Now I've never had a proper paranormal experience, but this one came damn close to it! 

A few days ago I was in the sitting room, listening to the trains pass, and I heard a whooshing sound from a train's blower motor, so I look outside and sure enough there's an SMU200 sitting on platform 1. These trains are notorious for the whooshing sound as they come in. I think "Oh cool, an SMU200" and then I sit back down, not really thinking much of it. Then a few minutes later, I hear the whooshing blower motor again, and there's another SMU200, and it's on platform 1! It seemed to come in exactly the same and look exactly the same as the set before! Anyway, I thought "Hm, it's another SMU200" I didn't really take it seriously until, sure enough, a few minutes later I hear the notorious whooshing sound coming from the distance, and I look outside once again to see an SMU200 cruising into platform 1!!! The way all 3 of the SMU200s looked was identical, they all made the same sound, stopped in the same place on the same platform, all about 2-3 minutes apart! As evening closed in, I thought about it long and hard thinking, how could have I seen 3 6 car SMU200s that's half of the SMU200 fleet operating on the same line, in the same direction, at almost the same time!

Spooky!

What's happening with the SMU200s?

Good question. So let's go over.
The SMU200s were introduced in the mid 1990s to increase capacity and continue the removal of diesel hauled services, however, they have been plagued with unreliability issues.
Here is a photo of  an SMU 200.

This is the current look for the SMU200s, with the new QR logo and a fresh paint job. These units have undergone refurbishment from QR to update them to modern standards. Unfortunately, these units suffered from reliability issues from the start. While testing on the Kippa-Ring line, SMU203 suffered a breakdown, and was been taken out of service and stored at Mayne. SMU 210, 211 and 212 have also been pulled from service. The units are turning 21 years old in 2017, which means it is time for a major overhaul, or as QR are talking, retirement! Hopefully they will be refurbished, possibly next year or the year after, while the NGRs are entering service.

An afternoon at Graceville.

Today I filmed some passenger services around 500m from Graceville, I got a decent amount of clips
It certainly got me thinking about the distance between Chelmer and Graceville, I swear you could probably see Chelmer from Graceville if there wasn't that bend there between the two stations.

Here is a picture of an SMU220 departing Graceville, my favourite class! Don't listen to the hate, even with the sideways seating it's still a gem. (Personally I like the longitudinal seats) Anyway, I saw a few Ipswich trains, an express Petrie service and a Rosewood train. I also an EMU running a Springfield service, which is quite rare and an SMU200, which is also not so common. I even saw a 6 car IMU120 on a "Special" service. Now seeing a 6 car IMU120 is quite the treat because for one, they usually run as 3 cars and secondly that means that you've seen half the IMU120 fleet! Yes, there are only 4 IMU120s. Why did you even bother building them QueenslandRail? A hard question to answer that is. Anyway, hearing the quiet sound of the street is a big contrast to the sound of an EMU with a bad flat spot thundering past on express, that nasty clunking sound does remind you of the age of the EMUs, even though they have been repainted and modified. It's like giving someone plastic surgery to hide their age. The EMUs don't look old, but when you ride on them it's not the nicest experience and you can almost believe that the unit is nearly 40 years old. I will still be extremely sad when they go though! Later this week I will be taking a trip to Central station from Toowong not primarily to look at trains, but hopefully my family will allow some time for a little trainspotting! Anyway, look forward to that later in the week! I hope you enjoyed the post!
ALSO:
Don't forget to watch my YouTube video of all the trains I saw today! My channel is called SEQRailCommuter.

I think

Queensland Rail needs new announcement voice samples, the currents ones are showing their age.
Wouldn't it be nice if they did.

Ooh here's a good one, my favourite trains in Syndey and Queensland

Queensland

SMU220/IMU120
EMU
IMU160/SMU260
IMU100/SMU200
The bus (I despise it)

AND a bonus... Sydney!

Waratah
C set
M set
Tangara
S set
V set
Oscar
K set

Done!

SEQRailCommuter - The Story

Oh hello there,

I decided to create a blog! Here's the SEQRailCommuter story! It all began half a year ago when my exhausted interest in cars had pretty much given up the ghost, just like the interest in computers before it. (My interests change dramatically, very quickly and without warning) we had moved house to a place right near an Ipswich line station, you can see the trains clearly from the deck. I had already picked up on the different types of trains as I had just started taking the train to and from school which at the time I wasn't %100 about, but now I absolutely adore riding on them every day. I knew there were "new trains", SMU260, 220s, "old trains" EMUs and this one which I remember clearly "weird silent trains with loud whooshing sound" SMU200s. I just happily ignored set numbers, interiors and loud banging in neutral sections, and treated trains as something you know what it is but you don't know anything about it. I never talk to anyone on the train because all my classmates live elsewhere, and I'm pretty socially inept, oh well that's what ASD does.

A picture of Indro station in Mid 2015, when I didn't give a toss about trains.

Anyway, on New Years Eve, while we were celebrating, I looked out at the trains and I wondered, "I wonder what all those different trains are called?". So I went on the internet and I looked at Wikipedia and QRIG, and I couldn't make head or tail of anything that was on there "What the hell is a pantograph!" and "is that EMU thing named after the emu animal?". Nowadays if I try to say the animal's name I'll end up saying E-M-U and then maybe a random set number after it. "Oh look at that enclosure! It has lots of E-M-U 82s in it! I mean emus, whoops!" Anyway, then I gradually learnt all the trains, found out about derailments and almost got to know the individual sets personally on my commutes! But I was always on the search for EMU60, as the Petrie cattletrain derailment and how they combined two sets always interested me, and recently I got to ride on EMU 60, it was so exciting! Anyway, I got more and more interested in trains and then, I started PHOTGRAPHING and taking videos of trains on my daily commute from school to home. (which is still the majority of my photos!) I decided to add new photos and info to the EMU wikipedia page, if you look there now, my picture of EMU02 and my info I got from a station master is there. So then, I decided I would share my train interest with other people to see if there was anyone else who were obsessed with them (a bit trainy! XD) and I created SEQRailCommuter, and here we are today, with 26 followers (growing), a possible trip up the Sunny Coast or Gold Coast and Sydney looming over the horizon! I hope to spend more time at stations in the afternoons and on weekends filming and taking pictures. Hopefully Roma Street and Central maybe this holidays too? Let's see what the parents think! Anyway! There you have it! My story.

23.06.16