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Brisbane's original electric trains take one last journey

Brisbane's original electric trains take one last journey

The maiden trip of Queensland's first electric trains took place between Roma Street and Corinda stations on September 4, 1979.
Members of the press and special guests were invited on board the debut of the new Electric Multiple Units, dubbed EMUs.
The test didn't quite go as planned.
Retiree Alan Waring said his late father Harold, then-chief electrical engineer for QEGB (now Powerlink), was invited on that first EMU ride and told him what happened.
'The train broke down,' he said.
'It was full of electrical engineers, and they couldn't go anywhere because they weren't allowed to touch the train, of course.
'They had to wait two hours for a diesel locomotive to tow them back. He thought that was quite ironic.'
The four-decade journey may have had the odd hiccup, but local commuters had warm feelings about the first electric train fleet on the network.
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