Branch line info

Comeng · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:12 pm

Just wondering if anyone can tell me which West and North Western branch lines are still open or opened for the wheat season these days?

I am specifically interested in the branch to Merrywinebone, Warren, Walgett and Tottenham.

Can anybody please tell me if the branch to Bourke is still serviceable/used for wheat season or otherwise when did it close?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for assistance given to me

Point Break · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:50 pm

Merrywinebone is open and had a train yesterday. Walgett is also open and I think had a train last week. Not certain about Warren. Tottenham branch is open, but I don't think a train has been all the way to Tottenham for some time.

Bourke is the terminus of the main western line, and has been closed for some years now. A large part of the line sustained major damage in the Nyngan floods, my understanding is the army blew up part of the line to help alleviate flood waters at Nyngan. I believe this was in the early 1990's. There are no plans to reopen.

Bwana · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:51 pm

The level crossing on the approach to Bourke has been removed, so we can rule out trains getting to the station. Not sure of any others.

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42101 · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:50 pm

Warren line is still open for mostly cotton traffic.

Banned

Comeng · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:49 pm

Thanks for the response supplied above, very much appreciated.

42101 and Point Break, can you guys please advise as to whether trains run during the daylight hours? How often can a buff expect to see a train along these lines?

I ask these questions as I am planning a trip to take photos and video of trains along these lines where possible

Thanks again guys!

42101 · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:06 pm

Comeng mate the Warren line mostly used to only be used in daylight i have no idea what traffic is on it now though try asking at dubbo pac/nat office mate when your out there.

Banned

The_trolley · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:02 pm

Comeng,

5434 ex Merrywinebone yesterday was 48160 and 48104? (I have to check my worknotes for the second unit), 12? trucks ex Merrywinebone and picked up 13 that had been gravitated at Burren Jct, arrived into Narrabri West at 1615, attached 8149 into the lead and departed at 1635 or there abouts, into Turrawan to cross NP43.

So it ran in daylight ex Merrywinebone on the up, went out pre sunrise though. There has been a few end of line jobs running lately, mainly to North Star but I don't like your chances of just coming across one especially from Merrywinebone and Walgett, you never know your luck though.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Regards,
Scott

Comeng · Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 9:18 pm

42101 and the _ trolley, thank you both very much for your assitance - it is very much appreciated:)

21C123 · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 3:04 am

Comeng - when I was last out that way (admittedly a couple of years back), the Warren branch train was on the branch during the late morning, having left an 81 class loco sitting at Nevertire.

With regard to the Main Western line to Bourke (not a "branch line", Comeng Wink

), it certainly has been severed just beyond Nyngan and the Cobar line (former) junction. The road junction there has also been realigned and quite a large section of the railway is missing. Point break is correct - the Army did indeed knock out a large section of the line at this point to allow the release of floodwaters around Nyngan.

While on the subject of North Western lines, can anyone provide an update on the current status of the Coonamble line? Does anything still operate out there or even to, say, Gilgandra? How about the Weemelah line?

Trolley - thanks from me as well for the helpful update on Merrywinebone. At least that line is still operating! Am I correct in thinking that the Walgett line has been cut back from the station at the far end as well?

TimP

Point Break · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 9:05 am

Coonamble line is still open to all the way to Coonamble, not sure what traffic has been running out there, but trains have definately made it to Gilgandra in the recent past. A train was at Weemelah just yesterday and the Walgett line is closed beyond the wheat siding.

21C123 · Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:22 pm

KRviator · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:23 am

Comeng, trains into The Bone & beautiful downtown Walgett, will normally be pathed to arrive just after sunup, as that'll give the full day to load. Bear in mind these were usually 40-wagon export jobs so the whole day was needed to load them...

The Bone is a right bear to get to if it's been raining, an AWD (not necessarily 4WD) is strongly recommended if that's the case, otherwise you'll get there quite happily in a Commode or Falcoon from Burren if you take it easy. Walgett is sealed roads now so no problems.

Weemalah is also still open, so far as I'm aware, though it doesn't see as many trains as The Bone does, and the North Star line is open too, I'm lead to believe they're now carting Tank-Tainers of LPG from QLD for somewhere down south more or less daily.

Something to bear in mind, is the MErrywinebone & Walgett loading facilities are on private property, though access is what you'd expect from something in the back of beyond, but I would strongly advise you touch base, if you can, with the GrainCorp blokes before you go wandering around. During the harvest there can be a lot of truck & front end loader movements shifting the grain around and they may not like you in certain areas for that reason.

Depending on where you're looking at filiming, I've got a stack of photos from around there that might help you out choosing a spot...I'll upload some to fotopic when I get around to it.

EDIT
Okay, I got around to uploading some photos from up north. Click here. Hope they're of some use...

Photo's 1-5 are Coonabarabran yard. What's left of it, anyway.
Photo 6, Burren Junction from the staff hut, looking in the Down direction.
Photo's 7-9 Cryon, from the load point & L/X
Photo's 10/11 from the Walgett load point, looking up & down.
Photo's 13-15 from The Bone's Greentrees load point, looking in the up, and the LX...
Photo 16-18 are the track layouts for Cryon, The Bone & Walgett. I'll upload more later when I look to see if I can parse individual pages form a PDF file to a Jpeg...

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Comments made are strictly the opinion of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the ADF, Pacific National, Freight Australia or the Boy Scouts of Antartica.

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pig3642 · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 1:52 pm

G'day all ,
The Coonamble Line is still open and very active , with Manildra grain trains running at infrequent intervals . They usually travel empty in the pre-dawn hours , load during the day , then depart late afternoon .
As for the Pac Nat office in Dubbo...all gone . The building that the office was in (Barracks) , was sold to a private developer earlier this year , and the remaining skeleton staff moved out in May .
The Operations side of Pac Nat in Dubbo is situated in the old Goods Shed , sharing with Patricks personnel .

Cheers...

flying_donkey · Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:13 pm

The branch lines have seen more traffic in the past six weeks than they've seen in the last six months.

In the case of the Walgett, Merrywinebone, Weemalah and North Star lines, Graincorp has ordered PN to move quite a large amount of sorghum from the outlying silos to the sub-terminal at the Creek to make room for the expected wheat intake.

Additional to this, you still have the Manildra Mills shuttle to Gunnedah and Manildra, Graincorp shuttle to Cootamundra / Temora, and your usual 20 - long domestics to Sulphide Jct, Enfield and beyond.

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dasher · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:02 pm

A question for KRviator, flying_donkey and The_trolley.

I was just wondering if there was any infrastructure left at the location of Kigwegil on the Pokataroo line. Also, if there is any remaining infrastructre left at the locations of Carbeen, Inverness, Koothney and Kiel Kiel on the Walgett branch?

I didn't come here looking for trouble, I just came to do the RP shuffle... break it down...