Re: R 711

[steam4me@enternet.com.au (Yuri J Sos/Melbourne AUS)]

On 10 Feb 1999 08:28:03 GMT, markbau1@aol.comQQQQyuk (MarkBau1) wrote,
and I selectively quote:

>I believe the R was controlling the 2nd unit  (B or S) when it broke away from
>the train and the train ran up its bum recently.

In 1984, I was on a train from Cuzco to Macchu Pichu when an air hose
parted.  We were only travelling at 30-40km/h at the time, but a full
carriage of people ended up compressed against the forward bulkhead,
the full complement occupying only the first third of the carriage
<g!>.  Luckily no-one was hurt.

If an airhose parted at 115km/h, one would imagine that the passengers
would have been flung about the carriages in a major way firstly when
the airhose parted and then again when the carriages "ran up its bum".
When I asked over a year ago in this NG (as a result of the DB ICE
crash) whether carriages or light engines pulled up quicker in
emergency brake applications, most enginemen said that a train would,
so why would the carriages crash into the back of the locos?

Given that this alleged incident occurred on the maiden voyage and
that TV news crews, newspaper journalists, people on the "A" list, MsP
and other assorted dignitaries filled the train, why was there *no*
mention of this event in TV, radio or print media?  Are Aussies better
at the great cover-up than the White House?

R711 had only one revenue run, on Sat 21 Nov 1998 Melbourne to
Warrnambool and return.  The MU stand controlled the T369 in beta
testing in the week leading up to the first run and B76 on the revenue
run.

BTW, it is not anticipated that the R will run in multiple once
service resumes about April 1999.

A photo of the driver's station, including the MU control stand can be
seen at  http://people.enternet.com.au/~steam4me/r711_3.jpg
(sorry, that page hasn't been updated in months as most of my more
recent shots of R711 are on digital video and I haven't acquired a
still image capture card yet - a Snappy3 is on order).
Regards

Yuri
-- 
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Yuri J Sos
Melbourne VIC AUS

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