C508, CLF3 & CLP12 - 4MC5 Oaklands, NSW 30/10/2025
4MC5 Appleton Dock, VIC - Oaklands GrainCorp, NSW
I had worked this train for it's entire journey both empty and fully loaded (5CM4), on arrival at Oaklands we found that sometime during the night CLF3 had decided it didn't want to play ball - all revs and no power. C508 was online out of Melbourne for the first 120ish Kilometres through the hills till Avenel before it was offline again (for a quieter ride).
Unknowingly we had just CLP12 powering us up and over the 1 in 50 grades on the branch around Tungamah with absolutely zero wheel slip or struggle, not a bad effort for 1250t solo.
The return was quite enjoyable, CLP12 led C508 and a completely dead CLF3 (40 Vehicles + dead CLF = 3168T) putting us just below the 3200 ton limit for the duo.
It'd take a bit to get up to speed on the mainline but they held up well, topping the 1 in 50 grades between 20 and 30kph with plenty of 8 notch running in between.
C508, CLF3 & CLP12 - 4MC5 Oaklands, NSW 30/10/2025
4MC5 Appleton Dock, VIC - Oaklands GrainCorp, NSW
I had worked this train for it's entire journey both empty and fully loaded (5CM4), on arrival at Oaklands we found that sometime during the night CLF3 had decided it didn't want to play ball - all revs and no power. C508 was online out of Melbourne for the first 120ish Kilometres through the hills till Avenel before it was offline again (for a quieter ride).
Unknowingly we had just CLP12 powering us up and over the 1 in 50 grades on the branch around Tungamah with absolutely zero wheel slip or struggle, not a bad effort for 1250t solo.
The return was quite enjoyable, CLP12 led C508 and a completely dead CLF3 (40 Vehicles + dead CLF = 3168T) putting us just below the 3200 ton limit for the duo.
It'd take a bit to get up to speed on the mainline but they held up well, topping the 1 in 50 grades between 20 and 30kph with plenty of 8 notch running in between.