stoomtrein

Palmer's Mystery Hike No. 2

from Powerhouse Museum

• 1 older comment, and then…
• Alexia Bannister said:

  WOW!

• Nomad Tales said:

  Instead of "Taken circa 1900" perhaps this could be changed to 10 July 1932 in line with what it states on the Powerhouse's own website. Cheers.

• jonsearlesphoto said:

  You are invited to add this, and any other unusual rail shots that you have, to the All Aboard!-Trains Real and Surreal Group!! :-)
  
  www.flickr.com/groups/all-aboard/

• SF buckaroo said:

  the mystery of the mystery hike
  
  from the powerhouse website
  
  Description
  Glass negative, quarter plate, Palmer's Mystery Hike No. 2, Tom Lennon, Sydney, Australia, 10 July 1932
  
  In 1932 five mystery hikes around Sydney were organised by the railways, with the department store F.J. Palmer and Sons as the commercial sponsor. Hikers purchased a two-shilling train ticket and joined a train from Central Station to a mystery destination. The hikes, held on Sundays, were enormously popular. The third Mystery Hike from Cowan Station to the Hawkesbury River on 24 July 1932 used 12 trains to carry almost 8,000 participants.
  
  Mystery Hike No. 2 was from Valley Heights in the lower Blue Mountains to Penrith on 10 July 1932. Four trains conveyed approximately 2,000 hikers. This photo shows a group of hikers at Central Railway Station next to locomotive 3352 which bears a sign 'Palmers Mystery Express'. (References: Melissa Harper. The Ways of the bushwalker: on foot in Australia. Sydney, UNSW Press, 2007 pp. 179-192 and Canberra Times, 11 July 1932 p.3]
  Marks
  This negative was stored in a box inscribed in pencil 'PALMERS HIKE / NO2 Sunday 10th July 32'.

• SF buckaroo said:

  such a great idea!