Details (to my knowledge) of the below:
> Caboolture - Wamuran 11.3km
Traffic suspended
> Glanmire Jct - Gympie 5.8km
Old main line to Gympie, now bypassed, no or little through traffic.
> Colton - Takura 13.0km
Remnant of the Urangan branch. Pineapple/(timber?) traffic only.
> Glenmore - Yeppoon 53.5km
Pineapple traffic, with occasional cattle trains to Fields/ Lakes Ck.
> Paget - Marian 23.6km
Remnant of Finch Hatton/Netherdale branch, seasonal sugar traffic only
> Bundamba - Box Flat 6.6km
Coal traffic from Macalister. Queensland Pioneer Steam Railway runs
tourist
trains from Box Flat to the terminus at Swanbank, sharing this section
with QR.
> Cairns - Atherton 109.1km
Tourist trains to Kuranda. Unsure of trains Cairns to Mareeba, Atherton
has 2 or
so trains weekly.
> Mt Surprise - Forsayth 121.1km
2000 class railmotor only vehicle on this section. The entire section
Mareeba - Forsayth was train order while open.
> Normanton - Croydon 152.6km
Isolated from the rest of the system, rarely more than one train on the
section at a
time.
>
> Presumably Atherton - Mt Surprise will also be an OS section when
reopened.
The actual section is Mareeba - Almaden - Mt Surprise. Atherton is a
separate branch from Mareeba.
>
>
> Can anyone answer these questions
>
> 1 Why do these sections still exist as OS sections?
Your question seems to suggest that there is something fundamentally wrong
with the Ordinary Staff system. IMHO, OS is an ideal system for lines with
little traffic. The only ones of the above which doesn't fall into this
category is the Bundamba to Box Flat branch, which has coal traffic from
Macalister, west of Dalby, and the tourist trains from Cairns to Kuranda.
Being ultra low-tech, OS doesn't break down during storms, floods etc. QR
also retains it for emergency use as a backup safeworking system, having
been used on suburban and main lines during times of maintenance, usually
on weekends. It would be an interesting sight, seeing the driver of a
suburban EMU, or mainline "sparky" freight, handing over an ordinary staff!
OS also has the unique advantage of a driver having tangible proof (staff,
ticket) of their authority to occupy a section. But I agree that no-one in
their right mind would use it on high-density traffic lines.
> 2 What is DTC used between Charters Towers & Mt Isa?
Direct Train Control, similar (I believe) to a system used by CSX.
Describing it as a "poor man's CTC" would not be unjustified.
The system consists of a PC with the DTC control program in the Train
Controllers office (in this case, West, and Far West Control, Townsville),
and a laptop in the cab of each loco, running the DTC Loco program.
(Generally, Toshiba T1910 mono screen 486SX's. These are built into padded
carry boxes with magnetic bases, and plug into the loco's power supply. OS
is good ol' DOS 6.2.)
Each section of line is marked by Block Limit boards, which are numbered
according the station or sidings initials eg. MI21 - Mount Isa, CY21 -
Cloncurry, JC16 - Julia Ck, HN22 - Hughenden.
To get an authority for a section, the train controller will give the
driver an 8 digit "Command Code", which the driver enters in, and gets an 8
digit "Drivers Code" which he transmits to Control. Control then gives an
8 digit "Display Code" which produce a display in the Loco laptop, showing
the station, and block limit board they have authority to travel to. If
the wrong number is entered by either side, the program will reject it,
untill the correct number is entered. The system in "absolute block", ie
a train will get authority to the station where they will cross a train,
but will not get authority beyond, untill the cross has taken place.
(Unlike train order). This is where the main similarity to CTC is
apparent. The system is complicated, but mostly foolproof. (Not entirely
though - <ctrl>-<alt>-<del> still has it's usual effect, as at least one
driver has found out!!) In the event of power failure, a similar system to
Train Order is put into effect.)
Out of interest, DTC was put into place on the Hughenden-Mt Isa corridor
just before the ARHS ran a steam tour there about 2 years ago. I would
have liked to have seen a laptop being used on the footplate of BB18 1/4
1079, but alas, someone realised that the average temperature on the
footplate would be too hot for the poor laptop to handle. So the backup
system was used instead.
<snip>
>
> Barry Campbell
If any of this is incorrect, please feel free to fire at will. Although I
do work for QR, I'm in the Q-Link division, and don't have any safeworking
qualifications.
JohnMcCandless
johnmc@topend.com.au
Cloncurry NWQ
++++++++++++++++++
"All conspiracy theories are untrue.... but they don't want you to know
that."