Carshed Shunt Mayne Making Up The Sunlander

As 2014 was drawing to a close, sad news had filtered down, that the pride of the fleet "The Sundlander" would cease running at the beginning of January 2015. Having missed the opportunity so many times before to record the passing of historic events, I decided to film one of my last shifts making up a Sunlander Set with "M" series coaches. These coaches were the original air conditioned long distance passenger cars, which entered service in 1953. These trains were designed to replace the "Sunshine Express" which although quite beautifully designed, was passed it's prime.

The carshed shunt was one of my favourite Diesel workings whilst at Mayne. The shift consisted of shunting various long distance passenger coaches into the necessary roads for repair, maintenance and servicing. At times, we would take the car wagons for the "Spirit of The Outback" up to Roma St, or relieve incoming Bundaberg crews, to take Mail trains through the Normanby Car wash.

Prior to the End of 2014, The Westlander, The Sundlander, The Inlander & The Spirit of The Outback, all had "M" series coaches. These coaches were now at the end of their working life and no replacement passenger coach rollingstock had been purchased or built. Leaving the "L" series coaches and the tilt trains to make up for the shortfall.

On this particular shift 1754 was our horse... and what a tired old nag she was. Very slow to pick up engine revs... most times the 1720's were great little workers, with quick start in, they were quite quick off the mark.

I will finish by saying, I am so glad I made the effort to capture what has now vanished into history, and with future development planned... Mayne is soon to be no longer the depot it once was. The ELP/DLP sheds are already demolished and the balloon loop is set to be cut in the near future, making all of this footage a thing of the past.

As always enjoy.