Driving vs. Train-ing

**p38arover** · 19th April 2009, 04:41 PM

If you book on the train, try to get a seat or berth in the middle of the carriage. There is less movement there. At the ends of the car, you really do get tossed around and it doesn't make for a good night's sleep.

**V8Ian** · 19th April 2009, 08:01 PM

Ron, why on earth can't they take large cars, when there are 100s of ISO s, up to 9'6" high shifted every week?

**Bigbjorn** · 19th April 2009, 08:44 PM

Have you thought about getting a quote to ship a container? You could fill it with the car and contents. Might even be cheaper than the outrageous prices charged for railing cars.

**mjm295** · 19th April 2009, 08:59 PM

I've been on the channel tunnel (England to France) a few times. Something like that would be great. It would need a buffet car though for the longer distances.

**Mulgo** · 19th April 2009, 09:45 PM

Originally Posted by mjm295

I've been on the channel tunnel (England to France) a few times. Something like that would be great. It would need a buffet car though for the longer distances.

Although I would not want to spend the day sitting in the car. But the system should be similar.

Drive on - take a seat in the train carriage - get back to your car and drive off. How easy is that.

What triggered that thought was when we were driving out of Broken Hill - kids mentioning the 'are we there yet' for a thousand times and then .... a train coming from East with flatbed carriages and they were all empty! I think you know what I mean.

Now I would love to visit the south west of WA again ... but!

**p38arover** · 19th April 2009, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by V8Ian

Ron, why on earth can't they take large cars, when there are 100s of ISO s, up to 9'6" high shifted every week?

The problem is loading the rail cars. NSW really isn't set up any more for rail freight (INMO). GSR would need to buy some single deck motorail wagons.

The height restrictions for Great Southern Rail in NSW come from the overhead wiring for electric trains and the clearance in tunnels through the Blue Mountains (the route taken by GSR trains)

In Port Augusta I noticed double stacked containers on the rail nwetwork going to/from WA and, I assume, NT.

**Mulgo** · 19th April 2009, 10:12 PM

Originally Posted by p38arover

The problem is loading the rail cars. NSW really isn't set up any more for rail freight (INMO). GSR would need to buy some single deck motorail wagons.

The height restrictions for Great Southern Rail in NSW come from the overhead wiring for electric trains and the clearance in tunnels through the Blue Mountains (the route taken by GSR trains)

In Port Augusta I noticed double stacked containers on the rail nwetwork going to/from WA and, I assume, NT.

Looking at the trains going up the Blue Mountains - they are significantly higher than 2 meters, which means this should not be a problem. The carriages do not need to be full wagons - just flatbed will do, like in Europe.

**V8Ian** · 19th April 2009, 11:41 PM

Originally Posted by p38arover

The problem is loading the rail cars. NSW really isn't set up any more for rail freight (INMO). GSR would need to buy some single deck motorail wagons.

The height restrictions for Great Southern Rail in NSW come from the overhead wiring for electric trains and the clearance in tunnels through the Blue Mountains (the route taken by GSR trains)

In Port Augusta I noticed double stacked containers on the rail nwetwork going to/from WA and, I assume, NT.

Wagons with 4 x 40 footers going to and from Darwin, yes double stacked. Thanks Ron.

Thread: Driving vs. Train-ing

Thread Tools

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions