Streamliners 2016

Over the NSW October Long Weekend (Saturday 1st to Monday 3rd), thanks to the herculean efforts and many years of planning by well known locomotive driver Bernie Baker, 20 classic and historic locomotives were brought together at the Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre under the ‘Streamliners 2016’ banner. All drawn from the famous ‘car body’ design, the 20 locomotives represented both the Clyde/EMD ‘F nose’ design and the Goodwin/ALCo ‘World Series’ DL500B model.

Unlike the Streamliners event held in Spencer, North Carolina (USA) during 2014 – against which this event will inevitably be compared – most of the locomotives involved in the Goulburn show were commercially owned, which undoubtedly would have made negotiations of their participation quite the challenge. For the former Aurizon locomotives (42105 and CLP11), one has to wonder if this might be the last chance members of the public get to see them before they are disposed of or even scrapped. That said, getting former Commonwealth Railways’ GM1 across from Adelaide before it is transferred on to its new home with Rail Heritage WA in Perth must rate as the coup of the whole event.

Whether drawn from the collection already held onsite at Goulburn, worked into town by a series of spectacular light engine movements, or having arrived on the Lachlan Valley Railway’s special passenger train from Sydney Central, by lunch time on the Saturday, the ‘bull ring’ at Goulburn Roundhouse was full of ‘streamliners’, from north to south:

• GM1 ‘Robert Gordon Menzies’ (Rail Heritage WA – Commonwealth Railways livery)
• 4204 (Lachlan Valley Railway – Indian Red livery)
• 42101 (privately owned – Indian Red)
• 4490 (Transport Heritage – Indian Red)
• 4477 ‘Dave Jones’ (QUBE – CFCLA livery)
• B65 (Southern Shorthaul Railroad/SSR – Auscision livery)
• S302 ‘Edward Henty’ (SSR – El Zorro/SSR livery)
• S306 (Pacific National – PN livery)
• S317 (SSR – New SSR livery)
• S300 (Espee Railroad Services – CFCLA livery)
• 4486 (Lachlan ALCo Locomotive Group (LALG) – Indian Red, arrived off the Lachlan Valley Railway special down from Sydney)
• B61 ‘Bernie Baker’ (SSR – new ‘Streamliners 2016’ livery)
• GM10 (SSR – old SSR livery)
• GM19 (RailPower – AN green & yellow)
• CLP11 (Aurizon – QRN yellow, black & maroon)
• 42105 (Aurizon – Interail blue, yellow & white)
• 4461 (QUBE – ‘red terror’ livery)

Meanwhile, over in the secure part of the roundhouse building GM27 (SSR – New SSR livery) and S311 (Espee Railroad Services – CFCLA livery) were on display over the pits with their cabs open for inspection. In addition to the 19 streamliners in the precinct, LVR’s 3237 and the roundhouse’s own locomotives D2, 3085, 4821, 5908 and 5916 were also about. The final streamliner involved was LALG’s 4464 (which had double-headed down from Sydney on the Saturday morning with 4486), which spent the weekend working enthusiast shuttles on the Canberra Line using the LVR carriage set.

Over the ensuing three days there were additional shifting of displays and night shoots on both the Saturday and Sunday (including fireworks on the Saturday) to keep the masses entertained. All profits from the event – including proceeds from a charity auction held on site during the Saturday night – were donated to the Starlight Foundation, who do fantastic work with sick and hospitalised children. From start to finish, the event was a credit to Bernie and his supporters.

Written by Chris Walters, this article originally appeared in the November 2016 issue of 'Railway Digest' magazine.

The event was also covered by Trains magazine in the US - click here to read more.

The success of that weekend was such that we are now working towards topping it at the Streamliners 2021 event - click here to read more.