Friday, July 8, 2011

The Valley Rattler

I had a great day out birding in the Mary Valley on Wednesday. I saw some birds that I had wanted to see for a long time - but I shall leave them for posts next week. On the way home we stopped at Imbil - which is the end of the line for the historic Mary Valley Heritage Railway. This railway has been operating as a tourist train since 1986 which was just a few years after Queensland Railway closed this section of rail line. The train is known as the Valley Rattler and is a popular tourist attraction. As we drove through Imbil the Rattler was about to start on its trip back to Gympie and I couldn't resist getting out and taking a few photos. It reminded me of the huge black thundering and smoking monsters that I used to see on all the rail-lines many years ago.
This is the first part of the line returning to Gympie.

4 comments:

  1. love that last shot of the tressle and grasses...

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  2. Thanks Texwisgirl. The grasses have dried out to that color because it's winter and there have been light frosts up the valley. It's been pretty cold down here on the coast but no frosts so far.

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  3. We love trains -- I am still trying to figure out how to post some more pictures I have of the tourist train we took in Durango/Silverton Colorado recently.

    Must say that at first I expected something different from the title of your post (I was trying to remember if you had rattlesnakes there).... I'm happy it was a rattling train!

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  4. Hi Sallie, I've just had a chuckle at your comment. I had never thought of a confusion with rattlesnakes! No! Fortunately we don't have them out here in Australia - but almost every other snake you can imagine!

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