Men and railway crane, between Woy Woy and Gosford, New South Wales

Abstract

Photograph of various men, mostly railway workers and a boy along a railway track, on a repair train and on a crane arm. The crane is lifting a timber and metal railway cart, number 1277, into the air at an angle that reveals much of its underneath equipment. On the cart's side is painted a dark circle on a pale square. The workers are probably the crew of the accident train. Many of them smoke pipes. On the far side of the tracks is a post-and-rail fence and a large area of water. A newspaper cutting of 1914 praises the promptness with which break-down trains arrived at disaster scenes and the efficiency with which the gangs rescued trapped victims and cleared the lines. For thirteen years, William Ellis was examining fitter and fitter in charge of the Sydney accident train. Named portrait photographs of Ellis make it possible to identify him as the sixth figure from the right.