General Correspondence: P.O. Box 1615, Queanbeyan NSW 2620 Street Address: Queanbeyan Railway Station, Henderson Rd, Queanbeyan Office Hours: Mon-Fri: 10am-3pm Bookings Phone: (02) 6284 2790   Facsimile: (02) 6284 2791 Email: trains@trains.org.au

School Holiday Rail Motor

Canberra-Bungendore & return

2008 departures (from Canberra Railway Station):

• Tuesday, September 30
• Tuesday, October 7

Timetable:

Morning service -
Departs Canberra 9.15am, Queanbeyan 9.30am, arrives Bungendore 10.30am for a 55-minute stay.
Return trip departs Bungendore 11.25am, arrives Queanbeyan 12.15pm, Canberra 12.30pm.

Afternoon service -
Departs Canberra 1pm, Queanbeyan 1.15pm, arrives Bungendore 2.05 pm for a 55-minute stay.
Return trip departs Bungendore 3pm, arrives Queanbeyan 3.45pm, Canberra 4pm.

Fares: Adult $35; child (ages 2-15) $15; concession $30; family (2 adults + 2 children) $85.

Bookings: Our school holiday services are popular, so we recommend advance bookings. See our booking form, or phone our office on 6284 2790.

Note: Steam trains will also run between Canberra and Bungendore these school holidays. For details, see School Holiday Day Trains.

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CPH rail motors, or 'Tin Hares', were first introduced onto the New South Wales Railways more than 80 years ago, but for these school holidays one of these historic units will run from Canberra Railway Station to Queanbeyan, climb the Molonglo Gorge, travel through tunnels and over major bridges to Bungendore.

A one-hour stop-over at Bungendore allows time to visit shops and craft centres in the village or to have a picnic alongside the railway station.

A crew (driver, guard and passenger attendant) will be on board to make the journey a memorable and pleasant one.

Our rail motor is a single-carriage train, and so the number of seats on each service is limited, but there is space in the guard's compartment for small strollers.

Some rail motor history

'Tin Hare' is the nick-name given to the wooden-bodied rail cars introduced on the New South Wales Railways in the 1920s at around the same time that many greyhound tracks were converting to mechanical hares.

To the railway crews and passengers alike, these fast-running, self-propelled trains were the next fastest thing to the greyhound racing hares.

The name stuck with them throughout their 50 years of railway service.

A more official name for these rail cars is CPH rail motor, or 42 foot rail motors. Between December 1923 and 1930, there were 37 CPH rail motors built. There are probably now about 10 in running condition throughout NSW and the ACT.

'Tin Hares' have windows at the ends of the car which give passengers a driver's-eye view of the scenery ahead of the carriage. They have good old-fashioned cow-catchers and (for most of their working lives), roof-mounted radiators which give them their distinctive quaint appearance.

The side windows open wide, providing that nostalgic fresh air cooling.

CPH 37, the rail motor operating this service, was often the rail motor used between Moss Vale and Wollongong when passenger services operated on the Illawarra escarpment line.