Ettamogah Pub

After leaving Mt Lofty and the beautiful Adelaide Hills, we head East and back through Bordertown and on to the New South Wales / Victorian Border towns of Albury and Wadonga. Just north of Albury is Table Top, and the town of Ettamogah, which , apart from having one of the first modern road/rail intermodal hubs in the country, is home to a classic cartoon icon, the "Ettamogah Pub". Now if you're 40 or older, chances are you'll remember the "Australasian Post" magazine, a weekly affair with all sorts of stories from all over Australia, mainly country based and always a bit cheeky and sometimes not 100% factual!! The magazine can be traced back to the mid 1800's and became a national favourite in the 60's and 70's , and in 1958, former policeman and cartoonist, Ken Maynard, began a weekly cartoon strip featuring the locals from the fictitious "Pub"!

      In 1987, businessman Lindsay Cooper decided that the cartoon pub was too good to be left on paper, so had the "Ettamogah Pub" built as a tourist attraction and a real pub to boot! Like in Ken's drawings , there isn't a straight wall in the place, so Lindsay sought the skills of a skilful yacht  builder to  handle all the curves!! The result is a full steel structure with timber cladding, very strong and not ready to fall down as the shape suggests! It features a truck on the roof, washed up from a flood, a crashed plane and many other bits you'll see in the cartoons.

It's recently been taken over by new lessee's , and they have some terrific plans for this great piece of Aussie history, so if you're in the area and wan't to be in a classic cartoon for a while, drop in for a drink and a great meal ......and don't forget to read all the cartoons on the walls!!

Hooroo for now,
Gregg.

Mt Lofty Railway Station.

After a week and nearly 2500 km, I arrive at my destination, Mt Lofty railway station in the beautiful Adelaide Hills suburb of Stirling. The station was opened in 1883 and remained so until 1987 when passenger services stopped. The main line between Adelaide and Melbourne was converted to Standard gauge in 1995 and at over 500m in elevation, is the highest point on the interstate mainline!

The station fell into disrepair and in the 90's was rebuilt with the help of Stirling Council and the local Emmett family, who still manage it today! Stirling is a beautiful township and the surrounding bush covered streets are a joy to walk around, even in 8 deg days!

Trains struggling up the 2.2 % grade n either direction are down to a crawl through the platform, which make for great action and occasionally  one will stall and need help! My bed for the week was in the old Signal box, in the "Club Saloon" side of the residence, and was literally 4m from the platform edge....almost close enough..LOL . Needles to say, many videos were shot during my stay!

Jim, the host was fantastic and even if you're not a diehard railfan, Mt Lofty is a beautiful spot to stay due to its central location , not to mention close to South Australia's world famous wineries.
I'll be back for sure.
Hooroo for now,
Gregg.

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Bordertown South Australia.

After passing through the historic Victorian towns of Bendigo and Ballarat, each of which deserve their own blogs!, (one for another trip) we stop at Bordertown, just over the Victorian and South Australian border. Staying at a typical Aussie country pub, the "Central", I was just down the road from the main line from Melbourne to Adelaide, the very line I would be staying next to at my destination of Mt lofty railway Station in the Adelaide Hills!
The station was built in 1914 and is now heritage listed, but still gets a top from the "Overland" passenger train four times a week. The yard had a busy grain facility which unfortunately no longer operates, but someone had a cosy home under the old freight platform.

With over 2000km on the Disco so far, we have about 300km to go before we reach Mt Lofty station and my new home for the week!

Hooroo for now.
Gregg.

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Bethungra Spiral.

The Bethungra Spiral is located almost halfway between Coota' and Junee. Like all railway spirals, it is a loop that enables trains to gain elevation by winding round like a coil spring, negating the need for steep grades. The original line was a steep 2.5% and in the 1940's , when the mainline was duplicated, the 8.9km spiral or "Loop" was built to lessen the grade to a pleasant 1.6%. The loop is unique in the fact that the "Down Main" still uses the original 2.5 % grade and the "Up main" uses the loop and crosses over not just itself, but also goes under and over the down main as well.
From the ground , it is hard to get a picture of the spiral and rough terrain makes catching trains on it a bit of a challenge. These shots are taken on the Eastern side of the deep cutting , just where the second tunnel ends and the line goes over itself.

Cootamundra and Junee.

Finally, we have Wi-Fi again! After NorthStar, we head to the cotton town of Narrabri to stay for the night and recharge for the trip to Cootamundra tomorrow. Cootamundra is a busy regional town that serves the surrounding wheat and sheep farms and also has a decent size rail yard to store and switch grain trains. Due to the line branching off to the north and the main heading south, there is a large "Wye" at the edge of town and due to this, in the early days of busy passenger traffic, Coota' has two stations! Only the main one in town is operating, but "West Cootamundra" is a grand structure and sits idle , hopefully waiting to be restored to its former glory some day!
As for train action, I managed to catch a grain train being switched out and a northbound freight passing through .

From Coota' it's a short 50km drive to the railway township of Junee, where I catch up with some dear friends and visit the "Bethungra Spiral", a loop similar to the famous "Tehachapi" in southern California.
Hooroo for now!
Gregg.

North Star, NSW.

North Star is just over the NSW- Qld border and is the end of the line these days for Standard gauge. Years ago it did continue north but the line will soon be busy again once the new "Inland Rail" comes through! From here the new line will make its way to Toowoomba and a new intermodal hub.

G'day Trendsetters!,
                                  Well, I've pointed the trusty Disco South once again , and head towards Mt Lofty railway station , nestled in the beautiful Adelaide Hills , around 2400 km away! On the way, we'll travel through four Eastern States and get to see a lot of rail action on the Standard gauge lines of many western country towns and cities. The new "Inland Rail" project, from Melbourne to Brisbane, is using much of the existing  lines, combined with new track ,to connect these two major cities via the inland route.  There are lots of great country towns to see along the way with a rich history of rail and early Australia.