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NSW

Read more about the article Rail smash at Ardglen, NSW, July 9, 1926

Rail smash at Ardglen, NSW, July 9, 1926

Steam trains and long tunnels are a dangerous combination, especially when not enough attention has been paid to ventilation, and when safe breathing apparatus hasn't been provided to the train crew. Poisonous gases from the combustion of the coal can overcome crew members and the train can go out of control. This is what happened in the tunnel through the Great Dividing Range in NSW, on the line between Muswellbrook and Quirindi, on July 9, 1926. A 44-car goods train, hauled by a 53-class locomotive, stalled on the steep grade and the engine crew was overcome…

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Read more about the article James Gayner of Hamilton: coalminer, storekeeper and newsagent
James Gayner and his son Mathew at the family's general store in Tudor Street, Hamilton, circa 1880. Photo from Al Gayner.

James Gayner of Hamilton: coalminer, storekeeper and newsagent

In the photo above, the bearded gent is James Gayner, with his son Mathew, (born in 1875 and then aged about three), outside the family's general store and paper shop in Tudor Street, Hamilton. The family had the store for 83 years and members covered hundreds of thousands of kilometres on foot, delivering papers to their customers. James Gayner and his wife came from England in 1857, chasing work in Newcastle's coalmines. He started work at the Australian Agricultural Company's Borehole pit in Hamilton, later transferring to the Lambton pit where he worked until injury forced…

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Read more about the article Off the rails at Woodville Junction: a vintage photo essay on a railway mishap

Off the rails at Woodville Junction: a vintage photo essay on a railway mishap

As a newspaper reporter, I often had the experience of spending time covering a story, only to have it never appear in print or, even worse perhaps, see it cut to a brief on a page deep inside the next day's edition. Even though I disliked this, I had to admit that our staff photographers suffered the problem to a far greater degree than most reporters. The photographers would be sent racing at a moment's notice to some event that seemed to hold promise for the news pages, returning later with a comprehensive set of shots…

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