Re: Maribyrnong River Line

[Steve Bucton <sbucton@quest.apana.org.au>]

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.