Rail fanning without petrol.....
I hope you all enjoy my fictional essay about what might have happened if nuclear bombs were actually used in 1967 in the Middle East. At the time I was listening to the armed forces radio on a new fangled device called a Panasonic transistor radio in Vietnam when war broke out along the Suez Canal. I was a Field Engineer with First Field Sqn Royal Australian Engineers and we were quickly loaded onto a helicopter near Horseshoe and sent back to Nui Dat. We thought we were going to Saigon and onto the Middle East because the sappers were needed to clear minefields and disarm booby traps. However it never happened and the war was declared over in 7 days I think.... So here is what might have happened if the bomb had been dropped again!
At Wallangatta in Prettoria's beautiful North East. the signalman is anxiously checking his watch waiting for the up goods which is 5' late for a crew change.
The Aldonga crew change over with the afternoon down pass.
The Whittgarden branch is 30 inch gauge and a working museum. The Community of Whittgarden have taken responsibility for the little railway. It links Wallangatta with their community and via transfer at Walallangatta to Southern Cross to the South.
As J 527 draws up beside the A2 the crews quickly change over and the guard gives right of way
The double headed NG mixed blows out and departs for Whittgarden. The local community are behind the little railway 100%. Since the oil crisis they promised, actually came, they avoid road transport where ever possible to overcome the severe financial imposts transport to small communities has caused. It is normal for as many as 6 loaded wagons a day being transferred from the broad, six days a week. Wallangatta is no longer the depot for this little train. New workshops and facilities are built at the end of the line. As well as freight the little train brings 50 high school kids into Wallangatta each school day. On Fridays and Mondays an additional train runs on the branch to bring the Uni kids from Aldonga and Southern Cross to and from Uni.
Wallangatta is being fitted out with a new yard allowing fork lift transfer across a loading platform. As well stock gates are to be incorporated at one end of the dock to allow easy transfer of sheep and cattle between gauges.
A new fuel facility is awaiting tender finalisation. 3 BG tank cars, twice a week will transfer into 7 NG tank cars directly, although small storage tanks will take care of any excess loading. This is an interesting venture, as 4 nearby local town have now requested use of the fuel siding. Bio-diesel will come south from Happywatha and ethanol and LPG will come up from Jaylong.
From the footbridge these magnificent engines are a real sight! We were so lucky that we had 100+ locomotives left in storage when the middle east oil fields became unusable. It might be 50 years before the US works out how to undo the damage caused by the 7 day war of 1967.
Good!! The crossing is clear as the J blows out and heads south. The new flashing lights on the crossing have finally made the gate wheel redundant. However a big lesson was learned when steam was returned to service. Never scrap something you may one day need. Even the gates were stored
Now the signalman is really starting to get edgy.
Aldonga has just let the Interstate XPT out, and he needs to get the goods train inside signals so the XPT can get the outer departure signal, about 5 minutes left...
What a wonderful site!! And to think that the North East was the one that decided to revert, and that it was so successful.
My fuel card will be increased next month and I will take the motor bike North and check out all the work that has been done revitalising the NE rail link.
Cheers till next time
Comtrain
) Pic some locations?
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, maybe you could get in contact with the author of the 73 class and get his OK to reskin them in Patricks livery!
