Re: Maribyrnong River Line

[pcc@ocean.com.au (Leslie Brown)]

Steve Bucton <sbucton@quest.apana.org.au> wrote in aus.rail:

>Anthony Sell wrote:

>> On Tue, 09 Dec 1997 13:06:32 GMT, steam4me@enternet.com.au (Yuri J
>> Sos) wrote:
>>
>> >pcc@ocean.com.au (Leslie Brown) wrote:
>> >
>> >>As part of my usual sticky-beak on this line, the rails have now quite
>> >SNIP
>> >
>> >Funny you should ask.... tonight on my way home, I noted that the
>> >tracks were shiny for the first time in months; they were dull this
>> >morning....
>> >
>> >Regards
>> >
>> >Yuri
>>
>> I believe that a train [P class hauled] ran out along the Maribyrnong
>> line Monday 8 Dec or Tue 9, in the early hours of the morning with the
>> locomotive splitting a set of points and de-railing.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Tony

>Re the above note on the Maribyrnong River line.
>I was the lucky person charged with the task of re-shining the rails to
>Maribyrnong River Terminal.  I was quite surprised to see on my roster for
>that morning ( sign on : 0135 - yich !!!! ), that the 2nd half of the shift
>had a Marib. R. Trip train on it.

>I was also aware that nothing had been down that way for months and the
>thought of running down there through a probable obstacle course and rust
>laden rails was most enthralling.  Anyway, at 0550, we set off with P23. 7 :
>525 t. #9527.  Arr. at the terminal at about 0610, having stopped once to
>remove a large piece of concrete pipe that had been 'placed' on the line
>near the Bunbury St bridge.

>The shunter arrived & we pulled down to shunt the load back into the plant.
>Almost the whole train had passed over a particular set of points leading to
>another track ( prior to the one we were shunting into ), when we felt a
>slight thump and soon realised that the loco was going 'sideways' !!  It had
>split the points and was traversing two tracks.  Even making an emergency
>brake application didn't stop us from being dragged along until the loco was
>approx. 20deg. askew from its original course.

>Full stop.
> The breakdown truck from Sth. Dynon was dispatched and the guys appreciated
>the effort we had gone to, to create such a mess.  They got to work with
>their wooden blocks & things and in about 25 mins. the loco was slowly
>driven back onto the rails, long end bogie only, as the short end bogie was
>still on the rails , but twisted out at a nasty angle.

>Probable cause : A set of points with so much briquette dust and crap built
>up in them such that they were effectively locked into a not quite closed
>position.  Driver & Assisant became unofficial gangers, cleaned out the
>points and got the show back on the road.  P23 was transfered back to Sth.
>Dynon at reduced speed for repairs.

>So, see what happens when trains run on long disused tracks without them
>being ckecked for safety or suitability.

>Whether or not this means a return to regular traffic on the line is
>anyone's guess.

>Cheers guys,

>Steve Bucton.
>Loco Driver : V/Line Freight Corp.

Thanks Steve, I really appreciate your "report", but what was it you
delievered there and was there any load back?

Les Brown