Re: 3804 returns to service!

["nobody" <dweebken@NOSPAM.yahoo.com>]

Will it keep it's rubber tyres? Can it still handle 18 inch curves? Will the
front wheels still have trouble on points?
This is good to hear, lets hope they do the same thing for 6042 and the red
rattlers.

Brendan

"tripleds" <tripleds@smartchat.net.au> wrote in message
84l6ko$lv4$1@yeppa.connect.com.au">news:84l6ko$lv4$1@yeppa.connect.com.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.
>
>
>
>
>