[Ausloco] Broken Hill trip, 29/5-2/6

[Peter Donaghy <PeterDo@als.com.au>]

Hi, all!  Good to be back in a cool but sunny Orange after the condition
I left it in last Monday morning (below zero, heavy cloud, and snow
everywhere)!

Sightings from my trip to Broken Hill last week (ANs, here I come!):

MON 29/5: Though it's about 30-40km longer than the Dubbo route, I can
never pass up a drive through Parkes - more loco variety!

Manildra, 0805: MM01, 7340

Parkes, 0850: 48160, 8111 / 8127, 48152 / (48?) / 48116, near grain
wagons; 8181, near station.  48116 has no white numbers painted on the
no. 2 end: not faded or scratched off - looks like they've been omitted
altogether in the last repaint.
Depot: 442s2, 4514, fenced compound; 48s33, 48s35, 442s5, 48s36,
roundhouse; 48s32, middle of depot yard; 48146, 48102 / 48158, NR58,
442s6, ready roads.  48158 has very patchy bodywork paint, but fresh
cabsides and cab roof.
Goobang junction: NR13 / NR56 (A/B) on containers, having arrived from
the west.

Narromine, 1000: NR21 / NR6 (A/B); also a string of RQIW flats with old
concentrate containers.

Mungeribar silo held a dozen or so hoppers.

Trangie, 1020: 48101 / 48110 (A/B) / 18 x NGWF hoppers pulled east out
of the yard, across the Barrier Hwy, then set back into the silo roads
(?) - this train was reported through Narromine towards Parkes at 1130
by Wayne Coleman.

Nevertire, 1040: 48106 / 4889 (A/B) / 24 x NGPF, waiting to depart
eastward?

Approaching Broken Hill, I sighted a train running east about 10-15km
out, so a quich U-turn and a 10-km dash east put me in front of it:
NR113 / NR57 (A/B) / =46 wagons inc. 4 x 5-flat packs.  This must have
departed town around 1645-50 CST.

Broken Hill, 1715 CST: 442s4, Silverton shed.  Also visible inside the
shed was the engine hood of a 48 class on a flat wagon - is 48s34 being
overhauled, or is it from one of the four purchased late last year?
Maybe John Armstrong knows?

There are a few dozen ex-WA boxcars and VLCXs along with other wagons
stored in the yard.  About a dozen of the WA wagons have been freshly
painted in an overall light grey scheme; one or two were also in the
doorway of the shed.  Several flat wagons were present, fresh in
Silverton's blue and yellow.


TUE 30/5:

I left the scanner on when I went to sleep, and was woken by a
conversation between a driver and Control at 0120.  Out of bed and down
to the yard, in time to see NR114 / NR73 / NR26 (A/B/B) running light to
the fuelling area.  I think they may have brought in some covered
concentrate wagons.  I'm fairly sure these three units were still
present at 0940, but gone by 1130 (back west).

At 0805, NR59 / motorail with 6 cars / 16 carriages arrived as WL1.
Someone in "rosters" was throwing the "coloured" units into NSW early in
the week: NR56 and NR58 sighted in Parkes on monday morning, and NR57
heading east on monday evening!

442s4 shunted around the yard from 0800 approx, and was still poking
around at 1330.

NR29 / NR20 (A/A) brought a freight in from the east (many FCL
containers) sometime between 0940 and 1130, dropped off for fuelling,
then back on around 1230 for a 1400 (approx) departure.

NR111 / NR104 (A/B) arrived from the west (with mostly boxcars and
louvre vans), again between 0940 and 1130, and were also expected to
depart east around 1400.

48s28 / 48s29 were sitting over towards the rear of the yard at 1645.


WED 31/5:

NR41 / 16 carriages / motorail with 7 cars, WL2 IP ex west, arrived
before 1430 (about 1415?) - not due until 1445.

NR44 / containers + trailerail, ex West, arrived before 1725; departed
by 1840.  I noticed about a dozen or so trailers into the consist, there
looked to be a very short "spacer" wagon or such - the trailers on
either side had their own bogie, and there was a gap of a couple of
metres between the pair rather than the usual "close coupling".  Is this
to allow easier splitting on arrival in Sydney?

NR73 / NR114 (A/B) returned from the west with a train at 1840.


THU 1/6:

NR20 / NR29 (again! now A/B) were sitting in the servicing area at 0725,
shut down.  More covered concentrate wagons were present in the yard.

About 20km east of town, NR114 / NR73 (yet again! A/B) were racing west
with 50 wagons of steel at 0740.  These must have swapped locos
somewhere along the way, as it was only 13 hours since I'd last sighted
them - not long enough to reach Parkes and return.

Onto Cobar, arriving around noon.  No rail action sighted around town.

FRI 2/6:

Home the back way via Condobolin: nothing sighted on the way.

Parkes depot, 1240: 48116, 442s6, ready roads; 48s37, middle of depot
yard; 4514, 442s2, fenced compound; 48s30, 48s35, 442s5, 48s33,
roundhouse.

NR116 / NR117 / NR50 (A/B/A)/ 54-wagon steel (YN2) ex west and NR56 /
NR41 (A/A) / lengthy FCL / Toll etc container train ex East both stood
in Goobang Yard; the steel departed just after I arrived, at 1240.  In a
conversation with the signal box, they queried their arrival time (the
driver had forgotten to note it in his logbook), which turned out to be
1050, and the westbound's was 1205.  Following the steel departure, NR56
/ NR41 commenced shunting.

I then drove to NorthParkes and Peak Hill; returning through Parkes, the
depot at 1550 was as per my earlier visit, with 8153 also present - just
moving out of the fuel point.

Onwards to Orange; 2300kms and NOT A SINGLE BL**DY "AN"!  What rotten
luck!  I've still only seen AN2 in the dark one Saturday evening in
Alice Springs!

I hope you all enjoy this snippet of border (and central NSW) action as
much as I did!

Peter

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