Railway_Digest__February_2018

Alternatively, BHPBIO’s Finucane Island provides an ideal opportunity
to motorcade trains for several kilometres in or out of their facility on the
western side of the harbour. You just have to be careful about keeping
out of the way of the endless procession of big 82 wheeler road trains
delivering iron ore and other minerals to the port for export.
There was not a lot of time to spend time watching some of the big
ships coming and going from the busy harbour, but a harbour cruise to
see the vessels at close range later during my stay was planned.
But a must-see sight is the former ‘General Pershing Zephyr’ rail
carriage situated in a park off the main street of the central business
district. Peter Clark’s fine article that appeared in the October 2017
Railway Digest revealed its intriguing history. At the time of my 2016
visit the car was just an empty shell, having been gutted pending a
refit. I took the opportunity to crawl a short way underneath the car to
photograph its disc braking system, which must have been advanced
for the 1930s.
Sentimentality is not a priority in the mining game as I was to discover
that the large collection of withdrawn BHPBIO SD40 and AC6000 locos
I had stumbled across by chance in August 2014 were shredded into
tiny pieces at a local Wedgefield recycling yard just two months later.
What had been a full and very satisfying day passed by very quickly, but
as arranged, I was home in time for a very early dinner before accompanying
Greg into work for what was anticipated to be an interesting evening.
Wednesday Night – An Evening At The Port
Walking in the door at the FMG depot your attention is immediately
drawn to the several large wall-mounted monitors which show a
schematic layout of the FMG rail system, and most importantly, the
real-time whereabouts of all trains. My fascination is then diverted
by Greg’s day shift counterpart wasting little time to enthusiastically
inform him during the handover that the crew of the day’s fuel train just
reported several wagons had developed ‘flat wheels’. I wasn’t privy to
the actual cause or the eventual outcome to resolve that little problem,
but Greg took the news in his stride, treating the situation like it being
nothing that hadn’t already happened before. Just another one of
those challenges to be swiftly confronted and overcome, the same as
inevitable locomotive failures, or broken couplings between ore cars.
Certainly not the job for someone with a fragile temperament.
Another development that had occurred since Greg’s last shift was the
short term closure of one of the port’s three dumpers (each known as
a Train Unloader or TUL) to allow for planned maintenance, significantly
limiting the daily tonnage delivery target which the rail employees take
very seriously.
Before an FMG employee’s shift can begin, everyone must undergo
a mandatory breathalyser test and the results recorded. Regardless
of being a visitor, my participation was also required. Then to permit
me to undertake a loco cab ride, an “Authority to Travel on Railroad”
form is signed off. It is imperative to be aware that the signed authority
indemnifies the company against any misfortune that a non-employee
may suffer. It doesn’t bear thinking about what that would mean in
reality should an unfortunate event actually occur!
Circumstances were in my favour when I was teamed up with a driver
just starting his 12hr shift. He was tasked with taking charge of a loaded
train for the short run down to FMG’s Herb Elliott Port. This 240 car
long train with EMD locomotives SD70-711 and SD90-909 upfront had
been parked on the main line beside the depot while waiting for one
of the two operational dumpers to become available. My driver Geoff
would deliver the loaded rake to one of the available dumpers, cut off
the locos and bring them back to the provisioning shed for refuelling.
In all, an 11 km round trip.
FMG’s loco roster consists of fifteen 4,400hp GE Dash-9 44CW’s,
twenty-one 4,300hp EMD SD70ACe/LCi’s, and nine 4,300hp re-engined
ex-Union Pacific SD90MAC-H’s. A further eight used SD90MAC-H2’s were
purchased in late 2014, but these latter units have all been indefinitely
withdrawn due to a myriad of issues. The rolling stock fleet consists of
more than 3200 Chinese-manufactured ore cars. Ore cars are permanently
coupled as pairs, and are assembled into thirteen rakes varying between
240 and 252 cars each, with train lengths ranging from 2.7 km to 2.85 km
long. Thirty fuel wagons and an assortment of track maintenance rolling
stock completes the collection.
On my first attempt to climb the steps of the lead loco from track level,
I rediscovered that it can be quite a challenge with the lower portion of the
handrails being vertical, seemingly shaped in favour of aesthetics rather
than match the sloping angle of the steps. Pulling yourself up requires
some careful strategy, particularly when carrying a sizable camera
bag and other baggage that could impede a dignified ascent up to
the cab. But following the conquering of the first set of steps, it is then
straightforward to negotiate the next set of conventional steps leading
up into the cab via the door through the loco’s nose, passing by neatly
arranged electrical components and the toilet cubicle.
Inside the cab, plenty of bottled water is always found to be available
along with other essentials such as a kettle, small fridge, and microwave
28 RAILWAY DIGEST