Mon, 19 Jan 2026 22:21:04 +1100

Enjoyed a late dinner at the Prince Alfred Hotel in Richmond.

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 08:36:01 +1100

Back at “Broady 3”, the standard gauge line between Melbourne and Sydney, waiting for the XPT to Albury. Photo looking upline towards Melbourne.

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 21:04:11 +1100

Quick trip along the Main Yarra Trail near Heidelberg this afternoon. Busy as always, but was a nice day to be out so not too surprising.

Sat, 21 Jun 2025 12:41:30 +1100

Returned to Tuggeranong for breakfast and a walk around the lake. The morning was quick crisp, and there was plenty of frost on the ground, but it was quite nice in the sun.

Gallery: Day Trip to Yass

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 17:56:07 +1100

Decided to go to Yass today, a small town in NSW just north of where I’m staying in Canberra. I pass by Yass every time I drive to Canberra from Melbourne, and I wanted to see what it was like, at least once. And this morning I discovered that it had a railway museum, which sealed the deal. Unfortunately the weather was not kind: it was bitterly cold and rainy the whole time I was there.

First stop was the Railway Museum, which featured quite a few bits of rolling stock that operated on the Yass tramway. Yes, Yass had a tramway which, given the size of the town, I was not expecting.

The Yass Railway Museum, showing off some of the rolling stock on display.

Apparently it's required that every rail museum in Australia have at least one W-class tram. This one they hope to get working again and run along the tram line.

The cab of the W-class tram.

The saloon, with some vintage ads from the 80's.

An X203 diesel locomotive, built 1963. Built primarily for putting trains together, yet this one was used on the Yass tramway.

Inside the cab of the X203 loco. It's amazing how primitive the instrumentation was.

Close up of the instrument panel.

Control leavers. I think the one on the left is the reverser. Not sure what the other two are (throttle and break?)

Inside a 1908 carriage. The doorway leads to toilets and then through to 1st class.

A 'covered trike' used by railway maintenance staff.

Seats two, with controls in the middle.

1307 steam locomotive, built 1877. A standard design for suburban Sydney services, yet this was used for the Yass tramway. Was eventually replaced by the X203 diesel locomotive, and was retired in 1972.

I've been in enough steam locomotive cabs to know that this one had most of it's controls removed. A bit of a shame.

Another W-class tram, this one in gold and green livery of the Met. Real nostelga fix for me. Also has the trolley pole.

I remember these stickers stuck up on the doorways of the Comeng trains.

These prices may have been during the first hole-punch tickets. Before that we had scratchy tickets, where you scratched the date and hour you bought the ticket for. Relied on the honour system. Can't believe that was a thing.

This was followed by lunch at a local cafe, then a brief walk by the Yass river, which had an old tram bridge. I managed to walk around 500 metres from the bridge to the footy oval. It would’ve been nice to walk a bit longer, but it was cold, wet, and the ground was quite slippery. Plus I had to get home to spend some time with the birds. But I did make a brief diversion to Yass Junction railway station to see if there were any trains passing through (unfortunately, there were none).

A very brisk lunch. Good thing it was covered or I would've been soaking wet.

Off to the river path. Ran into the old tramway on the way.

East side of the old tram bridge.

The main span of the tram bridge crossing the Yass river. Pretty impressive.

West side of the bridge.

What remains of the disused tram line heading off to who knows where.

Yass Junction station, currently open.

First time I've seen a road pedestrian sign for railed vehicles. Also, could this have been where the tram line went to?

Platform 1, looking west towards Melbourne. No trains approaching.

Platform 2, currently unused.

The pedestrian overpass, unused and unusable.

Looking east towards Sydney. No trains coming from there either.

Outside on Leon Mika

Gallery: Day Trip to Yass