WestlanderTmba 20190119 10 56 27 Pro

Often, after seeing your notes and photographs Graham, I find myself doing further research on the subjects.

Having looked at a map of the route taken by 'The Westlander' and having found the schedule it was interesting to compare the journey time of the train compared with the bus schedules. Presumably the road replacement service for the train got the passengers to Brisbane earlier than they would have otherwise.

Between Toowoomba and Brisbane I saw that the train service takes 4h 25m eastbound but only 3h 50m westbound whereas the buses do the run in about 2h. Makes an interesting comparison.

Was the line closed for just a short period? I see that the train from Charleville arrived Toowoomba at 0650 on the Saturday schedule. Did the train just stay there until the work was finished and then run empty to Brisbane later?

I'm glad you can learn from my photos David.

The line's route was built in the 1880s, it's 3'6" gauge and low budget. This results in a winding alignment particularly up the nearly 600m climb into Toowoomba and over a range of hills between here and Brisbane. The current specification is 16 tonne axle load, light in any scheme and lighter than other main lines in Qld. This means light locos and modest capacity hoppers for the coal and grain freight. The Westlander continues to run despite low passenger numbers, probably because of the political backlash if it was stopped.

I didn't see the notice for this shutdown but for other times the Westlander has stopped here on the Saturday and waited until passengers are bussed here for the Tuesday evening run. The works were probably only for the weekend and may have been part of the track/floor lowering through the tunnels. The loading profile they were designed for doesn't fit 9' high containers so there haven't been intermodal services for the best part of a decade. The older 8' containers just fitted through.

Another factor in rail here is inlandrail.artc.com.au . This will put a std gauge main line through the region and a new range crossing, apparently in dual gauge. It's still unclear how this will disrupt the 3'6" network.

Schitterende opname,van deze interessante trein.
Leuk is ook de beschrijving waarom de trein hier stil staat.
Hartelijke groeten..........Frans.

Thanks Frans.

An interesting image, Graham. I'm not sure how far the Westlander goes these days, but I'm reminded of a newsreel I saw (a great many) years ago, showing something like a C16 heading out west of Charleville.