We left about 8 minutes late from Flinders Street and there was hardly any one
on it.
Before we left Flinders Street the man announced it as the "Belgrave Train
running express Richmond to Glenferrie, Glenferrie to Camberwell, Camberwell to
Box Hill then stopping all stations"
The train is time tabled to go express Richmond - Glenferrie - Camberwell - Box
Hill - Blackburn - Mitcham - Ringwood - Bornia - Upper Ferntree Gully -
Belgrave. Basically stopping at premium stations only.
But along the way there were some differences. First was Box Hill the screen
said: ( . . . - non stop)
. . .
Blackburn
. . .
Mitcham
. . .
Ringwood
. . .
. . .
Bornia
. . .
. . .
Upper Ferntree Gully
. . .
. . .
Belgrave
. . .
I would like to know what this last station is that the train is going express
through? Maybe a quick gauge conversion from 5' 2" to 2' 6" and express along
Puffing Billy's Line.
Blackburn, Mitcham and Ringwood said "Express Service - Stops Mitcham, Ringwood
and Upper Ferntree Gully only" With Mitcham and Ringwood less the stations
before.
Also We stopped at Laburnum open the door for about 2 seconds shut them and
went. (Driver forgot about the stopping conditions of the train)
For Nunawading and Heatherdale problems with the level crossings where they are
protected by a red over red signal and the gates are set for stopping trains
unless the train didn't stop at the previous station. So the gates at Rooks Rd
were set to stopping because the train stopped at Blackburn so we grinned to a
halt and waited for the gates to drop and signal to change. That set Mitcham
road to Express and the gates were all ready down before the train even got to
the platform. Then Heartherdale was set to stopping and with the gates at the
end of the platform then the train almost stopped at the station and the two
people tried to get on but we left as soon as the signal changed to green and
the people were left there.
With a train like this maybe they should set the conditions of the gates warning
time to express or stopping manually.
Chris Gordon
cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au
http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord/trains