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A blend of railways then with railways now as ARTC’s AK82 test cars powered by SSR’s perennial visitor GM22 together with 4829 “Les Walsh” on its first visit to SA, roll through the siding at Belair on April 30, 2025.
(25J.7882_AK82_GM22-4829_BelairWt)
Before the NRs!
Earthworks are well underway in Belair for the stabling yards to house the broad gauge TransAdelaide commuter trains as National Rail Corp's BL32-BL30-704-852 tip-toe through with #3AM2 at 13:08 on December 27, 1994. Within a year the two lines between the platforms would be converted to standard gauge, completing the linking of all Australian mainland capitals with the one railway gauge.
Prior to the introduction of the 120 NR class locomotives from late 1996, any old inherited motive power available to the roster clerk was thrown onto the front of the freight trains providing endless photo opportunities for railfan. They also provided a noisy headache for a group of residents in nearby Eden Hills as well as reliability issues for the NRC.
(94.089.07_BL32-BL-700-830_SteelBelairMwt)
Indeed it was: the National Rail Corp Diamonds with the big forward facing side arrow looked great on the big EMD boxcabs like BL35, seen here passing through Belair with a PM5 service ably assisted over the Adelaide Hills by Silverton's 442s2 on hire to NRC in early 1996.
(96.013.26_BL35(NR)-442s2_PM5_BelairM2wt)
NR's containerised coiled steel in the distinctive orange containers on RKLY wagons passes Belair on train MA3 behind 3 generations of Clyde-EMD locos (BL32-C508-GM45) on June 2, 1995.
The standardisation of the track between Melbourne and Adelaide was only recently opened to thru traffic on May 21, 1995. This train was seen on the day before the Commemorative Indian Pacific ran through the Adelaide Hills from Perth to Brisbane via Melbourne and 3 days before the special One Nation train descended the Adelaide Hills on June 5, 1995.
(95.057.01_BL32-C508-GM45_MA3Steel_BelairMwt)
PacNat's NR38 leads the return of the "long" AFL Footy Grand Final Overland 2MA8, seen here stopping at the historic Belair Railway Station on the Labour Day holiday, Oct 2, 2023.
An Adelaide Metro DMU sits in the broad gauge terminus station waiting its next duty, a run back down the hill to the Adelaide CBD.
With a bug-splattered windscreen, PacNat's NR38 leads the return of the "long" AFL Footy Grand Final Overland 2MA8, seen here stopping at the historic Belair Railway Station on the Labour Day holiday, Oct 2, 2023. The 10min stopover was due to signalling issues caused by copper wire theft earlier in the day.
An Adelaide Metro DMU sits in the broad gauge terminus station waiting its next duty, a run back down the hill to the Adelaide CBD. Low-height drone capture possible with the stationary train.
Aurizon 6PM1 with “Pineapples” ACD6046 and ACD6052 passing the historic Belair Railway Station on the Labour Day holiday, Oct 2, 2023. — at Belair railway station
Still going strong after 70 years, unbreakable, resilient and reliable SSR’s GM10 runs down the loop at Belair with matching GM22 on the AK Cars on a sunny Sunday April 23, 2023. A very tricky composition and I’m very grateful for the info that the train was testing the loops so that I was prepared.
Aurizon empty grain #1281S with back-to-back classic streamliners leading, pass the historic Belair Railway Station, Mon April 3, 2023: CLP16-CLP14-G535-CM3308-GWB102.
Mostly obscured to the right except for a flash of red is an Adelaide Metro DMU waiting in the broad gauge platform.
A couple sit in the shade on Belair Railway Station to witness the unusual sight of diverted Sydney to Adelaide IP 4SA8 with elephant-style NR25 and NR85, as it passes the historic railway station this afternoon Nov 24, 2022.
Technical note: the train stopped short of the station pedestrian crossing to the National Park and waited for 40mins as it wasn’t permitted to arrive at ARPT before 15:00. I didn’t know this at the time and went through two drone batteries waiting for the train to move. After receiving a message about the delay, I kept the drone switched out on the ground till the loco lights went on. Then it was a mad scramble to fire up the drone, connect to phone and get it airborne, in position and grab this shot as it rolled through the platform - all in about a minute! It didn’t quite make it high enough in time but … phew!!
Oh and this was the first flight of my “new” old drone, replaced under warranty by DJI after a systems failure at Coolamon after Streamliners 2022
The diverted Sydney to Adelaide IP 4SA8 with elephant-style NR25 and NR85, pauses short of the station pedestrian crossing to the National Park at Belair Railway Station where it waited for 40mins as it wasn’t permitted to arrive at ARPT before 15:00.
The train was diverted via Victoria and the Adelaide Hills due to extensive flooding closing the track between Broken Hill and Parkes. Nov 24, 2022.
Loaded Tailem Bend to Pelican Point ORA grain train #2182 with the wonderfully noisy lashup of G533-ALF18-CLF5-CLP8-GWA002 passing the historic Belair Railway Station April 4, 2021