Re: R711 Sat 15/5/99

[harry <sorry@hotmail.com>]

we would be lucky if west coast have actually paid a cent for anything

Craig Haber wrote:

> Just home from running 8246 pass with
> R711-PCO2-ACZ252-BZ267-BRS221-BS205-BK700
>
> R711 failed on 8207 somewhere down Winchelsea way, and passengers were
> bussed down the line.  It was repaired on-site, and proceeded to Colac,
> where it took water from the up end gantry, then set back and entered
> no. 2 road, crossing 8232.  I joined it at Colac, we departed around
> 1436, Camperdown (non-stop) 1506, Terang (non-stop 1522), arrive WMB
> 1556.  Turn and take water.
>
> 8246 dep WMB 5 late (acc. late arrival), TEG 9 late, CDN 11 late, arr
> XCO 16 late, dep 1839 19 late (ETW), BGU 22 late, WIA 24 late, GEX 19
> late, WRB 15 late, arrive MSS 16 late.  Lost time in the section to TEG
> is largely the 50km/h restriction over newly welded track (all trains
> are losing time in this section), others due to 100km/h running
> WMB-GEX.  We managed 54 mins GEX-MSS with a stop at WRB, that's good
> going for *any* loco.
>
> Keep in mind that's only it's second solo run on this train, so given
> that it will normally depart WMB on time, and with some practice taking
> water at XCO (that stop should come down to around 3mins), there is
> improvement to come.  I think this week's run with 5+van had similar
> timekeeping to last week with 3+van, so that's a indication of the
> improvement.  It'll take some time, but there's much potential for this
> loco.
>
> I was driving to Colac from Geelong (as is the norm on this shift), and
> motorcaded it from the Warncourt level crossing to Irrewarra.....the sun
> had just come out and at 100km/h it looked and sounded fantastic.....
>
> Cheers,
> CH.
> --
> Craig Haber
> albatross@harnessnet.com.au
> http://www.harnessnet.com.au
> The early bird catches the worm - but the second mouse gets the cheese!