ROLL 36. Murtoa, Stawell and
Ararat, 8th January 1968.
All photos © Les Brown. Not
to be used for Publication.
36-1. J542. Murtoa.
36-2. J542. Murtoa. What was
the overhead maintenance wagon (OH27) doing here? Bridge maintenance?
36-3. J525. Murtoa. One year
later I photographed this engine awaiting scrapping at Bendigo. See Roll 70-9.
36-4. J542. Stawell.
36-5. K190. Stawell.
36-6. K190. Stawell.
36-7. K190. Stawell.
36-8. J542. Stawell.
36-9. J542. Stawell.
36-10. J542. Stawell.
36-11. J542. Ararat Loco.
36-12. J539, J540 &
J541. Ararat Loco.
36-13. J545. Ararat Loco. It
was really quite an impressive shed once. Unfortunately, I only saw it when it
was well and truly in decline.
36-14. J503. Ararat Loco.
Note the side-boards. As far as I know, this was the only J left that had them.
J529, which was the one J-Class I never spotted, also had them but they were
removed in 1964.
36-15. l-r; J508 (just),
J534 and J542. Ararat Loco.
36-16. J508. Ararat Loco.
36-17. J – Probably 532.
Ararat Loco.
36-18. J532 and another J.
Ararat Loco.
36-19. J545 Ararat Loco. I
rode behind this engine on the 9:10 am Spencer St. to Dimboola passenger train,
from Horsham to Dimboola two years earlier. It was my first ride behind a
steam-hauled scheduled passenger train and I thought I would never have another
ride like it again in Victoria. Twenty-nine years later, I caught the 9:55 pass
to Geelong hauled by R761. Life is full of surprises.
36-20. L-R J549, T337, K163,
J531, K157. Ararat Loco and its 85 foot turntable. You can just see the top of
the famous coaling tower above K157’s cab.
J549 deserves a special mention,
as it was the last steam engine to haul a mainline revenue train for the
Victorian Railways – 16th May 1972.