2018 Train race. Garrett vs 2-6-0. Open windows, folks in the vestibules, man they sure know how to have fun down under.
Seems they do this every year as well as those 2 Elvis trains. Now that's got to be some crazy crazy fun. See thread in Trains ' Elvis has left the Continent'.
Australia, Australia, we luv ya.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s719NGjIdQ4
Miningman 2018 Train race. Garrett vs 2-6-0. Open windows, folks in the vestibules, man they sure know how to have fun down under. Seems they do this every year as well as those 2 Elvis trains. Now that's got to be some crazy crazy fun. See thread in Trains ' Elvis has left the Continent'. Australia, Australia, we luv ya. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s719NGjIdQ4
In fact there are two races per year:
The first around Easter is held between Newcastle and Maitland, so around 100 miles north of Sydney held on the four track section, where two tracks are normally reserved for coal trains.
The second is held on the Queens Birthday weekend in Sydney on the six track section to Strathfield (as illustrated in the video). It was a terrible day for rain last year and I didn't go out to watch.
Peter
Miningman2018 Train race. Garrett vs 2-6-0. Open windows, folks in the vestibules, man they sure know how to have fun down under. Seems they do this every year as well as those 2 Elvis trains. Now that's got to be some crazy crazy fun. See thread in Trains ' Elvis has left the Continent'. Australia, Australia, we luv ya. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s719NGjIdQ4
Downside - no scenes of the Garrett except for it's backhead!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Ok this one has some front views of the Garrett.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KBIyLb7XIbQ
Wow. I didn't think a Garrett could move that fast!
And both of those locomotives just sparkle! I'll bet you could eat off the footplates!
That 4-6-0 is so gorgeous it breaks your heart to look at it. It's a lot better looking than that thing that passes it at the four-minute mark.
And did you see all the smiles on the people waving from the cars behind the 4-6-0? Everyone's having a ball! How could anyone running a railroad anywhere not want to be part of something that brings such joy to people?
I don't know...
You bet Flintlock/Wayne. The folks love steam and everything about it. It is who we are.
After this brutal winter I'm thinking I should retire in Australia when they pull the lever and send me down the chute. Peter, you need a roommate? Know anyone with a nice little apartment for reasonable rent, trackside is fine!
Miningman You bet Flintlock/Wayne. The folks love steam and everything about it. It is who we are. After this brutal winter I'm thinking I should retire in Australia when they pull the lever and send me down the chute. Peter, you need a roommate? Know anyone with a nice little apartment for reasonable rent, trackside is fine!
It is very hot here at the moment.
Half the countryside is catching fire.
I'm not even looking forward to walking home from work.
But it isn't cold and might make a welcome change from the frozen prairies...
We don't run coal fired steam in summer here...
But Autumn (as we call Fall here) might be a better time to come to visit. There should be some steam running. These videos only cover one state (equivalent to o province) NSW. There is more and different steam in Victoria, including the narrow gauge "Puffing Billy" line that runs 2'6" gauge Baldwin 2-6-2 tanks every day. They've converted one to oil burning for use on hotter days.
The next train race is scheduled for 14 April 2019 in the Hunter Valley, details not yet available. In the past they ran four steam trains by using the tracks for both directions, but recently we haven't had four locomotives available.
The line from Newcastle to Maitland runs through normal suburbs (and the diesel locomotives have very strict noise regulations as a result) but should provide a number of opportunities for accommodation trackside.
Peter-- Last 2 weeks we did not break above-32C. Most days were -36 to -38 but one day last week we hit a frightful -46 as the overnight low.
Its been cold since November and relentless. If it gets up to -20 or so it snows like the dickens. It's been very tough and hard on everyone's physcie but so far we are holding fast. Things are normal. I cannot wait to NOT open my Sask Energy bill this month. The bright side is you save on bracer as there is zero need. Even it it does get up to say -18 or so all the ground, houses, trees and everything else acts like a giant refrigerator, locked in at super cold frozen solid and it can be difficult to feel much difference.
If it's hot there I'm going to hazard a guess at around +40C which at the extreme would be an 86deg C swing betwixt your and me. Isn't that something! Difficult to get ones head around that but then you have to figure not only that but we are walking upside down to each other.
When they say " crazy world isn't it?", they are not joking.
By the way 86 deg C swing is 154.8 deg F.
Yes, the local temperature has been around 40 degrees C, and I think a new record was set with five days at 40 or above in a row. I think a record was set for the hottest night ever on record, where the temperature didn't drop below 30 C.
It has been much hotter in the grazing country West of here with days over 45 C, not to mention a drought....
It has approached 50 C in northern Western Australia in the Pilbara, at the old gold mining town of Marble Bar.
We've had thunderstorms here in the evenings, so it is far from a drought and there is little chance of fires.
There are multiple fires in Tasmania, the furtherest South state (equivalent to your northern provinces) and these have been occurring on and off since Spring.
Quite the dichotomy. What a difference.
When I say things are normal, I should say near normal. We have 3 campuses' in town, the Rock, the River and the Canoe. All have large buildings. On New Years Day a pipe burst at the Canoe, setting off alarms and damaged 2 rooms. Our CEO and our Building Super along with a Director and a full work crew had a heck of a New Years Day. Last week another pipe burst at the Canoe in a different location. 2 nights ago, Sunday night another burst wrecking Student Services and another classroom. Insurance company not too happy from what I'm told.
The Mine School is at the River Campus and we are fine. Our big problem comes in the spring when the frozen Montreal River does its big imitation of an earthquake and starts the break up. The pumps are going all out. Maintenance running around outside fighting the good fight. Huge Ravens laughing their fool heads off at us.
Then, as NDG well knows, the bugs arrive by the quadrillions. They say the very cold winter this year helps but I'm not so sure.
Tomorrow is Australia's National Day, 26 January.
There will be a public holiday on Monday.
Various awards are presented on Australia Day.
To my complete amazement, I received one of the minor awards today.
The Chief of Navy handed me an Australia Day Medallion this morning with a sheet detailing my many years of service to the RAN.
I can't complain that my service is unrecognised any more...
Congratulations sailor! And I'm sure it was well-deserved.
Well done Peter, well done indeed!
This is for you...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCFNXiM4CGM
Wayne
Honours, steam loco races, Elvis trains, warm weather, shorts and short sleeves, man oh man talk about the grass is greener on the other side!
Hey Peter, wanna trade places for, hmmm, 3 weeks?
Only -39 this am, -35 daytime high, -33 as I write and all that without the wind. Vehicles are getting cranky, have not had a break in months.
I decided that I should celebrate our national day in an appropriate way. So I headed out for some train photography. The day was fine with just a hint of haze. I picked a location where I could follow the train upgrade to the top of the Great Dividing Range (basically I could overtake the train twice without exceeding the legal speed limit). The train was 4PS6, a container train from Perth in Western Australia. The "4" indicates that it left the previous Wednesday 23 January. It had three GE Cv40-9i ("NR class") and one EMD JT26C-2SS ("81 Class"). Unusually all four units were working and the train was moving quite fast, so I had to choose my locations based on this. I (just) missed my my final planned shot by maybe 30 seconds. It was quiet for a couple of hours, so I had lunch in an airconditioned restaurant and found places to park the car in shade until train 1291, an empty container train from Port Botany to Goulburn . These containers are loaded with logs for export. This had two leased C44aci locomotives CF4411 and CF4412. These units are named after racehorses, and CF4412 is named "Black Caviar" after a racehorse that won every race it entered. The other units are blue and silver, but CF4412 is black and pink with black Polka Dots, the horse's racing colours. (It isn't as bad as it sounds).
It appeared that the next trains would be northbound, but trains had been slowed due to the high temperatures (my car's thermometer showed 42 degrees C) so the next trains were southbound. The first was 6BM9, an SCT train, about half boxcars and containers, led by two GT46C-ACe units, basically a low profile version of an SD70ACe. This was the last train in sunlight as it clouded over and the temperature fell to 39 degrees C. The next train was 7SP5, the opposite of PS6 seen first which came through under the overcast. A thunderstorm was forming to the south as the northbound SCT service 7MB9 appeared running slowly despite three powerful AC units, a GT46C-ACe between two Chinese built SDA-1s. These have 20 cylinder MTU 4000 engines which have quite a distinctive sound. It was now getting dark and as I reached my planned second location, a train I had forgotten ran past southbound. This was another largely empty container service from Port Botany run by QUBE to Harefield for loading with export paper. It was led by another SDA-1, QUBE and SCT being the other operators. It had four other units two GT26C-3 built by NREC in the USA and two cab units type AT36C started by MK but completed years later by NREC in Australia. It was now dark and raining and I braved the lightning for one last shot before heading home. In the rain, the temperature finally dropped to 22 degrees.
Congratulations, Peter! We wish you a Happy National Day!
Jones 3D Modeling Club https://www.youtube.com/Jones3DModelingClub
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