ROLL 104. Numurkah, Seymour & Tocumwal, 1^st January 1970. Swan Hill – Kooloonong, 2^nd January 1970.

All photos © Les Brown. Not to be used for Publication.

104-1. T366. Numurkah.

104-2. T366. Numurkah.

104-3. 7RM. Seymour.

104-4. 7RM. Seymour.

104-5. X34 & S309. Seymour. Down Intercapital Daylight.

104-6. X34 & S309. Seymour.

104-7. B60 & T???. Seymour.

104-8. B71 & X??. Seymour.

104-9. T327. Tocumwal.

104-10. T364. Tocumwal.

104-11. 403. Tocumwal.

104-12. 403. Tocumwal. 403 has run around its trailer and waiting to return to Narrandera.

104-13. Tocumwal Station. Standard Gauge line to Sydney on the left, Broad Gauge line to Melbourne on the right. This NSW station seemed to have turned its back on the line to Sydney seeming to focus on its closer Melbourne connection which was first into the town. The Sydney rail connection was extended here from Finlay in 1914, six years after the rail connection to Melbourne was finally built following completion of the bridge across the Murray.

104-14. 403. Tocumwal. The train has just departed for Narrandera.

104-15. T364. Tocumwal. Note the Standard Gauge line to the silos crossing the Broad Gauge line. Unusually for a NSWGR station, it had Victorian Railways semaphore signals for the Broad Gauge.

104-16. 6RM & 18RT. Swan Hill. The Rail Tractor was shunting the recently arrived Down Swan Hill pass. A goods train is ready to depart for Bendigo behind the Rail Motor.

104-17. 6RM & 18RT. Swan Hill. Swan Hill can have an amazing temperature variation. I spent one freezing cold and wet night in the RM when the top temperature for that day, barely nudged 13^o C. The next week it was over 41^o C.

104-18. 6RM. Piangil. The Kooloonong postal trolley on the right. I remember telling the friendly Rail Motor driver that I heard rumours his Rail Motor service was going to be closed. He was most upset and I regretted my lack of tact (the service did shut down some seven years later). After that I understood how upsetting it must have been for railway staff to be relocated after a service or a line closure. Many railway people were deeply involved in the life of the small rural communities they served.

104-19. 6RM. & Postal Trolley, Piangil.

104-20. Postal Trolley, Natya.

104-21. Postal Trolley. Kooloonong. I made this journey three times and always by Postal Trolley which was later an enclosed “Casey Jones” ganger’s trolley as seen here.

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