That Draw Bar

Seems everyone is interested in the PHTH draw bar, especially due to the unusual length.

The draw bar is pretty much 2400mm long, making the distance between the wagon headstocks 1800mm.

Rest assured that the length is not an error but a precise calculation to allow these babies to run on the 'Network' when loaded to 100t gross.

The long draw bar spaces out the bogie centres and spreads the axle load over a greater distance (bridge friendly according to the 'Cooper M' rating) - Keeping in mind that other 100t hoppers (i.e. NHSH/NHFF) are actually longer than the PHTH wagons and are also fitted with primary sprung bogies.

The wagons are numbered in recent PN style with the first four numbers being the 'rake' or 'unit' number and the fifth digit being the platform. These are all two packs, and the first hoppers in service were PHTH 00121 and 00122 (Rake 12, platforms 1 and 2).

Expect to see a train of PHTH wagons in the second week fo Feb.

Enjoy

p.s. The above photo is of the test set (rake 17) at Bradken Mittagong.

Busy Portland

No fewer than 3 trains were at Portland this morning.

1) El Zorro Sand Train
2) El Zorro AWB Grain Train
3) Pn Grain Trains

These photos are taken at Portland Loco Depot.


ZQBX 244 and another ZQBX. ZDXF 15 is in the back ground with the skel deck.


Historic pair C501 (with T386) and GM36.


GM36

C501

Enjoy

Warrnambool Area Infrastructure

While not rollingstock photos (there are very limited opportunites at Port Fairy!) here are some interesting infrastructure photos from the area.


Portland old yard taken from the station (which no longer exists).


Port Fairy Goods Shed - The line was closed in 1977.


Koroit Station (between Port Fairy and Warrnambool). The old formation is now a 'Rail Trail'.

Koroit Goods Shed.

A warehouse at Hamilton near the train line. It may have been served by rail many years ago.

Enjoy

Warrnambool Travels

A few photos around Warrnambool on 24/01/2011


A79 shut down while the train is loaded with containers. (Today's train was hauled by A78)


VQLX 36 (to the left is VQRF 65)


VQCX 869

N458 on the 1140ish AM pass ready to depart.

A few days earlier, I shot this topical N class - City of BALLAARAPT.

Enjoy

Hunter Coal Wagons 3

A few more coal wagons. Of interest, almost every shot was taken at Sandgate or Carrington over a 2 hour period. Plenty of variety on the coal trains these days!


TT02 shunting a 4 pack of new NHDH hoppers.


The rear NHDH hopper with very clear lashing marks from the trip from China.


100t NHVF

100t NHTH, built from a former limestone/coke wagon. The creases in each end are tell tale signs of the NHTH wagons. Strangely, these are coded NHTH, when they should carry a different third letter code as the NHTF already exist.

The NHTF hoppers are the smallest operating in the Hunter. These run exclusively to Pelton on the Austar trains. They are 76t gross.

Enjoy

Hunter Coal Wagons 2

Part 2 - All PN 120t hoppers, ranging from the oldest to some of the newest. The only 120t hopper not shown in any of these blogs is the NHEH which can be viewed in another Blog by using the search function.


One of the last air braked built wagon - bradken built NHYH. The next generation of this wagon was the NHEH with ECP brakes.


Chinese built NHWH 4-packs.


Original 7-pack NHRH

An NHQH still in service despite chassis cracking in some of the class.

An NHPH probably parked up due to chassis cracking. There are a large number of these hoppers scattered around the Newcastle area, presumably for cracking issues.

Enjoy

Hunter Coal Wagons 1

The following 3 Blogs are photos of various Hunter Valley Coal wagons - all of which have been hauled by PN. All photos were taken in Jan 2011.


Xtrata owned PHYH wagons. All except 2 x 4-packs have been converted to ECP for Freightliner to haul in 2011. The one photoed in staying as a standard air brake wagon.


An original private owner coal hopper, this PHCH (as part of a 7-pack) is now mingled with other PN owned hoppers.


An original National Rail coal hopper - RHCH. These were built for the NRC MacGen contract.

NRCs second batch of coal hoppers were RHFH coded.

A final order of 50 x RHHH from China rounded out all the new build coal hoppers for NRC before PN took them over.

Enjoy

RQRX Loaded with a TT Frame

Something a little different.

The usual RQRX was spotted a few weeks back at Morandoo loaded with a new TT chassis for Port Augusta, ready to be transferred to Cardiff.

The chassis would belong to a TT loco in the 100 series.

Enjoy

SQMY & SQOY Wagons

Some photos as per a request by Andrew.

From memory, Silverton converted 3 AQOY wagons to SQMY wagons with deck cut outs. I recall 11 remained as SQOYs.


An original blue and yellow SQOY


A GreenTrains silver SQOY or SQMY


A SQOY headed to Parkes for overhaul.

SQMY 2231 showing end deck cut outs.

Poorly lighted but the best SQMY I could find quickly.

Enjoy

Hunter Train Photos

A few train photos from around the Hunter. Most are taken from Sandgate Station.





Unit train 11 ex Kooragang




9034 as the rear unit.


Unit Train 7 headed to Port Waratah


A dirty set of locos on Unit Train 69.

Pelton Unit Train 48 with a pair of ELs.

The shot again, but with taken at around 20mm on the zoom lens.

An unusual meet. New TT shunting a 4 pack of NHDH hoppers and a grubby 48 arrives with a loco trip train.

Enjoy

QRN Coal hoppers

Here is a selection of QRN coal hoppers from last week in the Hunter Valley. All the QHBH wagons were on unit train 69, which only started running about 4 weeks ago.


Unique promo QRn National marked QHBH 55685.


Interestingly, its partner is QHBH 55684 which carries the old QRN logo.

Old QRN marked QHBH 55322

Brand new QRN logoed QHBH 55725

Old school QHAH 51761 at Carrington on another Unit Train.

Enjoy!

New PHTH Hopper

Here is a photo of PHTH 00121.

It was parked at Chullora prior to dynamic testing. It is configured as a two pack.

Enjoy

Railcorp Wagons

Some wagons of interest at Chullora this week.


NZBF 1050 - This plough has recently been painted Railcorp orange.


NZBF 1047 - this plough has revently been painted Railcorp orange.


Back from the dead? About 8 refurbished NHBFs are currently parked at Chullora, with the intention of building up to a 25 wagon train.

NFGF 270 (also marked as L270) is used to support the lead conveyor belt on the NHMF wagons.

Enjoy