All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

And there wasn't a proper Guards Van on the back either ....

Haven't had crummies here in several decades.

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All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

I thought that honor belonged to Russia.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

I thought that honor belonged to Russia.

The trans-siberian railway might be the longest, but is far from straight.
And the Moscow-St Petersburg line is not a straight either, it has a bend to go round a steep hill.

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

I thought that honor belonged to Russia.

The trans-siberian railway might be the longest, but is far from straight.
And the Moscow-St Petersburg line is straight either, it has a bend to go round a steep hill.

Ok, no problem.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

So far, crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway is still regarded as the World's longest bit of straight railway line. 478kms of track without the slightest deviation.

Cheers.

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

So far, crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway is still regarded as the World's longest bit of straight railway line. 478kms of track without the slightest deviation.

Cheers.

Bing says that is 297.01543 miles.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

So far, crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway is still regarded as the World's longest bit of straight railway line. 478kms of track without the slightest deviation.

Cheers.

Bing says that is 297.01543 miles.

That's right too Vic. ;-)

Cheers.

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

So far, crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway is still regarded as the World's longest bit of straight railway line. 478kms of track without the slightest deviation.

Cheers.

Bing says that is 297.01543 miles.

That's right too Vic. ;-)

Cheers.

Sounds electrifying, like a good place for HSR type operation.

---

The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

All seems iffy to me, but I am Mr minority, so no matter.

You also have to realise too Chris is that those super ore trains transverse thousands of kilometres of private railways that cover nothing but what can only be called as, "desert" (or, "no mans land"), from mines way out in the outback to isolated (or use to be isolated) shipping ports/refineries.

For most of their journeys they're never seen, excluding the wildlife of course, except by those around those mines or those ports/refineries and some of those journeys would be longer than traveling from the far north of the U.K. to its far south, but with very little in the way of elevation changes. ;-)

Cheers.

Does Australia still have the longest straight railway line?

So far, crossing the Nullarbor Plain on the Trans-Australian Railway is still regarded as the World's longest bit of straight railway line. 478kms of track without the slightest deviation.

Cheers.

Bing says that is 297.01543 miles.

That's right too Vic. ;-)

Cheers.

Sounds electrifying, like a good place for HSR type operation.

It mainly caters to freight trains Vic, but there is the twice weekly Indian Pacific service which is more a tourist than passenger train that runs between Sydney (east coast) and Perth (west coast), a trip of 4352km/2704 miles which takes 65hrs, though it's way way cheaper and very much quicker just to take a plane (hence the tourist tag).

Cheers.

The SAR Sishen to Saldanha line was purpose built, "Cape Gauge", runs for about 860km from the loading point at Sishen to the Port at Saldanha. The first 40km or is a steady climb, then its virtually a continuous down grad for the next 600km, before a final "flat" alongside the Ocean. The loading point is at about 1300m asl, and the summit is at about 1500m. The ruling gradient is about 1:250 for a loaded train, against 1:100 or the empty.
Current normal train length is restricted to about 4.2km by the length of the loops (its a single track line), the theory being that if they get timing right neither train stops - and they manage that most of the time!!!

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

A little snow

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

That's the third time this video has been posted in this thread in the last few days. Does anybody actually look at the links?

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That's the third time this video has been posted in this thread in the last few days. Does anybody actually look at the links?

I'm sorry. Just got that in an email, and thought I'd post it quickly here. I haven't followed the thread closely enough. :~(

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

It mainly caters to freight trains Vic, but there is the twice weekly Indian Pacific service which is more a tourist than passenger train that runs between Sydney (east coast) and Perth (west coast), a trip of 4352km/2704 miles which takes 65hrs, though it's way way cheaper and very much quicker just to take a plane (hence the tourist tag).

Cheers.

How's the scenery on that ride? One of the selling points of Amtrak's long distance routes is the great mountain scenery at some point along the route. As much as possible, these trains are scheduled to run through the mountains in daylight and the boring plains at night.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

As much as possible, these trains are scheduled to run through the mountains in daylight and the boring plains at night.

In a classic example of accountants not giving a d**m, the last few years that CN and CP ran scheduled passenger service through the Canadian Rockies they scheduled the passenger trains to run at night, in order to allow the frieghts to run faster.

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It mainly caters to freight trains Vic, but there is the twice weekly Indian Pacific service which is more a tourist than passenger train that runs between Sydney (east coast) and Perth (west coast), a trip of 4352km/2704 miles which takes 65hrs, though it's way way cheaper and very much quicker just to take a plane (hence the tourist tag).

Cheers.

How's the scenery on that ride? One of the selling points of Amtrak's long distance routes is the great mountain scenery at some point along the route. As much as possible, these trains are scheduled to run through the mountains in daylight and the boring plains at night.

Well other than than crossing the Great Dividing Range after leaving Sydney (the green belt) there'd be a lot of very flat landscape, a bit of native wildlife now & again, the odd town (some ghost 1's), several mining towns/communities and if you go in the right season you may even think that you're on Mars while crossing the Nullarbor David, but almost all of the journey runs thru some of the driest regions on this planet.

Cheers.

Well, I wish there were passenger trains near me. Those closest thing is a dinner train, :~0

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

So, the coupling on the first wagon behind the engine in Australia has to be designed to withstand a 99,000 tonne load plus a factor of safety, just in case it just happens to be the leading wagon? So how much over engineering is that costing in producing railway wagons then, which no doubt is transferred to the customer paying for their freight to be transported.

Not necessarily, i expect there are several power units along the length of the train, so the lead loco isn't expected to pull the whole 99k tonnes.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.