Jim Powe Collection: Southern Aurora

Jim Powe has captured a lovely and colourful image on 16mm of 3830 pulling into Picton station with the south-bound Goulburn Day Train in 1964. The silent footage is noteworthy for the rake of four-wheel goods wagons in the storage siding behind the station sign and the ‘platform clutter’ of oil drums, post box and luggage trolley. These point to the pivotal role railways played in the movement of goods during the steam era.

A late-running Southern Aurora races past heading to Sydney with back-to-back diesel locomotives 4429 and 4446. Scenes of the end of the steam era were never far away during the 1960s. Powe’s footage is a record of the pivotal transition years from steam power to diesel traction, highlighted by the shot of 3830 waiting as it crosses the Southern Aurora.