September 2022
The Paterson Rail Motor Society was on an extended tour with NSW railmotor 621/721. We joined the train for a lunch trip to The Rock, a village not far north of Albury on the main line between Melbourne and Sydney.
I took my Nikon F6 loaded with Portra 800 @ E.I. 400. Wide shots were taken on a Tamron 15-30mm zoom. Longer shots were on my new, and quite excellent, Nikon 80-400mm.
As I get to know this film, post processed in DxO Photolab, I regularly set the cyan channel to -10. Otherwise dark grey and black areas show a definite bluish tinge. As with all Kodak films, images containing lots of red usually benefit from a reduction of -5 in the red channel as well.
The scene at Albury station included our train, the NSW XPT waiting in the background, a new VLocity set from Melbourne, a derelict tanker and the abandoned signal box, depressingly not on anyone’s historical restoration list.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Coffee and biscuits were served on the leisurely journey towards Wagga Wagga. As always, we enjoyed the relaxing style of transport, with no continual lookout for idiot highway users.
XPT services connect The Rock to Sydney and Melbourne, a much more modern train for long distance travelling. Our little railmotor was quite sufficient for this trip.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
The Rock has reduced substantially in size over the decades, though a large hotel and solid public buildings attest to its past importance. The still-active wheat solos emphasise the rural aspect of this region. Army and Air Force memorials point to strong military associations in the town.
We enjoyed Fish & Chips at the only cafe in town before heading back.
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|