One source of information on most lines in Victoria (I do not know about NSW) is the 1 in 25,000 series of maps. In Vic most of these have been produced between the late 1970's to mid 1980s and usually have the routes of all lines including those closed for many years, a number of examples are the Lancefield (I think) to Kilmore line close I believe before 1927 and also the Tatong line (closed in 1947 dismantled late 1950's)

Unfortunately these are no longer being printed and have been superceded by the 1 in 50,000 series which while still having much of the information are not as clear (I think)

Note: Most of the 1 in 25,000 series is still availible but some are out of print.

Answering bits of your previous post....

Yes, too difficult to do with the MINIMAL information I have available to me - and, Yes, insufficient interest - the Camden branch was never part of my plans as regards to this route.

I don't have any access to archival aerial photos, and as far as spending money to get info like this is NOT possible. To understand why I cannot spend money on resources - for the last 25 years I ran my own business, but with a sliding customer base and my area of expertise fading into irrelevance in today's world, the last three years operated at a loss (that is the expenses exceeded the income) so last year I shut the business down. I've tried unsuccessfully to get a job for the last two years - while potential employers will not admit to it, the 'discrimination against age' is alive and well. So, I'm unemployed, with no income, I'm a few years too young to qualify for the pension, and I'm only living due to the generosity of my wife sharing her income with me. She will allow me to buy some books each year, but have to be especially selective to maximize my very limited spending.

The comment about viewing archive photos in NSW is totally irrelevant as you will see soon. Old street directories - I have a copy of the first 1933 Sydney directory, and the next one is dated 1980 - however the real problem about me not being able to do any research in Sydney - I don't live in Sydney, I have lived in Brisbane for the last 25 years, and have only visited Sydney 3 times during this whole time (and 2 of them were one-day fly-in-fly-out business trips) - I have no reasons to warrant the expense of visiting Sydney.

So, as far as adding the Camden Branch to this route, I have made the final decision - it will NOT be included in this route - I will leave it to other more experienced route authors to do this route if they want - however, I have heard a rumor (and it is only a rumor at this stage) that another well known author is considering doing the Camden Branch.

Getting back to the original subject of Blue Mountains - Steam Era version 2.0 - the route has expanded beyond my wildest dreams and as such now has a new name 'Short West + Short South' - see the new topic for continuation of this new route.

Regards, Brian

glad you will have Cooerwull a rarely know platform between Lthgow and Bowenfels i spent my first 13 years living just across from the platform at Calero Street

I used to ride an Interurban from there to Bowenfels and walk home and walk to Bowenfels and catch the train back

in the late 60s we had two morning trains stop there one at 705 am and the next at 10 am also one at 2pm on the return trains to sydney called there at 725 am 10 20 am and 420 pm

they were usually 6 car or 4 cars but the late afternoon one could be a lone 46 hauling just a old coach and van

i also remember the oil siding near Rifle pde it was a trailing connection worked by westbound trips and crossed the busy main road and was a dangerous place to shunt we used to call it the vacuum sdg i think

i dont remember any Cooerwull services after early 1974 the platform was there until about 1979 i think all it was was two wooden planked structures with i seem to remember no waiting sheds and was on a curve there used to be an old walkway bridge there but that was removed later on

the platform would have been made for the arms factory workers at the end of the street south of the platform

There was also a platform at Marrangaroo just before the line branched off into the Army Camp.

It was there up to at least the early 70s as I use to pass it quite regularly on W63, the Mudgee Mail. Those were the days after I had moved to Sydney after completing my apprenticeship at Kandos.

Anyway 27 years ago I saw the light and moved back to Lithgow and have been here ever since.

If you want someone to have a look at your route I will put my hand up as I have travelled the Blue Mountains trains quite a bit.

Cheers
Pat

In light of my other post of today, in the NSW Routes section, regarding the demise of the 'Short West + Short South' route, this route, the 'Blue Mountains - Steam Era - Version 1' will remain open for the time being. Yuri is working on it to get it ready for release on Steam4Me sometime in the near future - exact release date unknown at the moment, so don't hound him !!!

Once I get my head around what I've lost and had a good look at my 'To Do' list, I'm sure there will in all probability be a Version 2 of this route. However, it probably will not be extended to the east from St Marys, as I put so much work into SW+SS before it was lost, I just don't have the heart to do all that section all over again.

However, there << may >> be extentions from Wallerawang to the west - maybe to Bathurst, maybe beyond ( and merging Tumulla bank) to Blayney, maybe beyond to Orange (where Chris's Central West leaves off). I might even consider extending the Mudgee branch to link up with another one of Chris's routes (a work in progress that I can't divulge at the moment).

However, let it be known that as far as I'm concerned, MSTS is alive and well, and I'll continue for the forseeable future producing NSWGR stuff for MSTS.

Regards, Brian