Monday this week started with the phone starting to ring off the hook as the time for the December Operations Session approached. Crew were dropping like flies. Marty’s Dad had a fall and had a fractured wing. He’d been up at the hospital from 4:00am and was in no state to drive up to my place and participate. Glen had a sore throat and was going to get a covid test. Jeff whom was waiting for his wife’s covid test for quite a few days finally got a Positive result at 12:30am – not something he was looking forward to. Darryl, forgot the house number, given that new car port out the front probably confused him.
But at 11:30am the BBQ was fired up, and from midday the crew started to trickle in. We had Darryl and his son Chris, followed by Darren, Arthur and Greg all rock up. We had a few snags and a cold drink and a bit of a natter before heading down to the shed and kicking off Operations just before 1:00pm. Given the small numbers, we decided to do away with North Coast Control and everyone was running trains, working themselves between crossing loops. So if the next section was free, they could take the staff for that section and progress their train in accordance with their timetable card.
Everyone read their notices, the aircon was turned on, their throttles given cab addresses on my layout, the fastclock started and away we went. So over the next 3 hours we had 28 trains operate. A few trains that have sat idle in sidings for over 12 months without turning a wheel ran rather poorly. My ballast train which is normally a great train to operate ran abysmally. It was uncoupling, derailed at a few locations and on a couple of points. It might need a service. Loco 8019 which was in a consist with 8040 and was to drive the Brisbane Limited south from South Brisbane would not move. Whoops. So a jumbo 442 was substituted for the stalled 8019 and normal services resumed.
I had added a couple of wagons to the oil train since last running, and they had not been tested. Guess what? They were bad ordered. So that is a job for me to fix up – post session. Coupler issues and lack of weight in one maybe two wagons.
A gate on the Rocla Sleeper siding was causing some minor issues. However, the fence along the outer edge of Rocla Siding had recently been sheeted in wire mesh. It seemed that a few wagons going past were rubbing on the wire and gradually peeling the wire back along the fence. I will have to look at that. At that same location, the points at the northern end of this loop, were set for the Siding, but as the loco approached on the main, it stopped. It appears that there is bad power feed in one rail at this location.
My CPH railmotor must have some dirty wheels, as it continually stops and restarts. So that will get a service. The 620/720 will also get the same service, as it was derailing more than usual. Maybe it has a build up of gunk on the wheels. I realised after the CPH left Kyogle that my track cleaning train was occupying the Loop at that location. So I moved it from there to the Kyogle Butter Siding.
I just recently did some work with soldering wires onto the control panel at Murwillumbah. But I need to do some work on the screws holding it in place. It was wobbling all over the place. That cause two wires to come adrift again. So that stopped the points being able to be thrown for the Loop. So that will also be addressed permanently post session.
A few trains went via some unusual routes. The Gold Coast Motorail went via the sidings at Murwillumbah to gain access to the platform. The ARHS CPH railmotor tour went via the wrong way around the return loops at Acacia Ridge and got stalled under Rocklea Sidings. So it had to be rescued, and put on the right track. A 44 class whose wheels were continually going out of gauge, was derailing. So it was swapped over for a 442 Class and that caused the train to run a lot better. That 44 class with have its wheels gears changed before the next session.
Darren was running one train with two locos and a coupling pulled out on the lead loco. So I grabbed that loco and fixed the coupling and then after the glue dried, it magically was transported back onto the front of the train. Darren also reported that some manual points in Cassino were not throwing fully. They left the slightest of gaps between the point rail and the stock rail. It might have caused a problem or two. A few points were not throwing properly at Rocklea Sidings. But pushing the button twice seemed to throw the point over properly. I will check that out and also give that track a bit of a clean. The pre-session track cleaning train does not operate through the various sidings at this location, so it is a manual job. It wasn’t done before the session.
Given that the number of operators were down on normal, the number of trains running concurrently was down, so some trains were not in their required location before another was due to run through a location. That then causes issues with the timetable. A case in point, the Railbus which had just run from South Brisbane Interstate Station to Cassino, terminates in the back platform road. About 20 minutes later it is taken on another run to the branch terminus of Murwillumbah. However, before the Railbus could leave, a goods train from the branch was due to travel via the Back Platform Road and do some shunts across to the Cassino Yard. It could not use the Back Platform Road.
A few points will be added to the Notices for the next operations session. I few words will be changed on some of the timetable cards to be even more specific to the Operator to ensure they place the wagon sin the correct location, or go via the correct route. I had the motor rail wagon stored at the wrong end of South Brisbane Interstate platform. I will look at the timetable card to see if I can be more clearer. I also heard some comments via some ex-railway staff, that these instructions were not written by someone who has done the job of shunting previously. These are all backwards. So I will revisit those instructions as well. All in good fun, but I do enjoy being the brunt of all these comments throughout the session.
Soon after 4:00pm we had a cessation of activities due to excess hours and we adjourned to the pergola for a final drink of the crew’s favourite poison:- beer, soft drink, coffee, and a snack of some sweet biscuits and cakes etc.
Thanks for persevering guys. We will be back again but it will be much sooner than 12 months this time. Thanks for attending.
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