Re: NR at Spencer St

Paul Pickford (boss@opera.iinet.net.au)
3 Oct 1997 03:11:44 GMT

David Bromage <dbromage@metz.une.edu.au> wrote in article
<snippo>
>
> I still maintain the EL class are the best suited to passenger workings.
> Weighing in at only 114t, the Ghan was allowed 125km/h when hauled by an
> EL. Then AN decides to convert the old and heavy CL class.
>
The EL's would need to be tarted up a bit.
They are not popular with us for a few reasons. ie: lately at speed they
are awful, shaking all over the place. A cup of coffee placed on the floor
of some EL's at 110k's will be 3/4 empty in a couple of minutes! Basically
they are run down, the windscreens all scratched, the seats are all stuffed
etc.They take up to 1 minute 50 seconds to develop full power, an NR can
develop full hp in less than 50 seconds, faster than an AN at around a
minute. Between Perth and Parkeston there are regularly over 50 speed
restrictions, so we are always powering up or braking.
The CLP's are alright to work, but seem to fail a lot. I'm not sure how
useful the gensets ended up being.
There seems to be enough NR's to do the job, and there great engines and
dead reliable these days. Being double ended makes them more versatile in
emergency working too, and does away with the shunters required to pull the
high wheeler out of the Perth Terminal. A bit overpowered I suppose, but
from a drivers point of view that's not an issue :-)

Thanks
Paul...