Irl Trains - Tumblr Posts
I'm gonna do something a little more fun.
So I've posted before about how I travel on the Australian Melbourne Metro and how I've seen some strange engines on it. I'm gonna go on I bit of a rant so prepare your eyeballs for some reading.
I've posted before how I saw this guy in a yard once while heading to a station. I've since learned that this guy who I've affectionately named- "Electric Spencer" is a HCMT and they are relatively new being built in 2019. The reason I thought he was weird and/or new was that his class works on a different line that I normally travelled down. (No clue why he was there that day.)
This guy is the one that I normally see down the line and is the most common you'll see, an- X'Trapolis 100. They were built in 2002 and are still in active service.
I know this isn't original, but I want to make a few OC's out of the trains of my city.
I remember going to an art gallery in the city from Disney with my grandparents last year before they got really sick. My pa (Grandfather) and I saw these two engines leaving the yard as we were waiting for our train. We both questioned them as that was the first time I had seen a diesel and like I said before, the long box without the grey sides was the one I was most familiar with. So when I and my pa saw them we were impressed by how many flatbeds the diesel was pulling and how the electric with grey sides looked old in comparison to the new ones. After some research, I've found that these two are- Victorian Railways B class's (Diesel). And Comeng's (Electric). Built in 1953, and 1981 respectively. I think in this TTTE community and fandom with the whole Diesel's vs Steamies, we forget that there is also a real-world change in our generation. Diesels vs Electrics. I'd kill to know how a story like that would have gone in any of the railway series books. The stemies grinning smugly at the diesels in a look of- 'I told you so' as they get pushed off by electrics coming onto the scene and them slowly getting scrapped or withdrawn. I'm gonna make a little story of these engines in the days from dieselization to electrification, I think that might be rather fun. Sure, it'll be nothing new that hasn't already been created, but it'll be in a new era, a new generation. If I get smart with this I hope I can make a satisfying story of times from the 1950s to present day. Now to get to work designing the big metal logs.
GUUUUYYYYSSSS!!! I just found my new favorite train! And it's right here in my own city! I'm turning this girl into an OC, look at her! That purple, silver, yellow and white looks goddam amazing!! If I were an engine, I'd be this! She's a VLocity train from Melbourne Metro that just recently entered service on the northeast line, I'm gonna get to drawing!
I just got back from a job interview from late in the afternoon and I had to go into the city to get to it. I saw so many trains!
The one with grey sides is a Comeng electric, and the purple one is a VLocity electric. And I saw so many "Electric Spencer's" (HCMT for the actual name.)
I hope I get the job just to see all the trains again every day! And now I have to wake up tomorrow for an RSA class (Right to Server Alcohol), wish me luck!
HO-LY SHIT!! This is me! This is my home! This railway is around my city! I've been looking for someplace to go on a weekend trip with my family and I didn't know there was a place in my own home city!!
Locomotives of the VR
Some lovely footage of Victorian Railways locomotives at work. Only music in the soundtrack.
Train day planning is in progress... Apparently, there's this amazing narrow gauge track in my city called Puffing Billy, I've gone on it once when I was way younger with my grandparents but I remember it being standard gauge. (I never found out the class of engine pulling it T3T). My mum and I have decided it's gonna be a late birthday present in Feb, as the days grow closer and more plans are made I'll give updates. This is the railway- Puffing Billy It's really cool in that you can sit on the railing of the coaches, I can't wait to see it again and this time go to the museum.
I'm back from the Newport museum! Here are a few of the pictures I took.
And in February I'm going to the Puffing Billy museum and taking a few pictures there, that railway is a narrow gauge with working steam locos so that'll be amazing to ride with.
I might actually volunteer at the Newport museum until I can get my name change stuff in order, that'll look amazing on a resume at least.
Having watched these "sky lines" being built when covid first hit and having to shut down the station that was right next to my T.A.F.E school, I can see what this article is going on about. Melbourne is a lot more passenger than freight, hell, it's really rare that you'll even see a diesel or freight train. The only time I've ever seen diesels is at Flinders Street and the City Loop. I also went to the New Port museum last week and am going to try volunteer work when they open this weekend. The tour info man who was sitting with Heavy Harry did say the engine was originally built for passengers and then pulled freight when the war hit, another problem he said about the engine was that it was so heavy that it would break the tracks. I asked him how a restoration effort would go and he told me the money it would take would be a lot and even then, where would they put the engine? The city is completely electric and just not okay for freight anymore, they wouldn't be able to keep the engine local, they'd have to move it further out of the city into more flat country.
Everyone, do yourselves a favor and read this article.
I don't agree with all of the conclusions of this blog, but it is incisive in its criticism of railfan orthodoxy which lazily persists and is carelessly repeated.
He uses the real life Heavy Harry locomotive to illustrate the point that myths circulate, from gunzels that should know better to people that don't. (The ''sinking into the ground'' at Newport bit is particularly grimly funny, as I've seen that myth in otherwise sympathetic reports).
What a fun month Feb is going to be! I went to the Newport railway museum, I went to the Melbourne museum, I'm going on Puffing Billy this Sunday, and on the Sunday after I'm gonna go to the Diamond Valley Railway. The Diamond Vally was another railway I remember going to when I was younger, I remember shouting and screaming with the other kids when we went through the tunnels, I also remember the horse field they had nearby. I'm gonna go to that one and see if they also have a little workshop or museum you can visit. It's weird, I remember going to Puffing Billy and to Diamond Vally especially multiple times, it's weird to look back on these memories and only really give a care about them now. But I guess it might be a way of coping with my grans passing and a way to get closer to my pa. He apparently loves museums and all this sort of historical stuff. I'm gonna keep looking for more railway stuff, maybe see if they let pedestrians near the yard at Epping.
I went to a miniature railway! I couldn't take many photos because my phone storage was at max T3T.
But still a nice day, and it's a place closer to home I can volunteer at, and even drive the trains!
Busy, busy! I got a whole train weekend vacation coming up! Okay, so tomorrow is a special day at the miniature railway where I volunteer at, we're having a special event going on so that means we'll be running night trains! We're gonna be open from I think 11am to 10pm, with it ironically enough being in the middle of a heatwave as we watch summer supposed to be dying off LOL. Then after that on labour day, I'll be going to the Newport railway workshops! I'll get to see more of the big boys in person! Which means more pictures! And this time I'll be sure to get a few more video's in, it'll be grate! Idk if they'll steam any of the engines up... propably not since it'll be close to the 40s tomorrow (thats 104*F for those who read farienhieght).
Anywho! Hot day with hot trains! I'm probably gonna come to uni the next day with a sunburn though 😅, wish me luck! Or comment you wanna see me look like an ugly prawn. Vote now!