cab ride with blair

a good friend of mine, blair, drives locos for kiwirail. last weekend, he txt and asked if i wanted and was able to come for a cab ride on the 4th. i told him i would have a think and let him know, as i would have to juggle work around it.

i finally came up with a workable idea, which saw me at work 8pm saturday doing half of the work. i was back at 7 on sunday morning to finish up, getting done just before 10. i had to be at blairs by 11, and got there with 5min to spare.

more photos here: http://sunstomyandfriends.weebly.com/cab...-2016.html

no photos of the engines in the yard, as they were out of sight and i wasnt allowed to stop once walking across the yard.

our train: locos DXB5051 and DL9348. the DL was the back engine and did all the work for much of the trip. we rode in the DXB, which was in idle until hitting the westmere bank, the second steepest grade in the country. we were hauling 10 milk tankers to the plant at whareroa [fa-e-ro-a], approx 700tonnes.



going through one of 3 tunnels. the blurry colors are the signals.


an old goods shed


we nearly collected several birds, including a hawk, doves and a number of phesants, including the one hiding in this photo


stopped at eastown yard, about 10mins from home. blair had to get a physical track warrent to continue north, so we were able to get out and talk to friends and family that showed up.


going over the railway bridge in my town. i used to bike to school over this, in the hopes of catching a train thundering over. the westmere bank is maybe 5min north of this point


new concrete sleepers and rails ready for track work. blair dropped these off with the worktrain a few weeks ago. another friend, hamish, does this work as a ganger.


one of the doves we nearly flattened, on another bridge furthur north


backing into the siding at the plant. we were held at a stopboard for 15min as we were massively early and no one was ready to allow us in. i tried to get the tankers, but the track curved before i got the camera ready and i missed it.


we left the locos there and came home in a rental car.


all in all, it was a great day out, and the first cab ride i have had in a diesel. even better it was the DXB, a much gruntier and more interesting engine than the DL.

[Super]

What a great, fun, day you had Sun. That bridge you used to ride your bike over as a kid looks quite long, high and narrow. I hope you didn't ride your bike down the middle as it doesn't look like much room to get out of the way of a thundering locomotive if one did come by. Is it noisy inside the cab of that Diesel?

Looking at some latest pictures on your massive web site, it looks as though the big addition on the Clubhouse is finished on the inside and layouts moved in? I particularly like the picture of what looks to be an HO size Refinery with chain link fence and razor wire. Is this in the new addition?

Thanks for sharing your wonderful ride with us.

cheers super. the bridge has a clip on footpath/cycleway. even so, people must walk over the track as theres tagging in places hard to reach any other way.
the loco was fairly quiet, even at full power. i had earmuffs, but didnt need them.

the extension is closed in, but needs the interior walls and wiring done. we have lights out there, held up with ties and plugged into extension cords. we are making use of it in a couple of weeks with the christmas show. i wont be in there, as the table i use is a mongrel to move

the pic you put up is part of the main layout that has always been there. that oil refinery is maybe a year old? the very talented member in the photo made the fences, including hand rolling the loops on top. he also painted the scenery panels on both walls.

[Super]

I was hoping the addition was further along. Wasn't it in the same condition last Xmas? Time for a few 50/50 drawings at the shows to gather much needed funds

pretty much, except we werent able to use it last year. the floors hadnt been varnished and the power from the roadside line had only just been hooked up. i remember that part, cos i went out to set up my stuff, the mains was shut off and i was working by torch light, lol.

we have very limited funds and only got the extension done thanks to a grant that covered just over half the costs needed. one of the members suggested getting everyone to buy a sheet of gib for the wall, which i would happily do. the problem is there are some members who would throw a hissy fit, and the ones that always do stuff for the clubs benefit are the only ones who would follow through.

I bet it was nice to see the engineer's point of view, I would love to go for a ride anytime. I wish the US was lighter about cab rides. The US is not in the best situation right now with other people, but I'd love tp go for a cab ride one day. Anyways we could use those concrete ties in the US right about now. I'd love to rant on about the US rail infrastructure, but this is about Sun's cab rides.