Escaping winter 2023

.... Steam Railway Museum...



and even more obvious when you get to it..

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It's a pity that the Musuem is not open to the public. I know Glitch & co got an entry into the museum yards there on a bike trip way back in 2006.
We took a few pics before continuing into Dorrigo for Brunch.

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I always wondered what's become of Keith? the caretaker there...and of the whole Dorrigo railway-society/ club thing.
In 2006 they had finally managed to buy the entire Dorrigo-to-coastal mainline railway corridor and structures and had started to restore old crossings/ signals/ bridges/ sidings etc.

It was the start of a National Railway Museum as Keith told.
 
Finally caught up :-)
Still a few Gmap windows open...that was quite a nice route, bouncing through the Great Divide.

Stay up there guys, it's turned bloody cold and wet down here, Buller had a foot of snow over the last 24hrs with plenty more on the charts :)
 
I always wondered what's become of Keith? the caretaker there...and of the whole Dorrigo railway-society/ club thing.
In 2006 they had finally managed to buy the entire Dorrigo-to-coastal mainline railway corridor and structures and had started to restore old crossings/ signals/ bridges/ sidings etc.

It was the start of a National Railway Museum as Keith told.
Here are copies of the information leaflet which was available in a box on the gate.

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Finally caught up :)
Still a few Gmap windows open...that was quite a nice route, bouncing through the Great Divide.

Stay up there guys, it's turned bloody cold and wet down here, Buller had a foot of snow over the last 24hrs with plenty more on the charts :)

-4.5 C this morning in Denman.
 
Here are copies of the information leaflet which was available in a box on the gate.

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-4.5 C this morning in Denman.


Looks like nothing much has changed since '06....Keith would be in his 70's by now, too.

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Looks like even the yellow sign is still the same

 
Day 12 Bonny Hills to Denman.

After a brief zip down the motorway south, we turn off towards Coopernook, take backroads which eliminate the centre of Taree, but not all of the morning traffic on the outskirts of Taree. We head up to Wingham for breakfast. The roads are shit. The roads in the middle of Wingham are even worse. I won't try to nominate a particular road which is the worst. Every road we ride today is riddled with potholes.

First photo of the day is the lookout over Gloucester.

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Even the carpark at the lookout is a pothole fillers heaven

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My boots don't look as clean as they were 1000km ago when they were new

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Plenty of stop starts for roadworks

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We turn south at Gloucester, then west at Stroud Road, and aim for Dungog.

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Dungog to Singleton, for lunch, then a short dash along the Golden Hwy to Denman, where we stop for the night. Plenty of daylight left for a walking tour through town. The Fireman's pale on the main street. Back in 1928 a fire started which burned down all of the shops on the north side of the street.

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The Royal Hotel which is 110 years old.

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A large levee protects the town from the Hunter River. Our motel backs onto the levee here.

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house which appears to be the residence of the local mechanic & junkman

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An art installation in the park, which lists over 1000 names of the towns residents

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Day 13

Denman to Dubbo.

It was -4.5C when I woke up in Denman., but as soon as the sun started to rise, the temperature rose. We didn't hit the road till after 9am by which time it was about 6C. We head south on the Bylong Valley Way for about half an hour

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before turning off towards Coggan and Wollar, which leads us into Mudgee and from there we head into Wellington. A huge solar farm near Wellington, I've probably only captured about 1/4 of the actual size, and there is obvious works going on there further back for another massive expansion.

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Two blue and yellow Macaws flying past a war memorial in Wellington NSW. That sort of thing happens all the time, doesn't it ?

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and a wedgetail eagle sculpture. The weggie has special significance to the local indigenous peoples.

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Someone here obviously has a thing for cows..

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The town of Yeoval is where Banjo Patterson lived as a child, and they remember him in town. There is a sculpture park which has a few items.

A picnic shelter in the shape of BJ Patterson's hat

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In Dubbo we take in a tour of the Old Dubbo Gaol

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Display of items used in the gaol, including wardens battons, straightjacket, shackles and irons, and hangman's nooses.

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The old gallows. Despite about 28 prisoners being sentenced to death in Dubbo, only 8 prisoners were executed here, and the rest had their sentences commuted.

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And finally a beer at the Pastoral hotel

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Looks like nothing much has changed since '06....Keith would be in his 70's by now, too.

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Looks like even the yellow sign is still the same

I posted a few photos in a Facebook group, and someone who rode past there a few weeks ago responded. Keith still lives in the house up the hill, and when he saw the bikes there he drove down and had a chat to them.

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THANKS!
Awesome to see him still kicking, it must be the passion for those trains that keeps him going.
Bundle of knowledge, too!
 
Day 15 + 16.

No photos. On Friday the roads were damp from overnight rain, but the skies weren't too dark. We just smashed it down the Newell Hwy to Tocumwal. There were a few showers about when we arrived in the early afternoon. Saturday again straight down the Highways to Melbourne and we were home by lunchtime. Total distance a bit over 4600km according to the odometer on the Super Tenere.

Google Map of the GPX track of the trip
 
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