A couple of photos from a chilly day at Bethungra Spiral

[Tote]

Had a day off on Monday so I wandered down to Bethungra to watch 5917 and 42103 come through ( a couple of hours late)

Down XPT
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GM10, 4908 and 442S1 Light Engine
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And the reason I was sitting in the sleet......

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I went and sat by a crossing on the Forbes line but they spent an hour in Coota and I had to leave before I got any other photos, a shame because the steam plume looked pretty impressive in the cold

Regards,
Tote

[Graeme]

163492163493

I've lived in the area for the last 25 years but didn't know about it until very recently.

[drivesafe]

Hi Graeme, I have been there quite a few times over the decades and it is always awesome to watch north bound trains TWICE as they climb the grade in the loop.


It’s a bit different to most spiral loops, like Border Loop up on the QLD/NSW border, where the trains in both directions use the same tracks.


Bethungra Loop is actually only traversed by north ( Sydney ) bound trains while south ( Melbourne ) bound trains take a much shorter and steeper middle road.


Because of Bethungra Loop, it is 5kms longer from Melbourne to Sydney than it is from Sydney to Melbourne.


All the many times I have been there, not once have I been lucky enough to catch a north and south bound train in the loop at the same time.

[Graeme]

We timed the visit to align with the XPT's scheduled departure time from Junee. Unfortunately no south-bound train passed on the other line at the same time.

I've been to the dam which is past the loop lookout and have passed through Bethungra many times but have been ignorant of its existence. There aren't any signs in Bethungra that I noticed, not even at the main turn-off, even though a very new viewing platform has been installed.

[Tote]

A few piccies I took here : A couple of photos from a chilly day at Bethungra Spiral (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/railway-fans/271964-couple-photos-chilly-day-bethungra-spiral.html)

Regards,
Tote

[p38arover]

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