Sydney Harbour Bridge getting a rail deck upgrade.

[jedimasterc]

My first post on railuk after I was bought here looking for differences in width between the HST and XPT. Here is a video of what has been happening on this upgrade.

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We have almost finished the biggest rail maintenance project in the history of the Sydney Harbou rBridge ️️

Ten years in the making, we're replacing the timber decking on the northern & southern ends of the rail corridor with stronger concrete to future proof our network and deliver a smoother ride for customers

In a highly complex operation, 266 pre-cast slabs are being placed delicately onto the 88-year-old bridge, with millimetre precision ️

Thank you for your patience while this work has taken place. We are please to confirm that normal services over the bridge resume from Monday 11 January. See less

 

[Shinkansenfan]

My first post on railuk after I was bought here looking for differences in width between the HST and XPT. Here is a video of what has been happening on this upgrade.

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Jedimasterc, welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride and thanks for your first post! I recall riding the XPTs not long after they were introduced. Took the XPT to Dubbo, then either a vintage railcar of bus to Mudgee and a vintage sleeper back to Sydney. In 1983 would a railcar have run from Dubbo to Mudgee?

 

[jedimasterc]

It is quite possible in 1983 a bus, railcar or old loco hauled service could have prodived you such a service I think. I was only 7 at that time but I'm sure someone on Railpage, NSW railways past and present FB, xpt appreciation group FB and possibly even Sydney electric train society FB might know more. In 2021 it would be a bus only service as some of the line via Mudgee is no longer open.

Anyway what is happening on the harbour bridge is that they are replacing the original timber decking and timber sleepers with new concrete slab that will have rubber isolators to reduce vibrations and to help weatherproof the bridge some more.

Sydney trains FB Bridge deck replacement photo post

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[LesS]

There was never a direct rail service between Dubbo and Mudgee. This section of your journey would have been by bus. In 1983 trains were still running to Mudgee. The day service would have used a 2 car DRC. I cannot remember when the evening Mail train to Mudgee ceased.
There are no services on the Mudgee line today. Freight services continue for some distance from Wallerawang on the Main Western line to a surviving colliery. The line is in a condition for occasional opening as far as Rylstone. Over the next 8 - 9 months there are a number of "cruise" trains scheduled to visit Rylstone and there is likely to be occasional railcar/railmotor trips from Lithgow.

 

[route101]

Question: Has an XPT ever gone via the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

 

[nlogax]

Question: Has an XPT ever gone via the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

Yes, more than once. Here's a good example from 1982 (Dennis Rittson on Flickr) during a bridge anniversary event

https://flic.kr/p/2inAXWS

And here's a standard service detour. Sorry, can't find the original photographer credit.

 

[route101]

Interesting, I guess an XPT over the bridge does not happen often.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Interesting, I guess an XPT over the bridge does not happen often.

Diesels running through the major stations in the tunnel sections under the Sydney CBD wouldn't be popular!

 

[jedimasterc]

Diesels running through the major stations in the tunnel sections under the Sydney CBD wouldn't be popular!

No, although there might have been a recent weekend trackwork where this occured from recollection. For trackwork purposes there are diesels fitted with special scrubbers and a couple of 86 class electric loco's have been reactivated for use in the tunnels as well. There are plenty of videos on YT showing diesels crossing the bridge in the 80's and 90s.

Here is Bevan Walls video of XPT's across the bridge in the 1990's that he recently posted on his YT channel.

There is a railpage thread started by Bevan Walls as well for more on diesels in the sydney underground
"https://www.railpage.com.au:80/f-p2116787.htm"

 

[Shinkansenfan]

There was never a direct rail service between Dubbo and Mudgee. This section of your journey would have been by bus. In 1983 trains were still running to Mudgee. The day service would have used a 2 car DRC. I cannot remember when the evening Mail train to Mudgee ceased.
There are no services on the Mudgee line today. Freight services continue for some distance from Wallerawang on the Main Western line to a surviving colliery. The line is in a condition for occasional opening as far as Rylstone. Over the next 8 - 9 months there are a number of "cruise" trains scheduled to visit Rylstone and there is likely to be occasional railcar/railmotor trips from Lithgow.

LesS, thanks for this information! That solves a memory mystery for me.

I welcome the chance to ride on of those cruise trains to Rylstone--assuming tourists are allowed back into Australia. Where can I get more information on those trains?

 

[LesS]

The "Cruise" train is a round trip 5 day tour. There are several routes. The one using the Mudgee line is Sydney, Hawkesbury River, Newcastle, Maitland, Paterson, Muswellbrook, Werris Creek, Binnaway, Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst, Wallerawang, Kandos, Katoomba, Sydney. The train is scheduled to stable overnight. Details at www.vintagerailjourneys.com.au

 

[jedimasterc]

LesS, thanks for this information! That solves a memory mystery for me.

I welcome the chance to ride on of those cruise trains to Rylstone--assuming tourists are allowed back into Australia. Where can I get more information on those trains?

Tourists back in Australia is looking less and less likely for quite some time. Especially from the UK, South Africa and now Brazil with these evolved variants. With more and more international sporting events being disrupted by covid and those in strict quarantine causing issues in addition to the vaccines causing deaths and not really working. It might be a long long time before tourists from anywhere that isn't New Zealand is allowed in to Australia. In addition our testing and contact tracing seems to be well ahead of Europe and the US in allowing us to combat Covid. Because of this we are trying to eliminate it in Australia. Those that do arrive in to Australia are going through a full blown quarantine and not the simple isolation that many other parts of the world are doing.

 

[Tester]

.....in addition to the vaccines causing deaths and not really working. .....

Please can you provide a citation for this.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

The "Cruise" train is a round trip 5 day tour. There are several routes. The one using the Mudgee line is Sydney, Hawkesbury River, Newcastle, Maitland, Paterson, Muswellbrook, Werris Creek, Binnaway, Dubbo, Orange, Bathurst, Wallerawang, Kandos, Katoomba, Sydney. The train is scheduled to stable overnight. Details at www.vintagerailjourneys.com.au

Interesting set of tours! I like how they differentiate between freight-only trackage from regular passenger service trackage on the maps.

Once we are allowed to travel to Australia again, I look forward to booking one of these trips!

 

[LesS]

Interesting set of tours! I like how they differentiate between freight-only trackage from regular passenger service trackage on the maps.

Once we are allowed to travel to Australia again, I look forward to booking one of these trips!

What maps have you been looking at? Some only show passenger lines while other show all non-private lines.

The attached image is from 11th November when the first tour ran. It was taken in suburban Mt Colah about 25 miles north of Central.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

What maps have you been looking at? Some only show passenger lines while other show all non-private lines.

The attached image is from 11th November when the first tour ran. It was taken in suburban Mt Colah about 25 miles north of Central.

The attached map from page 2 of the Vintage Rail Journeys Multi Tour brochure shows the freight only lines covered by the excursion trains.

And when used in conjunction with the geographic maps that can be found via this link
https://ara.net.au/policy-media/network-maps gives me a good understanding of the itinerary and trackage covered.

 

[LesS]

Thanks Shinkansenfan

The VRJ map covers a mixture of passenger and freight lines. The ARA map seems to be about 7 years old. Several lines and small networks have been closed, (the Eyre Peninsula) for example. In the cities several lines have been closed or converted to other uses and new lines and systems introduced expanding the services. There is more work being done building new lines and upgrading others. This is likely to continue for most of this decade.

I wish you well in wanting to visit and experience the VRJ services. Announcements today indicate that the international border is unlikely to re-open until sometime in 2022.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

You're welcome, LesS.

I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer for my next trip to Australia. That will give VRJ more time to refurbish the rest of their fleet, such as the lounge and diner.

Do you have a list, or can direct me to a list of lines closed since ARA last updated the map?

 

[jedimasterc]

On the VRJ map where it says freight only that is only because passenger services are just not viable and coach services are cheaper and easier to provide (bustitution). Obviouly the goods line in Sydney is an exception as well as the southern sydney freight line.

On the ARA map there are several things missing. Sydney doesn't have the south west rail line to leppington shown or the north west metro. The carlingford line has been shut down and mostly being converted to light rail in to Parramatta. It doesn't show the light rail all the way to Dulwich hill or the 1 year old south east light rail either. Obviously the Newcastle line has also been truncated to what is Newcastle interchange (formerly Wickham). The new CBD metro is under construction and the metro west and greater west are in planning / early construction stages. A tender was recently released to re open a regional rail line from Demondrille to Maimuru for grain.

In Victoria the Mildura Line and branches are now Standard Gauge instead of 1600mm Broad gauge. A suburban rail line has been extended to Mernda and they have started removing a significant amount of level crossings and a new rail tunnel line through the CBD.

 

[LesS]

I have just been advised that the February trip has been cancelled. A victim of Covid and state border closures.

So far as I can tell VRJ have hired all of the cars from other owners or custodians. The Lounge & Dining cars are State Assets in the custody of Transport Heritage NSW. The locomotives are also hired as has track access rights.