Re: high speed tours (was: [VIC] R766 and R711 Ballarat tour.)

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

Craig Haber wrote:

> Sadly, no.  In the last few years, infrastructure has been ripped out statewide.
> The number of country locations where you can cross trains is bugger all compared to
> what it used to be.

But on most of the goods lines the top speed is 80kph or less anyway, so it doesn't
matter what sort of carriages you have on those lines. Also the level of traffic on
weekends is pretty low compared to the passenger lines. On the grain only lines the
traffic is almost non-existant during some months of the year. The only advantage to
using the steel cars is that you can get onto the goods lines earlier than if you used
the wooden cars, and if this is required for a path on the goods lines then this is
obviously a tour where high speed cars are required, or else the tour wouldn't run. I am
just saying that surely one tour a year could be run with the wooden cars. And I would
be extremely suprised if Steamrail couldn't run a round tour to Echuca with the wooden
cars because the ARHS and the ARE did it in April. I think it is better to use the Steel
cars rather than not having a tour at all, and some trips (like Sunday's) are better
with the steel cars, but most are better with the wooden cars. I just think Steamrail,
SRHC, ARHS and the ARE should use them whenever possible and try to have at least one
tour a year with them, even if its only to Maryborough. It's a pity that Steamrail
couldn't purchase more compartment K cars (ie: SAR 500 and 600 carriages) These are much
more comfortable than the open saloon cars (ie: SAR 700, 750 and 780 carriages), but I
suppose they are lucky they actually managed to get some K cars at all.

There are possibilities other than running a tour with the same train all the way from
Melbourne. The ARE Oaklands tour ran from Seymour. You could either drive up to Seymour
and catch the train there or you could get the V/Line Albury pass to Benalla. This is a
way to use the wooden cars on long distance trips. Why couldn't Steamrail run a tour
with SRHC to Cobram or Tocumwal (or somewhere up north of Seymour) where they use an R
class with a high speed consist to Seymour and then change trains to the SRHC wooden
cars and J515. They could even promote the fact you go on a high speed express train to
Seymour and then change to a branch line train for the run up north. If the groups only
started working together there are all sorts of possibilities that could make railfan
trips more interesting and different.

> Still no.  The block points on the Bendigo (and Seymour line) are switched out, and
> long sections are in place.  To bring on a couple of shifts of signalmen for 8 hours
> each at double time plus overhead.....the cost of running the tour becomes
> prohibitive.  National Express will be boosting servies again in the new year.
> Given that their rollingstock is heavily utilised during the week, I'd reckon most
> of the improvements will come on weekends - hence pathing even on Sunday's becomes
> more difficult.

They still run up this line with wooden cars, Steamrail does it every year with the
Bendigo Easter fair tour (which is planned for 2000) and SRHC ran the charter train for
the NSWRTM in November. Also in the daylight saving months it doesn't matter if you
reach Maryborough at 1800, because the sun doesn't go down until about 2000. While there
are problems with running low speed cars, there are obviously ways to run a small number
of good tours with them.

> You're departing Melbourne before the first spark, and arriving after the last.  I
> know that won't be a problem for everyone, but it is for many people.

But it still hasn't made good tours unpopular. For a railfan tour it doesn't matter
quite so much because if the tour is worth it, people will book on it. I can understand
why Steamrail doesn't want to do this on their more tourist style trips but on pure
enthusiast tours surely one a year like this wouldn't hurt anyone. And I think they
would be quite popular.

Also these arguments aren't an excuse for using steel cars on the F class trip. The loco
has a lower speed limit than the wooden cars, so clearly wooden cars could have been
used. I'm sure the ARHS would have been a lot more popular if they had hired some
Steamrail cars. Is Steamrail pricing their hire fees too high or is it just some petty
fued between the ARHS and Steamrail?

Its a pity that all the groups try to do things by themselves and there is hardly any
co-operation between them. Just look at what happened in February between the ARE and
Steamrail when Steamrail moved the date of their Sea Lake tour to the same day as the
ARE Portland tour. I find it hard to believe that Steamrail didn't know about the
Portland tour as that had been advertised for weeks before Steamrail moved their tour.
Many members of Steamrail are also members of the ARE and even if they aren't, it isn't
hard to find out about other tours. I really don't see what Steamrail hoped to get out
of that because both groups lost. Steamrail split up the railfans between the two trips,
and there are many like me who went on one tour and would have gone on the other. (I
went on the Portland tour.)


--
- James Brook -

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