Hunter Valley Railway Trust

Well the misses had this crazy idea to see if we could get into the Hunter Valley Railway Trust in Rothbury, before we chased the 32cl to Singleton (I know, what woman wants to go look at trains??). With a call, a text and a bit of researching/organising, the next thing I know we were allowed to go look around. After a short drive out there, we arrived at the main gates and drove in to the property which was very quiet and seemed to be deserted, with nobody around..We noticed that one of the carriages was being used as accommodation so we called out and a man came out to meet us.We let him know that we had permission to look around and he said go for it!!  I was kind of expecting a guided tour but we had free reign of the place and that was great. There is plenty to look at and well worth the look if you can get in. The only reason I say "if you can get in" is because of the negative comments I have read on the Internet but I can't say anything bad about the place (besides the flies), or the people who run it, I mean we were encouraged to climb inside the Blue Zephyr and walk the length of it and to go in the shed/workshop and look at the SMR 10s and the VR R-class. One thing that did surprise me was how many locomotives there were on site 4204/4472/4703/4903/X215/4627/7350/The R class and a few SMR 10s.

SMR 31 and R766 look odd sitting together 

FHH 2218 in faded candy scheme 

4627 in Freight Rail colours

RDH 2239 with Austrac signage 

Sleeping car DAM 2338

From tuscan to candy to this private operator scheme 

SMR 20 sitting in the shed

As I was wandering around I noticed a roof section of an 80cl
I didn't see the rest of it anywhere, maybe cut up?

BHZ2224 in a faded rusty candy scheme

These are just some of the many pics I took on the day. More to come in my next blog..

Till next time
 Mathew Hughes