Pilbara Railways Blog
Friday 5 July 2024
Loaded at the 28.5 km Cape Lambert line.
Tuesday 2 July 2024
Ballast train at Green Pool.
Cape Lambert South Yard with Blue Rake
The blue rake heads for Car Dumper 5 along 19 Road going over 144B switch behind 9-44CW locomotive 7070 in original Hamersley Iron livery, ES44DCi 8155 in the Rio Tinto stripe livery and 9-44CW 7069 in original Hamersley Iron livery. In the foreground on 8 Road are triple ES44DCi units 8174, 8140 and 8159 all in the Rio Tinto stripe livery.
Saturday 29 June 2024
In the early evening of June 20, 2024, I managed to catch this empty Rio Tinto iron ore train heading south at the double bridges located south of Galah at the 85.4 km. This train is in AutoHaul on account the blue lights on the cab roof are on.
The train is powered by General Electric ES44ACi model locomotive 9107 leading a pair of sister GE DC type ES44DCi model locomotives 8139 and 8141 with 120 pairs of waggons for 240 in total for ~5000 tonnes at 1800 hrs on June 20, 2024.
Location of video is here: video location or copy and paste:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Vm2UhU8bgDnBJYmo8
Friday 28 June 2024
J Car at Wickham entry statement
Wednesday 26 June 2024
Finucane Island, June 18, 2024.
Saturday 22 June 2024
Rio Tinto's Galah collision wrecks.
From the left, 8183, 8175 and 8188 |
8118 with serial number 59110 is from the second order of these units, with a build date of 04/2008 and is the highest numbered ES44DCi in the plain Rio Tinto silver livery, all the following DCi units being in the 'tiger stripe' red livery.
8118 serial number 59110 from the second order |
8175 with serial number 60773 is from the ninth order of GE ES44DCi units with a build date of 01/2021 and wears the Rio 'tiger stripes'.
8175 serial number 60773 from the ninth order |
8183 with serial number 60781 is also from the ninth order of ES44DCi locomotives with a 02/2021 build date and also wears the Rio 'tiger stripe' livery.
Friday 7 June 2024
Dual MU Sockets.
I received a comment on one of the earlier posts about the dual MU sockets on the Roy Hill ES44ACi units asking what the story was with them.
Well, the Roy Hill units have dual MU sockets and dual dummy sockets, very much like both Rio Tinto's ES44DCi and ES44ACi locomotives all have the dual MU and dual dummy sockets whilst the Rio Tinto / Hamersley Iron 9-44CW units have dual MU and only a single dummy socket.
I can only think this reduces the need to reach across a coupling to plug in or disconnect the MU.
Roy Hill ES44ACi unit RHA 1012, serial number 62584, built November 2014 at Erie, Pennsylvania USA, shows the dual sockets and dummy sockets during its delivery.
If you know more, please feel free to leave a comment, thank you, Pilbara Railways.
Wednesday 5 June 2024
A quick arvo on the 4th of June at FMG.
A bit over an hour was spent at my usual hack spot for FMG, between the 5 km curve and the entrance to their port yard, on the afternoon of June 4, 2024 and four trains were observed with a fifth, an empty departing as I was arriving, which happens to me a lot!
This was the first time out for some months due to a number of issues, the car went to Perth to have the roof replaced and some other rust repairs, this was deemed cheaper than a replacement vehicle. I also managed to damage my primary everyday lens, the Canon 28-300 L, and broke the GPS unit on my camera setup. The Canon 5DIII body seems to have survived coming off the car at 60 km/h on Ballast Road at Hampton, Kalgoorlie, but I have noticed some strange exposures when using my other lenes, so a new camera may have to be planned for, testing is continuing. I have only just ordered a new replacement 28-300 mm L series Canon lens, and it seems these may have also now been discontinued by Canon...
However, I digress, back to the rail action, so, four trains were seen in a couple of hours out, two empty departures from the port and two loaded arrivals, one with a quad loco combination which is usually the bank engines being returned for servicing.
Port yard pilot locomotive was aging GE 9-44CW unit 004 shunting the compressor cars from the empty tracks to the rear of the loaded rakes.
The first empty train was SD70ACe-P6 units 729 leading SD70ACe/LCi unit 717 in the standard locomotive pairing that is in use on FMG with 119 waggon pairs for 238 waggons which departed the port at 1529 hrs.
Then at 1538 hrs a loaded train rolled under the Great Northern Highway overpass and into the Port behind the pairing of SD70ACe/LCi unit 713 leading the class leader of the AC44C6M rebuild model locomotives 101. This train also had 119 waggon pairs for 238 empty waggons.
A second loaded followed the first some twenty minutes later at 1608 hrs but this time it had quad locomotive power on the front. This is usually due to mine bank engines being returned to town for servicing requirements and happens on a regular basis.
AC44C6M locomotive 111 led SD70ACe/LCi unit 704 with AC44C6M pair 114 and 103 rounding out the quaddie with yet again 119 waggon pairs for 238 empty waggons. It is nice to see FMG sticking to consistent train lengths as in the past I have counted quite a variance in the number of waggon pairs per service.
The final train for the afternoon was an empty departing at 1634 hrs behind AC44C6M unit 117 leading SD70ACe/LCi locomotive 706 and the now standard 119 waggon pairs for 238 empty waggons.
Enjoy!
Monday 8 January 2024
Ten SD70ACe's and only one 9-44CW seen in a few hours. Pt 2.
Further to the earlier post, on the 27th of December 2023 an arvo out near FMG saw three empty trains all with a pair of SD70ACe variants and two loaded trains with another pair of SD70ACe units and one with an aging 9-44CW leading, and yep, another SD70ACe.
The second queued empty behind 704 and 713 from the below post was sitting at the 27-kilometre post headed up by SD70ACe-P6 unit 727 with serial number 20188761-006, build date of 11/2019 and SD70ACe/LCi unit 703 with serial number 20118611-003, built back in 8/2012.
The FMG SD70ACe-P6 units were an extension of a Norfolk Southern build #20186662 road numbers #1215 to 1224 from November 2018.
The first loaded train appeared at 1648 hrs behind SD70ACe/LCI pair 719 serial number 20118693-011 built back in August 2012 and was the final unit from the second order of SD70 units and class leader 701 "T155 - Glen Davies" with serial number 20118611-001, also from August 2012.
Two hundred and forty loaded waggons in one hundred and twenty pairs are behind 719 and 701 as they head for the dumpers at Port Hedland seen here passing between the two empty trains. 1648 hrs on the 27th December 2023.