Fuel efficiencies of 422s

[mdaly@pcug.org.au (Maurie Daly)]

Sometime ago there was a thread about the 422s inability to get from Broken 
Hill to Sydney on a full tank of fuel and thats why two had to be used.
In researching another question on this group I got to realise that there is 
something horribly wrong here.
422s hold 5455 litres and Sydney to BH is 1100 km.
With only say 4 carriages , ie 3 pass cars and power van we have a total 
trailing load of 200 tonnes so in order to use a full tank of fuel the 422 
must be using around 25 litres per trailing 1000 tonnes/km , an unbelievably 
bad figure.
Given also that the majority of this route is dead flat , ie Parkes to BH .700 
kms worth of the total 1100, it makes the whole scenerio even worse.

Its also not consistant with previous 422 performance.
In the days of the SOP and Daylight, during the week these trains were quite 
often hauled by 1 422 all the way from Sydney to Melb with loads of up to 12 
cars (600 tonnes ).
This gives fuel efficiencies of around 8 litres / trailing 1000 tonnes/km  , a 
much more believeable figure.

Although it never used 422s the Brisbane Express during the week also ran with 
1 44 all the way from Sydney to Sth Brisbane with loads of up to 12 cars ,(600 
tonnes), which gives fuel efficiency of 9 litres / trailing 1000 tonnes/km.
Given the shocking alignment of the Nth Coast line I can beleive this figure 
also.


As a comparison the IP with a single NR with a max load of 900 tonnes can get 
from Sydney to Adelaide on a single tank of fuel with no risk of running out.
This works out at around 6 litres / trailing 1000 tonnes/km, also a very 
belieable figure.

Now its reasonable to expect that a 4 stroke diesel engined loco like an NR 
will be more fuel efficient than a 422, but not by a factor of 4 to 1. 

So what does this all mean.
Countrylinks 422s are totally stuffed and incredibly fuel inefficient.
422s dont like light loads .
I havnt a clue.

Whatever the answer , whoever is paying the fuel bills for the BH pass should 
very seriously look at where the fuel is going and hire some ELs to replace 
the 422s.

Anyone have any better explanations?

MD