Re: T/G Sets

["Dongbert" <nospam.dongbert@start.com.au>]

<maikha_l@hotmail.com> wrote in message 92v0f0$p7p$1@nnrp1.deja.com">news:92v0f0$p7p$1@nnrp1.deja.com...
> A T Set coupled to a G Set is probably a common site if it were a
> surburban area. But I would assume an all out 8 Car G-SET if it were
> operating from the Intercity Areas of the Network.

It's never the intention to mix Gs and Ts in any sector of the Network. A
few years back, commuting from the Main North to Chatswood via Hornsby, I
saw Gs and Ts mixed up all the time on the Central Coast services. My
colleagues who suffered these things from points north of Gosford were
ropeable. It was never planned to be that way, but hey, things get mixed up.
It's not dissimilar to getting a 4-car T set when the 'table is for an 8 in
the middle of the morning peak!

What do you mean about "2GT" and "3GT"? The two types of Tangara are
identical. In fact, the story as related to me when I was working in a model
railway shop in the late 80s was that Labor signed up the 450 car Tangara
contract. Liberal got elected and tried to cancel half the contract.
Typical, traditional Labor/Liberal spending patterns. Goninan said, 'yeh
fine we'll cancel but the fine print on the contract si that you gotta pay
out the contract in full'. Liberal thus had to spend the same amount of
money whether they got their full 450 cars or not so they decided to
bastardise the design and add loos and rollover seats (both improvements, I
admit) and make 'outer suburban Tangaras'. At the time the "G" sets were
running to Gosford on 'shorter' intercity runs because of demand for
services. So, these two types of Tangara are compatible. But not with the
other cars which use knuckle couplers. In suburban service, "G" (chopper
control) sets only run with their own kind, "K" likewise (although there are
several design variations). It seems the non-K, non-G Goninan and Comeng
cars run together in the "R" and "S" sets. "V" sets mix resistor and
'chopper' cars all the time.

> I have been interested in seeing an electric train set in an odd number
> of cars but unfortunately I don't think that's possible.
> But a set over 8 cars I would say probably yes.

When they opened the Sydney-Newcastle electification in the early 80s, the
Fassifern - Newcastle suburban runs were 3-car Comeng or Goninan double-deck
sets. Can't remember their target plat, I think it may have been N. A 3 car
set comprised two motors and a non-driving trailer in the middle (I know
that's obvious, but anticipated dumb questions). Around 1988-1989 the
Carlingford (and Sandown) line lost its 2-car "L" double-deck sets and
copped "Y" sets made up of two single-deck driving motor cars and one
single-deck non-driving trailer. It sounded great going up through Telopea!
The "L"s were reassigned to the Richmond Electrification which couldn't
handle anything more at its opening. (As an aside, they ran Ls to Riverstone
and 8-car d/d trains from there to the city - just like the 2-car 600
diesels that they replaced!). Once Richmond got some more substations and
better signalling, I recall they were sounding the death of the "L" set but
I notice that they have reemerged in recent years. There is a train from the
central coast every afternoon (passing Hornsby about 5:25 in the UP). It's a
2-car K set. Remember when the first two 8-car K sets emerged? There was a
great stir because the 2 sets were made up of 8 sets of 2-car driving
motor/driving trailer units, with the pantos on the trailer side... they
were air-conditioned with hopper windows far different from the more recent
hopper windows. It was a very exciting development, but I understand the
2-car sets didn't operate as such until about 15 years after their
introduction. Finally, Tangaras cannot operate in odd-numbered sets because
they are semi-permanently coupled and that means they can only be uncoupled
for servicing. I'm sure the Cityrail folk among us can correct my
dates/details here.

> (I'm just wondering, did the former electronic indicators at stations
> in Sydney have the:
> "10 Cars" dot?
> Or was that somewhere else?)

Think about the City Circle. Think about the fact that double-deck trailers
(and the motor cars that came later) were designed to fix a certain problem.
That problem was that the Sydney system platforms are 8-cars long and City
Circle platforms cannot be easily extended. The solution? Add an extra deck.
In other words, they don't (and didn't) run 10-car trains through the city
circle because two cars would be in the tunnel. It may be ok to have short
platforms at Wondabyne, but not Wynyard. So, why put 10-car lights on an
indicator board at a station which can only take 8-car trains? The question
is rhetorical.