Re: "lost" trains

[David Johnson <trainman@ozemail.com.au>]

nobody wrote:

> Okay so sand has insulated 110 ton locos, but were they pulling a train?

Yes.  At Chullora, a 44 class with 6 cars was isolated from the track circuit.
At the Royal National Park, a 44 class with a short goods train also dropped
off.

> 3801 is 201 tons and was pulling a train of about 300 tons (i think!). I
> find it hard to believe an entire train could be insulated from the signal
> by sand-

Hard to believe, but nonetheless still possible.

> you would expect it to be crushed to an insignificant size or fall
> off the rails after the first few cars.

It was about 1 mm thick at the accident site.  Photos of the bogies of the BV
show the wheel treads were white with sand - at the back of the train!



--
David Johnson
trainman@ozemail.com.au
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~trainman/