Greetings all! I thought you all would like to have a taste of things from Australia. I just got my new Canon 350D EOS for my birthday and decided to go railfanning today.
Where I am from (Perth, West Australia), they are building a new 73km, high speed inter-urban rail link to serve the southern suburbs of Perth. This is due to open in April 2007. I went down there to document the work trains and construction. I must say its very interesting to watch new track being laid!
One of the 10 stations being built. This is "Cockburn Central". The idea of the siding track is to have "shuttle services" from here to the centre of the city to have high frequency services. I know NJT do the same on its routes.
I then headed over to the South West Main line to see any coal or bauxite trains. I was lucky to see a QR National "S Class" working an empty bauxite and I paced it for a good 10km. The "S Class" are narrow gauge , 3000hp 12 cylinder 710G3 EMD engines which were built under contract by Clyde Engineering in 1998. They have a same engine as a F59 or GP59. The dual cab is handy as the trips they run are only 1hour each way to the mine and then an hour to the port for unloading.
Baldivis loop.
R1902 is ex-West Australian Government Railways and is now working for South Spur rail who have the contract to run the work trains. The R Class is an English Electric built diesel locomotive. Its pushing the flat bed wagons with a robot at the front which loads the sleepers onto the ground and feeds, welds and fixes the rail in place. Amazing stuff!!
The real treat for today, You dont get them in the USA and Canada, "English Electric" diesel locomotives. These are the "ZB Class" and were orginally built for Queensland Rail at the Rocklea (Qld) plant in 1965 for commuter trains in the Australian city of Brisbane. South Spur Rail got these 2nd hand for running these work trains. The line is being built on narrow gauge and will soon have overhead wires for the 3 or 6 car EMU's to do 130kph.
A shot from McDonalds!
Hope you all enjoy the photos!
Where I am from (Perth, West Australia), they are building a new 73km, high speed inter-urban rail link to serve the southern suburbs of Perth. This is due to open in April 2007. I went down there to document the work trains and construction. I must say its very interesting to watch new track being laid!
One of the 10 stations being built. This is "Cockburn Central". The idea of the siding track is to have "shuttle services" from here to the centre of the city to have high frequency services. I know NJT do the same on its routes.
I then headed over to the South West Main line to see any coal or bauxite trains. I was lucky to see a QR National "S Class" working an empty bauxite and I paced it for a good 10km. The "S Class" are narrow gauge , 3000hp 12 cylinder 710G3 EMD engines which were built under contract by Clyde Engineering in 1998. They have a same engine as a F59 or GP59. The dual cab is handy as the trips they run are only 1hour each way to the mine and then an hour to the port for unloading.
Baldivis loop.
R1902 is ex-West Australian Government Railways and is now working for South Spur rail who have the contract to run the work trains. The R Class is an English Electric built diesel locomotive. Its pushing the flat bed wagons with a robot at the front which loads the sleepers onto the ground and feeds, welds and fixes the rail in place. Amazing stuff!!
The real treat for today, You dont get them in the USA and Canada, "English Electric" diesel locomotives. These are the "ZB Class" and were orginally built for Queensland Rail at the Rocklea (Qld) plant in 1965 for commuter trains in the Australian city of Brisbane. South Spur Rail got these 2nd hand for running these work trains. The line is being built on narrow gauge and will soon have overhead wires for the 3 or 6 car EMU's to do 130kph.
A shot from McDonalds!
Hope you all enjoy the photos!
