The Savannahlander

This post comes to us from one of our drivers who had more that a little reason to be annoyed this week:

This week was the first week of the Delaney Gorge closure, and is the first of many where the Savannahlander will be terminating short of Forsayth. We rang train control from Almaden on Thursday morning and were told that the track gang had a stop board at the 213.500 km mark on the Wirra Wirra – Forsayth section. We were given authority to the 213.450 km which is a good spot for us. It allows us to unload passengers at the nice flat clearing at the top of Turkey Flat and they then have a short bus ride down the sealed road to Forsayth. It also allows us to stow the railmotors so they are not visible from the road. The bus was organised, we had authority to Turkey flat – we were on track (pun intended) for a smooth bustitution at Turkey Flat…

Stop board at Turkey Flat

We got to the top of the Newcastle range and came across a 15km/hr speed restriction at the same place as last week. Last week it was long, excruitatingly long. The project gang have replaced the sleepers but not secured them to the rail so the track is only being held together by every second sleeper. Now we don’t mind a speed restriction for safety reasons but going at 15 km/hr for a long time can really become tedious. It turns out the speed restriction is now 18 km long! That’s well over an hour going at 15km/hr! We finally came to the end of the speed restriction and arrived at Turkey Flat.

We came across a stop board at 213km. To our dismay (and anger) some one had decided to extend their work site by 500 metres without telling us or (more importantly) train control. This meant that instead of unloading our passengers at a nice flat area with easy access to the bus and little in the way of obstructions on the ground for our walking stick toting customers, we had this:

A big drop

A less than ideal platform

We got our passengers away and then set back a couple of kilometres to stow the railmotors. After a number of conversations with various levels of officialdom, it became apparent that no-one was willing to accept responsibility. All we know for sure is that it was embarrassing for us and certainly not our customers fault! Stay tuned for further updates.

Tags: Savannahlander

Despite the short life of this blog to date, one of the over-riding themes here is the amount of (non Savannahlander) derailments that have occured in the Delaney Gorge near Forsayth. This has become a cause for concern, and to that end QR have requested a total possession of the track in order to conduct the following:

• complete a full and detailed inspection of the line beyond ‘Turkey Flat’
• Bring the “project sleeper replacement gang” ahead of their current worksite, and complete the re-sleepering  in the gorge
• Do the above work without traffic (ie: the Savannahlander) running through the worksite, in order to expedite the completion of works
• Eliminate any risk of the railmotor derailing on unknown track defects

We agreed with the concerns and the need for the closure. This closure came into affect today and is expected to last through to the end of October. So to any intending passengers for this period, the closure is extremely regretted, but on this occasion safety considerations must come the fore.

The track through the Delaney Gorge is unique and inaccessible for anything other than a rail vehicle. The track descends over 10 kms clinging to the side of the gorge with grades as steep as 1 in 33. Sharp curves are also a feature of this section, and it culminates is a short stretch of track that actually runs along the river bed. After this, there is a short climb out of the river and a 4 km run to Forsayth. This would be one of the least desirable places to part company with the rails and from an operational perspective, it is far better to have rehabilitation works fully completed, rather than run any risk of derailment. Certainly, the other derailments suffered in that section are an omen that all might not be fully right along there.

If you’re booked on the train over the next month, here is one of the features you won’t see – This is ‘high bridge’ in the gorge. Can any of the past ‘savannahlanderers’ tell us what interesting animal inhabits this area?

Despite the closure of the track, passengers will still be staying overnight at either Cobbold Gorge or Forsayth, depending on where you are booked. Tours of the Gorge will not be affected by this.

Tags: Obstructions

Some of you wanted to know what happened with the latest incident.

The train arrived at ‘Turkey Flat’ on its usual Thursday Run, and  the PV 6 remained derailed between there and Forsayth. So this is as far as the train could go. The proprietor of the Forsayth Tourist park was waiting with his bus to transfer the passengers into Forsayth, as was his son-in-law, who took in the crew after the train was secured.

Despite harbouring faint hopes of a recovery of the PV 6 before the trains arrival, it didn’t quite happen. From all accounts, this occured about an hour or so after the train left from Turkey Flat on Friday.

On Friday, passengers departing from Forsayth were conveyed back to Turkey Flat on an Oz Tours coach that had a group joining the train.  Not long after this occured,  a truck appeared in Forsayth, on which the much disgraced track recording car was to be removed from the distict.

Tags: Recovery, Savannahlander

Conscious of not being too negative in the reporting of events and happenings in the life of the Savannahlander, I was going to write an item about the access we can provide for Mobility impaired passengers. However, this will have to wait while we deal with another incident, highly likely to annoy the crew and passengers on the current trip.

To start things off, I will post an extract, written on 15 September, from one of the rail forums where some of the Savannahlander people occasionally lurk:

Stand-by Sav Crews. PV 6 is back out this week:

Today – PSM – AAD
Tue – AAD – MSR
Wed – MSR – FOY
Thu – FOY – AAD (x5C99 MSR)
Fri – AAD – CNS

Any bets on where it will derail this time around, and how long the delay will be?

Hmmmm, yes, prophetic words indeed. To Explain:

“PV 6″ is this strange rail vehicle :

It is used to record track profile and defects. The post above notes that it will be running ahead of the Savannahlander on the Etheridge branch.

This makes us nervous.

On the three previous occasions it has been out on the line, it has managed to derail twice. And this year, we have had other track maintenance machines derail in the section ahead of the train twice! (As reported below)

So it has come to pass the prophesy of doom in the form of another derailment has been fulfilled. Today, PV 6 went in the dirt just short of  Forsayth, not having quite completed its trip. On the question of the bets as to where and for how long, one of the respondents was accurate to within 5 km of the location. The length of time it will be in the way is not yet known, as it is still in the dirt as this is written. We’ll update this blog as progess is made!

I will not speculate on the cause of the derailment, but there are those who suggest track defects (yes there is an irony there), but it is important to point out that this does not necessarily make the track unsafe for our train to travel on. A major track rehabilitation project is underway and this incident has occured on the last few remaining kilometres that have not been yet been re-sleepered. Also, the rigid wheel base of the little machine makes it less inclined to stay on the tracks when the going gets rough, as compared to the superb bogies that the railmotors ride on.

But for now, it looks like the this weeks train will again terminate at Turkey Flat.

Tags: Derailments, Obstructions, The Savannahlander

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Here’s hoping that you enjoy the new Savannahlander Blog!

Tags: Info

One of the Railmotor units went for a rare excursion on the main North Coast Line between Cairns and Innisfail on 5 September. This was a charter for ATHRA who were having a conference in Cairns.

Originally planned as a two car set, with the scheduled Savannahlander going out as a single car, late rush of bookings for the main train put paid to that plan, so all 45 guests had to squeeze into the 48 seats in the car.

Innisfail has a turning angle so it was no real problem not having the second unit on with its driving station at the other end of the train.

The main benefit of the run south for us was to see how the unit performed at sustained high speed running on the better track down that way. It did not dissapoint, and got better the longer the trip went on – probably blowing the cobwebs out of it.

The trip home at night was great too. The brighly lit sugar mills and towns rising over the horizon and passing us in the night was a memorable sight.

Running down the fast straight section towards Deeral

On the Innisfail Angle

The following evening, the group also booked a charter to Kuranda. For this post I will pinch an extract from a rail Forum where I reported the same event:

Saturday night the group desired to be conveyed per single car railmotor to Kuranda for an awards dinner, and to be returned to Cairns per same conveyance, while indulging in the very attractive night views from Red Bluff on the range. The dinner was held in the Kuranda Bottom pub, basically across the road from the station.

Now, because this was a single car unit, the crew  had to take the empty unit over to Mareeba and turn it on the angle up there. Yes there is a turntable at Kuranda, but we did not know to drive it, whether the RM built enough wind to blow it around (it is air powered) and if it could be used while the station was unattended. (It was later resolved that it could be used unattended as it is not interlocked with the rest of the signaling.)  Anyhow, due to the need to cross a sugar train, we would have had to leave the yard anyway because you can’t cross trains there while the station is unattended.

Uneventful although slippery run to Kuranda, the highlight being the crossing of a certain 5C99 (Savannahlander) railmotor service at Redlynch.

After letting off the group at Kuranda, another uneventful run in the comparative peace and quiet and made good time into Mareeba. Not as lively up this neck of the woods compared to running down the NCL.

It started to become eventful in Mareeba itself, with the first issue manifesting itself in the form of access to the angle. Someone had planted a dog spike, through the metal base plate, between the curved blade rail and the stock rail on points we needed to throw over to get on the southern leg. These were spiked to set the points for a long disused and decrepit fuel siding. The RM has a handy kit off tools fortunately, from which was extracted a sledge hammer and a pick. Remember, this spike was between two rails and swinging room was at a premium. A few good belts on each accessible side to make the spike slightly dizzy but due to the plate it was put through, we could not manage too much movement. A block of wood provided a fulcrum and with the pick we tried to lever the spike out. It took a few goes of levering and belting , and it had had enough by about fourth attempt and surrendered in a somewhat anti climactic extraction. After this we walked the angle to make sure there was no reason for it to be spiked out of use, or indeed spiked elsewhere.

Other thing we noticed was the seedy grass on the Northern leg – the very up hill northern leg. Sitting here typing this, I am wondering why we didn’t just do away with standard procedure, and run around the angle ‘in reverse’ – but that’s old habits for you. Anyway, at the time, we didn’t think it would give us as much trouble as it did.

As predicted, the old girl stalled about half way around on the oily grass. We set back down to the apex, and grabbed some shopping bags, some sand (aka ballast) and manually sanded the curve until the grade eased. Gaz eventually bludgeoned his way back up to the main line, emptying the sand boxes in the process, but the main thing is we did it. And so back to Kuranda.

We got out of Kuranda on time with the group and went for a nice little run down the hill back to Cairns. A couple of stops were made at Red Bluff and the jump up to view the lights of Cairns. While its sad to see the spread of Cairns suburbia by day, by night it is a truly wonderful sight with all the pretty lights and such. Need more excuses for night runs down the hill I think.

Thus ended a couple of great days playing host to ATHRA. However as we had yet another charter on Monday, it was back to work on Sunday arvo  to prep the old girls for another run. No rest for the wicked here!

Tags: Charters, Obstructions

On 13 August, that Sleeper Shuttle derailed in the Delaney Gorge. Again.

It was last seen heading towards Mareeba.

On the back of a truck.

Good Riddance

The train had to terminate at Turkey Flat. Again!

Tags: Derailments

On the 2nd and 4th of August we had ‘back to back’ charters booked by two different groups. With the spare unit already positioned in Mt Surprise, we planned to drive out to Mt Suprise on the 1st and run it over to Forsayth, as is our usual procedure.

Unfortunately, there was a ‘communication break down’ that resulted in a bunch of track machines being left in the section – that means stored on the mainline along way from any convenient sidings. Adding to the complication, the blokes that left them there had ‘blown’ their hours and were not permitted to get them before 0600 the following morning.

They were the better part of two hours out from any siding. The charter was due out at 0900 the following morning so it was going to be a late one. Fortunately we were able to get onto the charter group at Cobbold Gorge and advise them of the problem. They were okay with it because they had no committments at the end of their trip on that day. So we got to stay in Mt Surprise

By 0900 the next morning we were on our way over to Forsayth – 122 km away, but five hours travel on that old line. Arrival in Forsayth was not without incident, because as we were turning the unit, there was a loud bang and a bump from the back. But everything smoothed out and we were rolling okay so we completed the move and stopped back at the stationm facing the correct direction for the return trip.

Investigating the ‘bang’, we noticed suspicous scuff marks and the rail and a distinct lack for decent sleepers over a short section of it. Seems that our mate the sleeper shuttle had been at work and spread the rails here. Our unit dropped a wheel into the ‘dirt’ but climbed back up again.

The local ganger was duly informed and he set to work rectifying it before our return the next day.

The charter trip was not totally without incident either. Not far from Einasleigh there was a huge buckle in the track. Tyre marks next to it told the story – a 4WD using a track next to the line and done a three point turn, with his tow bar or rear bumper catching the track and pushing the buckle into it. We crept around that – lucky it was sited in time – and continued on, giving the local ganger yet another weekend job. After that we got back to Mt Surprise with no further incident.

On the Sunday (3rd) it was back over to Forsayth, and yet more fun and games. This time a broken rail about 14 km past Einasleigh – our suspect again being the sleeper shuttle. We again had to creep over this defect, which was duly repaired behind us.

The following day, on our way back to Forsayth with the second charter group, I was told by control that the shuttle had caused some damage to a bridge near Forsayth. As this happened behind us, this was more of a concern for the regular train crew coming out a couple of days later. And this machine is out here to fix the track?

Tags: Charters, Obstructions

Accommodation is at such a premium during the peak season that tour companies bringing groups out to the Savannah region need to book their own train. The limiting factor of the Savannahlander is not the seats in the train, but the beds in the districts that we visit. Therefore, groups can travel over short half day sections on their own train, while not taking up valuable accommodation places for the independant travellers. Typically, groups charter the train between Forsayth and Mt Surprise.

Spare railmotor unit

This year, we will operate a total of 11 additional Savannahlander trips.

Because we only have three Rail motor units in our fleet, charters must be ran as a single car train – two units normally being required for the main service. The ‘spare’ car is transported on a regular train to Mt Surprise and stored there – normally a week before it is needed. The day before the charter, the crew drive out to Mt Surprise by car and prepare the unit, then take it over to Forsayth Empty. They remain there over night, and in the morning, meet the passengers and work the special train back to Mt Surprise.

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Using the train to Muster Cattle

We are convinced that the local wildlife and animals know the Savannahlander time table better than we do. When they are not expecting a train to come through, they are out in force and you can see fauna in quantities not normally experienced on the normal train. It might also be that the specials run to different times. Normally, these wonderful sights are only enjoyed by the train crew, because this seems to only happen during the ‘empty car run’.

Tags: Charters

Not a week after the Gelaro Level Crossing incident another phone call comes into the office with more bad news for the passengers. A track machine had derailed in a very inaccessible spot in the Delaney Gorge, near Forsayth.

The track is undergoing a major re-sleepering project which sees plenty of track machines running around the district doing their stuff. This has been going on for the past three years.

The line is light and fragile and some of these machines are heavy and brutish. One in particular is the sleeper shuttle, which conveys a few tonnes of steel sleepers from the dump sites, to where they are needed on the track. However, it was suspected that this machine was heavier than what the old track was happy with. The derailment confirmed the suspicion.

Add to this the experience of 100mm of extremely unseasonable rain. This made conditions too hazardous for the breakdown gang to be able to re-rail the machine, and repair the resulting damage to the track. So it had to be left there.

Enter the Savannahlander, full of passengers trying to get through to Forsayth. And this was only a week after the previous cancellation because of Gelaro. At least in this case there were some things in our favour. This incident happened close to Forsayth. The train was allowed to proceed to a place called Turkey Flat, which is where the Einasleigh – Forsayth Road passes very close to the line. At only 15 km from Forsayth, it is only 15 minutes by road into town, while the train normally takes an hour to navigate its way through the Delaney Gorge. While this wasn’t the best thing to happen to those on board, at least they got a lot further than the people that travelled the previous week. Below are some photo’s of the offending machine parked in the dirt:

The machine took out a couple of lengths of rail and a bunch of sleepers while it was busy falling off the rails.

Tags: Derailments