(VIC) Tongala derailment

["Thommo" <mjthom@hdc.com.au>]

The derailment occurred at the Curr Rd crossing the very same crossing that
Clinton mentioned in his post. The two drivers involved, one from Echuca,
and one from Melbourne escaped serious injury, although the latter was
admitted to the Kyabram hospital for observation and later allowed to leave.
A casual inspection today 3 rd May revealed the two locos are yet to be
lifted. G523 felt the full impact of the collision as it smashed into the
pantec leaving the prime mover and driver unscathed. I would assume the G
class derailed on impact, bit the dirt thus allowing 2500 tonne to barrel
down on  X 39 and 6 wagons leaving them in a zig zag formation. The G ended
up lying on its side in a paddock horizontal to the track with bogies still
attached. From a casual observation the body looks reasonably sound given
the collision was low speed, albeit the total extent of the damage can't be
properly accessed until uprighted.  The X finished upright  sitting
horizontal on the track with substantial damage to the step area of No 1
end.  Five grain  wagons and one fertiziler wagon were derailed, all
remaining upright retaining all their contents,  three of the wagons were
rerailed today and three yesterday. Temporary track had been laid today
along the existing formation up to the locos, the cranes were in place on
dusk ready for lifting tomorrow. The locos will be placed on transfer bogies
and taken to Echuca tomorrow afternoon or early Friday . Would be
interesting to see if the transport operator has a caring insurance company
estimated value of clean up and repair bill in excess of one million.

Keeping on track
Thommo