Re: [VIC] Robinvale weekender.

[James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au>]

John Dennis wrote:

> Well I certainly travel on the trip, and I fit into neither category.
> I think that you are forgetting that many people can take odd days
> from their annual leave.  I would guess that maybe half of the people
> in my office had the Monday off this year.
>

You're right about that so I should have added workers with flexidays or
leave. :-) There will still be a lot of people who won't be able to go on
it. If it was any other time of the year it wouldn't matter if I skipped a
few lectures but I can't exactly skip an exam! (If I want to pass the
subject, lol)

> However, I do tend to agree with you, that it is not the best date for
> the trip.

Especially as they could run it on the Queen's Birthday weekend instead of
another Echuca tour. Surely people are sick of the annual Echuca weekender
by now.How long will it take to go from Spencer Street to Robinvale and
return? Can't they do it as a Friday night - Sunday night tour? I'm no
expert on the line and the travelling times but couldn't they do it this
way:

Fri night - Sat morning: Spencer Street - A station on the Robinvale line
(maybe Boort)
Sat: Boort? - Robinvale - ?????
Sat night - Sun morning: ????? - Boort
Sun: Boort - Spencer Street.

Although the line probably has a heavy speed restriction, surely they could
do the line in a Fri - Sat - Sun trip. If there isn't a turntable at
Robinvale couldn't they run the locos tender to tender to avoid a TF speed
restriction. Are there any timetable enthusiasts here that could work out a
possible timetable for a Fri - Sat - Sun tour? By doing that, Steamrail
could run it on any weekend without any problems.

As a rough comparison the Kulwin tour last year was a Fri - Sat - Sun tour:

     Fri 7th August 1998
Spencer Street     dep    2017
Bendigo            arr    2311
     Sat 8th August 1998
                   dep    0320
Wycheproof         arr    0621
                   dep    0815
[12 photo stops]
Kulwin             arr    1435
                   dep    1520
[2 photo stops]
Sea Lake           arr    1715
     Sun 9th August 1998
                   dep    0650
Wycheproof         arr    0826
                   dep    0915
[5 photo stops]
Dunolly            arr    1330 - D
                   dep    1335
[1 photo stop]
Maryborough        arr    1410
                   dep    1515
Ballarat           arr    1710
                   dep    1725
North Geelong 'C'         1950*
North Geelong 'A'         1955*
Corio                     1959*
Spencer Street     arr    2115

Even though the Robinvale line is longer, surely they could do it in a Fri -
Sat - Sun timetable if they cut out excessive amounts of photo stops,
travelled during parts of Fri night and Sat night and also go via the
Bendigo main line in both directions. The Kulwin tour returned via Dunolly -
Maryborough - Ballarat - Geelong. I think most people would sacrifice this
route to go up the Robinvale line.


--
- James Brook -

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