We as engineman would sometimes compare our railways of Victoria to the US, especially us fans who were aware of the size of the trains they would run in North America. I cant believe were running this old crap on slow arse trains at ridiculous slow speeds. Case in point is this 1985 shot from the drivers seat of A71. The A class is relative new rebuild where, as a B class it traded its 1500hp 16-567B block and its antiquated electro pneumatic electrical system for a turbo charged 2450hp 12-645E3 and Dash 2 electrical cabinets plus a whole bunch of new gear. The loco was originally built in 1952 for goodness sake, why bother? On top of that our comrades are suffering in those old ALCos coming the other way on that interstate job that originated in Adelaide (the crew on it, would have got on it for the last two hundred miles). Both trains are on the out skirts of Victorias capital, Melbourne. Soon Ill have A71 wound up to 70 mph on the passenger train to Geelong and it will be riding like shit when it does. In an hour the crew will be stepping off those clagged out World Models feeling like they have really driven the things. But I have to tell you, I for one am pleased we were slow on the uptake, otherwise guys like me would have nothing to compare it to nowadays, nor have images to share.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 21:16:42 +0000
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