R711 Wheels- Standardise-The Reply

[Grahame John Ferguson <grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au>]

In my original mail I was NOT targeting R711 specifically, rather the point
that I was trying to make was that the time has NOW come to make some hard
decisions in regard as to whether the Rail Preservation Societies expand
their horizons or let the world close in on them.  As long as West Coast
Railways have the contract for the Warnambool service well then R711 need
only be broad gauge, after that who knows.  Rather I was trying to attract a
wider debate, and hoped that some positive ideas might have come out of it.
I was also pointing out that out of all the Victorian Steam locomotives,
that the R class is the one best able to be converted.

In the brave new world of corporatisation, they are aiming at a seamless
intergrated service, one with markets that go far beyond the traditional
boundaries of the Victorian Railways.  If a railfan or tourist can not
travel by steam train ,or even historic diesel to either Shepparton,
Wangaratta, Mildura, Echuca, or Yarrawonga in the next 5 to 10 years, the
owners of V/Line Freight are unlikely to be moved by such sentimentality. If
running a profitable railway means standardising, then we railfans will have
to plan and work towards keeping open our activities on those railway lines
we now enjoy.

These days if one wants to run a train to Portland we have to get to a
private company and V/Line Freight to supply the locomotive and carriages to
run a train.  No Victorian Rail Preservation group can run it by themselves,
and so all the money flows not to rail preservation, but to shareholders and
the State Government.  Yes- the writing is on the wall.

What will be the scenario in 10 years?  For instance if the Albury-Wodonga
community in the year 2007 to celebrate to 70th Anniversary of the 'Spirit
of Progress' and asked for someone in Melbourne to provide an historic train
for a Melbourne to Albury run, the best that could be supplied would be an
original XPT set!  We may pour scorn at this scenario, but who in Victoria
today could run such a train on standard gauge?  You would have to ask the
NSWRTM, Lachlan Valley or 3801 Ltd. At least they can look forward to an
increase in market demand.  Did South Australians ever think back in 1988
that they could not run a steam train or even a preserved diesel train to
the rail town of Tailem Bend from Adelaide, 10 years later.  Did they ever
think that the Dry Creek Steam Ranger Depot could be a shell of what it used
to be??

As the broad gauge lines keep contracting, all the Victorian Rail
Preservation groups will be squashed into an ever shrinking market
surrounding Melbourne. With just 4 destinations to go to, year in, year out,
for the rest of our days keep us coming back for more, or will we look
further afield??  Can any or all of them survive??

Has anyone in either public, private, or volunteer organisations have any
strategy to at least standardise some of its diesel locomotives or
carriages?  Has anyone at least studied the impact of standardisation on
Victorian Rail Preservation Societies?  If they have,they have seemed to
have reasoned that no action is needed.

For those of us in rural Victoria, north of Seymour, and west or north of
Ballarat it is the end of a long a proud era for us.

I hope that some one out there will foster some sensible debate, for until
now the silence has been deafening.  I would like facts, not any comments
disected, and some positve solutions please.