Yes G520 is back....sort of........I was the poor sod that had to
run her from Wodonga to Dynon for the first time since [according to her
log book] 10-01-96!
THe last entry in the book:- "T-B Radio defective" 10-01-96
Some clown pencilled in " check the roof to see if the aerial is OK"
another wrote "eh....wheres the roof?"
To give you an idea of how her Victorian "delivery" run went, my entry
went like this...
No radio gear fitted [in a box..no1 end.] refit all switches etc hanging on
end of wires. Locomotive shuts down when throttle returned from 8th notch.
loco cannot be started without holding in Purge switch[which is 30 ft away
from the start button, and spring loaded!]
loco has full water tank, but low water shutdown feature cannot be reset
without turning engine over....refer previous booking!
control circuit breaker tripped!
overcome problem by busting end off red flag and jamming purge
button closed with the shortened flag.....start engine cranking over with
one hand whilst leaning over motor to reset, and hold Governor low oil
button, and quickly reach back to twist latch the bloody low water button
before the low oil button pops again!
After 4 or 5 tries she holds and back to the cab, knock the flag out reset
the Control circuit breaker.......SHUTS DOWN!
Repeat the whole thing again.....this time I turned the Unit on line
..then reset the Control C/B.. and she held.
Powered up Chiltern Bank all OK untill I started to run the
trottle back and 520 shuts down again! {every time I notched back...she
shuts down!
So I try different ways of keeping her going.....only one that worked was
to turn the front engine off line and leave the throttle in run 8. this
works untill you need to brake into a loop [15kph] or down hills. Anyway
had to run the above recorded start routine about 12 times, untill at
Longwood it actually would not take this treatment any more, and died!
by this time the relief engine 529 was awaiting me and Sexy Rexy hooked
on and took me in, i was pretty well stuffed!
By the way the load for the train was :
39 Vehs Length 699 meters Gross Haul Tonnage 2448 tonnes [add 132 for a
dead G]
20 by VHGX sorgum BYS NSW to Murtoa
19 mixed flats combined Uncle Bens and CRT
Just a little observation......repairs look very good indeed! Externally
and Internally the thing looks all new!
Everything to this Drivers eye looked straight....and inside she was
clean..like a new one. Sure hope I am right as they say they spent a mint
on her.
All the best
Rod Young