Its been over a month since the last post, and the next real post may yet be a couple of weeks away. I am very much enjoying the preparation of the article covering the next period of grain storage and cartage from Eumungerie, which may just make me unique. Certainly my immediate family seems to think it does. Still, I press on.
Another reason for my absence has been the demands of my current employment. Don't get me wrong - the alternatives to being busy at work are too excruciating to detail here! And work is good for the soul. But it does occasionally seem to get in the way of blogging.
It is not all grim on the work front, as sometimes I get to travel to Dubbo for that very purpose. Most of my spare time in that city is either spent swatting flies or down at the station, or both. I often stand at the eastern end of the platform, between the platform road and the dock, straining to hear the echoes of a 30T shunting or a 36 class backing onto the Up Coonamble Mail. No matter how hard I listen with eyes closed, it never seems to come to pass.
The last time I was there, listening as dusk fell, I looked towards the remnants of the loco depot. In the last couple of years it has slowly lost the signs of life. Even the upturned and hoisted 57 class boiler has left the location, no longer needed to hold dry sand for it diesel usurpers. Then I noticed another ignominy. Keen eyes will notice something in the following photograph....
Yes, across the loco shed's entrance (not the shelter) there is a carefully constructed mesh grill. It is probably made of the wire 'reo' sheets used in concrete slabs, or so it appears from this distance.
So there you have it - another mystery for the Coonamble line. Will a locomotive ever again obtain shelter from the elements in the loco shed at Dubbo? Or is it just a locomotive-sized flyscreen?
