Pics of an afternoon railfanning Brisbane Australia. (9 PICS)

[james_saunders]

[Modelcar]

james: It’s interesting to see passenger equipment from another country.

Also if those pic’s are from the current season, I’d like to order some of that kind of Winter weather for our January and february.

[james_saunders]

james: It’s interesting to see passenger equipment from another country.

Also if those pic’s are from the current season, I’d like to order some of that kind of Winter weather for our January and february.

thanks.

It was yesterday these shots were taken, on a nice balmy 25c day, I’ll send some over!

[csxns]

Now lets see some pics of the Australia road trains.

[chad_thomas]

Voice of the “where’s the beef” lady from the Burger King ads:

“Where’s the freight”[:D]

Nice shots James.

[james_saunders]

Now lets see some pics of the Australia road trains.

alrite, but from where I am…its a 20 hour drive to see them…and I only have a bike…so better make that 5 weeks, and i’ll be back [:P]

Chad: we have a public holiday tomorrow So I’m planning on going for a day trip down to the Port of Brisbane to catch some freights from Qld as well as from interstate… there will be coal, intermodal, grain, fuel etc…

so watch this space!

[james_saunders]

“Where’s the freight”

Oh yeah! Theres a freight in my last pic! what you talking 'bout? [:D] [:D]

[chad_thomas]

“Where’s the freight”

Oh yeah! Theres a freight in my last pic! what you talking 'bout? [:D] [:D]

OOps, (removes foot from mouth) My bad. Didn’t look close enough.

[edblysard]

James,

I noticed what looks like an additional signal heads, set at an angel, on top of the ones that are lit in the first few photos…what purpose do they serve?

Home or route signals?

Are the signals there used to indicate routing, or speed, or track occupancy, or maybe some combination of them all?

Ed

[cherokee_woman]

Very good pics, James!! Thank you for sharing them with us!! Really enjoyed
them, and am interested in your answer to Ed’s questions regarding the signals.

[james_saunders]

James,

I noticed what looks like an additional signal heads, set at an angel, on top of the ones that are lit in the first few photos…what purpose do they serve?

Home or route signals?

Are the signals there used to indicate routing, or speed, or track occupancy, or maybe some combination of them all?

Ed

Ed, I’m fairly sure they are Route signals, as just around that bend there is a crossover between all three tracks as up until then the freights and express trains were routed on any old track, but they come to the crossover and are routed to the middle track. I’ve only ever seen them light up after a train has used the crossover and my guess it would indicate where the switches were aligned. however i’m not 100% sure so I’ll check on it.

James

Edit: I’ve just confirmed they are for The driver (engineer) so he/she knows which way the switch is set.

[Kozzie]

James,

I noticed what looks like an additional signal heads, set at an angel, on top of the ones that are lit in the first few photos…what purpose do they serve?

Home or route signals?

Are the signals there used to indicate routing, or speed, or track occupancy, or maybe some combination of them all?

Ed

Ed, I’m fairly sure they are Route signals, as just around that bend there is a crossover between all three tracks as up until then the freights and express trains were routed on any old track, but they come to the crossover and are routed to the middle track. I’ve only ever seen them light up after a train has used the crossover and my guess it would indicate where the switches were aligned. however i’m not 100% sure so I’ll check on it.

James

Edit: I’ve just confirmed they are for The driver (engineer) so he/she knows which way the switch is set.

I would like to concur with Jame’s reply. Whilst sitting at Northgate station waiting for my train, where two sets of lines converge, I heard and saw the switch move to divert the next train, from straight ahead, over to the crossover. At the same time, I noticed what happened with the signal with those extra signal heads guarding that crossover.

As soon as the switch is moved, the row of white lights, set at an angle above the standard signal lights, all light up to indicate the track ahead is set to the crossover.

Dave

[edblysard]

Ok, so on this paticular line, you have both route signals, and occupancy signals.

Either of you guys been in the cab?

I was wondering, because the crossover signal seems to be set in a blind curve, in that the driver wouldnt know if he was being routed through the crossover until he was right up in the curve and could see the signal.

So, would there be a in cab signal, like some of the railroads here use, or is the routing pretty much standard, in that a paticular train is always routed to the crossover, so say a freight driver expects it to be lined for the crossover, but a passenger train would expect to be lined to the outside, or through route to the station?

Ed

[james_saunders]

Ok, so on this paticular line, you have both route signals, and occupancy signals.

Either of you guys been in the cab?

I was wondering, because the crossover signal seems to be set in a blind curve, in that the driver wouldnt know if he was being routed through the crossover until he was right up in the curve and could see the signal.

So, would there be a in cab signal, like some of the railroads here use, or is the routing pretty much standard, in that a paticular train is always routed to the crossover, so say a freight driver expects it to be lined for the crossover, but a passenger train would expect to be lined to the outside, or through route to the station?

Ed

The crossover isn’t actually on the curve itself it’s just past it, but it’s a blind crossover from the way I was facing but not from the other way. When in the cab stopped at the station you can see the signals clearly. I haven’t been in a cab at that location but I’m fairly certain there is a cab signal, and a passenger train is always through the cross over Nth Bound (top of photo) to the middle track So for the next station it is on the right platform. from far left track to middle. the Sth Bound trains all stay on the far right track except for the Tilt train which is routed (most of the time) down the middle track, for both Nth and Sth bound. So the guys behind the “wheel” would know what to expect.

Am I making sense? I did a diagram below, to help…

[Hugh_Jampton]

Ok, so on this paticular line, you have both route signals, and occupancy signals.

Either of you guys been in the cab?

I was wondering, because the crossover signal seems to be set in a blind curve, in that the driver wouldnt know if he was being routed through the crossover until he was right up in the curve and could see the signal.

So, would there be a in cab signal, like some of the railroads here use, or is the routing pretty much standard, in that a paticular train is always routed to the crossover, so say a freight driver expects it to be lined for the crossover, but a passenger train would expect to be lined to the outside, or through route to the station?

Ed

Of course whenever one comes to expect something all the time the once that something different happens disaster results.

What normally would happen where the crossover speed is a lot lower than line speed the signal prior to the junction signal would be held at yellow so the driver would slow the train (in accordance with the rules). Sort of similar to an approach medium. It’s called approach control, and a web page showing how it works is at:

http://www.davros.org/rail/signalling/articles/junctions.html

The rows of white lights are called feathers, and at some junctions there can be loads of them pointing in all different directions. Page 3 of this shows the possibilities

www.railwaves.com/downloads/advanced_signaling_pack.pdf

[james_saunders]

Ok, so on this paticular line, you have both route signals, and occupancy signals.

Either of you guys been in the cab?

I was wondering, because the crossover signal seems to be set in a blind curve, in that the driver wouldnt know if he was being routed through the crossover until he was right up in the curve and could see the signal.

So, would there be a in cab signal, like some of the railroads here use, or is the routing pretty much standard, in that a paticular train is always routed to the crossover, so say a freight driver expects it to be lined for the crossover, but a passenger train would expect to be lined to the outside, or through route to the station?

Ed

Of course whenever one comes to expect something all the time the once that something different happens disaster results.

What normally would happen where the crossover speed is a lot lower than line speed the signal prior to the junction signal would be held at yellow so the driver would slow the train (in accordance with the rules). Sort of similar to an approach medium. It’s called approach control, and a web page showing how it works is at:

http://www.davros.org/rail/signalling/articles/junctions.html

The rows of white lights are called feathers, and at some junctions there can be loads of them pointing in all different directions. Page 3 of this shows the possibilities

www.railwaves.com/downloads/advanced_signaling_pack.pdf

basically what Hugh said, only we use slightly different terminology. and the track speed is alot slower in this section anyway as the trains are normally slowing for a station stop or just starting to speed up, the express trains (including Freight and tilt trains)