J Car at Wickham entry statement

Rio Tinto has very recently plinthed Nippon Sharyo ore waggon 001 at the Wickham town entry statement, joining ex NSWGR 40 class 9401 which was used during the construction of the railway and after that in operations.

Ore waggon 001 was built by Nippon Sharyo of Japan in 1971 as the leader of a batch of 285 waggons with 100-ton capacity ordered by Cliffs Robe River Iron Associates. The order was subsequently increased to 325 waggon.

These 'J cars' as these waggons were known that ran on the Robe River 'J trains' or 'Robe Valley' to Mesa J and Deepdale have now all been recently retired and have been being scrapped. The original Car Dumper One at Cape Lambert has also been decommissioned. And the Robe Valley line is now operated by a standard Rio Tinto train of three locomotives and 240 waggon which is banked from either Mesa A [Warramboo] or Deepdale / Mesa J to the siding at Maitland.

These images were captured on June 19, 2024.

Rio Tinto loaded ore train north of Arches, 8135, 8159 and 8177.

A loaded Rio Tinto iron ore train running to Cape Lambert near the 22-kilometre post north of Arches on the east mainline of the duplicated original Robe River line. The train is also passing an empty Robe Valley train sitting on the west mainline, another empty is sitting in Arches on the west, with a loaded south of Arches awaiting a path north.

Motive power is triple General Electric ES44DCi locomotives. 8135 serial number 59138, 8159 serial number 60223 and 8117 serial number 59109.

The outside blue lights on the lead locomotive being lit indicate this train is operating in AutoHaul™.

The waggons are from the 'pooled' fleet that runs on the Tom Price line. These waggons are also slowly being introduced to the Robe Valley operations.

Filmed Tuesday 28th of March 2023.

Rio Tinto empty iron ore 'J' Train at Western Creek 9136, 8119 and 9144

An empty Rio Tinto iron ore train at the 71-kilometre, Western Creek on the west mainline, headed up by triple General Electric locomotives being an ES44ACi unit 9136 serial number 64726, ES44DCi unit 8119 serial number 59111 and ES44ACi unit 9144 serial number 64734 with 168 Robe Valley waggons, also known as a J Train. The instrumented waggons were at positions 61 and 140. This train is operating on the original Robe River system.

Tuesday 28th of March 2023.

Former Robe River CM40-8M units stored.

The former Robe River CM40-8M units that were last operated under Rio Tinto have been retired and stored on the triangle at the old quarry at Cape Lambert.

The units are all facing west with the line up being from the eastern end;

• 9422 serial 8297-03/93-138 rebuilt from Comeng NSW built ALCo M636 serial C6103-2
• 9419 serial 8109-10/90-117 rebuilt from ALCo built ALCo C630 serial 3486-3
• 9418 serial 8109-12/90-118 rebuilt from ALCo built ALCo C630 serial 3486-2
• 9411 serial 8206-02/92-125 rebuilt from AE Goodwin built ALCo M636 serial G-6060-2

Rio Tinto takes last Robe River CM40-8M units off active roster.

It was reported to me a few days ago, Wednesday 27th February that Rio Tinto has shut down and stored their remaining CM40-8M or Dash 8 units which have been in operation on the Robe River system since 9417 was rebuilt and entered service with Robe River in June 1989.

9417 was rebuilt from ALCo C636 serial 6010-1 of November 1968 for Spokane Portland & Seattle as #340.

The image shows 9417 working out of Seven Mile towards the dumper as a shunt unit, the Dash 8 units didn't have the ICSS fitted to them so were relegated to trailing units on the Deepdale line or shunt jobs in the yards and working dumper shuttles.

15 years ago, stored Robe River ALCo M636 units.

Robe River AE-Goodwin built M636 ALCo locomotive 9416 serial G-6046-16 was originally built for Hamersley Iron as 4045 but sold to Robe River and delivered in HI green and yellow in 1973, and originally numbered 1716 by Robe.

The piping on these units is for air-to-air intercooling in an effort to lower the air intake temperature and all three had the 251 Plus ALCo engine.

Behind 9416 are fellow AE Goodwin built M636 ALCo units, 9413 serial G-6060-4 built in December 1971, originally numbered 262.004 then 1713, and 9415 serial G-6060-6 built February 1972, originally numbered 1715.

Western Creek area pt2.

Continuing on with the Western Creek area, here's a shot taken by Toad Montgomery back on 10th January 2005 with Robe River owned 9-44CW unit 9434 leading an empty train along the Western Creek line from Cape Lambert at the Robe River 76 km post with 236 waggons snaking along behind.

The lines to the left are Emu, the north end of the duplicated Hamersley Iron Tom Price line to Dampier (later on they became Emu #3 and #4 Roads) with the line running upgrade in the distance being the Robe River line to Deepdale.

The train is about to pass signal EM5 which is behind the camera. This line has now become the Western Creek West Mainline and #2 Road Emu and joins the Tom Price line at the 80.21 km instead of the 78.4 km (HI chainage).