What is a steam train doing on a Savannahlander blog? And the country side doesn’t look very Savannahry either! With this post comes a slight departure from the normal Savannahlander type posts, just so you know that not everything we do happens in the far north of the State. Through our Tourism and Heritage Railway Peak Body (ATRQ), we attended an emergency training exercise put on by the Southern Downs Steam Railway, in Warwick, down in the states chilly south. When I say we, perhaps I should explain that it was me that went down alone, as the the other chaps had a trains to run. But it is important as an operator that we have a presence at events like this so that we can learn from them, or see where we might improve our own Emergency Response Plan. Without testing or validating your plan, it is really only words on paper, and this is no good if you have to manage a real incident some time in the future. I’m also using this post as a bit of a report on the event, as well as making it a central repository for some of the photos that were taken. I won’t do too much typing… most of the info is in the captions on the photos.
Its busy on the Savannahlander route at this time of year, with well patronised trains mixing with a few charter services, the old Etheridge Branch can be a lively place. A charter unit is normally stored at Mt Surprise this time of year, as most of the charter trip centre around that town. However, last week, the boys on the train needed to borrow the charter unit to help the scheduled train home, due to one of rail cars suffering mechanical issues with its final drive. So all three cars returned to Cairns on the Saturday run from Mt Surprise, but there was still a charter to run from Forsayth on the following Tuesday. Normally, the crew would drive out to Mt Surprise by road, and take the charter unit over to Forsayth on the day before the trip. But with the unit back in Cairns, we had to change our plans pretty quickly. Due to the time and distance equations, a trip cannot be done out to Forsayth in a single hit, so this meant on Sunday, the charter unit had to be sent back to Mt Surprise, so that it could pick up it’s scheduled run on to Forsayth on Monday.
In these times of economic rationalisation, it’s nice to see for a change, a piece of railway infrastructure, long abandoned, being restored and placed back into use. This rare event happened earlier in the year, when the old turning angle at Einasleigh was re-instated and opened to traffic. We’re not sure when this piece of track was last used, but during the weekend, it it finally got some use when a single car charter service from Mt Surprise Terminated at Einasleigh, and had to be turned for the return trip. In the past, a single car trip from Mt Surprise to Einasleigh would have required a further three hour run (each way) to Forsayth to turn.
Those of you who have been lucky enough to travel from Cairns to Forsayth on the Savannahlander may have had the pleasure of having morning tea at the Bullock Creek Cafe. For those of you who haven’t been on the Savannahlander, Bullock Creek is located on the Etheridge Branch about halfway between Almaden and Mount Surprise. The Bullock Creek Cafe offers train passenegrs morning tea on Thursday and Saturday mornings during the Savannahlander season. Recently the cafe has had a lot of cups going missing and some of the thieves have been cheeky enough to send trophy shots of their misappropriated drinking vessels in exotic locations. There is a gallery of these photos on the Savannahlander web site and a photo album of these mischievous mug marauders on board the train. If you have a photo of a missing cup you can send it to us by email:
cuptheft@savannahlander.com.au
or snail mail us a hard copy:
Cup Constabulary
PO Box 718
Edge Hill QLD 4870
Australia
Remember when we reported (spammed?) that the Savannahlander was to appear in two episodes of Postcards Australia? That of course duly happened and two great segments went to air. In total there was nearly twelve minutes of vision over the two shows. But what about the rest of the footage? Good news is that we arranged with WIN TV to produce a DVD of some of the best footage and interviews that they had. We also deleted quite a few scenes that went to air during the series, so the DVD contains about 24 minutes of material, that was not aired. For instance, Leigh did not get much of a show on the TV, but in the DVD you will see him grilled by Susie Elelman – in fact his performance was so good, we thought it was worth putting on the trailer!
So, here is the trailer for the new DVD. If you would like a copy get in touch with us and we’ll arrange for a copy (or several) to be mailed out to you. These will retail for $25.00, but mention this blog post, and we’ll shout the postage.
In the interest of standardising the Savannahlander experience we have been working very hard to introduce some new robotic train drivers. No, not really! The staff changes out west have been of the railway safeworking variety. In March this year, the first of a number of “staff stations” to be re-introduced on the Etheridge and Chillagoe lines was opened for business.
Our favourite Forsayth four-legged mate has gone missing. Boof is a black, male dog with white paws and chest. He was last seen near the train station in Forsayth on Friday the 25th of June. It is believed that someone may have taken Boof. If you’ve seen him please call the Goldfields Hotel on 07 4062 5374 or email matt@savannahlander.com.au
Boy scouts have a motto of ‘Be Prepared’, which is also quite appropriate for Savannahlander Drivers. You never know what is going to appear around the next bend, or on the next bridge. So when the boys came upon old man Wallaroo having a rest in the middle of the bridge, a course of action had to be rapidly put into place, because while the ‘roo was stuck on the bridge, so was the railmotor. Running it over was out of the question – the passengers were watching. And a Wallaroo is like a wallaby on steroids, they are solid muscley creatures and there would have been a very real possibility of the railmotor being tipped off the bridge. No, he just had to be moved.
The poor old bugger was in reality, probably on his last legs, and was looking for somewhere to have a (long) rest. Still, he was between the railmotor and its destination of Forsayth (which has a pub), so he had to be moved. In the photos, you can see Matt trying a variety of strategies, including cursing, gesturing and trying to appear threatening. Even gentle nudge with the railmotor, while blowing the horn failed to dislodge him. Eventually, a large branch was procured, and he was levered off the bridge. What was not captured on film was the happy moment when the Wallaroo was levered clear of the track, which was also the time he became sufficiently irritated to rear up and have a go at Matt. That’s the thanks you get!
Photos in the gallery below were taken by Geoff Morris, a passenger in the train that day. He kindly sent these over after his return to England. If I have left anything out, Matt or Rob will correct this in the comments, when they return to civilisation.
Yes, the updates are coming think and fast tonight, but we’re making up for a slack couple of weeks. There is also a post or two from previous trips that are coming real soon now, or so I keep getting told.
Anyway, as the heading suggests, we are back to full operations, after the unexpected landslide halted operations on the Range for a period. This post describes the first revenue run down the ‘hill’, and todays departure closes out that part of our operational history. This morning, 5A98 departed Cairns for its trip to Forsayth with a load of very relieved passengers, who had been warned that the run to Kuranda might be by bus. Happily this was not the case.
Prior to the Kuranda Range being reopened after the landslide, there was a risk assessment workshop attended by the various interested parties, whose purpose was to fully examine the safety implications of the incident. The hazards and risks to public and operator safety were analysed and a range of controls were suggested to manage those risks down to the lowest possible level.
While it is all very well theorizing over a range of scenarios and controls, they need to be given exposure to the real world to see if they are actually going to work. So once the controls were agreed upon, a set of field testing was planned, where different types of trains were run up and down the range to determine the merits of what was proposed. The Savannahlander was invited to attend.
What is a steam train doing on a Savannahlander blog? And the country side doesn’t look very Savannahry either! With this post comes a slight departure from the normal Savannahlander type posts, just so you know that not everything we do happens in the far north of the State. Through our Tourism and Heritage Railway Peak Body (ATRQ), we attended an emergency training exercise put on by the Southern Downs Steam Railway, in Warwick, down in the states chilly south. When I say we, perhaps I should explain that it was me that went down alone, as the the other chaps had a trains to run. But it is important as an operator that we have a presence at events like this so that we can learn from them, or see where we might improve our own Emergency Response Plan. Without testing or validating your plan, it is really only words on paper, and this is no good if you have to manage a real incident some time in the future. I’m also using this post as a bit of a report on the event, as well as making it a central repository for some of the photos that were taken. I won’t do too much typing… most of the info is in the captions on the photos.
