The Bethungra Spiral has fascinated me for many years, and this is the best explanation and demonstration for its use that I have seen. The drone shots are amazing, and the captions are informative and easy to read. However you stated in one of them that the Indian Pacific has been operating for over half a decade when you intended to say half a century. Excellent presentation, well done 👏
Thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed the video. I'd love to return at some point and make another video on this one. Ah yes, my mistake mate, apologies for that one. Thanks again mate. Matt - M&S Trains
Two months ago, I drove from Sydney to this area via Yass. A local resident took me to this small road and found the observation deck. I waited for 2 hours, but no train passed by. I will have to check the train time in the future. The watch goes uphill again! Thank you for your video, it’s perfect!
Thanks mate! Shame nothing came through on your visit. It’s one of those weird spots where it’s a busy line but you can still go all day without a single train and have 10 pass by in the night. Better Luck next time anyway! Matt - M&S Trains
Thank you for a great a video. The drone shots were amazing. Also, thanks for showing the viewing platform, as I believed one had to pass over private property to get a view of the spiral. Now on my bucket list.
No worries mate. Thanks for watching. It's very accessible via public roads too. You can get some great shots from Bethungra Waterworks Rd and the Olympic Hwy too. Definitely worth the visit, and glad to hear it is on your bucket list. You'll have a great time on your visit. Matt - M&S Trains
I walk past the Pacific National Locos everyday at Dynon in Melbourne. Nice to see a video of them in their natural environment. I had no idea the spiral even existed on the standard gauge, great vid 👍.
As someone who lives in WA where 90% of train travel in the Southern half is over generally flat terrain except the Darling Range just out of Perth. Very impressed with the Engineering involved with the spiral. Had not heard about it at all. Speaking of flooding - Coles and Woolies over here have their out of stock signs up again due to floods on the Nullabor. The Trucking industry are trying to fill the gap by road but when 50 container trains a week to Perth stop thats it.
It's a great spot to see trains over the hills here as is Western Australia. Thanks for watching mate! Big disappointment about the floods, holding up the freight to you guys. ARTC should invest some works into flood protection maybe given it's the second closure of the line due to flooding this year and the third in the last couple of years. Either way, I heard the line opened today, so hoping they catch up soon. Thanks again mate. Matt - M&S Trains
@@MS_Trains Yes I often wonder about track elevation in some streches. There will or should be some sort of history where the flooding occurs across the line again and again. But it is a very long line and rain is unpredictable where it falls so it is in the too hard basket. PS Any plans to cover the Inland Rail project now it has started in Vic and resumed also elsewhere in NSW.
@@MS_Trains , it would help a lot if artc was given more money to bullet-proof the system. as of about 20 years ago, only about 6% of the fuel tax paid by train operators was returned to the rail system. its probably still the same. the money gets spent on freeways.
Great work again Matt! When did they put the viewing platform up? I had to bush bash it back in 2016 when I was there..LOL I think you're a bit optimistic with the Illabo to Stockingbingal link done in 6 years...LOL 🙂 I remember them saying IR will be done by 2025 back in 2000, which was a joke. I hope it gets done , but they haven't started any greenfield work on any of project yet, apart from the tiny bit at Parkes? I'll be surprised if they ever do the tunnel from Toowoomba, and instead go straight to mackay for a bigger harbour? Anyway fingers crossed for the work to start somewhere .......... A great video and the drone shots of the spiral were terrific! CHeers Gregg.
Thanks Gregg! I'm not so sure, when they did. Can't have been long after your video I'd suspect as it didn't look super new. As for the Inland Rail, I 3 sections south of Parkes are in progress. North of Parkes, Parkes to Narromine and Narrabri to North Star are completed. As for the Toowoomba Range, I'd agree it's going to be a big ask. I think they could get the Melbourne to Parkes section done by 2030 with Albury to Illabo & Illabo to Stockinbingal the only sections not started. Thanks for watching mate! Glad you enjoyed the footage. See you at Lofty sometime soon. Matt - M&S Trains
Great video! In one of the shots it looks like there was some container flats up there on the side on a lay down pad. Was there a derailment there recently?
As already said, yes 6MB4 in January 2022. I've linked a great aerial video of the derailment. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VZ4t1qc9-DI.html Matt - M&S Trains
I've only discovered the Bethungra spiral whilst travelling on google earth. But as our family used to travel to Sydney from Albury on holidays in the 1970s, I must have been on the spiral and not known?
Yes sounds like you have been on the return trip to Sydney. Coming from Sydney you’d just head down the old route which is straight down the hill without a spiral. I’ve travelled Melbourne to Sydney on the XPT and I’ve gotta say I didn’t really notice passing through the Spiral either. Matt - M&S Trains
………there’s the Border Loop one in NE NSW, too. Great to watch train come through at dusk, when you see its’ headlight beam coming out of tunnel firstly………
Looking at the map at 0:50 it looks like southbound does not use a spiral loop, and only northbound uses the spiral. Surely they both have to deal with the same change in elevation, so why the difference, or am I not understanding the map?
You're spot on with the map, mate. The trains heading downgrade use the old alignment (from prior to the Spirals Construction) with a 1 in 40 gradient, while the upgrade spiral sees a maximum grade of 1 in 66. The downgrade trains don't really require the spiral and use heavy dynamic braking on this section. It's also much quicker to go straight down the hill. Matt - M&S Trains
@@MS_Trains Thank you for the full explanation. I suspected gravity MIGHT be the reason, but nice to see the details from someone with real knowledge. In future videos it might pay to include this nugget, as there will always be people who look at that map and say "wait a minute." :)
Yes similar. A much bigger loop here so you never see the same train on top of itself and of course the trains make less notice here and aren't double stacked.
I'd love to go to NZ for some filming in the future, but I don't really have any idea how their railways work. It's definitely on my bucket list! I didn't even know they had Spirals! Thanks for watching. Matt - M&S Trains
Possibly Mario, but the tracks stay relatively co--planar, rather than individually revolving around a central pivot. The tracks, as a group, form a spiral
Maybe someday but not planned for the minute. I'm from Adelaide so it's not around the corner so to speak. I've heard like Bethungra, the Spiral sees the majority of its train movements during the night so it would be a difficult shoot. Would be great to do before the Inland Rail anyway so maybe in the next few years if we can! Matt - M&S Trains
@@MS_Trains I have been there many times at the border loop there's a picnic lookout spot there too. All you need is times of trains and day of the week to get a good video shoot of it Cheers..
Ness River Railroad has inspired me to finish my train room and start layout construction, (Link: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-F1NP5xgDM_4.html). Fishplate Films' videos of NR's at Mount Lofty inspired my motive power. This video and the spiral confirm that my intentions are on track. With warm weather just beginning again, maybe this summer it will happen. Thanks to all you guys down under! You have the best trains in the world. Ken in Maine, USA.
Welcome to Australian Railways where any wagons parked up for a day gets a new paint job! Thanks for watching mate! Glad you enjoyed the Production never the less. Matt - M&S Trains
