The Longest Train

[Dan]

Interesting . . .


The longest train ever was a freight train:

Length: 7.353 KM
# of cars: 682
# of engines: 8 diesel/electric
Company: BHP Iron Ore
Location: Port Hedland, Australia
Length of trip: 275 KM - 171 Miles
Date of trip: June 21 2001

thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/long8.html

Dan

_{…it’s great being a kid again – without the glue!} ;D

[AirCoaster]

Remember, these are ore cars folks, slightly shorter than most standard boxcar, still an amazing feat. Somehow I can't imagine that many cars in one train. I wonder what the combo was for the engines, 4-2-2, 4-4, 3-3-2, makes ya think don't it.

[bhk]

The normal combination for the Pilbara iron-ore trains is three or four AC4400's up front and up to three mid-train loco-controlled.

The area is not all that hilly, so large numbers of power units are not required for the size of the trains hauled.

Interesting in that the train is under the control of one man, in the lead loco.
One of the few locations anywhere where there is not a two-man crew.

Bruce

[kbr]

I bet motorists enjoyed waiting for that to pass at the crossings. ;D

[bhk]

kbr said:

I bet motorists enjoyed waiting for that to pass at the crossings. ;D

It's a very sparsely-populated area, Kevin.......very few people (apart from indigenous natives) live in that area. Most of the roads are therefore "company" roads, basically there to service the various rail routes between the coast and the interior where the iron ore is mined.

I bought a DVD on the Pilbara rail operations a couple of years ago.
It is the only place in Australia where we use the loco's that you blokes see every day....the Dash 9's and Dash 8's, etcetera.
The only North American F7's ever imported into Oz were for the first railway to operate in this area back in the 1960's.

One of the most brutish-looking loco's of all was the Robe River ALCo C-636......now out to pasture. All the piping on the roof is to do with cooling. Temperatures in summer - in the shade - often sit over 40 degrees C for days on end.
www.railways.pilbara.net.au/robe/robe030.html

(When I did the Robe River route for Trainz one of the 3D animators created this loco at my request. He did a good job, too. )

Here's the site dedicated to the rail operations in the Pilbara.
www.railways.pilbara.net.au/

Bruce

[kbr]

Thanks for the information, Bruce. I find that kind of stuff fascinating. (I hope my joke wasn't taken in the wrong light as I meant no disrespect of the railway Co.) I wasn't aware that was the only area in Australia that uses those type of trains. I really enjoy the Robe River Iron Ore Scenerio. I wonder if there are any MSTS routes of it.

I love the F7 and similar type engines. There's just something very fascinating about those streamlined cabs.

There is one that operates not far from where I live, it runs on the Verde Canyon Railroad and gives tours on it and I have been planning to sometime take the tour (but mostly because I'd like to ride on it rather than because I want a tour though Verde Canyon. ;D )

Here you can see a picture of the F7 the operates Verde Canyon Railroad;
www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=57929

[bhk]

kbr said:

.....(I hope my joke wasn't taken in the wrong light as I meant no disrespect of the railway Co.) .....

Oh, heavens, no, Kevin!!
I was just providing some background information for you.
Let's face it....if you were a company employee out there in the boondocks waiting for one of those trains to pass then you'd have enough time to have lunch!

I wasn't aware that was the only area in Australia that uses those type of trains.

No reason why you should be.
Apparently the reason is simple economics.
The railways are privately owned, therefore the owners could run whatever was/is the most economically-efficient system.
The big American locos can pull more tonnage per dollar spent on fuel & maintenance than any other....plus they got a good deal from the US manufacturers.

I really enjoy the Robe River Iron Ore Scenerio. I wonder if there are any MSTS routes of it.

Not as far as I'm aware, Kevin.

I love the F7 and similar type engines. There's just something very fascinating about those streamlined cabs.
There is one that operates not far from where I live, it runs on the Verde Canyon Railroad ....

Now that is a pretty cool livery!
More like a modern airline livery than a railroad.

I also like the older car-body locomotives.
We had EMD and GE equipment made down here under license......old GM1 being the first.
locopage.railpage.org.au/anr/gm.html

When my wife and I caught the Indian Pacific from Perth to Adelaide back in 1975 we were hauled by a couple of these..........
locopage.railpage.org.au/anr/cl.html

In addition, I've been hauled by these during my life, too!
locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/42.html
locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/421.html
locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/43.html

This is the heaviest loco on mainline use in Australia, outside of the Pilbara region.
locopage.railpage.org.au/sra/90.html

Regards,
Bruce

[Dan]

Interesting pictures, Bruce!

I grew up with those early diesels - that's all they had when I was a kid - for passengers as well as freight - or so as I remember anyway. They always bring back a lot of memories!

With those thoughts in mind, I bought the (wait a minute - what the hell did I buy - let me look here . . .) the Santa Fe Super Chief that uses a whole series of F7s, AB Helpers, etc. from 3DTrains over the weekend. Had a little time last night to run it for an hour or so - love the pulsating light up front. They also have a couple of freeware versions of that type under a number of different names - got a couple of them as well.

I wanted to run it tonight, but got caught up doing a long consist for the NS Dash 9s - did it twice - and then MSTS crashed 3 times - so, I should've run the Super Chief, because now I'm going to bed irritated as hell and I haven't gone anywhere . . .

So, thanks for posting those - 'tomorrow is another day'! ;D

Dan

_{…it’s great being a kid again – without the glue!} ;D

[bhk]

I bet motorists enjoyed waiting for that to pass at the crossings. ;D

Kevin,
Just for you.
Have a cup of coffee whilst watching.
(Wait for the end.....the photographer adds an interesting comment).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZDYg6ux_fk&feature=related

Bruce

[bhk]

dans said:

..... a long consist for the NS Dash 9s - did it twice - and then MSTS crashed 3 times - ....

Aaah, yes!
The delights of MSTS, the program which gave fame to the expression "Send, Don't Send"! ;D

I wonder if Kuju have that hanging over their door as a motto?!

Bruce

[kbr]

Some nice looking trains, Bruce, thanks for for the links. Must have been fun riding on those trains. Thanks for the video too, that was a good long one. I've been stuck at a few long ones myself before, but I always enjoy watching them pass.

I couldn't quite make out the commentary at the end of the video (unless I see people's lips when they are talking I have trouble understanding what they are saying due to my hearing impairment.) I was wondering if you'd mind quoting the comment at the end here for me?

I'm currently waiting for a route I recently purchased from Abacus that was on sale, the LTV Railroad route. Based on the pictures, it has a wonderfully made F7 done by the 3Dtrain guys. I'm looking forward driving it. I think it's an older package, so I am not sure how well the route looks, but the pictures looked pretty nice.

[bhk]

kbr said:

..... I was wondering if you'd mind quoting the comment at the end here for me?

Kev, he said words to the effect "And that was five million dollars worth of iron-ore that you watched passing"!

I'm currently waiting for a route I recently purchased from Abacus that was on sale, the LTV Railroad route. .....

I think that there was something mentioned about this route not long after it was released...........

Yeah....apparently whoever supplied the raw terrain data, or whoever created the terrain from that data, misread the elevation dimensions, which were actually in feet. The route-creator took those numbers as metres!

Then in 2005, 3DTrains was supposed to be working on a new version of the LTV, but the thread (on train-sim.com) ended in 2005 with nothing definite mentioned.

I've posted on 3DTrains forum asking Marc for info.

Bruce

[kbr]

Thanks, Bruce. Is that an accurate estimate? That was allot of ore on that train.

I hadn't known about the error with the LTV route. I wonder if it's even usable. Still if the error covers all elevation data in the route, it might not be that noticeable when in the sim (when away from cliffs.) Guess I should have suspected something at the cheap 14USD price. Not a big loss even if the route turns out to be bogus as the trains themselves are at least worth that. I'm sure I can find other uses for the trains.

[bhk]

Kevin,
Marc replied:-
-------------------
"Sorry Bruce - that one died a while back. I pick at every once in a while, but doubtful if it'll ever get released.

Cheers!
Marc"
--------------------

At $14.00, you've got a good bunch of locos and 'stock, Kev, so all is not lost.

As for the estimate on the value of the ore....I think he's basing that line on the fact that at some stage it was mentioned/written that the new contract with China (a couple of years ago) would be worth $xxxxxx over yyyyyy years.

He's probably calculated it on the number of trains per day that run from the mines to the loaders to get a value per train.

Five million bucks for a train-load of red dirt seems pretty good money to me!

Bruce

[kbr]

That's to bad that they dropped it. Thanks for checking it.

I was looking at info on the package and it does have some nice locos. I know I'll have fun with them.

From what I understand, the route is basically bonus material anyway. I noticed on Train-sim a small handful of activities for the route, so I'm guessing that some must have deemed it okay. I'll have to take a look at it and see what I think.