New South Wales 36xx class 4-6-0
On this day in 1940 Geoffrey and wife Emma had walked downtown to watch a military parade which marched westward from Scott Street through to Hunter Street. It was probably assembled at Parnell Place, the site of a large tram depot overlooking Newcastle beach. Aftwrward he took photos of the trains departing Newcastle probably early afternoon with the locomotives bathed in the sun.
In this photo #3655 heads west with a train, the first two cars of which are quite different. The first is a "dog box: with transverse seating arrangement each pair of seats with it own exterior doorway. The second is a corridor coach with each pair of seats in a compartment having access to the side corridor. These cars had only 2 exterior doorways on each side.
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This lovely shot of a westbound train in 1940 headed by #3666 was taken with the sun lowering in the sky to the west. The picture is taken with the engine in the same spot as those previous, with the front adjacent to the low ground signal on the left. This photo is also a good view of Scott Street an eastward lineside extension of Hunter Street with the railway station clock tower in the background. The two-storey brick signal box is viewed under the signal gantry to the left, and the gated level crossing for vehicles can be seen leading to the docks and freight station area of Newcastle. While only three tracks led from the station, there were 5 platforms all of which could be used for both departing and arriving trains.
In this view the last carriage of the train would have just cleared the station, and if it was a Gosford or Sydney train of corridor cars would have departed from platform 1. The track arrangement was still in place into the 1970s.
Newcastle was a terminus station, and any trains heading north, south or west to or from Sydney to places further afield did not usually enter this station, instead stopping at Broadmeadow a station about 4 miles west of Newcastle.
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