What did I get up to the past long weekend – a few hundred kilometres of railway travel, while at the same time being within walking distance of a bar for the majority of it.
The Seymour Rail Heritage Centre was holding their "Hills to the Bay" tour, so me and quite a few other people from the Railpage forums got together for the trip.
Since the tour started early in the morning on Sunday, we headed to Seymour on Saturday. I ended up getting a ride with Rod and a few others in his car – and he almost ended up getting busted by the speed cameras on the Hume Freeway a couple of times. Word is that the cameras have yet to be turned on yet, so his license may be safe.
Being in the middle of nowhere, there was only one thing to do – head down the pub! We had dinner, and a few drinks, and then headed back to the railway yard – we had 100 year old sleeping carriages to stay the night in.
The trip started at Seymour, passed through western Melbourne before arriving in Geelong, turned around, headed for Melbourne Spencer Street, back to Geelong yet again, and then retracing the rails back to Seymour – a 12 hour round trip at 80km/h, arriving back in Seymour at 9pm.
The old-style opening windows are great – especially with my new camera to play with – this was near Geelong, with a bit of track work going on in the background.
We had dinner on the train, as well as a few drinks- there were two bars on board. The one in the carriage next to us ran out of cans of bourbon and cola by 7pm, so we had to hike up to the next carriage for our liquor supplies. The guys in the next compartment had an air horn, so they spent the entire time setting it off in stations, as well as yelling out at passengers waiting. Another fun part was the long drop toilets – it is a little cold as you race down the track. (no chundering here though)
The people on the tour weren’t too bad – there was one person who got on our nerves, until we slammed the compartment door in their face. Another didn’t get the message, so we told him that the train wouldn’t be stopping at Broadmeadows – and that he would have to get off one station and 30 minutes early. He believed it, and there was a round of high-fives after that one…
A final surprise was the appearance of young (and quite attractive) females on the train. I don’t know where they appeared from – usually rail tours are full of stereotypical male "trainspotter" weirdos, or perhaps I am just thinking of another group’s tours…
And finally – Attack of the Moron!
People wonder why they get hit by trains – this woman was wanting to catch the Werribee train when it stopped at Yarraville, as out train went past in the opposite direction through the level crossing. So what does she do, open up the crossing gate, and walk out to the Werribee train just as it was pulling to the platform – she even waved to the driver.
(she is a fat mess as well – it was a pity we were too far away to abuse her for being such a moron…)
Footnote
And where are the photos of these pretty girls ey? You were just making it up, weren\’t you?!?!
Next time, get some shots of the girls, for evidence purposes. Just tell them you need a shot of females to prove to your mates that girls are on these tours, ey!