Australia - Modern Scene

[bingley hall]

I've posted a small gallery of images taken in the Hunter Valley between 2005-2008. Not comprehensive, but gives some idea of the variety of trains and scenery to be seen.

 

 

9018 and two class mates wait in the loop at Sandy Hollow on the Ulan line with an empty coal train on 29 July 2008.

[Gwiwer]

And you won't get much better than the Hunter Valley for variety and traffic density in one place in Australia.

[DavidB-AU]

Especially at this time of year during the Maitland Steamfest.

 

 

They certainly excelled themselves this year. Where else in the world could you race three steam trains on the main line?

 

Not quite as fast as

but very impressive.

 

Cheers

David

[DavidB-AU]

Southern Shorthall has picked up the Newstan to Pt Kembla coal contract. The first train ran today with G514-B65-B61-G513 and 40 CFCLA hoppers.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP5OOqh7gm8

 

Cheers

David

[Brisbane King]

Here are the photos I took during the QR steam driver training session.

 

We have a perfectly ordinary suburban station just before 10am.

 

 

Then this beauty turns up. Running just a "normal" all stations train through the city to Shorncliffe. Anybody could hop on provided they had just a normal ticket. Some people were actually just using to get into the city, it just happened to be pulled by steam! It was all part of a training scheme to bring in a new generation of drivers for QR heritage since many qualified steam drivers are retiring this year.

 

 

Not the normal wooden heritage set, but the stainless steel SX set. When introduced in the 1960s, these were state of the art (with things like power operated sliding doors!) and were going to be part of an electrification scheme. That fell through and they were hauled by both steam and Diesel traction on suburban work, the latter until the SX set's withdrawal from regular service in 2000. QR sold most of the sets, some going to Thailand, a set ended up in Chile, others to New Zealand (where they are still going, though refurbished), one set was kept for special work with QR and some went into preservation groups (one up in North Queensland, the other at Southern Downs I think).

 

 

The "swank" interior of the SX set. The seats can be flipped back and forth and they are sprung really well. They are dead comfortable.

 

Taken after leaving Bowen Hills station I think, heading out towards Shorncliffe.

 

 

Could be a bit hairy nipping between carriages when the trains doing full pace (since the SX tend to roll and jump a bit). During the run, most of the interlocking doors were locked due to OHS reasons.

 

 

The tail. This was the last photo I could get. The train was running a little late and there was a EMU waiting behind us, so they got everyone out quickly to shunt the train into the loop and turn the loco and water tanker on the triangle. I had to get to work (damn!) so nipped on to the shortly departing EMU.

 

It was such a nice day, and brought back quite a few memories of school trips in them (though they were mostly out of use by my time). Still, it was great to see Queensland Rail maintaining its heritage fleet, both in material and people.

[SRman]

I recognise Corinda - that brings back memories of regularly commuting in the 1970s and '80s, both before and after electrification.

 

Nice photos.

[P.C.M]

Great thread this Rick,

I have been meaning to post a few so here goes.

 

Cheers Peter,

[Gwiwer]

Cracking shots Peter!

 

The top one nicely illustrates one of the rather curious Victorian signal aspects. Most "traffic lights" display two aspects and unless both are red they can be passed at the appropriate speed! Full details given here:- http://www.vicsig.net/index.php?page=infrastructure&section=signalling I have to admit after almost 13 years here I still find it odd that you can pass a red aspect.

 

Dual gauge track on the right hand side of the second shot as well. It's not that uncommon here.

[SRman]

Interesting you should mention that about the signals, Rick, as it has always worried me too. Drivers may get inured to passing red aspects, with consequences too horrible to imagine. I had the VR signalling explained to me by a fellow BRMA member who is also a train traffic controller and invited me to visit the Metrol centre one evening after work. The controls themselves looked very similar to some Sim Sig train control games I have!!

 

 

 

 

Great shots, Peter. Lovely and clear.  

 

 

[DavidB-AU]

You have to make the distinction between 2 and 3 position signals. 2 position (formerly lower quadrant) are route signals and 3 position (formerly upper quadrant) are speed signals. A red aspect doesn't necessarily mean "stop" just as a calling on signal means you can pass a red Home signal with caution. 3 position signals are complex and only "red over red" actually means stop.

 

NSW double colour light signalling has Clear (green over green), Medium (green over yellow), Caution (green over red) and Stop (red over red), plus Medium Turnout (yellow over yellow) and Caution Turnout (yellow over red). In theory, Medium Turnout means you are going to diverge and the next signal is at Clear, and Caution Turnout means you are going to diverge and the next signal is at Stop.

 

Cheers

David

[P.C.M]

Thanks guys,

To be honest the signals over here have always confused me, though thats not hard.

 

Rick, I didn't mention a time for next Saturday, it's 1.30 if you can make it.

 

Here are a couple of pics I took down Warrnambool and Portland last year.

 

Cheers Peter,

[SRman]

Cor. look at that third pic of yours, Peter. The mixed scales for the engines and that totally unrealistic upward deflection of the container wagon (probably uses cheap plastics!)!!

 

I spoke to Doug today (after a running session on his layout yesterday) and he thinks he won't be able to go on May 1st but it looks like I will be able to so will organise to pick up Neil as well.

[brushman47544]

And a closer view of a similar train, this time at suburban Lidcombe. These sets vary in detail and are identified by letter. C, K, L, R and S-sets have formed the mainstay of the fleet for many years but are rapidly being replaced by more modern M (Millenium) and O (OSCAR, for Outer Suburban CARriage) sets. In between which the slab-fronted T (Tangara) and G (a longer range Tangara with toilets fitted) sets also added large numbers to the fleet. The small "target plate" carried on the buffer beam identifies this unit as an L-set.

 

 

Tangara set T79 is seen in the high-level platforms at Central. Recent developments have seen these given yellow front ends and doors.

 

Thanks Gwiwer, and others for the prototype photos. I remember being surprised when I visited family in Cronulla back in 1996 and saw a C train stabled in the station - the front looks so like the SR 4-SUB units. Is there a similar design heritage or did the designer just have good taste? The other trains I used to Cronulla and Sydney were the Tangara sets and I have to say they were nice to ride in, although that raked slab front takes getting used to. I visited the tram? museum at Sutherland while I was there - lots of work to be done on the preserved tram cars IIRC.

 

Must take the family out to Oz soon...

[Brisbane King]

Took some photos with my phone yesterday. It was a miserable old day here in Brisbane, so the lighting wasn't great.

 

Basically an empty coalie was waiting at Corinda station to head out West again.

 

All coalie's are double headed. Their 2250 HP EMD 12-645E3 sound great. Its great hearing them roar up the flyover that starts at Dutton Park on the way to Fisherman's Island. Next time I'm at Dutton Park (which is every day since I get the train to work!) and one comes past I'll try and get it on camera.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

0

[Brisbane King]

More amateurish collections, this time in motion pictures!

 

Taken on todays ARHS QLD Division steam tour.

 

 

 

 

*warning* don't have the sound up to high..

[P.C.M]

Here are a couple of Monington Tourist Railways T class. I haven't seen this loco working for a while, the other T class is having some paintwork done and the K class is in bits though should be back working by September.

 

Cheers Peter.

[Ozexpatriate]

More amateurish collections, this time in motion pictures!

 

Taken on todays ARHS QLD Division steam tour.

 

 

 

 

*warning* don't have the sound up to high..

Brisbanites might want to look at this blast from the mid-20th century past. The YouTube title is "Queensland Railways - The Railway Station". Roma Street in all it's glory.

[DavidB-AU]

For interest, today's Tasmanian state budget includes $12.5 million for new locomotives, $10 million for new container wagons and $315 million to fix the crumbling infrastructure left by Pacific National.

 

$12.5 million isn't going to buy much. The most recent new narrow gauge diesels in the country, the QR 4100 class, have a unit price of about $5 million. However if it is politically acceptable, it would buy four of the Dalian locos going to Kiwirail which cost the equivalent of $3 million each.

 

However these would be the first new locos for Tasmania since the ZA class in 1974! The bulk of the current fleet is second or third hand from Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand plus a handful of Morrison Knudsen rebuilds.

 

Cheers

David

[The Stationmaster]

 

NSW double colour light signalling has Clear (green over green), Medium (green over yellow), Caution (green over red) and Stop (red over red), plus Medium Turnout (yellow over yellow) and Caution Turnout (yellow over red). In theory, Medium Turnout means you are going to diverge and the next signal is at Clear, and Caution Turnout means you are going to diverge and the next signal is at Stop.

 

Cheers

David

 

NSW double head signals suddenly become a lot simpler to understand if you know their history. In essence they were originally a stop signal (red/green) mounted above a distant signal (red/green) - the reason for the distant being red/green instead of yellow/green was that at the time the first of these signals appeared NSW was still using red painted distant signal arms and the signals showed a red light at caution.

 

The signals have over the years developed into a sort of speed signalling as well as basic block signalling. If you look at these signal in the 'pure' context on a line with no pointwork (the Sydney city loop is an ideal place to do this) you can observe the full successional aspect sequence in a very short time (and photgraph it if your're anything like me ).

 

Red over red = home & distant 'on' = red in UK c.l. signalling

 

Green over red = home 'off' and distant 'on' = single yellow

 

Green over yellow = home & distant 'off' = double yellow

 

Green over green = home & distant off = green.

 

There is also a fifth aspect on the signals on the City loop which is

Red over red over miniature green, this authorises the signal to be passed at greatly reduced speed and (if memory serves me right without delving out the NSW signalling principles) indicates that the overlap is occupied at the signal in advances. It's a sort of equivalent to the old British Regulation 5 'warning' acceptance but it comes with a stipulated restricted speed. Its main purpose is to maintain the very tight headways by keeping trains moving if there is any delay at a station (booked station stops are usually 18 seconds but are a bit longer at the busier stations during the peak!).

[DavidB-AU]

There is also a fifth aspect on the signals on the City loop which is

Red over red over miniature green, this authorises the signal to be passed at greatly reduced speed and (if memory serves me

That's not a fifth aspect as such, it's a low speed signal. It means proceed ready to stop at the next signal, maximum speed 25km/h.

 

Victoria has red over red over yellow which is "low speed caution". It does not indicate that the next block is unoccupied.

 

Cheers

David

[Ravenser]

NSW double head signals suddenly become a lot simpler to understand if you know their history. In essence they were originally a stop signal (red/green) mounted above a distant signal (red/green) - the reason for the distant being red/green instead of yellow/green was that at the time the first of these signals appeared NSW was still using red painted distant signal arms and the signals showed a red light at caution.

 

The signals have over the years developed into a sort of speed signalling as well as basic block signalling. If you look at these signal in the 'pure' context on a line with no pointwork (the Sydney city loop is an ideal place to do this) you can observe the full successional aspect sequence in a very short time (and photgraph it if your're anything like me ).

 

Red over red = home & distant 'on' = red in UK c.l. signalling

 

Green over red = home 'off' and distant 'on' = single yellow

 

Green over yellow = home & distant 'off' = double yellow

 

Green over green = home & distant off = green.

 

There is also a fifth aspect on the signals on the City loop which is

Red over red over miniature green, this authorises the signal to be passed at greatly reduced speed and (if memory serves me right without delving out the NSW signalling principles) indicates that the overlap is occupied at the signal in advances. It's a sort of equivalent to the old British Regulation 5 'warning' acceptance but it comes with a stipulated restricted speed. Its main purpose is to maintain the very tight headways by keeping trains moving if there is any delay at a station (booked station stops are usually 18 seconds but are a bit longer at the busier stations during the peak!).

 

And given the route structure (just 4 options out of Central to the north- 2 of which are round the City Circle in either direction) delay or blockage anywhere on the City Circle is going to disrupt a large part of the network . Hence special measures to keep traffic moving.....

[The Stationmaster]

That's not a fifth aspect as such, it's a low speed signal. It means proceed ready to stop at the next signal, maximum speed 25km/h.

 

Victoria has red over red over yellow which is "low speed caution". It does not indicate that the next block is unoccupied.

 

Cheers

David

 

It's certainly a fifth aspect to the extent that it is part of the aspect sequence - in normal operation a signal working automatically clears from 'red over red' to 'red over red over miniature green' and then to 'green over red' as the previous train which passed the signal goes on its way clearing track circuits in advance. The clearing of the miniature green is not dependent on a berth track circuit being occupied in rear of the signal at which it is exhibited

 

And as this rather poor pic shows the miniature green is part of the main lower signal head, in fact it is immediately below the main green aspect on the lower head (at Circular Quay, sorry I was rushing to get this one before the aspect stepped up).

[mr45144]

That's not a fifth aspect as such, it's a low speed signal. It means proceed ready to stop at the next signal, maximum speed 25km/h.

 

Victoria has red over red over yellow which is "low speed caution". It does not indicate that the next block is unoccupied.

 

Cheers

David

Likewise NZ - it always feels wrong to pass a red over red on a white light but perfectly acceptable - low speed. Think permissive working.

 

Kev

[bingley hall]

I've added a few more galleries to my flickr site.

 

Australia - trains

 

Australia - rolling stock

 

Australia - tracks

[DavidB-AU]

Likewise NZ - it always feels wrong to pass a red over red on a white light but perfectly acceptable - low speed. Think permissive working.

BTW, when I wsa in NZ I saw a red over red over blue. What does this indicate?

 

Cheers

David