It's interesting when you're waiting for the morning train to the city and... this rocks up.

Locomotive 8206 is one of fifty eight 82 class locomotives built by Clyde Engineering (now absorbed into Dower Edi) during the mid 90's. They're operated by Pacific National, though the DOF is a little short to be able to see that. (I used f/5.6 because I was having trouble getting a fast enough shutter speed, though I probably coulda/shoulda cranked the ISO a bit.)

The 82 class works on transporting coal along the south coast line which is shared between passenger and freight trains. Occasionally the locos will come down to the passenger station, stop, and the crew will change cabins before chugging back up the line. Which is what happened here.

Mind you, with our services I'm betting that one day we'll be told that this really IS our service and we'll have to ride the platforms up to Sydney. I can think of at least one rail fan who probably wouldn't mind.

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