About Co - Moderator Komachi...

Hello all,

Welcome to the "Worldwide Railfan" forum. My handle is "Komachi" and I thought I would share a little about myself, so you can better know your moderator.

As noted on other forums, I am 27 years old (as of 5/14/04), a native Minnesotan and a world traveler. I had the wonderful opertunity to study and live abroad in Japan for two years during my college career. In fact, my handle, "Komachi," is taken from the Shinkansen ("bullet train") that runs from Akita City (the capitol of Akita Prefecture, where I studdied) to Tokyo. The train is named for a strain of rice grown in the region (said to be the most delicious in all of Japan) which in turn is named for a woman of high status (a princess, I believe... it's been a while since I heard the story) who was known for her great beauty.

Needless to say, my "international" railroading interests lie primarily in Asia, especially Japan, however I also have an interest in the railways of Europe (particularly the U.K. and Germany), the former Soviet Block, Africa (especially the old steam engines and ALCo. diesels) and Austrailia (big fan of the Pilbara iron ore roads). I'm not that well versed on the railways of South America but I hope there are people here who can enlighten me on that subject. :D

I'm looking forward to being the moderator of this forum and the future exchange of information with other railfans from the world community.

good to see the whole world covered now . Great stuff .

As far as the philbara iron ore operations , a news item on tv i saw , talked of the size of the whole operation been doubled , to cater for China's growing consumption .

Heh, I didn't even realize that the old 'Non North American' forums had consolidated into one - I remember a British forum (where I asked about 'Slam-Door' Carriages), an European one, and a Australian/NZ forum (where it seemed our correspondent David 'Solar' Benton sometimes held a lonely vigil).

If I could only get them to consolidate a few more forums (like why is NJ light rail seperate from NJ transit...).

So, is the Australian iron ore from Philbara shipped using the new Darwin line? (I thought that was one of the reason it was constructed)

the Pilbara ore railway is a stand alone operation , not connected to any other rail line . it is situated on the west australia coast , a long way from anywhere .
the Darwin line Was built to encourage sea frieght form south eat asia to Darwin , then rail to Southern Australia . Traffic on it is predicted to be light , until this trade picks up .
I think Darwin Getting a rail line was secondary to this aim , although obviously the benefits to Darwin are lower frieght costs , and tourisim form the passenger trains .

Hey guys,

Since this topic is picking up, I thought I'd make it it's own topic on the forum (also, it might attract more attention from others browsing the forum who also have an interest in the Pilbara ore roads).