Overland divisions

["Roderick Smith" <rodsmith@werple.net.au>]

Let's have some sense in thread contributions and titles; internet is
descending rapidly into the triviality and cult excesses of cb radio, which
died as a result.

On Fri.12.4.74, three overnight trains from Melbourne arrived in Adelaide.
The main train (20.40 ex Melbourne?) arrived with
2x930-PCO-5xsleeper-club-4xsleeper-AJ-BJ-RBJ-2xBJ-CO.
The second division (20.00 ex Melbourne?) arrived with twin Alcos, a
mixture of joint-stock E carriages and VR blue carriages, with RBJ-PCO at
the rear.
The third division (22.00 ex Melbourne) arrived with
2x930-VP-BCE-2xBE-BW-AE-cafeteria-2xBW-AE-AS-SCD.

This may not have been the only year with three overnight trains, but is
the one which I found while my charging meter was ticking over.

AFAIK there were never three divisions at Christmas.

I will look at the late 1930s when I get time.  Trains in that era were
shorter, increasing the likelihood of an extra division (but, despite the
lack of transport competition) traffic was not as great then as now: people
did not have the wealth for regular interstate travel.

-- 
Regards
Roderick Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Geoff Lambert <G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au> wrote in article
<7lotgt$kp1$1@mirv.unsw.edu.au>...
> I asserted here last week that the Overland did occasionally run to 3
> divisions and cited both memory and documentary evidence to support
> this.  [I think David may have been the person who recently mentioned
> in a e-mail to me that even three divisions probably never ran
> (David?].  Rod mentioned in a post that 3 Divisions were not scheduled
> until the early to mid 1970s Easter services.
> Anyway, I have reviewed all my Easter and Christmas WTT books from
> about 1955 to about 1973 and I cannot find a single instance of 3
> Overlands.  My "observations" notebooks froim the 1960s contain no
> such evidence either despite my memory to the contrary.  But these
> books are not complete.
> I would say that if 3 Divisions ever ran, they ran on on the Up on
> Christmas Eve 1965 and on the Down on Good Friday Eve possibly 1972
> (?).
> No evidence for more than 3 at any time in history.