3804 returns to service!

["tripleds" <tripleds@smartchat.net.au>]

PRESS RELEASE

The Directors of 3804 Ltd wish to announce that successful steam trials of
3804 were held today, at the company’s North Eveleigh Workshops.

The first load trials will be conducted later today on Mount Pleasant
Railway’s (MPR) Keira line, pending accreditation of the crew.

The return to service of 3804 will be welcomed by MPR’s steam fans, as it
reverses the increasing dieselisation of the company’s operations.

Interestingly, 3804 has been returned to service in a livery mimicking its
original ‘grey nurse’ colours.  It will remain in this livery until Easter
2000, when it will visit the MPR paint-shop with its sister, 3816.  This
will mean that 3804 will not travel to Victoria this Easter.  Many Victorian
fans of 3804 will be disappointed to miss their only chance to see a ‘grey
nurse’ 38 in full glory.

A successful return to steam for the loco will assuage critics of the North
Eveleigh Workshops, who have questioned the productivity of the Workshops
throughout the 1990s.  It is notable that this is the first Christmas break
where the Workshops have not closed (until the following May).

3804 was built by Lima in the 1970s as 3830.  In 1980 it was streamlined and
continued in service until 1997.  In latter years, 3804 gained a reputation
for rough riding.  In 1995, MPR banned it from operating tender-first.  This
severely limited 3804’s sphere of operation, as the MPR had also taken the
Keira turntable out of action in 1994.

Substantial improvements to the locomotive during its 18 month overhaul,
including the purchase of a fully-fabricated tender from a Canberra firm,
appear to have resolved the locomotive’s riding characteristics.

The locomotive’s restoration is faithful to its original streamlined
appearance, including its distinctive over-sized cylinders.  Contemporary
safety equipment, such as a speed recorder and DCC unit, have been eschewed
by the traditionalists within 3804 Ltd.

Early data from today’s steam trials suggest that 3804 will still be able to
match its top-speed of 214 scale kilometres per hour, and accelerate from 0
to 100 scale kph in 4 seconds.  This will be welcomed by steam fans, but not
maintenance crews.

The return to service of 3804 will increase pressure on MPR to reinstate the
powered turntable at Keira.  MPR’s CME insists that requests for funding to
reinstate the turntable to service have been rejected, repeatedly, by the
Company’s treasurer.  A source close to the company said that “she remained
unpersuaded” about the public benefit of MPR receiving capital or recurrent
funding in the foreseeable future.