Not the shunter perched on the rear buffer-beam – health and safety!!! Photograph – Peter HandsWe take our leave of Rozelle and head for our final destination:
SYDNEY CENTRAL STATION
NSWGR 4-6-4T No. 3141These compact and handsome tank engines were employed on a variety of duties including those of station pilots. Taking things easy between jobs is the fireman of No. 3141 on 5th June1966, a Sunday, hence the apparent lack of activity for the footplate crew. All in all I logged a total of twenty-one of these locomotives. Photograph – Peter Hands
NSWGR CLASS C38 4-6-2 No. 3807.The C38 Pacific Class represented the ultimate in Australian steam locomotive construction when first introduced in 1943 at the height of the Pacific War with Japan. The first five, Nos. 3801-3805, semi-streamlined with a bullet nose, were built at Clyde Locomotive Works between January 1943-1945. Thirteen were constructed at Everleigh Locomotive Works, Sydney and the remaining twelve were built at Cardiff Locomotive Works, Newcastle Their most famous work was hauling the ‘Newcastle Flyer’ from Sydney until the electrics took over. In a flurry of steam and black smoke No. 3807 prepares to take its leave of Sydney Central station after bringing in a passenger train and head for either Everleigh or Enfield depots light engine on 9th August 1966. I logged twenty-one examples out of the thirty. Whilst on a tea break at Enfield MPD during my short sojourn there I sat in the cab of one of these majestic locomotives, the number of which evades me, and it was a great experience. Some of the Class C38 4-6-2’s are preserved including the Class Leader – the famous – 3801. Photograph – Peter HandsUnfortunately I was unable to photograph any of the following Classes of locomotives that I saw in Sydney:
Class 10 0-4-0 Crane Tanks – seven logged. Class 32 4-6-0’s – twenty six logged. Class 36 4-6-0’s – twenty-four logged and Class 55 2-8-0’s – three logged.
My tenure as a railwayman in Sydney came to an end in August 1966 when I decided to head back to ‘blighty.’ Instead of returning to the UK via the same route which had brought me to Australia the route I chose was across the Pacific – Fiji – Honolulu – San Francisco and thence to Vancouver and by train across Canada to Toronto where I would meet up with my sister and brother-in-law who had emigrated to London, Ontario in July 1965.
Departure from Sydney was 7.00pm on the Friday – having crossed the international dateline time reversed for twenty-four hours – and arrival time in Vancouver was 9.00pm on the same Friday. Most disconcerting to say the least!!!
After three months in Canada working in casual jobs such as laboring on a building site and fruit picking I decided enough was enough and returned to the UK via Prestwick and Heathrow.
Whilst travelling on the coach from Heathrow to Victoria bus station I had an occasion to glance over the parapet of a railway bridge. Did I ‘imagine’ it or was I ‘hallucinating’ because of ‘jet-lag?’ What I ‘thought’ I had seen was a GWR 57XX 0-6-0 Pannier Tank – no it could not have been. The last BR example was long withdrawn.
It was only years later that it dawned on me that the ‘Pannier Tank’ I saw was ‘real.’ It, of course, belonged to London Transport.
Upon my return to the Midlands via Paddington and Birmingham (Snow Hill) I applied to join British Railways again, but to no avail – the ‘Beeching Axe’ was in full swing. Instead a career in the Fire Service beckoned. In later years I turned my hand to writing and ‘What Happened to Steam’ was born in 1980.
Peter Hands
July 2016