Historic Photo of the Day: 2023-11-28

Today's historic photo of the day commemorates the withdrawal, 40 years ago this week, of numerous branch line passenger rail services across NSW. Looking back through the rear window of a Tocumwal-bound railcar as it departs Finley, NSW, August 27 1983. Yes, it's a dark old image, but the mood was suitably bleak as this was one of the lines that was to close just 3 months later. At that time, passenger services in rural NSW were provided typically by daylight and/or overnight main line trains to and from Sydney, with self-propelled diesel railcars providing connecting services along branch lines to and from the main line hub stations. The Tocumwal service was one such service. Running three days per week from Narrandera to Tocumwal and return, this train connected at Narrandera with the overnight South Mail that ran between Sydney and Griffith. The railmotors called at all stations along the way, and carried parcels and light goods. Whilst branch line services such as this had been waning for some years, and indeed quite a few, particularly in the Western region north and west of Dubbo had been cut in the 1970s, the new timetable commencing November 23 1983 contained the most sweeping cuts of all. From that date, branch line trains were replaced by road buses on the Narrandera-Tocumwal line as well as Narrandera-Hay, Cootamundra-Tumut, Cootamundra-:Lake Cargelligo, Cootamundra-Griffith, Harden-Cowra, Blayney-Cowra, Tamworth-Barraba, Moree-Inverell and the Narrabri-Walgett lines. These weren't the last rural branch line services, a couple did struggle on, notably the Lithgow to Mudgee and Wollongong to Moss Vale services, but they too were gone within a couple of years. Generally speaking, the bus services that replaced the trains still operate today, though not always along exactly the same routes. Tocumwal is for example now served by bus connections out of XPTs at Wagga Wagga or Albury (depending on the day of the week), and VLine now also run a bus between Griffith and Shepparton connecting there with trains to Melbourne. I'm sure these buses are quicker and probably more reliable, but none have the slightest portion of character of the old railmotors that stopped running 40 years ago this week.