Bin Foamin...

Am_Fet writes: For the first time in ages, I have actually been out indulging in the noble ancient art of Trainspotting while on holiday down south, and at the invitation of the Head Druff, I thought I would share with you what I got up to.

First of all, the equipment:


My bag is an ONTRACK Chrissy pressie from last year that is just the right size for a days supplies. It can carry the required water bottles, sammies, car keys, wallet, etc as well as the more essential bits of kit. My Camera is a simple Fuji Finepix S5000 bought around 5 years ago and I still have no idea how to drive most of it. I carry around my company Hi-Vis and ID card just in case I meet sarky people, but the most important piece of kit is the radio/scanner.

Now, I was originally in the "only W***kers use scanners" camp, but now having used one, I'm a convert. There is enough radio chatter around either on the Train Control channels or on Channel 1 (local yard) for you to get a fair idea of where everything is. The radio I have here is a borrowed Tait Orca, but any scanner will do the job.

Also useful is a current train graph. I believe that they are available on the Yahoo TRP group, but I grabbed mine from work. Also, a direct phone link to Train Control helped as well, as well as access into the computer system....but may be beyond most people...sorry.

Right, a quick selection:


This was taken on my Blackberry and shows 2 LXM milk tankers on an IB wagon at the Temuka CT site ready to be picked up by J22, which that day was powered by 7008 and 4277. They ran light from Timaru to Temuka before carrying on to Christchurch.


This is 7199 on 937, due through Timaru around 0700 with some "Goldies" to MacRaes in Palmerston in the consist. These same wagons would be dropped at Palmy at around 1000 where they would be unloaded and sent north on the afternoon train 922 due into Timaru at 1800....which would also be headed by 7199! So over the 3 days I was wandering, I saw this loco quite a lot on this run...


One night 922 threw me and had 2 DC's on it (as previously seen in another post). Here it is departing Timaru after picking up a long rake of container wagons...


And here are the empties winding their way under the road overpass and around the bay.


I've finally worked out why Darryl takes photos of birds and scenery....when you are waiting for a train thats running late (937 again), you just blaze away at anything (God Bless digital cameras...). These are the Benvenue cliffs at the north end of Caroline Bay in Timaru, named after the ship that wrecked on them in 1882 along with the ship City of Perth which also ended up on these rocks while trying for the rescue.


Quite a famous event in Sth Canterbury....And after the long wait, the photo I took was rubbish anyway, so I wont share it here out of embarrassment.


934 heading north across the Bay...not a great shot, but it was more an experiment....

And thats about it. Not much, but enough for me to get enthused about really hunting out the new spots for a future visit and really giving it a go. With 6 mainline trains a day during daylight hours (1 each way in the morning, noon, and evening) there is definitely the chance to try any spot with different lighting.