Brisbane, QLD


Thursday, November 10, 2011

CHOO CHOO TRAIN

I must take a break from our tour of Western Australia for a few posts and return to our adventures in Brisbane. Bill booked for us and our friend Colin to take a steam train ride.
 On Sundays a steam train takes a short mystery trip from Roma Street Station. You don't know where it is going until you arrive at the station. The platform was full of families with young children and then there was us three wrinklies.

  I am always thankful for volunteers like these and the ones below who make it possible for people to experience real live history.
We were in a carriage made in 1903 and our volunteer guard was a little bit grumpy, but he kept us amused with his rules and regulations.

 We were all a bit nonplussed when we discovered that our train was taking us to Pinkenba an eastern suburb of Brisbane about 10 k from the CBD. This suburb is maligned as it is not a nice place to live.


 It used to be swamp land but is now an industrial area.

A ship in the port.
 Pinkenba is isolated from other suburbs, as it is surrounded by the airport, the river port and industrial estates. It is sparsely populated. The railway station has closed but our train could do a loop and return to Brisbane.

 I was disappointed at first as I thought there is no nice scenery to photograph but then I realised that industrial shots would be something different for me to do. These were all taken from the moving Puffing Billy.

There was one small patch of the original, mangrove trees along a swampy creek.

The old men (Colin and Bill) became young boys again on this day.

24 comments:

  1. I enjoy taking a train ride and steam engines are the best of those I have taken. I went to San Francisco when it was pulled by a very large steam engine whose name I have forgotten. It took two of them to get us across the mountains.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i love trains, all trains, and especailly these. i can feel the rocking motion now and hear the clickety click of the wheels.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great Photos! I love trains :-)

    Take care and have a nice day :-)

    And thanks for your recent comment on My Blog :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I forgot it's summertime for you till I saw the last shot....the guys in their with their bare legs and short sleeves, being boys again on the train.

    Brisbane's industrial area looks a lot like Long Beach's...well, I guess that's true of any place these days that has a large industrial purpose.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love trains, especially old trains. There's one in Alberta that comes complete with masked cowboys on horses "robbing" the train. Unfortunately, I wasn't well the day we rode it so I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have.
    I love the grins on the faces of the two men "being boys" again. Great photo, Dianne.

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trains are beautiful! Neat pics...yes they are boy's again:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. OMG - colour co-ordination!!!! Me: Score - Zero!
    Lesson - I will take more care in future!
    I think the bemused looks from the "two OLD blokes" was at our carriage guard who probably was informing us of Rule 791, section 10, sub-paragraph A3!!!!!
    Still it was a fun trip even allowing for the dramas of getting to Roma Street prior to starting off!!!
    Great shots of the industrial and swamp areas.
    Cheers
    Colin (HB)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice train...
    And yes...they become young boys...look those smiles...heheheheh

    Nice to come here.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Diane, Colin had written about the train ride...Sounds like you all had a great trip... I love the old trains like that.....

    Who are those two young men enjoying that train ride????? ha
    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a great old train!! The mystery destination sounds fun, even if this would not have been your choice of where to go. It is interesting to see things with new eyes. Your photo of all the big sewage pipes is actually really cool.

    ReplyDelete
  11. There's beauty in everything - if you know how to look! And what is it about steam trains that makes the journey so much more appealing??

    ReplyDelete
  12. You just have to love Colin's fashion statement;))))))

    ReplyDelete
  13. Colin and Bill do look as if they enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed your industrial pictures. I also think I would enjoy a ride on that steam train.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Beautiful train. Looks like quite an adventure.
    Sydney - City and Suburbs

    ReplyDelete
  15. It looks like everyone had a great time.
    I agree with you about the men and women that volounteer for us to go back in time.

    ReplyDelete
  16. It may not have been an especially scenic ride but just getting to be on an old train like that would have been been an adventure to me. I love old trains like that one.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That is a nice ride in an old train. I always love it, did it once in Austria, sitting on the wooden seats which are so small.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yes I can image the disappointment discovering that was your destination, but there is always something to make of a train ride ... I enjoyed it with you.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ah so it was LAST Sunday, NOT today. From Bill's post I thought it to be today. Yes, Colin, check the mirror next time!!

    Re the industrial estate. That is the sort of thing I SEARCH for to take shots of unusual shapes and lines and shadows. You needed to be aout poking around with a stick.

    That is a decent 'blood pool' on Bill's arm there.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ha ha - Julie, you have a great sense of humour.
    Do you think the mirror could really stand the fright??? ha ha.
    You should have been on the train, you would have ended up with a sore finger from clicking - that's outside shots and the inside shots of "our antique carriage custodian".
    Colin (HB)

    ReplyDelete
  21. After just recently riding a steam engine for the first time I'd had loved the ride. Not sure I'd have enjoyed the scenery either but maybe without pretty scenery I would enjoyed the leisurely ride more not being so obsessed with my camera. :)
    Smiling at Colin's own reference to color coordination. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. I'd also have felt cheated not having a scenic trip! At least you had the good grace to make the best of it. I feel certain I'd have had a dose of the mutters, or worse, a sulk! I'm not going to pretend I liked the pictures of the huge, ugly tanks...the men-boys' faces made this trip worth it for me ;) THANK YOU BILL & COLIN!

    ReplyDelete