6029 Climbing The Bethungra Spiral! Steam Trains Australia
Beyer-Garratt 6029 climbs up the Bethungra Spiral with a special passenger service bound for Canberra. The train was a transfer of railway stock after successful shuttles between Wagga Wagga, Uranquinty and Bomen.
The Bethungra Spiral is a rail spiral, built on the Main South line of New South Wales in Australia at Bethungra between Cootamundra and Junee.
Spiral History:
The original line was graded at 1 in 40 for Sydney bound trains, which imposed a severe limitation on train loads, and also caused congestion as bank engines were attached.
When the line was duplicated in the 1940s, a 8.9 kilometre spiral deviation was built. The spiral makes use of local geography in the shape of a convenient hill which the uphill line spirals around and has short tunnels. The spiral increased the distance traveled by uphill trains by about two kilometres. Downhill trains continue to use the original line. The ruling gradient of the new uphill line is was 1 in 66.
Due to the extensive blasting required to create 27 metre cuttings through granite, the line suffered from rockfalls with twelve significant falls between 1960 and 1987. In January 1994, the spiral line closed for a four-month rebuild which saw the cuttings widened and regraded to benched 55 degree slopes as part of the One Nation project.
Bethungra Loop : Around the spiral : Australian Railways
Footage shot at Bethungra Loop ( spiral ) in southern New South wales. The first train is 3XW4 steel service hauled by NR76 NR38 and 9311. Note that this footage has been edited for the purpose of showing the train passing over itself. In reality none of our trains are long enough to actually do this. The second train is 3AB6 intermodal shot in the very last light of the day. I have no idea of the locomotive numbers on this train but it is normally a pair of NR's. The third train is a loaded grain hauled by a pair of 81 class EMD 645 powered units at the top of the spiral. It was by then totally dark but I thought that it was worth capturing the sound and the limited vision available under the circumstances.
The Bethungra Spiral
The Bethungra Spiral is a 360 degree railway spiral to allow locomotives (of a past era) to get up the Bethungra Range in southern NSW, Australia. It still operates for today's trains.
Trains at the Southern side of Bethungra Spiral, NSW.
The Bethungra Spiral is located between the regional towns of Cootamundra and Junee, in South west New South Wales. Like all spirals or Loops, it is used to gain elevation while keeping the grade as low as possible. Only the North bound line uses the loop while the South bound line is the original 2.2 % grade.
4486 & 5367 - Cowra to Junee - May 1998
Scenes recorded on May 30th, 1997 of Lachlan Valley Railway locomotives 4486 & 5367 hauling a tour from Cowra to Junee.
Inland Rail - Illabo to Stockinbingal NSW alignment fly-through
The Illabo to Stockinbingal (I2S) project is a new rail corridor that will connect Illabo to Stockinbingal in New South Wales. It is approximately 37 km in length and is located within the local government areas of Junee and Cootamundra-Gundagai.
This new section of rail corridor will provide a new direct route from east of Illabo, tracking north to Stockinbingal and connecting into the existing Forbes rail line. The route bypasses the steep and windy section of track called the Bethungra Spiral.
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Freight Trains over the Pleurisy Plains: Australian Trains
GE and EMD hauled freight trains on Victoria's western standard gauge line at Moorabool and across the Pleurisy Plains.
Featuring:
- 2210 with the down ARTC AK car test train at Moorabool
- NR70 and NR16 with 4WP2 down PN steel freight at Inverleigh, the big dip between Wingeel and Cressy and finally between Berrybank and Lismore
© 2014 James Brook
XPT Train at the Bethungra Spiral
Following the XPT train around the Bethungra spiral near Cootamundra. The Bethungra Spiral is a rail spiral, built on the Main South line of New South Wales in Australia at Bethungra between Cootamundra and Junee
Tin Hares via Parkes and Stockinbingal: Australian Trains
Over the Melbourne Cup long weekend in November 2013, the Association of Railway Enthusiasts and The Rail Motor Society organised a four day tour around New South Wales venturing as far north as Coonamble, west to Dubbo and Griffith and south to Junee.
The route of the trip was Telarah (near Maitland) - Muswellbrook - Gulgong - Merrygoen - Dubbo - Coonamble - Dubbo - Orange - Parkes - Stockinbingal - Cootamundra - Temora - Griffith - Narranderra - Junee - Sydney - Telarah.
The trip was operated by CPH7 and CPH1, two historic 1920's CPH Tin Hare railmotors that have been superbly maintained by the dedicated volunteers at The Rail Motor Society in Paterson.
The fifth video in this series takes us from Orange to Cootamundra. After departing Orange, the train takes the north fork of the triangle and heads out on the Broken Hill line to Parkes where we swing left onto the line to Stockinbingal and Cootamundra, which forms an alternative and flatter route to the blue mountains for heavy east/west freight trains.
For more info on The Rail Motor Society, their website is
The Railfan Shop should be able to provide info on ARE tours
© 2013 James Brook
Bethungra Spiral HO Scale Model Railway
(Best watched in 1080p) The Bethrungra Spiral is an amazing piece of railway between Junee and Goulburn in New South Wales. When the line was duplicated in the 1940s, it was decided to ease the 1 in 40 uphill grade for Eastbound trains by building a spiral around the hill. This superb HO Scale layout, built by the Epping Model Railway Club, faithfully replicates that incredible feat of engineering. The layout was filmed at the Sydney Model Rail Show, Liverpool, on Saturday 29th September 2018.
7BM4 descending into Bethungra
7BM4 descending into Bethungra, roughly 20kms Northeast of Junee.
XPTs at the Bethungra Spiral
On the Main South at Bethungra, between Cootamundra and Junee, a spiral was built during the second world war in order to lower the gradient on the Up line towards Sydney. The Down line remains steep, while the Up road sweeps through a tunnel, a deep cutting, another tunnel, around a circle and along the ridge over the second tunnel about fifty metres higher than at the start of the spiral.
In September 2004 the Down Melbourne-bound XPT passes by on the surface track, then about an hour later the Up train noses from the tunnel through the cutting to the second tunnel, then about two minutes later round onto the upper level.
Tin Hares in the Riverina: Australian Trains
Over the Melbourne Cup long weekend in November 2013, the Association of Railway Enthusiasts and The Rail Motor Society organised a four day tour around New South Wales venturing as far north as Coonamble, west to Dubbo and Griffith and south to Junee.
The route of the trip was Telarah (near Maitland) - Muswellbrook - Gulgong - Merrygoen - Dubbo - Coonamble - Dubbo - Orange - Parkes - Stockinbingal - Cootamundra - Temora - Griffith - Narranderra - Junee - Sydney - Telarah.
The trip was operated by CPH7 and CPH1, two historic 1920's CPH Tin Hare railmotors that have been superbly maintained by the dedicated volunteers at The Rail Motor Society in Paterson.
The seventh video in this series takes us from Griffith across the riverina region through Narrandera to Junee and then along the main southern line to Bethungra and around the famous Bethungra Spiral.
For more info on The Rail Motor Society, their website is
The Railfan Shop should be able to provide info on ARE tours
© 2013 James Brook
4BM7, Bethungra Spiral
A very late 4BM7 QRNational intermodal train descends the grades of the Bethungra Spiral
TRIPLE HEADED STEAM LOCOMOTIVES - Trains Australia
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To celebrate 30 years since Hudson steam locomotive R707s return to mainline service, a special tour from Melbourne to Seymour was run featuring R707 and two other R class steam locomotives R761 and R711.
R707 is operated by heritage rail operator '707 Operations Incorporated' whilst R761 and R711 (an oil burning R class) is operated by 'Steamrail Victoria'.
This was a rare opportunity to experience a trip with triple head R class steam locomotives in Victoria, with over 15 years since the last event.
This video contains lineside footage as well as exclusive GoPro footage mounted on top of steam locomotive R711 on the return from Seymour to Melbourne.
Footage from on board R711 is courtesy of Akila Ariyapperuma, with full permission given. ***Full permission was granted by the crews and operators of this tour for the onboard footage to be taken****
For future tours from 707 Operations Inc, please visit:
The story of 707 Operations Inc. goes back to 1980 when a committee of six people (Lyn Helsby, Alan Jones, Peter Martin, Rodney Martin and Neil Tait) formed themselves into a group under the name of ‘Plan R’. Inspections of steam locomotive R707 were made at Newport where it had laid in storage for the 6 years since its removal from service. Although it looked to be in a very dilapidated condition on the exterior, closer examination revealed that it was largely superficial and was mechanically in fair condition.
Proposals were then forwarded to the General Manager of VicRail regarding its restoration. Agreements were then put into place and R707 was placed in the old tarpaulin shop, and it was here in February 1981 that the all-volunteer workforce began work on the actual restoration.
The locomotive was dismantled and the complete overhaul began on the boiler, the frame wheels and axles, the cab fittings, smoke box, cylinders, motion gear and the tender. Late in 1984, R707 was steam tested in the presence of the DLI Inspector. Having passed all these tests R707 was almost complete. Final adjustments were made, and then began the task of painting the locomotive and tender in its original livery as delivered.
And so, on the 20th July 1985, R707 was returned to service when she ran a trip to Bacchus Marsh and return. 2015 marks 30 years of operations of R707 by 707 Operations Inc.
Australian Trains: Pacific National freight train at the Bethungra Spiral, NSW 27/9/12
Bethungra Dam and Reserve
Dropped into this wonderful free camp out the back of Bethungra between Junee and Cootamundra. Even better if you can get a flat site... This site is also rated by Fred so it must be good!
160908 5MW2 Bethungra
Date - 08th September 2016,
Location - Bethungra Spiral, NSW,
Train Number - 5MW2 SteelLink,
Locomotives - NR51, NR7, 8124, 8240, NR87,
Company - Pacific National,
Train 4CM3 24-1-2017 Griffith to Melbourne
NR47 leading 8232 & NR23 pacific national intermodal freight as it heads to junee thence to melbourne picking up more containers at various locations to make up to a 1500m long consist