traindriver

This must be a very old photo. Charles Bayliss was also there about the same time, judging by the vegetation -

Closer examination - it looks as if this photo is earlier than the Bayliss one, comparing the vegetation on the wedge of embankment. Opinions?

Any chance of working out the number on the locomotive? My computer tends to digitise at the magnification needed. Can State Records help?

John Cowper "Class Z1412 (G23) No.34 locomotive" is on the subtitle (which are renowned to be inaccurate). Does that help? it looks like an old loco to me, but I know zilch about trains.

beachcomber australia Thanks! Trust me not to read the obvious! The Great Zig Zag was opened on 18 October 1869 and the (G) 23 class, of which 34 was the twelfth member, entered service between September and October 1865. Thirteen were in service by December 1870 which would certainly date the picture from the earliest of days of this engineering marvel. This makes sense, as the final four of this class were fitted with 168 cm coupled wheels which made the handling of steeper grades - such as would be encountered on the Zig Zag the Blue Mountains, and the line around Picton - easier. The original nine of the class had 175 cm coupled wheels and reduced tractive effort. One could conjecture, therefore, that the shot was taken during locomotive trials - hence the person at the rear of the train and the person looking up the line (although the same photograph in William a Bayley's book 'Lithgow Zig Zag Railway' [undated] describes the train as a "tourist train"). Either explanation is plausible. The story of the (G) 23 class is an interesting one. Although they entered service as a 2-4-0 locomotive between 1865 and 1870, from 1890s they were transshipped from the workshops rebuilt as a 4-4-0 locomotive which completely altered their appearance!. They were then transferred to the south-western and far-western depots where there were few grades. The last remaining member of the class (Z1405 - under the 1924 reclassification) was scrapped in June 1952 having travelled 1 866 880 km. Sadly none of the class remain (I'm grateful to Leon Oberg's book Locomotives of Australia for some additional information about the (G) 23 class.)

Very nice shot and Joe does look happy to pose for the occasion. If my memory serves me right that is a "Rail Car" beside Joe, the difference was that the motor was built into the passenger carriage and was not a detachable power unit like the big powerful diesels or steam engines that could pull passenger or goods trains.

Swordscookie Oh no, my abject train ignorance exposed again! :) Adding a tag for Rail Car immediately...

Don't rush to judgement on yourself NLI, I'm no expert and it may be the rameishing of an auld fella!

Love that - rameishing! And haven't seen you do that yet...

Photos of Monaghan are quite uncommon, even though it was a big station. The AEC engined diesel railcar has already passed to CIE with the abolition of the Great Northern Railway in 1958, and to distinguish between CIE's and the former GNR units they added the letters G and N at either end of the railcar number as with 'G609N'. That tour travelled over the Irish North West route as fairwell to the railway before its complete closure.

Just thought I'd let you know that is a Z29 Class loco, not a Z2907 Class when it was a J483 Class Class, number J489. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Z29_class_locomotive) The first two numbers (after 1924 renumbering) is the class number, followed by the unit number. And if their were more than 100 in the class, then it went to the next two digits, for example, 3312 (said as thirty three twelve) is the 112th unit of the 32 class.