Overpowered? You bet! This is Rawlinna which is in Western Australia. There is nothing there, except crew barracks, an old post office and a couple of other non descript buildings (resembling a New Mexico ghost town). On this trip we departed Dry Creek, South Australia with the two units on the front, CLF4 and an ALF, both are Rent-a-Wreck (MK) rebuilds. Plus we had one crew van and five six axle tank wagons filled with diesel. There are two full crews (four blokes) on this job. Run 320 kms to Port Augusta and attach four loaded tank wagons filled with water. Travel another 600kms (350 miles) to Barton and discharge one of the tank wagons of water. Once unloaded head to Cook (a further 200 plus kms) to shunt and stable the whole train. With one crew van still attached head down the track to the 1403 km peg at Rawlinna. Reverse our engines around the triangle (wye) and attach the trailing Q and GM class which the Western Australian boys had left there earlier that day and another crew van. Now, the bit that sucks. The fuel train, also known as the RAFT (Remote Area Fuel Train) had a 80 km (50mph) path and thats what ARG pay for to the operator of this corridor. Even though all four locomotives and the two crew vans are good for 110kmh (70mph) we could not run at 110kmh back to Cook as this costs extra. Fast money if you will. Anyway back to Cook, assist in unloading the fuel and water wagons, put the train together, do a brake test and head back to Dry Creek. Five and half days later and with 3440kms (2137miles) under our belt and were back where we started at Dry Creek. The crew van is exactly that. Its where we hang out for eight hours at a time to eat, sleep, shower and shit. This being how trains across the part of the world are worked. Eight hours on and eight hours off, until you get back home. The crew vans have TV, beds, kitchen, shower, etc and four to five bedrooms and like the locomotives, theyre air conditioned as temperatures in this part of the world exceed 100F plus and thats in the water bag!. Barton, Cook and Rawlinna are all remote towns and are not on the grid, thence the fuel for the towns generators and water used locally and to top up the tanks on the Indian Pacific passenger service. Cook is also where locomotives are topped up with fuel.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 23:30:26 +0000
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