Rolling – on the Indian Pacific from inSYDnificant to PERfection

[JohnM]

We’re stopping at Two Wells to drop the pax doing the Barossa tour. Obviously a time-saving measure for them. The rest continue to ADL for the McLaren Vale or Adelaide tour.

I guess we’ll all re-board together toninght.

There seems to be little opportunity to make up time en route. I guess a full reset happens with the overnight stop in PER.

On that note, I did notice on a recent Saturday driving past East Perth station, which I do regularly, that the IP wasn’t in at about 1530, so it was clearly running late that trip too.

 

[JohnM]

1981 was the last time I viewed the 3 Sisters from that lookout

Could you see over the railing?

 

[craven morehead]

Could you see over the railing?

From up on the milk crate yes and it was snowing at the time as well it was the first time I had seen snow being a Qld lad

 

[BAM1748]

If you go here and muddle around, scroll down and pick the section you in, then scroll through again and see the scheduled train times, about page 6 has the IP on a Thursday departing Adelaide 22:20. (keep in mind this is scheduled and there are many trains on the network not in this)

04-02-2024 V1 - ARTC

Please note that once you have printed any of these documents it is an uncontrolled copy and valid only for the day on which it was printed. Please return to […]

www.artc.com.au

Last time I rode a train in SA was this Centenary Train to Port Augusta Sept 14, 2012

Will be back over in a weeks time for run on the old Ghan at Quorn.

 

[RooFlyer]

@BAM1748 , is there a publicly accessible 'train location' app, like the 'Marine Traffic' one for vessels?

EDIT: Hadn't seen your post above.

 

[BAM1748]

@BAM1748 , is there a publicly accessible 'train location' app, like the 'Marine Traffic' one for vessels?

EDIT: Hadn't seen your post above.

Nothing public I'm afraid, just the written doc which is coughbersome to use.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Johnm can be stalked all the way to Perth.
Partly entertaining when waiting for the trip report to get going in full.

 

[JohnM]

I notice from that link that the train is 600m long. Each car is roughly 30m long, by my pacing out this morning.

That’s shorter than The Ghan that I went on earlier in the year. I’m sure that was more like 900m long.

Just thinking about when I see the IP at East Perth station, 600m seems about right - but the talk was that they had added some cars to it recently,

 

[jukebox333]

We’re stopping at Two Wells to drop the pax doing the Barossa tour. Obviously a time-saving measure for them. The rest continue to ADL for the McLaren Vale or Adelaide tour.

I guess we’ll all re-board together toninght.

There seems to be little opportunity to make up time en route. I guess a full reset happens with the overnight stop in PER.

On that note, I did notice on a recent Saturday driving past East Perth station, which I do regularly, that the IP wasn’t in at about 1530, so it was clearly running late that trip too.

From my PTA days John, I can tell you that it regularly runs late into East Perth. I've had track posessions for construction of the FAL Line brutalised by the late running IP (we can't close the track until the IP is empty and run out to Forrestfield for servicing).

Leaving it in East Perth to be serviced i spossible, but not a preferred option due to the ease at which local scroates can attack it with graffitti.

I actually had it run 'wrong line' frpm East Perth as far as Midland for me a few years back so I could work one of the tracks all weekend - the red tape to do that was extensive to say the least...

Enjoy the rest fo your trip!

 

[jukebox333]

I notice from that link that the train is 600m long. Each car is roughly 30m long, by my pacing out this morning.

That’s shorter than The Ghan that I went on earlier in the year. I’m sure that was more like 900m long.

Just thinking about when I see the IP at East Perth station, 600m seems about right - but the talk was that they had added some cars to it recently,

It becomes seasonally engorged.

Oh, er, missus....!!!

 

[BAM1748]

Johnm can be stalked all the way to Perth.
Partly entertaining when waiting for the trip report to get going in full.

Indeed they're doing 109km/h approaching Coondambo. John needs to cross with a Pacific National intermodal from Perth to Melbourne, likely do that at Kultanaby which will mean a stop for either the freight or the IP which ever gets there first. NR54 on the front and 45mins late.

edit update, just slowed to 90km/h

 

[JohnM]

Just had breakfast rolling through the eastern wheatbelt in WA.

There was quite regular mobile coverage across the Nullarbor, but all 3G and sketchy.

ETA PER is the scheduled 1500h, so we have overcome the delay that occurred most of the way.

 

[JohnM]

OK, back in PERfection, so time to rewind to the first night on the SYD (Lithgow)-ADL leg.

Wine list and dinner menu. This was to be the only dinner on-train. The second night was off-train on the Adelaide excursion and the third was to be the off-train (but right beside the train) dinner in the open at Rawlinna.



There was a thick fog when we rolled into Broken Hill at around 0700h. The off-train excursions (Broken Hill - Journey Beyond Rail) were specially laid on at that early hour.

My first choice would have been the ‘Living Desert’ sculptures, but that was not available. I don’t know why – maybe because we were running late or it could have been because of the weather making the park inaccessible. It is normally seasonal October-March.

I missed out on my first choice of the ‘Main Drag’ walking tour with ‘Shelita Buffet’, so ended up going to the regional art gallery. It was interesting enough, and in a lovely restored building, but I think I might have liked the Bells Milk Bar experience better, going from the comments of someone who went. I was expecting to see some Pro Hart paintings but no.

After perusing the art gallery, I briefly walked up the main street in the fog. I’ve been to Broken Hill before, so I didn’t need to go exploring.

We departed the train before breakfast and had it upon return. Drinks and snacks were provided at the gallery (along with a pianist tinkling the ivories).

 

[JohnM]

Back at the train. Because of the length, I got to walk through the Platinum dining car, so I snapped a quick pic. A much more open and airy setting 6-across table setting rather than the 8-across booth setting of the Gold dining area, which is much more olde-worlde style. One of the staff mentioned that a refurbishment is coming where Gold will be transformed into a more contemporary look in similar pastel shades to Platinum.

(I later in the trip got to have peek in a Platinum room, courtesy of the folks I was walking behind. I felt cheeky enough asking for a look and another couple behind me snuck a look too, so I didn’t take a pic. The double bed certainly looked good for travelling with a +1, rather than bunks.)



The breakfast menu and the Gold lounge, adjacent to the dining car.



There has been plenty of rain out Broken Hill way. Re-arranging the locos after pulling into ADL. We had two locos together at the front for the run through to ADL (NR57 and NR27, in Pacific National and Indian Pacific livery, respectively, for the buffs – and maybe some comment from @henleybeach.)

The train pulls into ADL and then pulls back out, so the loco(s) change ends. That also means that if you are at the tail of the train going in, you are at the front going out. So it was that I was at the tail SYD-ADL and the front ADL-PER. Only one loco was used on the ADL-PER leg.

 

[Daver6]

Why did you bring that rubbish weather with you back to Perth?

 

[JohnM]

Why did you bring that rubbish weather with you back to Perth?

Do you ever cease criticizing? And don't you know that Gen X should (reluctantly) be seen but not heard?

Let me assure you that it was much more rubbish on the other side.

 

[JohnM]

We arrived in ADL at about 1600h. Again, running an hour late put pressure on the off-train excursion timetable.

I chose McLaren Vale, which consisted of first going to Coriole for a tasting and then to the Star of Greece restaurant at Port Willunga for dinner at sunset.

The Coriole visit became rushed because of the tighter time fixture for the sunset dinner. They had set out the tasting of four wines with a snack of local cheese and olives. There was a 15% discount on purchases.

 

[JohnM]

It was something like 2200h when were back on the train and pulling out of ADL. I awoke to this view here:



Then to breakfast and trundling westwards through lunch and the rest the day, eventually hitting the Nullarbor Plain and the next stop after Adelaide: Cook. The train is re-watered and I think also refuelled there.

Again, because of length, these operations were staged in three increments. After the second move forward, we were allowed off to explore Cook for about 30 minutes.

I also understand that drivers also change here. Given that the Indian Pacific only passes Cook twice per week, that implies that drivers rotate between freight trains and the IP. I’m guessing that Journey Beyond owns the passive rolling stock, while Pacific National is contracted to provide the motive rolling stock. Paging @henleybeach to comment or elaborate.

 

[JohnM]

 

[JohnM]

And on we go into the state of PERfection. Next stop Rawlinna – a very large sheep station. Here we stop and disembark for dinner beside the train, set up by the Rawlinna people and served by the train crew. Menu: roast lamb – what else?



Back on the train and continuing. I awoke next morning when we were about 100km west of Kalgoorlie.

The journey through to PER was quite slow on the final day. We had several stops to allow other traffic to pass. It was, however, nicely timed to have lunch coming down the Avon Valley from Northam, through Toodyay, to run alongside the Avon River, just below the right side windows. I became engrossed talking a couple from MEL who were going to have a few days in PER before flying to DRW to go on The Ghan to ADL, so I didn’t take any pics of the lunchtime view.

Possibly some of the stops were to align with that timing, as well as giving way to other traffic. Maybe @BAM1748 or @henleybeach can offer some insights.

After having travelled on The Ghan in June (A gallop on The Ghan), I think it’s worth some comparative comment that may be useful for anyone thinking about either or both journeys.

Both trains are identical in configuration and amenities, so there is nothing to note in that regard.

The big difference is the nature of the journey.

The Ghan is very much a train that travels overnight between places with long (all day in two cases) stops for off-train excursions. After a mid-morning departure, the first stop is Katherine for the afternoon. Then it is overnight to Alice Springs where the off-train excursions during the day run on into the dinner at the old telegraph station. Then overnight to the siding about 40km from Coober Pedy for the all-day excursion there, before a sundowner beside the train, before re-boarding for dinner and the run into ADL to complete the journey.

So, The Ghan journey is very much about off-train experiences.

In contrast, the Indian Pacific is very much an on-train experience, with a particular focus on sitting back and taking in the vastness of the Nullarbor Plain. Of course, the distance is much greater to cover in the same three-night journey.

The Indian Pacific journey is therefore very sedentary.

While the classic coast-to-coast aspect of the Indian Pacific holds an innate attraction, I think that the SYD-ADL sector could easily be foregone for anyone who has been to Broken Hill and to the Barossa, McLaren Vale or Hahndorf, the major off-train options.

Furthermore, the SYD-ADL sector is by far the worst section of track. This is well-known. Many people were saying that they slept very badly on the first night, but I had no trouble.

So, with that, the end.