Connecting the Country to the City

Well done Dwellingup!! I'm sure having working vintage trains in the area helped win this award!

Dwellingup has won silver in the 2022 GWN7 Top Small Tourism Town Awards. 🥈

It's the second year in a row that Dwellingup has been honoured in the category having won gold in 2021.

This award showcases and celebrates the undeniable natural beauty and adventure experiences within the Peel region. 🌳

Have you experienced Dwellingup yet?
Come for a trip on our Steam Ranger as we travel down the glorious Darling Scarps and show you just how beautiful Dwellingup can be! 🚂

Thanks so much to everyone who voted!

📸 Pics thanks to:
Mitchell Radford
Ryan Workman

Well here it is:

Our July 2022 Timetable has been released.
We have ALL THREE services running AND Extra School Holiday services on Wednesdays!
Have you booked your seats for our Steam Ranger, Forest Train or Restaurant Train Yet?

Our home town of Dwellingup is only a 70 minute road trip from Perth and 35 minutes from Mandurah.

Give us a call to secure your seats!

☎️ Booking office - Mon to Fri: 08 62781111
🌍 www.hothamvalleyrailway.com.au

We need this...remember when Hotham Valley had access to main lines (sigh...)?

Take the family on a spectacular steam train journey through the Hunter Valley during the winter school holidays, embracing all the sights and sounds from inside our beautiful heritage carriages as we steam towards Scone from Maitland on 10 July.

Limited tickets left, book now at www.picnictrain.com.au/scone-picnic-train

**CALLING ALL NARROGIN RAILWAY ENTHUSIASTS**

The Shire of Narrogin is calling on any local railway enthusiasts who might have rail memorabilia that relates to the Narrogin Railway Station or Great Southern Railway that they are willing to donate for display at the Station when it opens later in the year.

The Railway Station is currently undergoing restoration and renovation, and when finished will be the home to the Visitor Information Centre, as well as a display of railway memorabilia and a bespoke locally made and world class ‘n scale’ miniature, fully operational model railway, depicting the CBD and railways of Narrogin, as it was in the 1960’s.

The Shire will start its Railway collection with artefacts generously being donated by the Evanis family. Ernie Evanis worked at the Narrogin Railway Station for over 35 years, and his son David has written a book about him.

For more information, or to discuss potential artefacts or memorabilia donations to be accessioned into a managed and displayed collection, please contact Community Development Officer Sharon Bell on 9890 0900 or email [email protected]

If only it went further, and further, and further...

Giddy up! 🐎

Here’s the first look at the underpass for the future shared pedestrian and bridle path under Thomas Road as part of the Byford Rail Extension👣

Does this mean more trains? Hopefully, yes!!

Today, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese signed the Australian Government's new target to cut emissions 43% by 2030.

Rail is better for promoting tourism in our towns(once it is upgraded/built/accessible to more passengers):

1. More fuel efficient
2. Potentially less disruptive to the sleep patterns of the young and old...no equivalent of MIDNIGHT HORROR to disrupt a baby/toddler/child who has settled into an established sleep pattern
3. More towns to visit and spread the tourist dollar
4. Sights and scenes of country WA to make memories of and learn from for Perthites
5. Easier access to Perth, Fremantle and Midland facilities (not to mention friends and family) for regional residents

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-14/cheap-discounted-flights-price-gouging-risk-domestic-tourism/13239740

Morrison wants you to take a holiday, but here's what you should consider first The consensus is that travellers will indeed benefit from cheaper airfares under the government's plan for around 800,000 half-price airfares, but they may lose out when they hit the ground, writes David Taylor.

Wow! And the post has a great comment about HVR accessing the mainlines: heaven!!!

The Hotham Valley Railway is a brilliant tourism operator preserving steam locomotives and the railway line from Pinjarra to Dwellingup.

The Railway shows some of the beautiful landscapes of Murray-Wellington.

I am pleased to announce that if re-elected, the Hotham Valley Tourist Railway will receive $20,000 to help maintain and repair their engines, to continue to provide the beautiful service they offer.

More opportunities to take a Hotham Valley train trip?

Save Grain on Rail have a post which has a map of old railway lines. Also, a LIST from Wikipedia of old AGRICULTURAL SPUR rail lines...does anyone know if there exists a similar list of ALL old WA rail lines, especially ones which allowed passengers?

With thanks to James Ball: An advert in a 1947 Western Mail publication

Don't you agree that holidays ARE travel days? Here's hoping that any new passenger trains will allow for windows to be opened, even ever so slightly. Stuffiness doesn't make for a great rail journey!!

Please, Treasurer Wyatt help our economy roar back in an environmentally sustainable, safe and cost-effective way with increased funding of MORE Tier 3 lines and regional rail in general? Better for fuel security with the Kwinany refinery closing down during Covid19 AND So much cheaper to install and maintain rail than roads suitable for heavy road-train use and only where viable Rosemarie Curnow, of course ;)

WA economy 'roaring back to life' and defying pre-COVID predictions, state's treasurer says The WA Government says a rebound in household spending, improving labour and housing markets and higher tax revenue have put the state's economy in a stronger position than predicted in the October Budget amid the pandemic.

Between and is !!! https://lostkatanning.com/badgebup/

We want to know about history, people, events, buildings, community, characters. Yes rail, see below. But also about the people and stories which make country life special and unique.

Please point us toward pagesime the one linked and tell us YOUR stories about YOUR towns: Tier 1, 2 and 3, country, ones which have passenger rail but you think it could be better, ones which have rail lines not used for passenger lines. Ones which you think NEED passenger lines...why rail? The bulk of the messages we receive from people in country towns are asking for passenger rail as (particularly for trips to Perth for medical appointments), that is what would make their journeys and trips easier, more comfortable and safer.

BADGEBUP Lost Katanning - Badjebup Nalabup Western Australia BADGEBUP - gazetted as Badjebup in 1923 then changed to Nalabup, and back to Badjebup in the same year then finally to Badgebup in 1972 - Lost Katanning

New report confirms need to get more passengers, freight on rail
2020 November 16 | 10:45am

Australia must increase the use of rail to avoid rising environmental, safety and social costs over the next decade.

The Australasian Railway Association’s (ARA) Value of Rail 2020 report was released today, confirming the wider community benefits of moving more passengers and freight to rail.

more at link: https://ara.net.au/content/new-report-confirms-need-get-more-passengers-freight-rail?fbclid=IwAR28bRZ2YA7GzsEu5UXRRgy3s9E58VUZ0oxnBX94fOFHWyerbZvLnrjBSRQ

However, do some of the trains need to look like leopards or resemble blue ducks with yellow stripes?

"Today, the term ‘white elephant’ denotes any burdensome, expensive and useless possession that is much more trouble than it is worth. The origins of the phrase come from Siam (modern-day Thailand)."

https://www.historyextra.com/period/victorian/why-do-we-say-white-elephant/

Why do we say ‘white elephant’? Although a white elephant used to be considered a sacred and tremendously valuable animal in Siam, being given one as a present by the King could be the worst thing to happen to you

Silver bullet?

Canadian Pacific Railway G5d "Pacific" 4-6-2 No. 1293 was built by the Canadian Locomotive Company (c/n 2450) in 1948. Image by: Richard Kitterman

TWO important metro rail projects instead included among all the others, let's hope for more regional rail projects!! Fingers crossed!! What are the Nats doing for regional rail in the Wheatbelt?

The Smart Freeway. Wanneroo Road. Armadale Road. Kalamunda Road. Regional Road Safety. METRONET.

When we delivered on our promise to stop Roe 8 in 2017, it didn't just save the Beeliar Wetlands - it funded a range of crucial transport projects throughout Perth and right across WA.

🥰Hopefully Yealering silo won't be like this forever...thank you to the people who run the CHECK OUT YEALERING PAGE as some old silo towns don't have much of a Facebook presence

This is what a Tier 3 railway looks like in Yealering. We think it might be better classed as a “scenic” railway.

Does the Santa Train need to return...EVERYWHERE POSSIBLE?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157549841356712&id=264557191711

ALL ABOARD THE SANTA TRAIN 🎅🚂

Back in the 1970s, the Railway Institute in Kalgoorlie-Boulder would arrange for Santa to meet families at the station.

Bernie Morris spent 48 years working as a locomotive driver in the Goldfields and remembers greeting Santa at the platform.

Mr Morris said children used to be "goggle eyed" seeing the man in the red suit riding the train into town.

"[They were] keen the es**rt Santa over the road to the tree with all the presents," he said.

Mr Morris said when the real Santa couldn't make it, a volunteer would put on the suit to meet the children.

"They'd be a bit embarrassed about filling in for Santa so they'd top up with a few ales beforehand for a bit of Dutch courage," he said.

"I'm told he nearly fell off the engine one trip."

📷: Railway Institute.

YES!!!

Self-driving cars may prove to be useful. Electric cars are better that internal combustion engine cars. But cars as a form of mass urban transit are inefficient and unsustainable no matter what's under the bonnet as they still consume vast amounts of resources to build, and a city designed around cars is an urban planning disaster. What we need is MODE SHIFT to public transport and bicycles. The electric cars will just fill some of the gaps around the edges.

5 Bad Arguments for Public Infrastructure Spending
By Ryan Bourne
This article appeared in Foundation for Economic Education on April 13, 2017

EXTRACTS FROM ENTIRE ARTICLE LINKED BELOW

Good infrastructure, especially highways, bridges, and airports, can certainly improve economic mobility and lower costs by reducing travel time between locations. This, however, says nothing about the kinds of institutions most likely to produce good infrastructure or who should fund it.

Here’s a handy guide to some of the bad economic reasoning you will likely hear as the debate about infrastructure spending heats up.

"1. Past benefits don’t mean future benefits

A handy guide to some of the bad economic reasoning you will likely hear as the debate about infrastructure spending heats up.

In his joint address to Congress, President Trump declared that “the time has come for a new program of national rebuilding.” The implication was clear: building new infrastructure was a success in the past, so it would be good for the economy today.

Past experience and the experience of other countries lead to mixed conclusions about the value of public infrastructure project. Highway construction can substantially boost productivity for industries associated with road use, but the same research finds those benefits to be largely one‐​offs. More recent research has found that too many new highways were built between 1983 and 2003. It has also found that marginal extensions to the highway system are unlikely to increase social welfare because the cost savings from reduced travel times are relatively small."

"We should judge new projects on their own merits, not against old examples..."

"...costs are undoubtedly very real, but so are the costs of building new infrastructure, and that money can’t then be spent on other things that we might have preferred to spend them on. Without the aid of clear market signals, it’s very difficult and maybe impossible for governments to determine the optimal amount and nature of infrastructure spending."

"Infrastructure decisions should be judged by robust estimates of costs and expected benefits, not just how cheap it is to borrow."

The absolute clincher:

5. How stimulus actually works

Leaked documents show that the Trump administration is likely to prioritize “shovel ready” projects and those that are “direct job creators.” But previously on his campaign website Trump’s team had suggested the goal of infrastructure development was “more rapid productivity gains.”

This conflates two well‐​known arguments for infrastructure investment. The first is that government investment spending can be used to “stimulate” the economy and put people back to work. The second is that smart, efficient investments can help enhance long‐​term productivity growth.

These two ambitions often conflict. Attempts to stimulate quickly and get people back to work will likely result in sloppy project selection and the hiring of more labor than would be most efficient. And since government is, well, government, it’s a pretty good bet that infrastructure funds will go preferentially to the well‐​connected.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/5-bad-arguments-public-infrastructure-spending

5 Bad Arguments for Public Infrastructure Spending A handy guide to some of the bad economic reasoning you will likely hear as the debate about infrastructure spending heats up.

Fewer trucks on long-distance (yes, we know that is a contentious term open to many interpretations 🤠) runs where rail is a viable alternative...however it wasn't just Kwinana built with the refinery in mind, was it? Didn't this have a part? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_for_the_Metropolitan_Region,_Perth_and_Fremantle

Stephenson's plan was identified by George Seddon as giving primacy to the automobile, and responsible for making Perth the worst adapted capital city for public transport.[12]

Legacy
The recommendations of the 1955 Plan foreshadowed or directly contributed to the following outcomes:
..The preparation of a comprehensive plan for the Kwinana industrial and port hinterland.

????

Wheatbelt Tier 3 Farmer: "Before the [rail] line closed, we were filling up our truck with fuel every THREE days. Now it is every day"

From: https://stockhead.com.au/energy/heres-what-the-kwinana-refinery-closure-means-for-australias-fuel-security/
Fuel security underpins our entire economy,” said the prime minister at the time.The International Energy Agency (IEA) recommends its member countries that include Australia hold emergency oil stocks equivalent to 90 days of net oil imports to guard against an emergency.

Australia has 20 days’ worth of diesel fuel in reserve, while for jet fuel and petrol supply levels are around 27 days and 25 days, respectively, according to reports.

“This [fuel security] has been an ongoing concern for decades for any country that is dependent on the import of strategic goods like crude oil or refined fuels,” Aguilera said.

“One of the measures taken to alleviate that worry is to hold stockpiles either of crude oil or refined products, and most consuming countries do have these inventories, and being part of the IEA they are supposed to hold 90 days of net imports,” he said.

SAVE Grain on Rail: What conclusion can you draw?

NB Interesting graphic courtesy ofhttps://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/Freight-Ports/FRE_P_FS_RevAgriRegionFreightStrategy_Final.pdf

Particularly that it features STANDARD gauge... what about those farmers on Tier 3 lines - now closed - a lot of which are NARROW gauge??

More of these, please, more of these with freight trains, too...btw, if you were to take a regular country passenger train in WA, even diesel or electric, would you prefer it to be painted and/or moulded to have a retro appearance, something which evokes the past? Or would you want something which looks ultra-modern?

Silo number 42 is well underway at Farrell Flat in South Australia. This in is being painted by Jarrod Soden.

Photo by 📸 Margo Denniss

THE WASHINGTON POST
Democracy Dies in Darkness

Let's make an effort to move more freight by rail and less by road. Trains are more efficient.


New technology minimizes the energy that is lost when a train comes around a curve. (Bigstock)

By Brian Palmer

March 3, 2014

Last month, President Obama announced an initiative to improve the fuel efficiency of trucks. That’s a lofty goal, but here’s an even better idea: Let’s make an effort to move more freight by rail and less by road. Trains are far more energy-efficient than trucks — and they always will be.
Trains have a significant friction advantage over trucks. The degree of “stickiness” between two surfaces is expressed mathematically as the coefficient of friction. For a steel wheel rolling over a steel rail, its value is approximately 0.001. For a rubber tire rolling over pavement, the coefficient is between 0.006 and 0.010, or roughly an order of magnitude greater. Some friction is good — it stops the vehicle when a person runs out in front of it. But too much friction means less energy driving the vehicle forward.
The strength of steel gives trains another efficiency advantage. Rubber tires sag under 80,000 pounds of freight, the amount carried by many trailers. The weight of the truck deforms the pavement, and the road cradles the flattened wheel. This increased surface-area contact means yet more friction. Train wheels and railroad rails deform, too, but the stiffness of steel limits the damage.

As for aerodynamics, trains also trump trucks. Every vehicle has to “punch a hole in the atmosphere,” explains Christopher Barkan, executive director of the rail transportation and engineering center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Once a tractor-trailer [semi-trailer, roa-train] has punched its way through, that hole closes. The next truck must punch a new hole. Trains can carry more than 100 trailer-size containers. When the locomotive punches its hole in the atmosphere, each car that follows can sneak into that same hole, saving a tremendous amount of energy. The faster a vehicle travels, the more significant these aerodynamic effects become.

The train engine itself is a more efficient device than the engine of a truck. “A highway semi-tractor has a roughly 500-horsepower diesel engine, while a freight locomotive has a 4,400-horsepower diesel prime mover,” notes Tyler Dick, a research engineer at Urbana-Champaign. Nine truck engines have nine sets of parts rubbing against each other whenever they each attempt to combust a drop of diesel fuel. A single train engine can produce the same output with less rubbing.

Industry consolidation also speeds implementation of new technologies. There are dozens of large trucking companies in the United States, in addition to thousands of independent truckers, which makes it difficult to broadly implement good ideas quickly. (That’s one reason President Obama is getting involved.) By contrast, a small number of companies dominate American rail freight, giving them the power and motivation to improve efficiency.

In all of the areas mentioned above — friction, aerodynamics and engine efficiency — railways have made improvements over the past two decades.
For example, to minimize the energy that is lost when a train comes around a curve — the squealing of the wheels is “the sound of energy being wasted,” says Dick — modern freight trains release a small amount of lubricant as they round a curve. It’s enough to cut down on the friction, but not so much that it inhibits braking.
Changes in how trains are loaded can improve aerodynamics. You may have seen a freight train pass by with empty beds, or spaces between the freight cars. That’s bad. Open slots create turbulence, forcing the next car in the train to fight air currents and waste energy. Railroads in recent years have worked to eliminate open slots, either through improving management of the freight they have or by placing empty trailers on beds if they’re out of loaded cars.

The efficiency improvements in trains is notable over the past few decades. “Between 1980 and 2013, the number of ton-miles moved by railroads has doubled,” Dick says, referring to the unit that train operators use to measure the weight of their freight and how far it has moved. “But the amount of fuel they are using has remained relatively constant.”
You may have heard railroad commercials bragging that trains can move a ton of freight more than 450 miles on a gallon of fuel. What they don’t tell you is that, in 1980, that distance was only 235 miles. While freight trains have doubled fuel efficiency over the past few decades, tractor-trailers remain nearly as inefficient as they were in the 1970s. The average semi got 5.6 miles per gallon in 1973, and today that has improved to just 6.5 miles. (The American Trucking Association did not respond to a request for comment.)
Columnist George Will once called the preoccupation with trains a “disorder” that “illuminates the progressive mind.” He’s wrong. Recognizing a 30-year trend, accepting simple physics and caring for the environment isn’t a sickness — it’s a cure.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/lets-make-an-effort-to-move-more-freight-by-rail-and-less-by-road-trains-are-more-efficient/2014/03/03/d1947278-9d90-11e3-9ba6-800d1192d08b_story.html Thanks to Brian Breeden for this amazing shot.

More railway tracks, more trains = more of these: https://www.facebook.com/519600288380581/posts/1345503825790219/

🔔 Doors Opening… 🔔 for WA’s future Railcar work force.

In exciting news the first stage of the METRONET Trade Training Centre at North Metropolitan TAFE’s Midland campus is complete.
The Training Centre is WA’s first dedicated rail industry training facility which will equip local people with the skills needed for WA’s railcar industry.

Read more here ➡ https://www.metronet.wa.gov.au/news-info/latest-news/bright-future-ahead-at-metronet-trade-training-centre

What is it like to live in a country town with unused or underutilised railway lines? Trains have been so important to humanity, development and transport for a long time now...imagine the Industrial Revolution without trains...

What do you imagine when you see an unused or underutilised railway line in your country town or in a country town you visit often? A Hotham Valley steam train pulling up and tourists piling out to make the day of every person in town? An effiicient commuter service allowing people to enjoy a country lifestyle but not limited in their career choices? And also boost the population of country towns to make use of the community facilities provided? An efficient, comfortable, affordable and safe way for people to travel? More freight on rail so those who do drive are on roads that haven't received as much of a hammering from roadtrains?

As the festive season nears and unfortunately the road toll gets increasingly higher, please keep telling us what you see, even if just by Messenger.