Re: Westrail Freight sale

["< Tell >" <telljb@01.ozemail.com.au>]

John Duncan McCallum <mccallum@melbpc.org.au> wrote:
> 
> The 1 in 150 grades on the Perth - Kalgoorlie section are nothing when
> compared to the 1 in 40s between Albury and Sydney.


True, .....but then published grades have nothing to do
with the reality.!

An old long retired friend of mine who started with the
steam powered Commonwealth Railways before WW2
remembers in later years (sixties & seventies) holding
twin GM's in notch eight, mile after endless mile with
an empty stock train across flat by definition "desert
country" at 30Mph about 55Kph, due to cross winds.!
Of course the trains were more than twice as long as
anything run over on the east coast back in those days.
  
There are among the many grades/rises/jumpups away from
said east coast the likes of the long uphill crawl west
from Wirrappa to Pimba on the TAR which even manages to
pull the Ghan back to a "leisurely" pace.

Any guesses why NRC run most of their flagship NR class
across the Trans doubled.?  Guess why they quite often
have ex Australian National DL or AN class up this way
coupled up right behind said flagship.?  
Double stack attracts even more wind resistance.  
But, double stack will never be seen over on the East
Coast, much less accounted for in their ruling grades.
   
----Tell
Alice Springs
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