Trip to Picton and Menangle Park 27 September 2012
2134 Berrima cement hurries through Picton
Murphy's Law. You've all heard of it. The dictionary definition looks like the below entry.
Murphy's Law
noun the facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will.
Should uppen well change the name to "Trainspotters Law". But more about that later.
Itching for another magical mystery tour down south, me and TBP (same mate from last time) arranged to meet at Central, complete with pushbikes, to get the 11:12 Through Service, (and what a rare species they are!!) to Menangle.
Around about 100 metres before Menangle, TBP leans over and says
"hey Rozza, do ya wanna go to Menangle?"
"Isn't that why we dragged ourselves out here?" I said.
"Well, we can go to Piction..."
"Righto, lets go to Picton then".
Getting off at Picton turned out to be another bloody ordeal bought to you by our good friends at CityRail.
They advertise Endeavours (the trains) as being "Easy Access", but they clearly don't have an appreciation for the dimensions of the average country traveller, laden with luggage, bikes, wheelchairs, stolen TV's and what not.
Firstly, theres a step down inside the train to bring you level with the platform. How they expect a wheelchair not equipped with square wheels to cope with this I will never know.
As you get off, you have to make a large languorous wave, remarkably similar to the gesture of drowning, to the guard, to indicate to him that there are other people getting off after you. If you don't, then you leave the people behind you subject to being hydraulically compressed by the door, such is the eagerness to depart.
TBP found out this exact fate, as I got of the train first, and as he was about to roll his bike off, the guard decided that he wanted to detain TBP for another couple of miles.
Anyway, onwards and upwards on this magical mystery tour, we stood at Picton station, aimlessly eyeing eachother off, waiting for an idea... thats how these expeditions go, we get somewhere, then stand there like stunned bloody mullets wondering what to do next.
"How about we go check out that tunnel spot we went to last time?" TBP offered
"Righto, let's go 'have a look"
Strike me bloody handsome!! Off goes TBP like a bloody rocket, down over Victoria Bridge. I'm usually a bit slower to get going, so by the time I've made one pedal push, TBP's already bounding back down Prince St, yelling something about "Berrima met the rains!" as he whistled past hell-for-leather.
Turns out he was saying "Berrima Cement Train", indicating a snake of dusty FreightCorp Era wagons coming down the hill.
Now, if you know the first thing about Picton, its that the Railway does a big horseshoe around the town, meaning that the train passes you one way, does a big turn around 3/4 of a circle, and doubles back towards you. TBP had seen it as it was entering the horseshoe, giving us ample time to retrace our way to Picton station to see it.
Minutes later, 8162, 8012 and G519 urged their train through Picton
After it thundered through, we then sat down and reconsidered our options. To go see that tunnel, to find some other spots, or to go to Macca's......and toddled off to Macca's.
Having filled ourselves with Macca's greasy delights, the next stop on the magical mystery tour was back to Picton station. Here, Murphy's law didn't so much kick in, as kick us in the arse. For when we had our backs turned, 3NY3, a huge steel train, led by locos NR6 and NR103 thundered through with an incredible noise. And alas, we didn't have our cameras out.
Murphy 1 Boys 0.
As we were discussing our misfortune, and how we'd missed a photo opportunity of a one-of-a-kind experimentally painted loco, the rails tingled. Over our shoulders, another steelie had crept up behind us, 3XW4, but we saw it with enough time to take pictures, led by NR35/NR86/NR67/NR15.
Murphy 1 Boys 1.
Deciding we didn't want to give this bloody Murphy character any more chances, we skipped off to Menangle Park, hoping to see a QRN (Queensland Rail National) train, BM7 (ie Brisbane-Melbourne train). We came into Menangle Park, on the wrong road. This raised our hopes no bloody end, as this sure would indicate that a freight train was occupying the other track, heading our way.
We discussed how to position our cameras to get the perfect shot of it rounding the bend.
The rails squealed.
Our pulses raced.
and from around the bend...
came a majestic sight....
...The bloody Canberra Xplorer.
Murphy 2 Boys 1.
Still holding out hopes that 3BM4 would appear or BM7 would emerge from its hiding place at Glenlee (about 1.5km up the track), we remained at Menangle Park, hoping, or in TBP's case, certain that it would arrive.
Finally, we couldn't procrastinate any longer as our train home turned up.
But this bloody Murphy character wasn't finished with us yet. noooo way.
For, as we neared Glenlee, what was actually occupying the line, was none other than the steel train that had just passed us at Picton....3XW4, with an apparent failure in one of its engines.
Murphy 3 Boys 1
But he still wasn't done with us!! For, sitting in Glenlee, unmoving, was BM7, waiting patiently for a chance to emerge from its refuge in Glenlee.
Murphy 4 Boys 1.
And yet, this sadistic Murphy bastard wasn't done. Right after we crossed back over to the correct road, 3BM4 roared past at a rate of bloody knots, with two NR's in change.
Murphy 5 Boys 1.
Lucky that was the end of the day, or Murphy's number on us would have looked like a cricket score....
Till next time!
Murphy's Law
noun the facetious proposition that if something can go wrong, it will.
Should uppen well change the name to "Trainspotters Law". But more about that later.
Itching for another magical mystery tour down south, me and TBP (same mate from last time) arranged to meet at Central, complete with pushbikes, to get the 11:12 Through Service, (and what a rare species they are!!) to Menangle.
Around about 100 metres before Menangle, TBP leans over and says
"hey Rozza, do ya wanna go to Menangle?"
"Isn't that why we dragged ourselves out here?" I said.
"Well, we can go to Piction..."
"Righto, lets go to Picton then".
Getting off at Picton turned out to be another bloody ordeal bought to you by our good friends at CityRail.
They advertise Endeavours (the trains) as being "Easy Access", but they clearly don't have an appreciation for the dimensions of the average country traveller, laden with luggage, bikes, wheelchairs, stolen TV's and what not.
Firstly, theres a step down inside the train to bring you level with the platform. How they expect a wheelchair not equipped with square wheels to cope with this I will never know.
As you get off, you have to make a large languorous wave, remarkably similar to the gesture of drowning, to the guard, to indicate to him that there are other people getting off after you. If you don't, then you leave the people behind you subject to being hydraulically compressed by the door, such is the eagerness to depart.
TBP found out this exact fate, as I got of the train first, and as he was about to roll his bike off, the guard decided that he wanted to detain TBP for another couple of miles.
Anyway, onwards and upwards on this magical mystery tour, we stood at Picton station, aimlessly eyeing eachother off, waiting for an idea... thats how these expeditions go, we get somewhere, then stand there like stunned bloody mullets wondering what to do next.
"How about we go check out that tunnel spot we went to last time?" TBP offered
"Righto, let's go 'have a look"
Strike me bloody handsome!! Off goes TBP like a bloody rocket, down over Victoria Bridge. I'm usually a bit slower to get going, so by the time I've made one pedal push, TBP's already bounding back down Prince St, yelling something about "Berrima met the rains!" as he whistled past hell-for-leather.
Turns out he was saying "Berrima Cement Train", indicating a snake of dusty FreightCorp Era wagons coming down the hill.
Now, if you know the first thing about Picton, its that the Railway does a big horseshoe around the town, meaning that the train passes you one way, does a big turn around 3/4 of a circle, and doubles back towards you. TBP had seen it as it was entering the horseshoe, giving us ample time to retrace our way to Picton station to see it.
Minutes later, 8162, 8012 and G519 urged their train through Picton
After it thundered through, we then sat down and reconsidered our options. To go see that tunnel, to find some other spots, or to go to Macca's......and toddled off to Macca's.
Having filled ourselves with Macca's greasy delights, the next stop on the magical mystery tour was back to Picton station. Here, Murphy's law didn't so much kick in, as kick us in the arse. For when we had our backs turned, 3NY3, a huge steel train, led by locos NR6 and NR103 thundered through with an incredible noise. And alas, we didn't have our cameras out.
Murphy 1 Boys 0.
As we were discussing our misfortune, and how we'd missed a photo opportunity of a one-of-a-kind experimentally painted loco, the rails tingled. Over our shoulders, another steelie had crept up behind us, 3XW4, but we saw it with enough time to take pictures, led by NR35/NR86/NR67/NR15.
Murphy 1 Boys 1.
Deciding we didn't want to give this bloody Murphy character any more chances, we skipped off to Menangle Park, hoping to see a QRN (Queensland Rail National) train, BM7 (ie Brisbane-Melbourne train). We came into Menangle Park, on the wrong road. This raised our hopes no bloody end, as this sure would indicate that a freight train was occupying the other track, heading our way.
We discussed how to position our cameras to get the perfect shot of it rounding the bend.
The rails squealed.
Our pulses raced.
and from around the bend...
came a majestic sight....
...The bloody Canberra Xplorer.
Murphy 2 Boys 1.
Still holding out hopes that 3BM4 would appear or BM7 would emerge from its hiding place at Glenlee (about 1.5km up the track), we remained at Menangle Park, hoping, or in TBP's case, certain that it would arrive.
Finally, we couldn't procrastinate any longer as our train home turned up.
But this bloody Murphy character wasn't finished with us yet. noooo way.
For, as we neared Glenlee, what was actually occupying the line, was none other than the steel train that had just passed us at Picton....3XW4, with an apparent failure in one of its engines.
Murphy 3 Boys 1
But he still wasn't done with us!! For, sitting in Glenlee, unmoving, was BM7, waiting patiently for a chance to emerge from its refuge in Glenlee.
Murphy 4 Boys 1.
And yet, this sadistic Murphy bastard wasn't done. Right after we crossed back over to the correct road, 3BM4 roared past at a rate of bloody knots, with two NR's in change.
Murphy 5 Boys 1.
Lucky that was the end of the day, or Murphy's number on us would have looked like a cricket score....
Till next time!