Re: Indian Pacific Lithgow

[matthew@mail.usyd.edu.au (Matthew Geier)]

>>>so what about concrete sleepers? Are there any pressing reasons for
>>>not using them?
>>>
>>
>> Concrete sleepers, while great for holding CWR in place and lasting
>>a long time are not derailment proof. They crack and then are useless.
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>snip snip
>
>īs this a purely Aussie phenomenon, due to the heat? The only case of
>heard of concrete sleepers cracking in Europe is that of those made by
>the former East German State Railways (DR), using sand from the Baltic
>beaches (actually, I think crumbling is probably more correct).
>

 Im not aware of any of the concrete sleepers used in NSW just 'crumbling'
in normal traffic. However there have been quite a number of instances of
derailed wagons being dragged many kilometers before the crew notices,
leaving a trail of cracked sleepers. This is particulary a problem with
loaded coal trains. One derailed axle might not get noticed for a while
(ie until it hits a set of points and pulls the other axle off and parts
the train!), and with a quarter of the weight of a load of coal bounceing
along the sleepers, a lot break...

 There was a case a few years back when a load coal train was dragged down
the hill to Emu Plains with a derailed wagon. Probably due to the curves
the crew never noticed the dust being kicked up by the drailed wagon.
 After the crew were notified something was wrong , stopped the train and
appropiate wagon repair action taken, the perway maintence crew went back
up the montain and placed a wooden sleeper between every 5th or so concrete
sleeper. Most had been cracked by the derailed wagon, so there was concern
that they couldnt hold the guage properly anymore. (But they could still
support the rail - hence '1 in 5' timber to hold the guage). I think that
line then went another year before they relayed the lot again.