No trains today

My explorations today took me, among other places, to Glenreagh. Two days ago Colin and I were dumbfounded to see dozens of giant old steam trains and what must have been hundreds of historic train carriages in a paddock north of Dorrigo. Dorrigo is high in the mountains, so getting the trains there must have been nothing short of incredible – especially since I learned that the old timber rail bridges were not strong enough to carry the weight of some of the rolling stock. Rather than be taken to their resting place by railroad they were dismantled and transported on the backs of trucks.
The man who arranged to have all the steam trains taken to Dorrigo – with financial backing from various councils and the government – wanted to have a running rail for the public but his committee were incensed when he refused to consider using steam engines to haul the carriages because of the high cost of maintenance. I really do not know the whole story so rather than get it completely wrong I will jump to the committee leaving Dorrigo with an engine and some carriages and setting up a steam rail museum at Glenreagh – where Colin and I found the silent demise of that venture. In recent years the Department of Safety has put so many demands on the Glenreagh group that would cost thousands and thousands of dollars and yet the group were not permitted to run the rail as a business to enable them to earn the money that was needed to construct bridges and comply with all the many rather pedantic demands made by the Dept of Safety.
So the Glenreagh Mountain Railway committee has disbanded and the rolling stock now lies idle and is rusting away - as are the carriages and engines at Dorrigo. However, unlike the engines and carriages lying silently at Dorrigo, the Glenreagh track is easily accessible by people intent on destruction, and vandalism has escalated the demise of the carriages. It is hard to imagine that in a tiny country town this sort of activity goes on – but boredom and lack of respect for the property belonging to others is universal.
AJ