Railway observations April 2015

David10 · Post by **David10** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:42 pm

Noticed that S set carriages C3805 / T4150 / C3814 along with the 3 ex Southern Aurora carriages have moved from their long term stabling place at the western end of Flemington depot.

taptap23 · Post by **taptap23** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:05 am

An S set (S103) was spotted heading towards penrith with an all sliver front and sliver doors yesterday afternoon.

(Not my Photo)

David10 · Post by **David10** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 8:31 am

No doubt will lead to a full scale investigation by the 'elf and safety mob.

swtt · Post by **swtt** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:33 am

[quote="taptap23"]An S set (S103) was spotted heading towards penrith with an all sliver front and sliver doors yesterday afternoon.

(Not my Photo)

Wow! For preservation?

matthewg · Post by **matthewg** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:03 am

swtt wrote:
Wow! For preservation?

It would have taken quite some effort to clean it up like that. It must be destined for the 'heritage fleet'.

Howard Collins appears to be rather keen on a heritage fleet - one of his claims to fame back in London was getting Sarah Siddons back out on the road so it could be seen by the public instead of collecting dust in a depot somewhere.

PLI · Post by **PLI** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 4:44 pm

[quote="taptap23"]An S set (S103) was spotted heading towards penrith with an all sliver front and sliver doors yesterday afternoon.

(Not my Photo)

S103 holds the oldest S set carriage (4922) in service and is also the oldest set in the entire fleet. This may or may not have any significance.

PLI

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:00 pm

Why is the photo here 3 times?

Post by **Fleet Lists** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:04 pm

Not any more.

Tallewang · Post by **Tallewang** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:08 pm

The XPT to Grafton was about 3 hours late at Hornsby today.

Frodo · Post by **Frodo** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:26 pm

Continuing from the March thread, another day, another couple of Central Coast to city via Shore services diverted via Strathfield
7.05am service from Wyong made additional stops at Mt Ku-ring-gai and Mt Colah, then Asquith, Hornsby, and Central (i). Interesting that they don't even bother stopping those diverted trains at Epping or Strathfield, although there was a scheduled express service to Central (i) right after it which probably explains why.

andy_centralcoast · Post by **andy_centralcoast** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 10:07 pm

Frodo wrote:Continuing from the March thread, another day, another couple of Central Coast to city via Shore services diverted via Strathfield
7.05am service from Wyong made additional stops at Mt Ku-ring-gai and Mt Colah, then Asquith, Hornsby, and Central (i). Interesting that they don't even bother stopping those diverted trains at Epping or Strathfield, although there was a scheduled express service to Central (i) right after it which probably explains why.

The 7':08 from Gosford was diverted via Strathfield 3 mornings this week. On Monday they added a stop at Epping only, Tuesday added Epping and Strathfield as stops, and today it went straight from Hornsby to Sydney Terminal only.

The additional stops at Mt K and Mt Colah on the Central Coast train probably mean that one of the local services from Berowra was cancelled.

jpp42 · Post by **jpp42** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 11:44 am

Took a road trip to the north Sunday and yesterday. Drove over 800km in order to visit nearly every Central Coast and Hunter station in a 24h period, tapping on or off my Opal card as proof. Eventually I'll get to every station on the network.. I've also already covered the south coast line and southern highlands on a previous trip

(The only stations skipped in this period were ones I'd already used Opal at before (Berowra, Cowan, Hawkesbury River, Woy Woy, Gosford, Civic, Newcastle), and Wickham which isn't open. My card auto-topped up at Hilldale yesterday, bet that Opal pole hasn't seen too many of those!

I was interested by the fact that many of the tiny platforms on the North Coast line (and other spots like Aberdeen on the Main North), have been renovated fairly recently to full "Easy Access" standards. This includes DDA-compliant ramps, a paved disabled parking spot, etc. Never mind that many of these stations are only accessible by a rutted gravel track, with little if any signage from the main roads, and certainly no other marked parking! See shot from Wallarobba, below. I wonder if this is a ploy to increase the percentage of Easy Access stations on the network with relatively low expenditure, compared to those on double-track lines that require overbridges and lifts.

However, Lochnivar Station even has a new overbridge with a large set of ramps to reach the bridge - it would be hard to justify installing two lifts at a place like this with only a few daily trains with tiny patronage, but I was also surprised as I thought these kinds of ramps were not considered DDA-compliant any more.

Another observation from this trip is the extremely poor pedestrian and other connectivity of some of the smaller stations close to Newcastle. It's clear that these are a relic of the past and it's surprising many of these haven't closed. Places like Hexham, Sandgate, Cockle Creek, Borragul, etc. They must hardly see a passenger yet due to poor frequency and poor amenity, yet are surrounded by built-up areas. It's pretty sad really - I feel like improving some of these stations, their connectivity and their train frequency, is something that needs to be on the agenda of Newcastle public transport.

: wallarobba.jpg (107.97 KiB) Viewed 3965 times

: lochnivar.jpg (128.1 KiB) Viewed 3965 times

Tallewang · Post by **Tallewang** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:04 pm

I have been told that the extravaganza at Lochinvar is due to the construction of the third track, and that whoever built the third track ( ARTC ? Coal company ? I don't know ) had to pay for it. How correct this is, I don't know. Having a third track would definitely make the at-grade pedestrian level crossing less safe.

jpp42 · Post by **jpp42** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 2:24 pm

The nearby road received a grade separation too, but I didn't notice the third track - I guess it's behind the platform. I am not really objecting to the overbridge, it is indeed safer/better. (Since the road was realigned, a pedestrian crossing of the line wouldn't need to continue to the south side, as the only access to the station is now from the north.) But I was mainly commenting that the provision of long ramps was acceptable in a new build. However, I do note that the Sydney Trains web site (still not properly separated into NSW Trains), still lists the station as not wheelchair accessible, which must be the case since long ramps are not allowed. Have they removed the category about "may be accessible with a carer's assistance?" It seems that stations previously marked as that, all simply say "not accessible" now - which isn't really helpful if they are in fact stair-free.

Tonymercury · Post by **Tonymercury** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:10 pm

Tallewang wrote:I have been told that the extravaganza at Lochinvar is due to the construction of the third track, and that whoever built the third track ( ARTC ? Coal company ? I don't know ) had to pay for it. How correct this is, I don't know. Having a third track would definitely make the at-grade pedestrian level crossing less safe.

It has never been a secret.

Forest · Post by **Forest** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:38 pm

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but;
NSW TrainLink have started selling travel merchandise on the XTP. See http://www.nswtrainlink.info/your_journ ... erchandise

rogf24 · Post by **rogf24** » Tue Apr 07, 2015 9:09 pm

All South Line trains used the suburban tracks to the city during the peak hour this morning. I haven't seen that in a long, long time and much better than the normal trip.

CityRail · Post by **CityRail** » Wed Apr 08, 2015 3:36 pm

I have observed that all platform staff are required to bring a white as well as a RED flag when flagging trains for departure.

What is the red flag there for? I never get to see staff using the red flag. And why there's a red flag in the first place?

Post by **Fleet Lists** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:25 am

Please be more specific. All stations? Or just the one?

David10 · Post by **David10** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:35 am

CityRail wrote:What is the red flag there for?

Well seeing red is the universal colour for stop, it is probably carried should there be a late call to stop a train after it has been flagged as clear.

crimsontide · Post by **crimsontide** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 8:44 am

CityRail wrote:I have observed that all platform staff are required to bring a white as well as a RED flag when flagging trains for departure.

What is the red flag there for? I never get to see staff using the red flag. And why there's a red flag in the first place?

Incase an emergency stop is needed, the Red Flag is used.
It use to be that either a the Handsignal for the Emergency stop, or Flag could be used, now Flag only.

boronia · Post by **boronia** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:40 am

Fleet Lists wrote:Please be more specific. All stations? Or just the one?

I've seen it at some stations recently, but I haven't taken a lot of notice.

CityRail · Post by **CityRail** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 1:44 pm

Fleet Lists wrote:Please be more specific. All stations? Or just the one?

I believe it is all stations. At least the ones I saw do see staff bringing red flag out.

Post by **Fleet Lists** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 2:33 pm

And what does RED normally stand for? STOP Just think about it.

jpp42 · Post by **jpp42** » Thu Apr 09, 2015 5:26 pm

Fleet Lists wrote:And what does RED normally stand for? STOP Just think about it.

Yes but instead of yelling at each other about it, could someone comment on the reasons for this change?

Wynyard station just now it seems they were carrying blue and red flags. The white flags were not in use.