Evening all, following from my observation post, I took the opportunity to "take out two birds with one stone," as they say - field-test my relatively recently acquired (second-hand) but little-used Nikon D3100, and see the C-Series under its own power in person for the first time (for me, anyways). Here are the results:
Clicking the images will take you to my Flickr, where you can see the photos in full resolution.
Pulling into Leederville a bit later than expected.
Closer up - yesterday it was observed to be pathed ahead of the train which it was today pathed behind...
Looking down the platform and the first carriage, generously overstating the fact that the train is fitted out locally...
Some parts of the train already seem a bit grimy, not helped by the unpainted bodyshell...
Some fleet numbering already evident - again note the grime around the top.
Some absolutely riveting bodywork in evidence...
Obligatory rear shot showing applied carriage number, red marker lights, and rather grimy bulkhead...
Slightly zoomed out - as it was now tailing a service rather closely, it had to stop for red signals - hence the confused faces!
Thoughts? Well, clearly I still had to work with positioning of camera and subject - lighting on the bulkhead was a bit harsh in the afternoon sun on the first two photos, as the sun positioned behind me was reflecting right off the train, but resulted in a nice and bright photo with the entire train visible. The rest of the photos with the sun behind Leederville Station thus meant the train was in shadow, and while they're not the darkest of images, a few settings changes might have made it better. Overall, though, the camera worked well...
The train, however, looked quite cheap once you got past the cab. Clear riveting, not helped by unpainted, exposed bodyshell. Dirt showed up clearly on the otherwise reflective body, as well as the pure white bulkheads. Clear reflections highlighting the bumps and imperfections in bodywork. Most of the cheap bodywork, however, gets painted over in the later livery used from set 129... Desto wasn't active, but in person, the size and position of desto looks more useful than it seemed from previous photos. Despite that, it seems like a decent and much needed addition to Perth's train network, with a lot of the A-Series showing their age. The maximised use of Perth's relatively wide loading gauge is evident, even though it still needs gap fillers fitted, but a welcome change nonetheless.