Re: GSR's First Overland Arrives
Maurie Daly (mauried@commslab.gov.au)
Thu, 13 Nov 1997 04:25:27 GMT
Theres always an economic trade off with locos as to how long you keep them.
the Westrail Ls for example , have been around since 1968, being the first
3000HP locos to be used in Australia, and I beleive that all bar two are still
in service, makes the fleet about 30 years old.
No doubt that they are reaching the end of their viable life.
This is no older though than the PTC X classes or the SRA 422s.
BHP and HI used their C636s (introduced in 1968/9 until just recently
and then chose to re-engine them.)
What we seem to be seeing now is a trend along the lines that current types of
new locos , for some reason just arnt expected to last as long , so they get
junked on any pretence and new locos bought.
This is an OK practice if you have a real deep wallet,and want the best all
the time.
Its tragic for example that the PTC C class, which were introduced in 1977
with an expected life span of 40 years, (this was the numner quoted at the
time by both Clyde and the then Victorian Transport Minister, are now in
storage after just 19 years service,(something mighty wrong here.)
Northern Rivers arnt having any trouble running their incredibly old 421
classes on the Nth Coast.
Ill be prepared to bet right now that the new crowd in SA ,with their fleet of
"old and unreliable locos" will be making a handsome profit in just a few
years time.
I cant speak for Craigs crowd , but no doubt with their fleet of "old and
ancient locos" they seem to be doing a pretty good job.
Capital items that cost heaps of dough,usually need a long time to pay for
themselves.
The most obvious examples are the airline industry who dont buy a new fleet of
planes every 15 years or so.
The 767s for example are all around 25 years old and there is no sign of them
being replaced, you just need to maintain them properly.
Govt railways have always had the luxury of not having to make a profit,and
could simply buy new locos whenever they needed to without justifying the
purchases.
However this luxury is rapidly dissapearring and Govt railways are going to
find that money for new locos will become harder and harder to get,maybe this
will encourage them to provide better maintenance.
cheers
MD