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29/12/01
This was a planned train-spotting day. I devised a schedule, which would take us to many spots and areas of the QR Citytrain Network, which were known for a viewing area of trains, a workshop or a freight yard.
We began at Roma St Parklands, which is adjacent to Roma St. Platform
10.
An eager 1hr or so around both the Eastern and Western end of Parklands, which had a high and clear viewing area for watching QR trains, pass through.
After the hour or so, we made a quick pass through the Brisbane CBD for
lunch before continuing to our next stop, Mayne depot at Bowen Hills.
We arrived at Bowen Hills and then made our way to a spot I marked on a
map, which overlooks the Mayne Depot. Unfortunately due to the age of the map, a
Motorway was being constructed right on our spot!
We then returned to Bowen Hills to see if we could get access to Mayne
depot via the Northern footbridge.
Unfortunately, this access was for QR Personnel only and prohibited us
entry.
With an extra hour now on our hands, we then made the long trip to
Coopers Plains station (Stopping at Vulture Street) to try out a spot over Acacia Ridge.
The journey being at least half-an-hour, we arrived at Coopers Plains
and began walking along Boundary Rd until we got to the overpass, which
overlooks Acacia Ridge.
After this sighting, we packed our equipment and made our way back to
Coopers Plains station for our next, and final leg of the day to travel to
Robina on the IMUs.
Arrival at Beenleigh, our Gold Coast connection had caught up with us
and we boarded this train for our jaunt to Robina. My first impressions of this train were of a lot of comfort. Never have
I sat in a train with styling on its seats and also the glass paneling beside
the doors.
This train was also a bullet, clocking up 140km/h on most of the
Beeleigh-Robina extension line.
In the matter of half an hour, we slowly arrived into Robina station
around 5mins late (Owing to single-line working back at Helensvale) and had a
15min break there before catching the same train return to Roma St.
We boarded this train and sat for the next hour and a half in comfort as
the train traveled in its express to Roma St, then onto the Airtrain line.