Toolamba sighting

[Doug Mason <dmason@deakin.edu.au>]

Well this was meant to be posted Sunday night but something went wrong.
On Sunday night I rushed down to Toolamba to my surprise see X47, G525,
X41, and G523, on the up Echuca goods.  A little over powered but I was
surprised to see not one but two G class locos on the Toolamba Echuca
line as I thought they were not allowed to run across it, and it was
only X class and lighter.  I found out on Monday in the weekly
operational notice that the Toolamba Echuca line can now take any loco,
that being G/BL, A, B, S, N, X, P, T, H, and Y class locos at 40km/h.
I also saw that the speed for a G class loco has been increased for the
section between Seymour and Tocumwal to that of a X, or A class, and
only restrictions on bridges.  Is this a sign of tings to come the, as
they don’t seem to care of the weight of the G class, and with it
pounding the rails, I can for see a few derailments, and the line
needing regular attention.  But hey I am not one to complain as this is
quite a feat for a line that was once destined for closer, kept open
only for super traffic to Kyabram, and now soon to be the line for all
Echuca goods.
Also now there seems to be a bit of a communication brake down in the
whole system as messages of cancelled movements, or trains running
don’t seem to get to the right people.  An example of this was
Shepparton only knew about the Echuca goods going through Toolamba
Monday when someone in Melbourne told them.
Also can someone tell me why the Echuca goods had two fuel wagons, and
a box car / louvre van in the consist?  This train was also a one off
as there was complete occupation of the Bendigo Melbourne line.

Doug.


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