Murraylander, K cars and the Steamrail magnet (was: UP liveried loco in Vic)

[James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au>]

Michael Kurkowski wrote:

> But will they be using the dreaded *K cars? :-)

I'm not sure but I think they are air conditioned cars purchased from GSR. Can
anyone confirm this or am I completely wrong? I don't mind the BKL or the AK.
These are the compartment K cars and although I prefer the wooden cars, these
are more comfortable than the normal BK's. Steamrail should have a first class
non-airconditioned fare and use these cars for it. I would pay 5 to 10 dollars
extra to be booked into these instead of the BKs.

> Okay okay, I do accept the reasoning behind the K cars yesterday as
> outlined in the tour notes. For those who were chasing the special and
> didn't have a set of tour notes dropped at them at high speed the official
> reason was one loco crew = max. 12 hour shift (I wouldn't like doing more
> than 12 hours myself either). Another loco crew would have involved higher
> costs. Fair enough.

I accept this as a reasonable reason as well but it doesn't explain the use of
K cars on a tour like the F class trip last year where we could never go above
30kph!

> (p.s. Who's idea was the 'headboard sticker' on the T class??)

It appeared on T395 during the Kulwin tour in 1998. It is a magnet and it
really wrecks the look of the old Victorian Railways blue and gold livery.
Fortunately it wasn't on the front of T356 during the return run to Melbourne
but there were some people at Warrenheip who weren't too happy when they didn't
see the magnet. Did they remove them during the photostops on the down trip. If
they did, then this would be a fair compromise. I hope Steamrail doesn't put
the magnet on S313 next week. It is a long distance day tour and for the price
we paid, we should be able to see the loco without the headboard. Could you
imagine how pathetic the classic bulldog nose of S313 would look with a
"Steamrail" magnet on the front!
--
- James Brook -

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