Re: "lost" trains

[Roy the Boy <roy@the.coal.face.net>]

Stuart,
    You have to remember that Chullora is reasonably level where as the grade out of
Hawksbury river is quite steep. A 200 ton loco climbing that grade while hauling a set
of passenger cars would have a greater chance of activating the track circuit, if the
reports are to be believed by the simple fact that the wheels were spinning and thus
they would have helped to clear the sand off of the rail. If sand had anything to do
with the accident, all it did was to exacerbate an already existing deficiency with the
system.
 As for David proclaiming that he has read the findings of the inquiry, and that he
agrees with it, just remember Dave, the findings were based on information given to it
by people who had a vested interest in ensuring that the real truth did not emerge.

Stuart Ellis wrote:

> Roy the Boy wrote:
>
> > Any body who believes for one moment that sand was responsible for the accident
> > between 3801 and the intercity is either a fool or an SRA lackey. It should be
> > remembered, that during the investigation it was revealed that there had been
> > over fifty signal irregularities reported in that area. And yet the SRA
> > persisted in trying to blame the driver of the intercity until the problem of
> > the other person in the cab arose. When he confirmed that the intercity did have
> > a green light, the SRA then came up with the sand idea. If that theory had been
> > shot down, they then would have come up with a new idea. The SRA was not going
> > to take the blame under any circumstances.
>
> I do believe that sand was a major factor, plus a few other things at the time. I
> saw a set of light engines disappear off the track circuits at Chullora a few years
> ago, due to excessive sanding.  having worked in Signal branch as a signal
> Electrician, you would think I would know something about it.  Track circuits can
> fail to detect the presence of a train, if they are incorrectly adjusted or
> impurities on the rail head after a buildup of rust on the tracks.  Just remember,
> anything is possible on the railways, the last few weeks have proved this well.
>
> i hope this helps
>
> Stuart Ellis