Don't you just hate that!

Driving down to Perth a while back in an Ultra-Liner pulling 100 tonne Drake float, packed up with dolly on the back in the early hours of the morning. It had been a long day / night and I must have been a bit doughy.

Near Tammin, the road runs parallel and very close to the main east west railway line in one section, but the rail is down in a deep cutting and you don't realize it is there until the road drops down off a hill and comes level with the rail. As I came level with the rail at the end of the rail "cutting", a couple of big diesel loco's popped out of the cutting right alongside me and heading in the same direction. My immediate thought was that I was approaching the level crossing that was a few km further up the road, and that the level crossing signals weren't working - the anchors came on in a hurry. :o

Good thing there was nothing behind me, as four rows of eight locked up behind you pulls you up pretty quickly when you haven't got a heavy load on.

One night in Sydney we finished flying about midnight and a group of us caught the last train to the cross and dumped our bags in a cheap hotel and went out on the town. We barely got in a couple of beers at the rocks when they shut at 2am. We then made the fatal error of going back to the cross and not to bed, We saw the sun come up between dodgy establishments and then decided to head back down the rocks for early drinks. i think we all fell off our bar stools about mid-day and then finally got to bed about 1pm. I woke up at 6. I had no idea whether it was 6 am or 6 pm. Turns out it was 6 pm. All set for anther big night.

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

:D only you could do that Kyle ;), clearly you never had to sleep in a 24" crawl through. :(

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First sleeper I ever used (on a C motored Flintstone), you had to decide which side you were going to sleep on before you crawled in - no room to turn over once you were in! :o

you wake up, 2 minutes before the alarm is ment to go off, turn it off, get up, shave shower, breakfast, teeth, climb on the bike, ride to work.

get to the front gate.

"Gday Farey, didnt know you had to work today"
":confused:"
"Its sunday"
":censored:"

Too many uppies in the coffee mate:p:p:p:p:p:p:p:p
Try counting sheep instead of chooks:):):):):):):)
Andrew

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Originally Posted by BMKal

Driving down to Perth a while back in an Ultra-Liner pulling 100 tonne Drake float, packed up with dolly on the back in the early hours of the morning. It had been a long day / night and I must have been a bit doughy.

Near Tammin, the road runs parallel and very close to the main east west railway line in one section, but the rail is down in a deep cutting and you don't realize it is there until the road drops down off a hill and comes level with the rail. As I came level with the rail at the end of the rail "cutting", a couple of big diesel loco's popped out of the cutting right alongside me and heading in the same direction. My immediate thought was that I was approaching the level crossing that was a few km further up the road, and that the level crossing signals weren't working - the anchors came on in a hurry. :o

Good thing there was nothing behind me, as four rows of eight locked up behind you pulls you up pretty quickly when you haven't got a heavy load on.

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West of Newman, on the Great Northern, the road comes downhill, round a left hander onto a rail crossing. There is a flashing amber repeater, for the crossing lights, just before the bend. As I got level with the amber light, with three loaded barrels of fuel, it started flashing. I managed to pull up at the crossing without much difficulty and took the opportunity to answer the call of nature, have a durry and do a tyre check. Climb back into the cab and wait.....and wait..... and wait, then I noticed the lights weren't flashing.:confused: as the rail line was obscured by scrub, I got out to look up and down the track, I saw track maintenance machines running back and forth. One of them must have tripped the crossing lights, momentarily. :wallbash:

Don't you just love that!!! I used to drive an old FR700 Mack back in the early 70's with a sleeper that was so narrow that you would hit the back of it if you rolled over. Thankfully I never needed to use it much as it wasn't air conned or anything like that back then - the only ventilation was if you opened the side doors!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by V8Ian

West of Newman, on the Great Northern, the road comes downhill, round a left hander onto a rail crossing. There is a flashing amber repeater, for the crossing lights, just before the bend. As I got level with the amber light, with three loaded barrels of fuel, it started flashing. I managed to pull up at the crossing without much difficulty and took the opportunity to answer the call of nature, have a durry and do a tyre check. Climb back into the cab and wait.....and wait..... and wait, then I noticed the lights weren't flashing.:confused: as the rail line was obscured by scrub, I got out to look up and down the track, I saw track maintenance machines running back and forth. One of them must have tripped the crossing lights, momentarily. :wallbash:

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I know that crossing well Ian. I worked at BHP Yandi for four years. The new access road turnoff was just after that crossing, and the access road followed the rail (which goes to Rio Tinto's Yandi operations) most of the way in. The BHP rail comes in from the opposite direction.

I couldn't think of Yandi, Brian, Area 4 kept coming to mind.