And just in case you want to save them locally (so you can replay
them more than once without the delay), right click
on the icons below and then select Save Link as ...(Netscape) or
Save Target as ...(Internet Exploder).
Then go to wherever you've saved them and just double-click. (And if that
doesn't work, go to Micro$oft and
get their latest "Media Player" :-)
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Some MPEG sequences from the 3 hour RT1 video
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On the trip down (with the train bits banging around in the back of the
ambulance). Can you guess the name of the theme music in the background?
24 seconds (3.2Mb - about 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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Initial assembly phase - trying to juggles one of the sides into place
16 seconds (2.1Mb - about 1 minute to load on a good day)
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"Huey ... Huey ... Just come and push this a little bit." Putting things
together on the line, hammering in the pins.
40 seconds (5.4Mb - about 3 minutes to load on a good day)
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"Now, Dennis - can you give this other side a hard shove while I belt this
end pin in ..."
Wind noise in the microphone spoilt these shots - I need a decent windsock.
16 seconds (2.1Mb - about 1 minute to load on a good day)
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"Okay, kids - now don't let any of this go-go juice splash in your eyes"
The kids had plenty of rides during the day as well, although not at
quite the same breakneck speed.
33 seconds (4.4Mb - 2 or 3 minutes to load on a good day)
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Time for a few test runs. Rex had some some meters installed so he could
keep a handy eye on the main motor's armature current.
He preferred to keep it below 70 Amps, but that wasn't always possible
going up a steep grade with 3 or 4 of us on board.
10 seconds (1.3Mb - about 1 minute to load on a good day)
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For the first few times we came down, we'd have to dig the track out
from under the dirt road all over again. (Well, it kept us fit anyway)
13 seconds (1.8Mb - about 1 minute to load on a good day)
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Over the road, we headed up the slight grade through the cutting and then
down another slight grade toward the tressle bridge. But before too long,
we hit a patch of vegetation. Here, we attempt to cut our way through
by force, but in the end the wheels lost traction.
19 seconds (2.5Mb - 1 or 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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After cutting away the vegetation, we discover another obstacle - a sand
dune. The left-hand rail was buried about one metre down. Several hours
were spent removing this particular annoyance.
25 seconds (3.4Mb - about 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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Finally we reached the bridge. A few hundred metres further on the track
ended at a pine fence! On the way back, the sun finally came out for a
few minutes, so this is one of the better shots of crossing the great
tressle bridge of Kilcunda.
19 seconds (2.6Mb - 1 or 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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A month or so later (in June), we finally ran into the razor gang pulling
up the tracks. Yes folks - the Victorian Govt had sold the rails to the
Japanese for $2 a foot! Here's the oxy-trolley rolling along and cutting
the fish-plates in two.
28 seconds (3.7Mb - about 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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The following week, we drove down the road to our usual launching spot
and found the track had disappeared. So we drove back toward the tressle
bridge and loaded the train on near there. Had to rip out a fence first.
26 seconds (3.5Mb - about 2 minutes to load on a good day)
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So we drove back across the tressle bridge and up through the cutting, and
there we found (guess who) ... the razor gang, hard at work.
So that was the end of Kilcunda for us. (I'm told that the bridge is still
there, and people do something called "walking" on it now ...)
This is a big one - 4 minutes 37 seconds, 39Mb (about 20 minutes to load on
a good day)
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Back to
RT1 - the story