422's to Broken Hill

["Dave Proctor" <thadocta@spambait.dingoblue.net.au>]

I have not seen any reference to this in aus.rail but if I have, it must
have been while I was away - so apologies.

February Railway Digest says that 422's, operating in multiple, will be
operating the Broken Hill services, and that they took over from
mid-January. The article says that, since they do not have the fuel range to
do the trip, they will shut them down in turn along the way, so that only
the one is powering.

Has this happened yet?

Also, this *may* be a silly question, but would there be any effects on the
running of the service at speed from having one loco shut down (I know, the
IP used to do this when the CLP's were on it). What, if any, effect would
shutting down the lead loco have on the running of the train?

It obviously is, but I did not think it was possible to shut down the lead
loco and still drive from it (unless they are going to use the ample
recovery time in the timetable to rearrange the locos en route).

Dave