Re: See R711's tyres being manufactured!- Why not standardise??

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

Grahame Ferguson (grahamef@users.mcmedia.com.au) wrote:
> 1. In Richard Flinders reply of 1/3/99 it states that they have easily
> convertable ex-SAR steel cars, so there are cars available.

But are they? It all sounds good in theory, but think about the
practicalities. You need two sets of bogies for each car, which cost money
to maintain. You need to get them from Newport to Dynon to be regauged,
which costs a fortune. And if you don't have anywhere to store them for
any length of time on sg, you have to convert them back again after the
trip. The lack of a proper sg depot was the death of Steamrail's previous
attempt at an sg fleet.

$ steel cars are okay for a day trip by diesel, but you need more than 4
cars. You'll also need some sort of buffet, crew support, coal, sleeping
cars, etc. The longer the trip, the more support cars you need.

> 2. Albury, Seymour, & Ararat, are not all on circuitous routes. Nor may
> others that will be converted.

It takes forever to get to Ararat. You'd be lucky to do a day trip by
steam in under 12 hours. Seymour is not always convenient due to lack of a
proper sg platform and operational problems. Albury is really a bit far
for a day trip. If Benalla turntable was duel gauged, then you might get
somewhere.

> 3. Eventhough a Steam engine might not easily  be converted to s.g., a
> diesel easily can!

My point exactly.

> 6. If families want to have steam train rides close to home for a day ride,
> then we are already outmarketed by Puffing Billy.

This hasn't stopped main line trips in the past.

> 7. If we want the people of Country Victoria to enjoy steam then we must
> standardise.

The nearby places will still have bg services, notably the lines which
have a frequent passenger service. Beyond that, it's a mammoth task to get
a steam train there today.

Cheers
David