50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

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Special_K
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50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Special_K »

On Friday night 26 May 1972, the last ever passenger service departed Cessnock for Maitland and Newcastle. The signalman at Bellbird Junction, just outside Cessnock, would have beat 4 times on the block instrument for the double track section to Caledonia, before collecting the token for the single- track section from the terminus and watching it cross to the up main line and into history.70 years after passenger services commenced in the South Maitland coalfields, improved roads and a direct faster bus connection to the mainline at Morisset brought the service to an end.
A decade before, the line enjoyed a seven- day full time service. In its final form, the two car 620 set was reduced to an early morning positioning trip from Newcastle to Cessnock, departing there at 0638 , stopping at Weston, Kurri Kurri, Maitland, East Maitland, and Waratah before joining with two cars ex Newcastle at Broadmeadow, then limited stops to Gosford where connection was made to a fast Interurban run to Sydney.
A similar arrangement operated in the evening with a change at Gosford, fast run to Broadmeadow, where the front two front cars proceeded to Newcastle and the rear units stopped at the same stations as the morning train before arriving Cessnock at 2103. On Fridays, a loco hauled service ran from Sydney to Broadmeadow with a slightly later Cessnock connection. The only trip that stopped at every SMR station was the 2110 trip from Cessnock to Newcastle!
The final timetable reflected the once popular Cessnock Express that provided a through service to Sydney from 1940 until the SMR company started running its own rail car service in 1961 .
Much more could be said, and a few thousand words of history have been omitted from this post.
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boronia
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by boronia »

SMR's Tulloch built DMU railcars
SMR's Tulloch built DMU railcars
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by GriffinRoads1 »

A MASSIVE shame, those SMR railcars were true beauties and were quite young to retire. I still can't believe that the NSWGR bought none of them, and that none were preserved.
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boronia
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by boronia »

The railcars were a very "light duty" construction, and I think they had a lot of reliability problems.
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by tonyp »

When new in 1961:

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boronia
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by boronia »

IIRC, the primary colour was dark blue, lighter than what the photo depicts.

The red stripe has gone by the time of my pic.
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Special_K
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Special_K »

Thank you boronia and tonyp for the excellent SMR rail car shots.

For those readers unfamiliar with the SMR, the passenger service was divided into a number of distinct stages:

1902-1930'. The East Greta Mining Company and later South Maitland Railways operated their own passenger trains until the carriages were destroyed by fire in 1930.

1930-1961 . NSWGR operated a direct Cessnock-Newcastle service using 30 class tank-engines hauling end-platform cars. From approx 1940 the Cessnock Express through service was introduced with a 30 class tank hauling the train to Waratah, where a 35 or 38 class loco would take over for the Sydney portion. On various evenings, two sets of local passenger cars and the Sydney set would stable in the Cessnock sidings plus the three locos with the crew staying overnight in bunk vans located in the back platform.

1961-67. As depicted in the above photos, the SMR commenced its own Cessnock-Maitland passenger service using up to three of their own rail-cars. The 1962 Working Timetable listed 8 return SMR and 2 NSWGR return trips each Weekday; 8 return SMR and 1 return NSWGR trips on Saturday; and 7 return SMR and 1 return NSWGR trips on Sunday. By 1967, the SMR trips were reduced to Weekday morning and afternoon trips only plus a Saturday morming service.

1967-72 Weekday 2 return trips as described in my first post.
Special_K
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

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The demise of the SMR passenger service made it easier to operate coal trains without the need to refuge to allow the passenger to overtake. Down refuge loops were in place at Abedare Junction and Weston with the Abedare Colliery running line also available at Caledonia. There were no up relief locations in later years, so the full trains had to cross to the down line if required to be overtaken by an up passenger. For many years, Bee Siding, (halfway between Abedare Jct and Weston) had both up and down relief sidings.

This was not much of an issue in the final years, but would have been more of a delay to coal traffic at the height of passenger operations in the 1950s.
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Swift »

I took these pics of the line in Cessnock last year just south of the level crossing with the main road into the town. I was surprised to learn the line had ceased to be used only the year before.
It was good to read a little background to this amazing little line.
Those DMUs looked to be influenced by an English design, particularly because of the large windows and the covered gangway on the front. Probably the most modern looking Tulloch set.
Any tidbits on the Adamstown to Belmont branch?
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Special_K
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Special_K »

Swift, Thanks for the photos.

They show the currently unused single track which was the former up line in double track days.The water tank was used to replenish down trains that usually took just over an hour to reach Caledonia from East Greta Junction.

In your first shot, the uphill grade is evident and fully laden coal trains were down to a walking pace at that location. The second shot shows the long closed Caledonia Signal Box where the grade flattened and eased to a down grade just prior to the Kearsley Road level crossing. The sprawling Abedare Colliery Yard was to the left of both pictures.

The Belmont branch was another amazing line. There must be other ATDB members who can shed light on its past secrets?
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Swift »

Thanks for the extra info on where I took the shots.
A closer shot of that signal box with the water tower visible.
IMG_20210617_132324_copy_960x542.jpg
Facing the other way. The level crossing is around the bend.
IMG_20210617_132112_copy_900x508.jpg
The Belmont branch was always a private industrial line I believe with several stations mainly for employees at various mines along the way. It's now a bike track with still intact platforms at some of the former stations.
Here's old film footage of the line.
https://youtu.be/ZMG5TR5ileo?t=54m10s

The old Toronto branch remains intact in parts, mainly the former Toronto terminating station and a bridge nearby with tracks still in place. It was a rickety old line when it was still operational in it's last years.
Here's footage taken a month before the branch closed.
https://youtu.be/Dw42f2at0tg
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Special_K
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Re: 50 Years since SMR passenger service ceased

Post by Special_K »

Thanks for the Belmont and Toronto Lines videos. While not ever having been on a Belmont passenger train, I did rode on a John Darling Colliery coalie from Port Waratah to Redhead and return in the late 1960s.

Up until approx 1970. Toronto still had peak period steam hauled services which I was able to enjoy a few times. The two car diesel rail-cars worked the other trips to either Newcastle or connecting shuttles to Fassifern.
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