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Bandiana 24 November 2003
Not strictly Railway Archaeology but...
I've been driving past Bandiana every day for the past few weeks and I've meant to take a pic of the John Holland track machine parked there, apparently undergoing maintenance. Is this a ballast cleaner? Anyway, this afternoon I snapped a couple of pics of it, plus one of X107 busily minding the bridge girders ex the Sandy Creek bridge between Huon and Tallangatta.
G540 was on the SG goods today, and had a layover on the diesel siding behind Wodonga A Box whilst Y151 ran out to Bandiana and back.

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Cudgewa Relics 30 March 2003
We took a drive out to Shelley to have a look at the remains of the Cudgewa branch. First stop was Koetong and the bridge over the Koetong Creek. New signs have been erected telling visitors to keep of the bridge as restoration work is in progress.
Then on to Shelley station, where the platform has been partially restored, and a number of historical photographs were on display. We rode our bikes Up the line, the loco pit and turntable pit were quite clearly visible, but the roadbed is a little bumpy to ride on due to the cavities where the sleepers used to be!
We then rode a way Down the line, the kids had a great time digging out an old rail plate they found along the way. We then drove further down the line, stopping to inspect the various bridges along the way. These are all intact from Shelley to Cudgewa, but the decking is quite rotten on some, not suitable for traffic any more... The roadbed is in use as a vehicle track until a few km short of Beetoomba, where it is just farmland.
It was interesting to note that one pier on Boundary Creek bridge #3 appears to have a '23 date - must be an original?!
On the way back we drove down into Old Tallangatta, as the Hume Weir levels were down to about 6%. It was quite interesting to see the remains of various buildings and the railway station/yard etc.

27 files, last one added on Oct 31, 2006
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I was quite keen on the Cudgewa line as a kid, and after it closed I convinced my parents to to a 2-day walk along the line from Shelley to Bullioh. This was no mean feat as it meant taking two cars from Melbourne to do the necessary car shuffle. We walked from Shelley to near Darbyshire on the first day, then on to Bullioh to second day. All track was still in place, bridges still in good order, signs, mileposts, etc. all still there. The pics were taken with a basic camera on K64 slide film which came out quite dark, and my scanner battled a bit to get reasonable results.

20 files, last one added on Jan 10, 2007
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