Re: [QLD] The last SX tin sets

[James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au>]

Bill Bolton wrote:

> I doubt it.  The tourists who ride the line do it to see the scenery
> and are probably largely unaware of anything much to do with the train
> itself, apart from whatever spin the tourist sales material and guides
> put on it.  Its diesel hauled but that seems to have no impact on its
> attraction.

One of my friends who isn't a railfan, went up the kuranda line a couple of
years ago and when he was telling me about it, he talked more about the old
wooden cars than the scenery.

> Even as a railfan, it wouldn't worry me one way or the other.  I'd
> rather see the service running safely and profitably into the distant
> future than to become uneconomic and cease due to exorbitantmaintenance
> costs.

I would rather see a stainless steel single deck train than nothing. All I am
saying is that they aren't anywhere near as interesting as wooden cars. You
mightn't think so, but everything all adds up to the experience of going up
the kuranda line. If you take away the wooden cars you loose a bit of that
experience. You are probably right that it wouldn't make that much of a
difference to the average tourist but it does make it just that little bit
less interesting and different from an average every day train trip.

> Different to what?  Fluted stainless steel single deck cars would be a
> "nostalgia item" for tourists for many parts of the world where they
> are no longer common.

If you go anywhere in Australia you can see fluted stainless steel single deck
cars. The XPT, Sprinters, Comeng, Hitachi, The Indian Pacific, The Ghan, The
Overland, The Ausralind, the list goes on... As you can see in Australia,
fluted stainless steel cars aren't exactly hard to find but wooden cars are.
The creaking and noise of a wooden carriage is something that is totally
different to the noise you get in a steel car, and that means it is something
completely different to the average train trip. How popular do you think
Puffing Billy would be if they took away the wooden cars and replaced them
with stainless steel cars?


--
- James Brook -

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