Re: XPT Melbourne to Brisbane

["James C." <james_ccj@my-deja.com>]

In article <CPMP4.2756$X4.5768@newsfeeds.bigpond.com>,
  "Kym Columbine" <KymColumbine@bigpond.com> wrote:
> Well, I survived my Melbourne - Brisbane XPT trip - first class.
Thanks for
> the advise everyone who provided it.  Much roomier and quieter than
the
> previous trip I'd done economy class to MEL/SYD.
>
> Caught ST2 on Monday (1/5) night, on time departure from Spencer
Street,
> before running into trouble on the grade through the Bunbury Street
Tunnel.
> Felt like the rear power unit was trying to take itself back to
Spencer
> Street!!   Conductor (sorry, passenger attedant) came through the cars
> assuring that all was OK, and a stop was made at the Sunshine Standard
Gauge
> platform for "the driver to carry out repairs".  This fixed the
problem for
> awhile, until the climb up the Jacana Flyover when the same occured,
only
> worse because of the steeper grade.  After a further stop at the
signal
> adjacent to Broadmeadows station, repairs were again carried out and
after a
> stop of about 15 mins the train was on it's way again.   All was well
until
> between Seymour and Benalla when an unexplained stop was made followed
by a
> signifigant amount of very slow running.
>
> Arrival in Albury was 70 minutes late, and by the time the train
reached
> Moss Vale it was 2 hours late and was held there for the departure of
a City
> Rail service to Sydney around 7.00am.   My friend who picked me up at
Moss
> Vale said that he'd been told by station staff at Moss Vale  when he
turned
> up at 04:40 to meet me that the train would be at least two hours late
there
> due to a failure of one of the power units.   Speed seemed normal out
of
> Albury, but was considerably slower out of Wagga Wagga, but didn't
notice
> any more stops etc as I fell asleep.
>
> After spending the day in Sydney with friends visiting the Aquarium
and
> Dariling Harbour, it was onto NT1 for the trip to Brisbane.   Again an
> ontime departure, and this time some fairly smooth running.   The
train was
> busy all through the trip, with a large number of passengers alighting
at
> Casino.   Arrival in Brisbane was 30 mins late, explained as being
casued by
> refueling of the loco's and speed restricitons during the night.
Ending an
> eventful trip, at least by train as I had to catch a bus from Brisbane
to
> Toowoomba, unfortunately.
>
> Kym
How soon will these power cars recieve new engine????





--
Cheers

James


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