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

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

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0wD8XpvtS8 Not bad for a 108 year old! Cheers David

Some turbo goodness courtesy of Bevan Wall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRZjP1CCs0Y Some things in this world are just made to go together, like an EMD engine and a Nathan 5 chime horn. Cheers David

A few of my own. Highest point on the Sydney - Melbourne line at the top of the Cullerin Range. Melbourne-bound XPT passing the above point. The crest is obvious. Same train climbing out of Gunning when the upper quad signals were still there. Interail/QR National 421 class stabled at Yass Junction. Pacific National steel train climing the grade at Jindalee. Clyde Bricks on a PN wheat train at Cootamundra North. 44211-4306-4916-4201 on the NSW Rail Transport Museum charter at Jindalee. Same train at Binalong. Note the steam era water columns still in situ. RailPower S312 at Goulburn Roundhouse. RailPower GM19 in storage at Goulburn Roundhouse. Cheers David

All three fit the 67 surprisingly well. I wonder how it would look in pre-corporate green or electric blue? Cheers david

Just after midnight last night there was an extraordinary procession of work trains heading north out of Sydney. Bevan Wall captured them all on video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_ede-GpVjY Cheers David

Found another useful source. The Royal Mail Archive holds records, manuals and correspondence relating to the working of TPOs. It covers route diagrams, rolling stock, mail exchange apparatus, inspection reports, rules, staffing, contracts with railway companies and emergency arrangements during WW2. Series POST 18 ('Travelling Post Offices') consists of 115 volumes of manuals and 96 files of correspondence from 1838 to 1992. Files are open subject to anything still under the 30 year rule. Series POST 19 ('Postal Business Statistics') has a block of files containing weekly TPO returns of train times and traffic figures from 1951 to 1974. The British Postal Museum & Archive is at Freeling House, Phoenix Place, London WC1X 0DL. Cheers David

Australian N is 1:160 scale. Shameless plug: N Scale Modellers Australia for everything you never wanted to know about N scale in Australia. Cheers David

Was it parcels or mail? I'm working from a very dim memory here but I recall reading about the idea that hauling bulk mail at 125mph and sorting at the destination would be cheaper and more efficient than building new TPOs and sorting en route at 90mph. I do like the idea of a Mk 2 full brake, although it might need more than two sets of luggage doors per side. It might also be interesting to see what late 60s DVT would look like with a class 310 nose on one end. Cheers David

I would also add the London Gazette which has published every statutory notice since 1666. Cheers David

Or why not just top and tail with the trailing one being dragged? Works for FGW. Cheers David

This started as an Australian Prototype thread. Should there be a separate Australian Modelling thread in Overseas Modelling? Cheers David

Just down the road a bit (well, 40km) from Campbelltown is the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum at Thirlmere. http://www.nswrtm.org/ Cheers David

How very HO-centric. Cheers David

Bethungra is visible from the Olympic Highway between Cootamundra and Junee. It is possible to get to the top of the spiral but you really need a 4WD then a good pair of hiking boots. This is an old signalling diagram showing the spiral from above. Next are three photos taken from the position of the blue arrow. First a down XPT which is on the middle of the three parallel tracks. The down hill gradient is 1 in 40. This is the original single line. Then the ARHS special on the up line. The a few mins later, the same train after doing a 360 around the hill. The new up line with the spiral was built in 1946 and has a ruling gradient of 1 in 66. The original rock walls in the cuttings either side of the tunnels were near vertical. In the mid 1990s the walls were cut back and reinforced with steel. At the same time the track was superelevated and relaid with 60kg/m rail. The earlier head on shot was from about the position of the green arrow. Here is a a view of the trip up the spiral. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRFu56YkbCk The Olympic Highway where I took the above 3 pics can be seen at about 4 min and level crossing just after the 7 min mark is where I took the head on shot. You can see how much the train speeds up once it's off the 1 in 66 and onto the flat. Cheers David

Is this what you were after? Cheers David

Melbourne-bound XPT climbing Morrison's Hill. The gradient is not exaggerated. Preserved 4403, 4821 and GM36 at Bomen on an Australian Railway Historical Society special from Albury to Tamworth. Same train at the summit between Bethungra and Frampton. Again the gradient is not exaggerated. 1210, built in 1878 when Australian railways were terribly British, sets back into the platform at Bungendore. Seymour Rail Heritage Centre's very American looking C501, built 99 years after 1210, basking on the Seymour turntable. Cheers David

Anybody prepared to do the 70 in BR blue, BR green and pre-Nationalisation liveries? Cheers David

Many records about the planning and construction of railways are held in city or county archives or public records offices. The British Library has a copy of every book published in Britain since 1911 and every newspaper since 1800. Depending on the regional interest, there is also the National Library of Scotland, National Archives of Scotland, National Library of Wales and Archives Wales. And don't forget the extensive library and archives of the National Railway Museum. Cheers David

The first ever WOLO in Cornwall? Cheers David

It still hasn't! Cheers David