You seem to have missed the point of the last couple of posts in this thread which cover the journey from Adelaide to Darwin on the Ghan .How long is a piece of String and How far can you walk into a forest before leaving it?Do the powervans need refuelling too, please? If so where and how?Yes, the two NR's do the entire trip Adelaide to Darwin and back again, then quite often they the next trip and the next
How many times/where do the locos have to refuel?
Yes, the power cars burn fuel and Yes, it would have to be refueled.
This would depend on how big the tanks are and how many litres per hour is consumed.
Once those details are known, you would then arrange to the tanks to be refueled at the most suitable location. This could be based on where its cheaper to obtain sufficient fuel rather than a location.
I would be surprised if the Driver/Guard or Train manager didnt record these details at the beginning of the journey and recheck the levels every time the Train stops for any lenght of time.
I walked through the IP once when it suffered a power failure and with only the emergency lights on and no ventilation, it was most unpleasant.
N463 asked re the refueling of the NRs enroute and I asked about the powervans. I assume that the locos take fuel from road tankers (?) at Alice Springs (?) but I have no idea about the powervans.
On this route the availability of loco and powervan fueling locations are few and far between and cost comparisons do not, I suspect, come into it.
Overall, the questions have little to do with pieces of string or forests. The outstanding questions can be summarised as:
- Where do Ghan locos take fuel between Adelaide and Darwin. (Or do they just scrape through, perhaps?)
- Is refueling of the powervan/s necessary enroute. I have my doubts but I don't know that either?
To the foregoing I will add a third question.
- Does GSR run a Train Technician on the Ghan like CR used to do on the Trans and Indian Pacific?