Rolling – on the Indian Pacific from inSYDnificant to PERfection

[JohnM]

Every time I've seen the car transport, it's a double-deck car always immediately behind the loco. @henleybeach may care to comment whether that is always the case and whether there is a reason for it.

 

[Daver6]

Every time I've seen the car transport, it's a double-deck car always immediately behind the loco. @henleybeach may care to comment whether that is always the case and whether there is a reason for it.

Maybe more noise separation to the passenger part?

 

[BAM1748]

Every time I've seen the car transport, it's a double-deck car always immediately behind the loco. @henleybeach may care to comment whether that is always the case and whether there is a reason for it.

Behind the loco out of Perth as the car ramp is at the Sydney end of East Perth, so the locos shunt it on the front of the train last thing before they depart, in Adelaide the loading ramp is on the north (other) end but they have a shunt loco and often swap locos there that can move it to the loading ramp there and add or take off motor rail wagons.

In Adelaide they reverse the end of the train the motor rail wagon is on both directions so it's always on the front out of Sydney and the front out of Perth to suit those dead end terminals. Therefore on the back into Sydney and the back into Perth.

Sydney the loading ramp is on the Perth end, so the motor rail wagon is reversed in Adelaide to the opposite end of the train so when it arrives in Sydney it is not blocked in the dead end, the locos run around and pull off the back and push it to the ramp. (I'll check the status of the motor rail into Sydney as I think only a temp hiatus)

For the old timers remembering the glory days, if you ever caught the Southern Aurora from Sydney to Melbourne or Melbourne to Sydney, the motor rail always departed on the front of the train but when you woke up it was on the back of the train, they had a 15 min middle of the night stop in Albury for a complete staff change, loco change from NSW to VR, dining car crew and conductors, during that 15 mins they shunted the motor rail wagon from the front of the train to the back without waking anyone up. Again to suit each cities dead end terminal and not trap the cars in.

 

[henleybeach]

Every time I've seen the car transport, it's a double-deck car always immediately behind the loco. @henleybeach may care to comment whether that is always the case and whether there is a reason for it.

I was about to answer however Bam1748 is on the money for the reasons.

 

[Gladstone Tim]

Making our final payment tomorrow for our after Christmas departure. Excited! Even more motivated by this report. Truly hoping to be able to board in Sydney and experience the Blue Mountains.

 

[CorvettePete]

They still advertise it as a service:

Motorail - Journey Beyond Rail

www.journeybeyondrail.com.au

When I tried to book my car about 2 years ago they told me that it was no longer available.

 

[CorvettePete]

Just to clarify, I was trying to book the car from Sydney to Perth. They said they did not have the facilities in Perth.

 

[CorvettePete]

Sorry, they said that they didn’t have facilities in Sydney.

 

[jukebox333]

When I tried to book my car about 2 years ago they told me that it was no longer available.

No longer all the way to Sydney from Perth, no. Just Adelaide - Perth.

For the trainspotters out there, here's one of those 'wrong line' workings of the IP I arranged back in October 2017:




Perversely, when we went to do it again a month later, one of those infamous Motorail wagons split the points at East Perth, resulting in a *very* late departure for the outbound service (so late, my 12 hr shift finished, and I didn't photograph it as it came though site that evening!):

Passengers stuck on Indian Pacific after train derails

Having left East Perth at 10am it was still just outside of Mount Lawley nine hours later.

thewest.com.au

 

[JohnM]

Thanks, everyone, for contributing great information.

 

[jrfsp]

Thats correct, Car transportation is now only available between ADL/PER and DRW/ADL. You used to be able to get through transportation between the trains too ie From DRW to PER, but i believe thats no longer offered.

I think space constraints at SYD resulted in dropping that offering.

As unaccompanied interstate car transportation goes - its the cheapest way of getting your car across the Nullarbor - have used it quite a few times and the service has always been good.

 

[theozpilot]

Correct, privately owned except the North East Corridor. Not all the freight railroads are created equal when it comes to dispatching Amtrak.

I'm thinking of a ride on the California Zephyr (Chicago to Sacramento return) in February to enjoy travelling the Rockies and Sierra Nevada's in winter which doesn't have a great on time record.

Here are some stats and which railroads cause the most delays.

Freight Delays and Your Amtrak Service

Delays can happen for a variety of reasons, but the leading cause of delay to Amtrak trains is “freight train interference.”

www.amtrak.com

Can attest to that. I rode the Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville (SF) in June this Year. Lots to delays along the way but can often make up time on the overnight legs. Still I arrived into SF nearly 3 hours late. The dining car was also decommissioned from the start of the second day onwards as the food elevator was broken and the chefs/waiters refused to transport food up and down the stairs, which meant KFC for dinner on the second night and basically no breakfast for the next 2 days . Managed to get a USD$500 voucher to be used in the next 12 months after complaining, although I didn’t get a reply for 4 months after the trip. Track was rather rough the entire journey.

 

[theozpilot]

Making our final payment tomorrow for our after Christmas departure. Excited! Even more motivated by this report. Truly hoping to be able to board in Sydney and experience the Blue Mountains.

Nice! I’m coming in on the Xmas day departure from Perth back home to Sydney. Can’t wait!

 

[BAM1748]

Can attest to that. I rode the Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville (SF) in June this Year. Lots to delays along the way but can often make up time on the overnight legs. Still I arrived into SF nearly 3 hours late. The dining car was also decommissioned from the start of the second day onwards as the food elevator was broken and the chefs/waiters refused to transport food up and down the stairs, which meant KFC for dinner on the second night and basically no breakfast for the next 2 days . Managed to get a USD$500 voucher to be used in the next 12 months after complaining, although I didn’t get a reply for 4 months after the trip. Track was rather rough the

I’m hoping I can organise the Blue Ridge Club which Amtrak will put on the rear of the Zephyr. It’s sort of a self contained apartment with a chef.

Our Pullman Fleet

www.pullmans.com

 

[CorvettePete]

If you are going on the Indian Pacific (or, I assume the Ghan) and you have 4 couples in Platinum you can ask for the Chairman's Carriage. It has the 4 bedrooms and a lounge. You still eat in the Platinum dining car and can go to the Platinum Lounge but you also have this space to yourselves. Note that one of the bedrooms is a twin (the other 3 are the Platinum Queen rooms).

 

[JohnM]

Note that one of the bedrooms is a twin

That sounds like an oxymoron, in Platinum, to me...

 

[CaptJCool]

If you are going on the Indian Pacific (or, I assume the Ghan) and you have 4 couples in Platinum you can ask for the Chairman's Carriage. It has the 4 bedrooms and a lounge. You still eat in the Platinum dining car and can go to the Platinum Lounge but you also have this space to yourselves. Note that one of the bedrooms is a twin (the other 3 are the Platinum Queen rooms).

Some years ago on an open day, they were advertising the backloaded leg at a generous discount....

otherwise, it would run home “empty”

 

[JohnM]

Some years ago on an open day, they were advertising the backloaded leg at a generous discount....

otherwise, it would run home “empty”

What is 'home' and which is 'backloaded leg'?

Do you have figures on the popularity of the direction travelled?

NB. I drove past East Perth station again this morning. Yet again, no sign of a car-carrying wagon that used to be standard on the IP.

 

[CaptJCool]

What is 'home' and which is 'backloaded leg'?

Do you have figures on the popularity of the direction travelled?

Corporate office is in Adelaide CBD

Expression of Interest 2023 Season Hospitality Attendant - Journey Beyond
thought this was interesting and confirmed homes Radelaide...

and no figures

 

[JohnM]

Corporate office is in Adelaide CBD

Expression of Interest 2023 Season Hospitality Attendant - Journey Beyond
thought this was interesting and confirmed homes Radelaide...

and no figures

Adelaide was noted upthread as the HQ (aka home), but Adelaide itself seems to be minor in the grand scope of the IP being an '...epic transcontinental crossing...' (Official Site of the Indian Pacific | Journey Beyond Rail).

Adelaide is certainly a logical HQ (admin and logistics) for Journey Beyond rail, being in the middle of the continent and for servicing both the IP and The Ghan signature journeys. But the majority of pax seem do the full SYD-PER or PER-SYD journey. Certainly that's how it's most strongly marketed. Only a few pax on my journey got off/on in ADL.

I was curious as to whether you had (or anyone else has) information on whether there is generally an equality of pax demand for the E-W and W-E journeys, given your reference to 'backloading' which implied one was more in demand than the other. I imagine an inequality might apply to freight services, probably being more heavily loaded E-W than W-E?