Hi a/s, really interesting stuff there.
Wow, you really know your beans.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by aussiesteve
Originally, the NSWR was built to UK notions, including loading gauge.
|
Understandable as it meant they could buy in existing technology, but in retrospect it probably condemned you to having a loading gauge woefully smaller than you need in a big country.
I'm always impressed by the height and width of American freight trains, but then I guess that over there the railway is nearly as old as the country (with all due respect to the native Americans who managed without technology for centuries). We have a TV series by an eccentric ex-politician who travels on the US railway (Mr Port-a-loo, as we affectionately call him), and I'm always struck by how comfy their chairs look.
Our latest trains have awful seats - "safety, fire resistant' compliant and by popular opinion of passengers made out of ironing boards. Not surprising, since every new piece of equipment nowadays is cheaper, nastier, less reliable and vastly more expensive than what went before. This is a poppycock excuse. Sumptuous sofas are fire resistant nowadays. They simply went as cheap as they could.
Things don't change for the better nowadays here. This I feel is a direct result of having Politicians, Civil Servants and Lawyers making decisions for a highly technical railway. As my dad used to say, a camel is a horse designed by a committee.
Mind you, I believe you have Connex over in oz. They were the first rail company I worked for here. When they left our shores, our 'loss' was your 'gain', arf arf.
Keep the faith
BW