Australia - Modern Scene

[gazmanjack]

G'day David,

 

The pic of the Pacific National (Queensland) loco PN004 at Moolabin Yard (in your link), is that train of standard gauge or narrow gauge ? Also, how many triangles are still in existance in or around Brisbane ?

 

Cheers, Gary.

[QRModeller]

Blimey, the headshunt on triangle at Thornside must only just be big enough to fit the loco and water tank!!!      Great pics as usual David.

 

Gary, PN004 is narrow gauge, as there is no standard gauge connection to Moolabin Yard.  Can't answer how many triangles are still around though, sorry.

 

 

As promised, here's my video.  I wasn't part of the trip, so only of the Bethania portion is shown, except for arrival and the beginning of the turning sequence (I arrived at the same time as the train).  Also, as this is the first time I've uploaded to youtube, I'm not sure if I've done something wrong because the video is narrower than the copy on my laptop.

 

 

Sorry about the shakiness in some parts.  Mix of getting bumped, slipping camera and shaky hand.

 

 

Matt.

[DavidB-AU]

The pic of the Pacific National (Queensland) loco PN004 at Moolabin Yard (in your link), is that train of standard gauge or narrow gauge ? Also, how many triangles are still in existance in or around Brisbane ?

 

Moolabin is narrow gauge. Standard gauge goes to Acacia Ridge and Port of Brisbane.

 

In the greater SEQ area there are triangles at Bethania, Thorneside, Shorncliffe, Landsborough, Yandina, Gympie North and Granchester. Plus the triangular junctions at Yeerongpilly, Dutton Park - Park Road - Buranda, Sherwood - Corinda - Tennyson line, west end of Roma Street and Bowen Hills, There are also turntables at Caboolture, Moolabin, Redbank Workshops and Ipswich, and balloon loops at Mayne, Pinkenbah and Port of Brisbane.

 

Cheers

David

[SRman]

There used to be mixed gauge tracks at the Moorooka yard as well. That was many years ago so I'm guessing the Acacia Ridge interchange may have replaced Moorooka.

 

There was once a turntable at Petrie as well but since the extension of electrification past that point I think that got removed.

[Ozexpatriate]

In the early '80s I was using it regularly to Airport station, when I was working the old Airport Director's Office. That was in the days of diesel-hauled Evans cars.

 

Those 'American' cars attached to 974 used to be quite comfortable to ride in, albeit somewhat sooty behind a steam locomotive!! ;-)

 

The station at Clayfield always amused me as the embossed enamel signs said "Clayfield" in paint but "Wynnum North" in the embossing!!

My university days saw the Lota line transition through the last days of the diesel hauled Evans cars, followed by the hand-me-down north-side stainless steel sets and then the first generation EMUs.

 

QR stock in the 80s was widely varied. There were those rare days when (off-peak) the standard Evans swingdoor suburban sets were replaced by 1st class compartment and saloon stock (with their much more comfortable seats, compared with the springs and horsehair in the Evans cars) that must have been pressed into service as emergency stock. From memory they were a different design to what is now the "American" heritage set with the 'clerestory' roof-line. I wish I had pictures of them.

 

I remember feeling lucky when we'd get an Evans car that had a 'proper' renovation with it's toplights intact and leather seats.

 

Your reference to the embossed "Wynnum North" signs is funny. I fondly recall them in their original location.

Edited June 4, 2013 by Ozexpatriate

[DavidB-AU]

There used to be mixed gauge tracks at the Moorooka yard as well. That was many years ago so I'm guessing the Acacia Ridge interchange may have replaced Moorooka.

 

There was once a turntable at Petrie as well but since the extension of electrification past that point I think that got removed.

 

There is still a bit of mixed gauge at Moorooka/Clapham, the main line adjacent to the narrow gauge suburban lines and a 700m passing loop on the other side of the yard. The rail loading compound is also dual gauge. Moorooka yard is to be redeveloped as suburban EMU stabling.

 

The Petrie turntable was removed in 2004. It is now stored at North Ipswich for possible installation somewhere in the workshops, which would allow the one at Ipswich station to be removed.

 

Cheers

David

[gazmanjack]

 

 I'm not sure if I've done something wrong because the video is narrower than the copy on my laptop.

 

 

Matt.

 

I guess then it would be a narrow-narrow gauge...!

Cheers, Gary.

[SRman]

Where's the bus driver from Harry Potter when you need him? He'd know which lever to pull to get back to full width again!!!!  

[69843]

Well, it's been asked to be passed on, so I'm doing just that.

 

According to a member of another forum, CFCLA is to rename and repaint CF4412 to "Black Caviar' (no news on paint scheme) the details for the movement are as below:

 

 

 

Friday:

Arrives into Sydney Terminal 10am for naming ceremony

Departs 11am.

Stop at Hawkesbury River

Gosford arr 12.30, dep 1.30pm (plan is to turn it)

Stop at Hawkesbury River

Arrives back into Sydney Terminal 3pm

Sits at Eveleigh until Monday afternoon and runs back to Thirlmere.

[DavidB-AU]

CF4412 in its quite striking Black Caviar livery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pominoz68/8967952556/

Cheers
David

[The Stationmaster]

CF4412 in its quite striking Black Caviar livery.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pominoz68/8967952556/

 

Cheers

David

We clearly need a new symbol for 'strewth mate!'

[DavidB-AU]

Black Caviar has set another record. Fastest time from a standing start at Hawksbury River to Cowan, just on 9 minutes. By way fo comparison, the Newcastle Flyer was timed at 12½ minutes for that section with a flying start at Hawksbury River.

 

Cheers

David

[DavidB-AU]

The CF4412 commissioning special.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH1xYc21NVg

 

Cheers

David

[DavidB-AU]

4486 hauling the first of two new Mermec ROGER 800 mechanised track patrol vehicles from UGl Broadmeadow to Clyde.

 

 

MTPV1 and 2 will replace Railcorp's ML039 (RVX4) and ML070 (former 620/720 set).

 

Cheers

David

[gazmanjack]

The 44 Class... magic locomotives. Definately my favourite diesel. It is great to see these locomotives being used by quite a few private companies. I just wish Independent Rail could repaint their 44's in a much more stricking livery than their silver with blue logo.

 

Cheers, Gary.

[69843]

IR loco's will soon become QUBE Red Terror I have heard, as I'm certain that QUBE own IR.

 

The new track recording car reminds me I need to go and get some more shots of ML-039 before it's gone. They look quite nice and modern though. I wonder what'll happen to ML-039 and ML-070 when they are replaced?

[bingley hall]

IR loco's will soon become QUBE Red Terror I have heard, as I'm certain that QUBE own IR.

 

The new track recording car reminds me I need to go and get some more shots of ML-039 before it's gone. They look quite nice and modern though. I wonder what'll happen to ML-039 and ML-070 when they are replaced?

QUBE do indeed own IRA. QUBE's colours however are yellow and silver/grey

[DavidB-AU]

Qube owns Macarthur Intermodal Shipping Terminal Pty Ltd, the parent company of IR.

 

Cheers

David

[faulcon1]

As promised I have dug through the files and retrieved some more images.

 

There are some mighty fine pieces of rail infrastructure to be found and they are not all in our Capital Cities. The Gold Rush brought speculation and, in some cases, considerable wealth to provincial Victoria which was reflected to some degree in its rail network. Here we see the grandiose station building at Ballarat, just over an hour from Melbourne and served usually by Sprinter or higher-speed V/locity railcars.

 

 

The signal gantry at the western end is no less grand even if a considerable reduction in traffic has rendered most of it surplus to requirements. At the time this was taken passenger services did not venture over the crossing and beyond Ballarat though with the line to Beaufort and Ararat reinstated several each day now do so, as well as occasional freights.

 

 

By contrast the signal box is rather humble!

 

 

Moving north to Sydney we see new Millenium M-set M9 (known locally as "Millenium Bugs") emu at the inner-suburban station of Dulwich Hill. This location is a good one for train-watching as it is also on the Metropolitan Goods lines which provide through routes across inner Sydney for freight which is then kept as far as possible off the busy passenger routes.

 

 

Shortly afterwards the soft growl of a diesel announces the approach of one such freight in this case with one of the diminutive PL-class locos leading; another was at the rear working in top and tail mode. This short-lived Port Link service (hence PL-class) shuttled containers from the huge Enfield Yard to and from Port Botany with the location here at DulwichHill about the mid-point of that fairly short trip. These locos have now been found other work including shunting yards as far away as Adelaide!

 

 

All CityRail electric trains serving Sydney are double-deckers. They appear in 2, 4, 6 or 8-car formations and combinations though all recent deliveries are 4-car units operating singly or in pairs. Here one of the older style of C-sets dating from the mid 70's pulls away from Sydney Central station on the high-level through lines towards the harbour bridge and North Sydney. 2-car trains are seldom found in suburban Sydney (though occasionally work on the Olympic Park shuttles), only on the Newcastle - Morriset locals and on Illawarra area local workings such as the Port Kembla branch.

 

 

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.

 

 

Moving up the Central Coast we reach Newcastle at the end of a near 3-hour journey from Sydney by electric train which includes some superb scenery around Hawkesbury River, the tiny station of Wondabyne which is only accessible by boat or bush trail and the severe gradients of Cowan and Fassifern banks. This is as far as the wires go. Here we see one of the popular and comfortable double-deck V-sets which are used on the Inter City runs from Sydney. These are used on the principal trains between Sydney and Newcastle (north), Lithgow (west, in the Blue Mountains) and Kiama (south, on the Illawarra coast); other trains on these long routes are worked with outer-suburban stock.

 

 

A regular diesel service continues where the electrics end and proceeds up the Hunter Valley main line to Maitland. Here most trips terminate at Telarah one stop around the corner and away from the busy coal lines, while a few continue on the Main North up to Scone or turn onto the "Short North" (which is the only remaining rail route to Brisbane) and run as far as Dungog. Remarkably this service operates just about 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We see a 1940's design / early 1950's build "Hunter Valley" dmu of a type which survived in service until just a couple of years ago pausing for station duties at Maitland. These featured such delights as full-drop windows, open mantle gas burners for heating (!) and embossed leather seats.

 

 

Back at Sandgate a Hunter Valley set is dwarfed by a pair of 90-class locos on the point of a coalie. This will cross to the branch on the left and run to the export terminal of Kooragang Island. In the last couple of years a flyover has been built here to eliminate this extremely busy flat crossing move.

 

 

Another "coalie", this time empty, runs through Maitland behind a trio of 82-class locos and heads back to the coalfields around Muswellbrook and Singleton. These trains are very frequent, almost a converyor belt operation, and feature haulage by pairs of 90-class, trios of the less powerful 82-class and occasionally anything else as available. Private enterprise also ensures that other operators get their share of this traffic so a considerable variety of motive power can be seen through Maitland, which also sees all Sydney - Brisbane freights pass through, on any day of the week.

 

 

New South Wales used to operate electric locomotives on its 1500Vdc lines, hauling heavy coal and general freight trains often in lash-ups of up to four locos. The 46-class is long gone except for a preserved example, and more recently the fairly modern 85- and 86-classes of ten and fifty locos have been sidelined. At the time of this photo most of these sixty locos were dumped at or around Lithgow loco high in the Blue Mountains, with most of the rest even farther from home at (unelectrified) Werris Creek loco. Since then nearly all have been dragged out into the desert to rot at Broken Hill when many have been broken up or stripped. Very occasional work is found for a couple of them including on engineers trains recently on the Bondi Junction line, and several are preserved. Here we see some of the line at Lithgow as another coal train rolls past. Note how new the pantographs appear to be for withdrawn locos.

 

 

We move across to the small diesel-operated broad gauge suburban system in Adelaide which is entirely serviced by generally unloved railcars. Known locally as a "Pox Box" we here see one of the more recent 3100-class departing from the main North Terrace terminal. These are either double-ended single cars or twins and operate singly or in formation of up to three cars. Only very rarely is a four-car train operated in Adelaide.

 

 

A 3-car train for the Gawler line (2-car 3100 plus single Pox Box) arrives at the suburban interchange of Salisbury in Adelaide's north in the older orange livery which is now extinct.

 

 

And a view of the distinctive "Jumbo" sets which are the earlier generation of stock featuring a raised driving position and a full engine compartment below rather like the SR "Thumper" dmu types. This one is also seen at North Terrace curving away to the north with the depot yard tracks to the left and the sun setting through a local piece of artwork.

 

 

Returning to Victoria once more we see a pair of EL-class locos cresting the summit on the "new" standard gauge line at Heathcote Junction, north of Melbourne. The broad gauge tracks in the foreground are the Victorian Railways route to Albury and Shepparton. Only one passenger service, the Melbourne - Sydney XPT twice daily, uses the standard gauge while by contrast there is next to no broad gauge freight these days. The route to Albury is two parallel single tracks of differing gauges but is under conversion to become a standard gauge only route within a year. Shepparton trains will continue to run on the broad gauge for now.

 

 

With the camera slightly adjusted the next train south is also captured on film; this is an N-class of the main Victorian passenger loco type hauling an "N-set" of coaches from Albury to Melbourne on the broad gauge lines. This scene has altered beyond recognition since it was burned out by the catastrophic bush fires last February. The green is returning but it will be a few years before the lush growth seen here is back to its finest.

 

 

Finally broad gauge steam on the "main line" as a Steamrail Victoria-owned K class loco hauls vintage stock over the freight lines of Dynon working a public shuttle to Newport. The train is crossing Sims Street and is about to cross the Maribyrnong River (visible in the background) on a large girder bridge and enter Bunbury Street Tunnel beneath the suburb of Footscray. The freight lines here, as in Sydney, give access to the yards and docks on both gauges while keeping freight clear of passenger workings for the most part.

 

The shot of the 86 class locos at Lithgow brings back memories as I used to work at the now closed depot. The electric loco fleet was maintained at Lithgow. It consisted of 40 Metropolitan Vickers 46 class co+co from 1956. 10 Comeng (Commonwealth Engineering) 85 class co co from 1979 and 50 Comeng 86 class co cofrom 1982. Actually there was only 49 86 class with a co co wheel configiration as 8650 was a tri Bo. The red pantographs on the locos are not new but were washed before every inspection for metal fatigue testing. I know that because I and my workmates used to do it. We used a strong alkaline/ acid mixture to remove the overhead wire residue. We also washed the roofs of the locos too. We also washed diesel locos of the 81, 80, 48 classes mainly and also washed the Manildra Group 100 ton flour hopper bogie wagons. All washing was done by the bucket and brush method. There were no automated washing plants for locomotives on the railways, only multiple unit EMU's and the XPT were put through automated washing plants.  

I should also add that the 3 82 class are not in Pacific National livery but actually painted in Freight Corp livery, the livery they were delivered in when new. They just have "Pac Nat" stickers below the cab windows.

Edited June 28, 2013 by faulcon1

[DavidB-AU]

Riding the grain train

It weighs 3030 tonnes, is more than 600 metres long, and can take five kilometres to stop. It's the mega-train taking our grain to the docks.

 

And beside the track as it passes — and sometimes on the platform — the diesel has a loyal fan base who will admire it regardless of the time of day. At 2.27am when it slows to a halt at Bendigo railway station for a crew change, two young gunzels (rail fanatics) are waiting with cameras on the platform alongside the crew.

 

http://www.theage.com.au/national/riding-the-grain-train-20130627-2ozrv.html

[faulcon1]

Found some videos on you tube taken by an ex Lithgow Locomotive depot driver

 

Edited July 1, 2013 by faulcon1

[DavidB-AU]

Melbourne's new E class tram

 

http://www.yarratrams.com.au/media-centre/news/articles/2013/melbourne%27s-next-generation-tram-arrives/

 

CHeers

David

[faulcon1]

Here's another from the ex loco driver of Lithgow. Driving a Metropolitan Vickers 46 class

[faulcon1]

4 48 class alcos on the western mainline in New South Wales with one of the locos blowing smoke rings. Enginemen often have nicknames for locos and 48 class locos were either Dinky Toys or Push Bikes due to their slow speed. The class was bought to dieselise branch lines but with the branch lines gone they work in multiple on the mainlines.

[faulcon1]

3 90 class on a 10,920 ton coal train