Oz Derailment
 

Oh dear, they're really having a time of it in Oz.

Now the Sydney to Melbourne XPT has come off the road with 2 reported deaths.

Link here...https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-...allan/11986230

Sad times.

BW

G'day BW,
Yep, the southbound Rocket went bush near Wallan in Mexico yesterday arvo.
The driver and a "pilot" driver being killed.
Looks to be a real mess from the published photos.
Amazing that more fatalities did not occur.
The ATSB is investigating.
The eastbound Silver Streak got stranded here in Bathurst on wednesday for some reason.
I presume that the land slide repair on the Blue Mountains took longer than predicted.
Steve.

G'day,
A little more info did emerge about this prang.
The confusion over the terminology due to differing state and ARTC procedures.
The other person in the cab was not another driver as originally assumed.
The press commented Pilot Driver actually being what we referred to as a Pilotman in the good ole days.
But, ya can't say pilotman no more.
A Pilot Driver, as assumed, being responsible for educating a novice driver over a route.
The Pilot being the work site bloke accompanying the train through the work site area.
On the day of the incident, instead of proceeding along the Main Line, the train was routed through the Loop.
This required a vast reduction in velocity to navigate the points.
As both the driver and pilot were killed, we may never know just what discussion occurred in the cab.
Steve.