Re: Indian Pacific Lithgow

[John MacCallum <engineman@ozemail.com.au>]

David Johnson wrote:
> 
> David Proctor wrote:
> 
> > NSW regulations require a brake examination - the examination donw at Broken
> > Hill suffices for the Adelaide - Sydney portion.
> 
> No brake examination is done at BHQ.
> 
> > Some sort of exemption has
> > been made to enable the same train to travel from Sydney to Lithgow (if the
> > consist is altered, a full examination needs to be done) without an exam -
> > this exam is done at Lithgow.
> >
> > I travelled from SYD to PER on 30/11 and we definitely stopped at Lithgow
> > yard for well over an hour - not sure of the delay though - did not stop at
> > Lithgow at all on eastbound on 17/12
> 
> They did do brake examinations on the Eastbound journey for a while, because a
> loco inspector was driving the engine, and the brakes would not hold the train
> on 1 in 33.  Not sure of the exact story behind it.
> 
It regularly runs away on 1 in 33s because it still uses Cast Iron brake
blocks. The excuse is that composite shoes put to much heat into the
wheels and therefore cause thermal cracks. 
To my way of thinking this train should not be run over the mountains. 
It's not real good on 1 in 40s let alone on 1 in 33. 
Australian National and the new operators of the train should have been
made to do something about it.
4200 tonne Coal Trains brake better than it!

John Mac