6072 Leads Loaded under Redbank Bridge Second Day of 2005

    On January 2, 2005 I chased a loaded train with 6072 and 3081 leading 6076 and 5667 mid-train, from out near where Tabba Siding would later be installed, then past the 50 km, it crossed an empty at Mooka, when it was just a freshly minted passing track and then for the money shot, I snapped it as it passed under the Redbank Bridge on arrival into Hedland Yard at Nelson Point just after 1700 hours on the Sunday afternoon.

    As it happens a fair bit here in the summer, there was haze and high cloud impacting the image. The position that the below photo was taken from is no longer accessible with the duplication and yard modifications the fence line has likewise been altered.

    The Redbank Bridge was opened back on September 14, 1973. The track underneath that carries BHP Iron Ore traffic, and originally Mount Newman Mining traffic was duplicated in 2006.

    AC6000CW locomotive 6072 'Hesta', which was built by General Electric at their Erie, Pennsylvania plant in the USA back in January 1999 with serial number 51064 and was delivered in the April of the same year via the heavy lift vessel Titan Scan.

    6072 also has the distinction of being one of the last two AC6000 units to operate on the BHP mainline when it and 6076 worked a loaded train into the yard on September 1, 2013. It remained in the same livery its entire career. And was subsequently scrapped October 2014 at Sell & Parker, Wedgefield.

    As 6072 'Hesta' leads SD40-2 unit 3081 into Hedland Yard a couple of empty trains can been see on the departure roads at left.

    SD40-2 locomotive 3081 was one of five former Union Pacific SD40-2 models supplied by GE Transportation Services in a batch of twenty SD40 variants in a stop gap measure due to a motive power shortage on the BHP system.

    3081 was built by EMD at its McCook Illinois facility in March 1979 with serial number 786170-75 and was originally number UP 3573. The unit was overhauled by GETS and delivered in under coat wearing the number 3573 over the New Year in 2004 via the heavy lift vessel BBC China.

    3081 remained in the undercoat livery, along with all the SD40-2 units which were stored by May 2010, until it was eventually scrapped in July 2013 at Wedgefield.