We used to pushbike out to the old Golf Course Billabong, and stop at Dingo Creek to watch the trains pass. Old Geoff Jayes was one of the drivers, good mate of my old man...
Very interesting , although it is quite an old film because they are now using fully imported GE AC6000s , Dash 9s and EMD SD70ACe. They look a whole lot better than the Aussie-built Goninan Dash 8 with the ugly flat front. I get up there regularly and the trains are an amazing sight. No railfans up there because it is thousands of kilometers from anywhere. What is unbelievable is that all the locos on the train are controlled by one man in the lead locomotive , no brakeman or helpers.
I was at Newman when this was filmed .Not in any of the shots sadly . I have photos of some of the plant in the film . We were all youngsters then .Mostly backpackers from all over the world with a few Aussies thrown in .Now in my seventies I have many happy memories of Mt Newman .
I think one or two were saved to museums , the rest were stripped to the main frame , retaining the alco bogies and re-built as GE Dash 8s in the early eighties , I think . Their eight AC6000 locos are now out of service , and will be scrapped as its too expensive to have them shipped out of australia . Just google " Bhp Billiton locomotives "
Its a pity that there is so little video/film of the construction of this railway line or that of the Hamersley Line (Tom Price to Dampier). They were exceptional lines built during summers with temperatures up to 50C and winters down to minus 3.
I guess you know Rio Tinto up there are experimenting with no drivers at all. Driverless 35,000 tonne ore trains controlled by computers and a guy with a mouse 1500 kms away in Perth. Same with the 200 tonne dump trucks. BHP will follow.
Looking down on the cars looks like they could have carried more ore per car then they were carrying, did I see a woman in one of the unit on the train as a driver. Very good video. Thanks
I dont mean to be offtopic but does any of you know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb lost the login password. I would love any tricks you can offer me!
@Ibrahim Bo i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm trying it out atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
