Railway_Digest__February_2018

INDIAN OCEAN
Port Hedland
Goldsworthy
Nimingarra
Cape Lambert
•
Dampier • Karratha
• • Wickham
Shay Gap
Yarrie
Marble Bar •
•
Pannawonica
Woodstock
Nunna
Nullagine
s
Firetail
N
Brockman 4
Tom Price •
Mt Tom Price
Kings
Solomon
Hub
Marandoo
Wittenoom
Karijini
National
Park
Marillana
Yandi
Area C
Cloudbreak
Christmas Creek
Yandicoogina
Hope Downs
Roy Hill
Fortescue Metals Group Railway
Other railways
Roy Hill Railway
Roads
Paraburdoo •
West Angelas
0 25 50 100
•
Newman Jimblebar
Kilometres
©2018 BB/ARHSnsw
drive back to the main depot was their only respectable option. Not
a port-a-loo in sight. I found this predicament odd in a 21st century
workplace, but obviously the employees have not made it a priority for
management to have remedied.
Lighting of the rail track within the port area is another contentious
issue. The shunters have asked FMG if a permanent lighting system could
be installed around the balloon loops to make their jobs safer and easier
at night. Presumably the cost required to effectively illuminate seven
kilometres of track would be very substantial and be decreed by the bean
counters as expenditure that would be difficult to justify to shareholders.
As a reasonable compromise, hired portable lighting towers have been
in use for some years at locations where most of the shunter activities
occur. Large mounds of earth have been formed to provide the lights
with a few extra metres of elevation.
Earlier during the morning I became aware of news filtering through
of a broken knuckle delaying a port bound loaded train at Durack, 95 km
to the south. Not only that, there was notification of a broken frog on a set
of swing nose points at Kanga, adjacent to the 108 km mark. It was possible
for both of these hindrances to be bypassed as they were within the 40 km
long Durack to Forrest duplicated section. But crossing options available
to the train controllers would be significantly impacted. How might these
factors affect the next departure I wondered? Latest advice on offer was
the next Cloudbreak-bound train now wasn’t expected to leave until the
early afternoon...and I had been waiting since 6am!
Following nearly five long hours of filling in time, I was very
relieved to see the senior shunter return to the shed. Sympathising
with my plight, he invited me to tag along and observe how they were
dealing with an ore car coupler that had recently failed during the
dumping operation on the TUL 1 road. Without the ability at the port to
perform the heavy repairs needed, the rake would have to be split and
the rear section shunted away to release the crippled wagons. In these
situations long lengths of chain are simply intertwined several times
between the affected cars to keep them coupled together. The trailing
load imposed on the chains by the two loaded ore cars amounted to a
comparatively meagre 320 tonnes being slowly towed along on what is
dead level track.
A pair of locos sitting silently in wait at the end of the balloon
loops were fired up to assist, being attached to pull back around 160
loaded cars a distance of 3 km. The failed two pairs of ore cars would
then be shunted into the middle balloon loop road which fulfilled
the temporary role of a “bad order spur”. From there they would be
collected after the two sections of the rake were reunited. Throughout
these manoeuvres, shunters are responsible for keeping the loco driver
very well informed as to where the end of the long train is. It is also
the shunter’s job to ensure any level crossings are physically protected
when wagons are being pushed back through them, there being no
audible horn blast or flashing lights to warn approaching road vehicles.
More than 90 minutes after the mishap first occurred, the two
portions were reunited as one rake again, and the compressor cars at
the tail end restarted to allow the dumping process to resume. Without
delay, the crippled wagon pairs were then hauled across to Kanyirri
depot. Here the wagons would remain until being forwarded on the
next day to the large rolling stock maintenance depot at Thomas Yard,
situated several kilometres further south.
It was an impressive and rare insight into the tasks required to minimise
delays with the delivery of ore when things inevitably go wrong. I owe great
thanks for being able to witness a rare lesson in troubleshooting, railway style.
The early afternoon had arrived and there was still no certainty as to
when the next train would be departing, given that it had been setback
even further by the coupling failure. This was making the prospect of
securing a ride up all the way up to the mine in daylight less likely by
the minute. On eventually learning of my situation via my frequent text
messages, Greg was most apologetic for the unfortunate circumstances
that had developed while he slept. He strongly recommended that I
abandon the day and he would make new arrangements for another
trip on Friday morning.
It had in one sense been a major disappointment that the cab ride
didn’t happen, but I did witness a very unique aspect of job that few
very outsiders ever would. For that I do count myself very fortunate.
And the next day it would become apparent that it was actually a blessing.
To be continued...
FEBRUARY 2018 31