Long Mel-Syd train, was Booked out Melb XPTs

["fg" <andrei@axs.com.au>]

Maurie Daly wrote in message ...
>Its interesting to compare also what we have today ,to what there used to
be.
>In the Melb - Sydney case when we had 3 loco hauled pass trains per day in
>both directions ,it would have been a very rare case for any of them to
have as
>few as 7 cars, the Daylight being the only likely possibility on Tuesdaye
and
>Wednesdays.
>The other two , namely the SOP and Aurora always had upwards of 12
>cars with 17 cars on the weekends being quite common.
>So XPT situation has drastically cut the carrying capacity with also no
>capacity for holidays like Easter or Xmas.


I travelled on the overnight train to Sydney from Melbourne a few years ago.
This was during the pilots strike, a few days before Christmas.  I don't
think it was an XPT but it was after the Spirit of Progress/Southern Aurora
had been phased out, as I recall.  (It was definitely within the last 12
years).

The point being that the train had to stop three times at every station on
the way to Sydney.  It seemed like a 'stopping all stations' train.

How long would the train have been, for it to require 3 stops at each
station?

Thanks
Andrei

PS After the replies on the 'Status beyond Cranbourne' query, I looked up
the archives on sand train/Nyora/Leongatha.  Useful info is around, once you
know what key words you are looking for.  Thanks for all the postings on the
subject.