6029- Steam train restored

[alexrad]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-25/l ... ed/5625328

[crazyturbo76]

Congrats to those boys in the ACT on a great resto job-it's good to see one of the "big boys" on the rails once again. As they said in the ABC News clip, it would be good if 6029 was able to go round Australia-that would be a sight to see!

[jpp42]

Hi,
I have a spare ticket on the inaugural trip:
http://canberrarailwaymuseum.org/6029-inaugural-trip

Please see here for details:
http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... 29#p946519

[jpp42]

[delete]

[Tallewang]

And very nice it looked, too.

There was a man claiming on the TV the other day that it was the first time it has been fired up for 30 years, or something like that. It's remarkable they were game enough to set off on a 400 mile expedition without more testing.

[crazyturbo76]

And very nice it looked, too.

There was a man claiming on the TV the other day that it was the first time it has been fired up for 30 years, or something like that. It's remarkable they were game enough to set off on a 400 mile expedition without more testing.

The folks who restored 6029 did say they were aiming to have her back on the rails by February-March 2015, so they must be living up to that promise. But you are right there Tallewang, it is quite a brave decision they have made there by taking 6029 out on a trip without doing a few more test runs first... it's the first time in ages that a Garratt has steamed, but the only major issue that put 6029 out of commission yonks ago was its boiler (of course there would have been a few other things that they would have needed to fix up during the 30 or so years that it was out of service).

[boronia]

I think you will find that this weekend was not the first time it has been steamed or run. It has been undergoing testing for the last couple of months. It would not get certified for mainline running without some sort of prior validation.

The "first time in 30 years" has been taken a bit to literally.

[Punchbowl Tiger Cub]

6029 has been on plenty of test runs in the last few months.It has had at least two return trips to Goulburn plus numerous engineering tests and accreditation requirements prior to this weekend.It wasn't just fired up and run to Thirlmere.

It will receive some more examinations whilst staying at Thirlmere before venturing to the Hunter Valley in a couple of weeks time.In as far as what work it had,it was a full strip down and rebuild from the ground up along with a fully certifiied boiler that had been at a Victorian Timber Mill (purchased after the 60 class were withdrawn) but never used.

[captainch]

THOUGHT IT might have replaced 3801 at steam fest at maitland this year,!

[boronia]

From what PTC was mentioned it will be there, I doubt 3801 will

[Punchbowl Tiger Cub]

3801 unfortunately is still under rebuild at Chullora - maybe in 2016

[Volvo Super Olympian]

6029 has been on plenty of test runs in the last few months.
It will receive some more examinations whilst staying at Thirlmere before venturing to the Hunter Valley in a couple of weeks time.

Would it come thru Sydney by any chance?

[Tallewang]

Well it arrived at Thirlmere yesterday, supposedly dragging a train from Sydney. Whether it actually did so, or not, I was not in a position to observe. There was another locomotive on the train. They might have stuck 6029 on the front of it, out of sight near Picton.

[Tallewang]

This story from ABC news , from July 2014, is about their first test run.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-25/m ... ra/5624482

I don't know why the ABC was claiming last week, that they had just fired up the boiler for the first time. Maybe they were just recycling part of last year's story.

[boronia]

You are probably dealing with a journalist who knows nothing about trains.

It would be easy for him/her to misconstrue the general statement that the current part of the project was the first time it had been steamed in 30 years.

[Tallewang]

The statements were not those of the journalist. They were the actual words of three of the people working on the project in Canberra. The only "misleading" aspect, is that the ABC were replaying their story from July 2014 this week on their website, without it being obvious to viewers ( at least, not to me ), that it was a nine month old story and not a current one. That's really my fault, not theirs. I should have noticed the angle of the sun and the way the people appearing in the video were dressed.

[jpp42]

Well it arrived at Thirlmere yesterday, supposedly dragging a train from Sydney. Whether it actually did so, or not, I was not in a position to observe. There was another locomotive on the train. They might have stuck 6029 on the front of it, out of sight near Picton.

It did not run to/from Sydney. 6029 was attached to the Thirlmere Flyer (ex-Sydney), at Picton and operated along with 3642 to Thirlmere. Then she ran on two other shuttle trains from Thirlmere to Picton and return (with 3267 on the other end). This was exactly what was advertised and it was not attached to the Sydney train "out of sight" in some sleight of hand. It's kind of hard to hide that loco I think!

FYI, from this web site: https://www.facebook.com/nswgrad60class :

If you missed seeing her in action or want to see more of her, 6029 will be part of the Heritage Express' "Southern Highlander" trip to Moss Vale on Sunday 29th of March. 6029 will double head with 3642 from Picton to Moss Vale.

For more details and to book your tickets for this trip, please go to the link below.
http://www.heritageexpress.com.au/pages ... 6-TEOS.htm

Also she will be at the Maitland Steam Fest in April, but I'm not sure if they are running public mainline trips to get it there; I couldn't find any info about that.

[highswr]

I remember when I was kid driving down from Newcastle to Sydney passing through Wyong and seeing the Garrat steaming along the straight.

[boronia]

I remember when I was kid driving down from Newcastle to Sydney passing through Wyong and seeing the Garrat steaming along the straight.

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