Re: [QLD] Kuranda SX sets (was: [QLD] The last SX tin sets)

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

Bill Bolton wrote:

> <sigh>
>
> You really do have some very serious comprehension problems.  I didn't
> say that either, or the next piece of word twisting you came up with.

This isn't an exact quote but its effectively what you're saying. You said, "There
aren't that many people who holiday in the Cairns area would be making "average every
day train trips" at all, let alone in anything remotely like an SX set, so that point
seem fairly moot." This means that people who holiday in Cairns do not make "average
every day train trips" in anything remotely like an SX set, which still has
similarities to modern suburban trains. If this is incorrect could you please
enlighten me as to the meaning of this statement.

> Good for you...  so do I, but that doesn't mean they represent any
> significant percenatge of the total number of tourists who visit the
> region, or a significant percentage of the tourist dollars spent in
> the region.

The overseas tourist would probably outnumber the Australians but there are still
plenty of Australians who go up there. How do you know that overseas tourists don't
find wooden cars interesting? Especially as many of them come from countries where
almost all wooden bodied carriages have been withdrawn from service.

> So what are you arguing about?

Have you missed the point entirely? I am saying that it will take a little bit of
interest out of going up the Kuranda line, although the scenery is the main attraction
for the line, the carriages do help to make it a little bit different from a normal
train trip.

> And if it tells that they are popular? What will you do then?

Someone from the ZZR posted a message on this newsgroup that said the SX sets weren't
as popular with the passengers as the Evans cars.

> They are putting their money where their beliefs are on this,

So did the Melbourne Limited and Southern Cross Express operations. Do you see them
around today?

> which is a whole more than can be said for you.

Is this comment really going to achieve much? It's obvious that I don't have the money
to set up a steam hauled tourist train.

> If the Kuranda experience is is basically "just a train ride", your
> whole argument about the type of rolling stock falls apart at the
> seams anyway... you can't have it both ways.

QR will now face competition from the steam operation. If they make their trains
identical except for the locomotives, they will have lost a bit of a marketing edge on
the steam train. Especially as a diesel on its own can't compete with any steam train
on a tourist service. So this argument doesn't fall apart at the seams.

> I bet WCR would love to load factors like every single up and down
> Kuranda trip.  This is getting far, far too silly.

You have to remember that steam hauled trains are much more expensive to operate than
diesel hauled trains. QR will already have a greater profit margin than the steam
hauled train. Unless the steam operation can get very large passenger numbers long
after the novelty factor has worn off, they might face financial problems. I didn't
just compare this new operation to WCR. I also mentioned that just about all tourist
railways operate just on break even point. Although this new steam operation will be
based in a tourist centre, it remains to be seen if they can actually make it
profitable.

> Enjoy your strongly held beliefs.



--
- James Brook -

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