Diesels of the Desert: The Commonwealth Railways GM class

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  • Опубликовано: 23 янв 2025

Комментарии • 96

  • @KanesTrains
    @KanesTrains 2 месяца назад +38

    The story of the GM class, is the story of opening up Australia. So proud of your work mate, and happy I was able to help make it happen. 😊

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +4

      Thank you once again for your contributions to help get this project to the finish line. I couldn’t have done it without it. I think further collabs are on the cards in the future ;)
      Keep up the great work in Alice Springs and with all your projects on Kane’s Trains!

    • @jamesaustralian9829
      @jamesaustralian9829 2 месяца назад +1

      @@KanesTrains there's a few of them rotting away at marree but flatter at the front, I'm sure nobody would mind you going to see them and go in them to get photos.

    • @KanesTrains
      @KanesTrains 2 месяца назад +1

      @@jamesaustralian9829 those are the narrow gauge NSU class, I hope to see them one day 😊

    • @mrmodelrailways2444
      @mrmodelrailways2444 9 дней назад +1

      Hi Kane

  • @FelixTheHat302
    @FelixTheHat302 Месяц назад +8

    This was a fantastic documentary, well done. The editing, original footage, finding all that archive footage, and the story overall, fantastic.
    How cool do the GM Class trains look as well lol

  • @theozBandit
    @theozBandit 15 дней назад

    Mate, all I can say is - BRILLIANT Documentary!!
    The video, the narration and every single bit of info you quoted - 100% fact..👍👍👍
    I recently forwarded this video to one of my friends who is a MP (Member of Parliament) in Canberra who loves trains which they said - Wow, that was absolutely amazing, I learnt so much about our awesome rail system!
    I then mentioned to them that it actually needs to be out there everywhere, especially on displays on a screen at museums, it's Australian transport history! Their reply was - you better f**king believe it and any issues, contact them in Canberra.
    This documentary is so well put together it really needs to be viewed by all of Australia showing its history in how everything started to how it is today.
    So, I hope it's ok for me to share those who I think need to know about our rail history and all museums have your work on assignment with them..and pay you a heap💲you deserve it.
    Hope this helps.
    Cheers 👍
    Frank.

  • @NVRAMboi
    @NVRAMboi 2 дня назад

    Salutes, sir. Very well done indeed. The GM/EMD F locomotives are a part of my childhood as well, growing up in the southern US. In our particular region, these units were used on the Southern Railway, the GM&O and the L&N - but almost exclusively as motive power for passenger service (usually across fairly long distances). Though it did sometimes happen, it was rare to see these at the head of any freight lash up. Thanks again for a very well edited and narrated historical video. Cheers from America!

  • @trevorzealley729
    @trevorzealley729 Месяц назад +7

    I nodded off a few times as I watched , I`m getting on in years too like the GM class . I rode the freight Ghan from Pt Augusta to Alice in 1970 . Trip cost $14 and took 2 weeks .My father had done it on an AIF troop train in the 1940`s having been sent to Darwin . He said the train was so slow you could get out and walk ahead of it .I also saw one of the GM`s laying on it`s side somewhere near Fink river . The fettling gang stood around it with those heavy crow bars . That image has stayed in the library of my memories as a definition of hopeless tasks . Thanks for your effort in putting this historical film together .

  • @colinfeilen988
    @colinfeilen988 2 месяца назад +17

    Great information about EMD early diesels , we are proud to be renovating GM 1 at Rail Heritage Museum in Bassendean WA ! 🚂

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +4

      @@colinfeilen988 - I think it is safe to say that many, many people are going to be watching with keen interest the progress on GM1. I wish you and everyone else at RHWA all the very best with this important project.

    • @colinfeilen988
      @colinfeilen988 2 месяца назад +1

      👍

    • @Batman-lives
      @Batman-lives Месяц назад +1

      Great to see
      Preserving Australian history

  • @44ham9
    @44ham9 5 дней назад +1

    Beautiful machines

  • @nicbenn
    @nicbenn 11 дней назад

    Well bloody done Will!
    Well put together and perfectly executed.
    Somewhat of a benchmark to set myself to 🤣

  • @DEVILTAZ35
    @DEVILTAZ35 Месяц назад +3

    I have a Lima Model engine model GM32 still in the box for Australian National Railways in the maroon and Silver colour scheme.
    It was my childhood model train engine when the Silver Streak locomotive ran off the rails on a corner and broke on the concrete garage floor below.
    Different couplings but my dad I made it work 😁.
    Thanks so much for the memories and such a wonderfully detailed documentary.
    Australia has such a proud history of manufacture that has been criminally eroded by various governments to a point of non existence.
    This should be classed as treason.
    Other than the Super Chief it is my favourite looking Engine and colour design.

  • @Peter-f4o4z
    @Peter-f4o4z Месяц назад +6

    The GM 2 stroke diesel loco is still used by Aurizon across the Nullarbor, they make a much louder noise than other locos, I live in Port Germein right next to the Trans line you can clearly distinguish between them and other locos

  • @robweckert5689
    @robweckert5689 17 дней назад

    This is so good. Thank you! Will watch a second time.

  • @kulaak-krii
    @kulaak-krii Месяц назад +5

    This is a brilliant, well researched, compiled and narrated documentary. Liked and subscribed! You deserve a LOT more views than you have.

  • @tegknox2694
    @tegknox2694 Месяц назад +7

    This is a beautifully produced documentary about an epic railway and how it's motive power evolved. For a train fanatic such as myself, it was 90 minutes that felt like 15. Thanks to William Adams for making the effort to post this incredible story.

  • @wintersbattleofbands1144
    @wintersbattleofbands1144 Месяц назад +2

    Very informative. I hope current owners think twice before scrapping any more of them.

  • @SirRamone
    @SirRamone 26 дней назад +2

    This was a great video and I had no Idea the life these have had

  • @sometimeworld1
    @sometimeworld1 2 месяца назад +8

    Two trips across Australia in trains hauled by maroon and silver GM class locomotives in 1973 and 1979. Great days.

  • @blainedunlap4242
    @blainedunlap4242 2 месяца назад +4

    Bravo. This is excellent. I'm watching only at 40:00 and the rest tomorrow. You have done an amazing amount of research. I am surprised at the number of photographs and videos you have found and used. The narration is top-rate.

  • @rayatkin3913
    @rayatkin3913 21 день назад

    A great history, recall my family's history with trains, both grandfathers and an uncle all NSWGR men. Some rolling stock came to an ignominious end, locos 57 and 60 languishing at Maree, stripped, slowly corroding away.

  • @Taitset
    @Taitset 2 месяца назад +9

    Incredible job Will, well done!

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +2

      I’m really glad that you enjoyed this film Martin! Keep up the fantastic work on your channel as well, it’s always a treat to see quality Australian content from you.

  • @toucan221
    @toucan221 22 дня назад

    Not Australian, but I loved watching this huge production documentary, I have wondered what happens in Australia train wise, now I have been educated. And just locomotives elsewhere around the world, these originals keep soldiering on, lovely story, thank you

  • @rossdark713
    @rossdark713 2 месяца назад +2

    This is an amazing doco and well worth watching. It's shame that it didn't ( or maybe it did ) make it television as it is well researched and put together.
    Nice job.

  • @Discoworx
    @Discoworx 2 месяца назад +2

    Absolutely fantastic! My father in law is going to love this!

  • @Leo-hv9mm
    @Leo-hv9mm 2 месяца назад +1

    As a modern history teacher I'd give you an "A" ... Excellent production William. Having done this trip many times from 1967 to the present day and now with my next one planned for 2025 I'll watch this again during the trip.

  • @jimmytechnologies
    @jimmytechnologies Месяц назад

    This is an amazing documentary and I have learned heaps that I've always wanted to know. Well done and thank you!

  • @avidutubewatcher
    @avidutubewatcher 28 дней назад

    This is an excellent video. It’s the most comprehensive record of these locomotives.😊

  • @dionchandler2658
    @dionchandler2658 2 месяца назад +1

    William, excellently put together.
    3 GM's are still earning a crust in the Iron Triangle, GM43, GM46, GM47.

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +1

      @@dionchandler2658 - Thank you for the clarification Dion. I imagine GM37 has dropped out fairly recently then?

    • @dionchandler2658
      @dionchandler2658 2 месяца назад +1

      @@williamadams7865 I'm guessing GM37 must be back at Dry Creek.

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +2

      @@dionchandler2658- Once again, thank you for the clarification on the present status of the active SA units. I deliberately kept the wording in the video a bit flexible when talking about the presently used GM class in Aurizon service to allow for changes in their current status.

  • @ThompsonSteamtrain
    @ThompsonSteamtrain 2 месяца назад +1

    Railfans around the world need to watch this documentary.

  • @Seiskid
    @Seiskid 2 месяца назад +2

    Really enjoyed this. Thanks for making it.

  • @jamesaustralian9829
    @jamesaustralian9829 2 месяца назад +2

    Well made! Some of the trains pictured are in Quorn and Peterborough. The rail crane pictured is in max cranes yard at port Augusta, and Aurizon still runs their GMs weekly, i see them coupled up to newer engines, hauling freight oast my house once ir twice every week without fail.

    • @jamesaustralian9829
      @jamesaustralian9829 2 месяца назад +1

      - Aurizons GM went past today ironically, strapped behind a newer engine. The 2 hauling their long range diesel tanks and crew quarters carriage, and a heap of freight cars.

    • @dionchandler2658
      @dionchandler2658 2 месяца назад

      The video showed CR crane #1, it's crane #3, a larger unit requiring a match truck, that is at Max Cranes in Port Augusta. Crane #3 wasn't in the video.

  • @Low760
    @Low760 2 месяца назад

    Thank you. I watched the first half you made and now this. I didn't know anything about the national rail side of the gm locos, only vr s and b/a classes.

  • @LiliaArmoury
    @LiliaArmoury 7 дней назад

    i think there are a few broad gauge SSR GM units in service around victoria because i've seen them parked in melbourne sidings next to suburban tracks (sometimes in odd places) while I have been on suburban trains heading out north and west from the city and Vline still have a number of their redesigns in service too

  • @Traincraft_Fan
    @Traincraft_Fan 2 месяца назад

    I see some All Manner of Trains footage, nice, still looks good after all this time, my personal all time favorite video of classic australian trains, this video being my favorite documentary of australian trains

  • @Steamtostay
    @Steamtostay 11 дней назад

    1:12:00 - were the S Class bogies acquired from any particular engines? Vicsig lists four scrapped S Class engines, S305 in 1989, S304 and S315 in 1992, then S309 in 1996. However, S309 was actually withdrawn in 1988, and offered to ARHS-Vic *sans bogies* in 1992; this might be why? I wonder which was the other donor engine?

  • @Sugarmountaincondo
    @Sugarmountaincondo 2 месяца назад +2

    This was a great video about Aussie railroads with lots of great vintage pics & film, however one thing would have made this more educational for an outsider like me (USA) and that would have been more usage of maps & diagrams so a person could better follow along as to where all of the different actions were taking place. Maybe someone could update this historical video and splice those in.👍👍

    • @erik_dk842
      @erik_dk842 22 дня назад +1

      Yup. All those names mean nothing to non Australians

  • @Huttworker
    @Huttworker 2 месяца назад

    Awesome video, thoroughly enjoyed watching it and learned more about Australian rail

  • @CollinBlack-j1y
    @CollinBlack-j1y 2 месяца назад +1

    Very, very nice. Informative from beginning to end.

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +1

      I’m glad that you enjoyed the film!

    • @CollinBlack-j1y
      @CollinBlack-j1y 2 месяца назад

      @@williamadams7865 that I did thank you and I shared this with my brother, he lives in Wales.

  • @Steamtostay
    @Steamtostay 11 дней назад

    33:43 - did CR ever consider returning the GM1s to Clyde as the newer units were provided, and having them upgraded to match the new fleet?

  • @Gnrnrvids
    @Gnrnrvids Месяц назад

    Great video and documentary. Some great stories in there.

  • @garyadams9016
    @garyadams9016 2 месяца назад

    Excellent! Fine documentary making.

  • @GaryAllpike
    @GaryAllpike 2 месяца назад

    Awesome video!
    Thanks for your time and effort on this.

  • @paulusintas8627
    @paulusintas8627 Месяц назад

    3x nswgr 421 classes at 42:45?
    Great video mate!

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  Месяц назад

      @@paulusintas8627 - They certainly are! From what I read a while ago in an old issue of Australian Model Railway Magazine, 421’s saw service out to Broken Hill right at the beginning of Coast to Coast standard gauge operation. This didn’t last long though, I believe due to rough riding concerns, and were soon replaced with 44 class.

  • @rjl110919581
    @rjl110919581 2 месяца назад +2

    THANK YOU FOR GREAT DETAIL OF HISTORY ON AUSTRALIA RAILWAY AS GREAT WATCHING IN VIDEO
    THANK YOU FOR SHARE THIS VIDEO

  • @stanleydomalewski8497
    @stanleydomalewski8497 Месяц назад

    Great Video 😊 Thanks for Sharing 😊

  • @erik_dk842
    @erik_dk842 22 дня назад

    I'm not really into trains, but the Danish version of the EMD locomotives, the MY and its smaller sibling the MX, has much in common with Clyde Engineering's take on it. The MY also has the F7 look, but smaller, and 6 axles to lower the axle load. Some of the later MZ in both 16 and 20 cylinder versions ended up in Australia after retirement in Denmark

  • @mainesail3097
    @mainesail3097 Месяц назад +2

    AMAZING how incompetence, such as the railroads gauge conflicts, can hold a nation back so significantly.. Early resolution of these types of issues in the USA (in the late 1800s-predominantly) is one of the major factors that allow the national economy to grow faster than many others-whereas Australia just limped along with limited economic progress and innovation

  • @gfrs2005
    @gfrs2005 2 месяца назад

    That was a great video , thanks so much

  • @Pvt5tash
    @Pvt5tash 2 месяца назад +1

    Bloody brilliant.

  • @kellyswoodyard
    @kellyswoodyard 22 дня назад

    I worked as a fireman for V.R. in the early '70's. I was based in Ballarat, but did a lot of relief work, a fair bit of which was at Wodonga. And much of that was running on the standard gauge, Albury - Melbourne. V.R. we're short of motive power back then and hired some GM class locos from C.R. One of them was either GM 26 or 28. Can't remember for sure. But it was the biggest pig of a thing ever built, it must have been a Friday arvo build. It rode ultra rough, it was extraordinarily noisy, freezing cold in winter, and a true oven in summer. And wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. We had to yell at each other to be heard. In comparison, we also ran V.R. S class, they were a limousine compared to this evil mongrel. What do they call it, character building???

  • @Keith-g2b
    @Keith-g2b 2 месяца назад

    very well researched! cheers mate

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад

      I’m really glad you enjoyed it!
      Part of the fun of making this was when I was diving through various documents to put some parts of the history together, especially with the formation of National Rail and the eventual sale of Australian National. The reasons behind both of those events I didn’t feel had been explained too much previously or had all the context provided. Hopefully this film helps fill that void.

  • @listohan
    @listohan 19 дней назад

    The story of how the vast distances across Australia were tamed and the hard work in achieving it needs to be more widely known. But this documentary would need much heavier editing to appeal to the audience that should see it.
    While those doing the real work in appalling conditions and for low pay, the empire builders were protecting their patch despite the need for a common national purpose. The same continues in Sydney where heavy rail and light rail powers occupy different universes. Land owned by the heavy rail camp was sold just when it was needed by light rail.

  • @kulaak-krii
    @kulaak-krii Месяц назад +2

    Just imagine if the government had continued with investment and expansion of Australian rail. Standard gauge the whole country, separate freight and high speed passenger lines intersecting the whole country... *Sigh* We can dream.

  • @malcolmmathers2690
    @malcolmmathers2690 2 месяца назад +1

    i was a fettler on the nullabor in 7ts8ts i well remember those things

    • @Rob-fc9wg
      @Rob-fc9wg Месяц назад

      Are you trying to say 70s and 80s?

  • @arthurbilenker2622
    @arthurbilenker2622 22 дня назад

    At 37:12 is that an Alco 600b world class locomotive?

  • @Pixlweasel
    @Pixlweasel 2 месяца назад +1

    Great video.
    Small question re the comment @23:40. What were you counting as 'in service'? GM1 did testing before it, however SAR's 900 (built in Adelaide at Islington) entered official running service mere weeks before GM1 did - Comrails stating 10/9/51 for 900 v.s. 20/9/51 for GM1 (other sources give an ever later date in October for GM1).

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +2

      Going back over the video and script again, I was referring to the launch of GM1 from Clyde Engineering on the 28th of August, 1951. If it wasn’t for the time taken to deliver the locomotives from Sydney to Port Pirie on two gauges via Melbourne, instead of via Broken Hill on one gauge now, who knows? In an alternate reality where we actually had a unified track gauge across the country, GM1 may have entered revenue traffic first?
      The head to head challenge between GM1 and 900 as to which one would be first to enter traffic would be an interesting tale to cover.

  • @soco13466
    @soco13466 2 месяца назад +3

    The slow pace of standard guage bring implemented is confusing to me. In the US, southern railroads differed from northern standard guage. In one day, having been carefully organized, all of the odd guaged railes were converted to standard. Why did Australia go so long, without standard guage as the national standard? Is it true that there are still multi guage railroads? Why? Illogical.

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  2 месяца назад +2

      @@soco13466 - Although the main interstate/national routes are all standard gauge now, with the Adelaide-Melbourne line being the last converted in 1995, we still run a three gauge system away from the interstate network.
      - Victoria and part of South Australia, use some broad gauge.
      - New South Wales and some lines within Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, along with the main network are standard gauge.
      - Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and part of South Australia use narrow gauge.

  • @scottfw7169
    @scottfw7169 Месяц назад

    There at 36:23, what are those automobiles which are so short they can be transported transversely on the railroad car/wagon?
    Although I'm an American and our country has a reputation with automobiles/cars I am not a 'car guy' and beyond the cars I've had, or obvious ones such as VW Beetle and their however many windows van, or a Corvette Stingray, or a DeLoren, or a Cybertruck, I have no talent for looking at a car and knowing what it is.

    • @williamadams7865
      @williamadams7865  Месяц назад +2

      They are your classic Mini, most likely built in Australia by British Leyland’s plant in Zetland in Sydney.

  • @DomQuartuccio
    @DomQuartuccio Месяц назад

    Why are earth are you crediting Kane's Trains for when it's your own footage? You don't need to do that if it's yours man! Other than that, good work on a well researched project, you did miss some minor stuff relating to the GM's revival in 2016 and didn't cover the class' work in NSW during the 2000's onwards which is a shame, but that's always opening the door for a future video.

  • @captaindunsell8568
    @captaindunsell8568 Месяц назад

    British Settlement?

  • @LiliaArmoury
    @LiliaArmoury 7 дней назад

    looking back at that old war era standardisation propaganda and then look over at how england had to do all manner of stuff to hinder the germans incase of invasion and i am left thinking that having such a variety of gauges in australia actually might be a good thing in the event of invasion as it would allow a the australian army the ability to deny use of the railways in whole states because one state's trains can't work on another state's lines

  • @timoteiafanasie4894
    @timoteiafanasie4894 Месяц назад

    0:21 60.000 years? !?!?!?!? Wow... Something is very wrong in this narrative, but... Ok, i don't give a flying s***t, so let it go as you said it is

    • @Rob-fc9wg
      @Rob-fc9wg Месяц назад +3

      The Australian Aboriginal people are the oldest continuous culture on the planet! They have belonged to this land for over 60,000 years.

    • @timoteiafanasie4894
      @timoteiafanasie4894 Месяц назад

      @Rob-fc9wg yeah, yeah, sure, culture, yeah, continuous, sure

    • @Rob-fc9wg
      @Rob-fc9wg Месяц назад

      @@timoteiafanasie4894
      Yes it's a fact!
      Educate yourself.

    • @Rob-fc9wg
      @Rob-fc9wg Месяц назад

      @@timoteiafanasie4894
      How do you not know what everyone else learns in grade 5?

    • @timoteiafanasie4894
      @timoteiafanasie4894 Месяц назад

      @@Rob-fc9wg ok

  • @firstfreeone
    @firstfreeone 2 месяца назад

    What can I say. The best history lesson I have ever had on Australia. Other than @Kanes Trains and @VT29steamtrain all of the other original suppliers of video should have had a mention in the text. There must have been so many. What is next on your plate?