Re: SD40s for ASR?

[chris <chris@enet21.com.au>]

Forward management? management in Austraila looks about one week in
advance.
GM and GE in the USA have enough work to keep a team together. Aussie
companies don't chase work overseas. In Australia they hire engineers, and
tradespeople thru labour hire companies, then sack them once the job is
finished. No cadet engineers, drafters, and apprentices. You might to be
able to get away with that for about 10 years but after that you experience
shortages of skilled staff as is happening now.( are there any railway
engineering  gurus under late 50's  nowdays?) . Silly things like the "cab
committee" of the various rail operators hold construction up in Australia.
If the local manufacturers are having problems they can only blame
themselves.

Chris

"James C." wrote:

> In article <3923CFFB.9B4BFA1D@enet21.com.au>,
>   chris <chris@enet21.com.au> wrote:
> > The advantage of buying reconditioned USA diesels is you can get them
> quicker and
> > cheaper than going thru concerns like Clyde & Gonnians (and alot less
> drama).
> Except you would kill off local manufactory industries.
>
> > From memory GM in the US can build a DE in about 1/3 the time it
> takes for a
> > aussie company (that is why there are US diesels in the Hunter
> >Valley).
> Forward planning will over come this problem...and if clyde/Goninah
> gets more order/demand, they will add more workers hence accelerate the
> production, in fact. QR's tilt train/SMU/IMU and class 4000 DLs all
> arrived earlier then expected.
>
> >In the
> > USA you can buy "stock" reconditioned DE's of the shelf. (Aparently
> they paint
> > them grey so the customer can the paint them in his company colors)
> "Portotype" you meant??
>
> >I wouldn't be
> > supprised if alot of flat cars, ballast hoppers, and even used
> passenger stock
> > (maybe from Rio Tinto as  it has showed its true colours and is eager
> to get rid
> > of its US passenger stock now that it has gotten rid of the Pendenis
> Castle)
> > arrive in Australia from the US for the Darwin rail link. If and when
> the Darwin
> > line is built, it is a fair bet that the line as far a Orange or
> Bathurst will be
> > eventualy modified to a US loading gauge. It then becomes very
> expensive once you
> > hit the mountians and Sydney. Bathurst or Orange will eventually get
> a container
> > terminal.
> I hope the entire interstate system are upto US loading gauge, as well
> as the tracks are heavy enough to carry those "Big MAC" style locos and
> Double stacker carriages. One of the reason why Clyde/Goninha build
> stuff slowly is beacuse they have to redegin everything to suit
> Australian narrow loading gauge and relatively light tracks. Otherwise
> they can just use the blue prints from GM/GE.
>
> > Btw, there are some groups, including Leightons and the Stevadoring
> companies who
> > privately don't want the rail link to go thru. Leightons and P&O hate
> it as it
> > torpedos the building of a container terminal on the site of the
> Newcastle
> > Steelworks.
> >
> > Chris
> Oh Well, the famous "NIMBY",
>
> --
> Cheers
>
> James
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.