Some action on the North Coast Line (Queensland, Australia) plenty of pics...

james_saunders · December 31, 2006, 8:57pm

Sydney, yes that would have been the harbour bridge and the opera house, it was the largest pyrotechnics display in the world, according to the news.

Happy new Year.

M636C · January 1, 2007, 1:05am

The locomotives in Australia, with the exception of the pilbara region, have to be built a bit lower than AAR standards, because of clearance issues on much of the East coast. As to regards to accidents I believe the 2850’s are reinforced at the front, but much of Queensland is rural along the North Coast line so it does not see much action, however down south in NSW and Victoria there have been some bad fatal accidents, which involved similar build locomotives. The EMU (passenger) are more susceptible to damage, as it is fluted aluminum sides and steel fronts, there was an accident a few years ago when a stabled (empty) emu was side swiped by a derailed cattle train, i’ll dig up the photo’s of the damage, and search for the accidents in the other states, also interesting to note however, the Ghan hit a Semi at a level crossing in the Northern Territory at 120km/h two weeks ago, but only minor damage was sustained, and only minor injuries occured.

James,

I was up that way until Christmas, and got as far north as Gladstone.

The green grass up that way is a relief from the drought areas further south, and makes a good background.

All the locomotives are being strengthened against collision, the 2300s and 1720s getting stronger cabs and the 3500 electric locomotives losing their nose doors in the process.

The PN class have a special collision barrier separate from the cab which should be visible in the photos (I’m on dial up away from home, and I only got the first three photos before it turned into a maze of red "X"s). I saw a lot of the QR owned 4000 class, otherwise like the PN on coal trains - they can haul more than the electrics, and seemed to be working half of the trains to Gladstone from Blackwater (not counting the Moura trains).

The suburban trains are stainless steel, not aluminium, and stand up better in accidents as a result. The tilt train derailment (with a friend’s family on board) proved that t

Modelcar · January 1, 2007, 9:13am

…Datafever:

I went over to Google and entered: Tilt Train Technology…and found plenty of data…You might take a look.

tatans · January 1, 2007, 12:06pm

Always good to see some different “strine” trains from down under, Aussy technology seems to adapt their lineage to meet their requirements, this results in some different looking locomotives and is a nice change from North American choo-choo’s, maybe we should be looking there for some new technology, it still amazes me how they keep their trains on the track when they are upside down eh? again, nice photos, keep them coming.

Datafever · January 1, 2007, 12:54pm

After slogging through many, many web pages, I think that I can conclude that the Tilt Train uses the same passive tilting technology that is used for the Japanese trains (as opposed to the active tilting technologies that are used for most European trains). I would not have expected it to be so much work to find a good web page on Australian tilt train technology, and perhaps I have taken a wrong path somewhere.

Modelcar, thank you for your help. I have no idea why I failed to use the word “technology” in my earlier searches.

Modelcar · January 1, 2007, 3:56pm

…Datafever…Glad you were able to find at least some of the info you were looking for.

gregrudd · January 2, 2007, 6:12pm

Very much so. The QR tilt train uses Hitachi electricals/tilt system which have proven to be quite reliable in service.

gregrudd · January 2, 2007, 6:16pm

As to the 4000’s v’s the Electric’s it will be interesting how the new Siemens units will perform once they arrive. As to the electrics it is my understanding that both the Comeng/Hitachi’s and the Walkers/ASEA units are both Thryistor controlled.