Railmaps

Today’s historic #photo of the day: Looking north along the abandoned Captains Flat #railway near Hoskinstown, NSW, December 8 1984.

The Captains Flat line branched from the Canberra/Bombala line at Bungendore Junction and ran south for 34km to the small town of Captains Flat. It had a remarkably short life having operated only from 1940 until 1968.

The line temporarily re-opened in 1969 for a special train for filming of a Ned Kelly feature movie starring none other than Mick Jagger!

Feb 22, 2023 at 11:41pmWeb
Show threadRailmapsFeb 22, 2023

Like many other lines in regional NSW though, whilst no trains have run for more than 50 years, the line is not technically closed, and the infrastructure has just been left in situ as it was when Mick Jagger as Ned Kelly held up the last train.

Today, more than 38 years later, pretty much nothing has changed. I suspect a very similar photo could be taken today even if the vegetation may have grown a bit and the track decayed even more.

Show threadRonB1949Feb 23, 2023
@railmaps Nobody watching the film noticed the rails were too close together 😃
Show threadRailmapsFeb 23, 2023

@ronb1949 I’ve not watched it myself, but by all accounts, that’s the least of the issues with that movie.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066130/

Kelly, der Bandit (1970) - IMDb

Kelly, der Bandit: Directed by Tony Richardson. With Mick Jagger, Clarissa Kaye-Mason, Mark McManus, Ken Goodlet. The impoverished son of Irish immigrants is pushed by wrongful police persecution into becoming Australia's most notorious bushranger.

IMDb