Eumundi

[colinw]

Following on from my post about the XPT to Sawtell, the 2nd part of my holiday was a farm-stay at Jacaranda Creek B&B, Eumundi.

This was chosen by my wife, I think mainly because they have Alpacas and various other animals. It suited me too, because it has a view across a valley onto the impressively high embankment of the 1988 Eumundi Range Deviation of the North Coast Line.

Here's some shots of a Pacific National freight taken from the verandah of our cottage.  It was very noticeable just how busy the NCL is at times. There was a constant procession of QR & PN freights, interspersed with the occasional tilt train, Sunlander or CityTrain service to Gympie North. Overnight the freights were running with headways down to 20 minutes in some cases.

One only has to watch the NCL in operation to see that there is a very strong case for duplication to Nambour if not further, and for lengthening of loops to get the freight trains up to a respectable length.  If we could run 1500 metre trains, it would significantly reduce the number of freight services running (which means more room for CityTrain services to Nambour, Cooroy or Gympie).

A big thumbs up to Jacaranda Creek Farmstay by the way.  Very well kept accommodation, helpful & friendly hosts, and great food. We'll go again.

cheers,
Col

[Stillwater]

Thanks Colin, I will be booking in there - a stroll on market day and drink on the verandah sounds very civilised.  Interesting that you observed the North Coast Line as busy.  Of course, this is north of Nambour, the point from where there are more Citytrain services to Brisbane.  As we know the trains can't handle the job Nambour-Caboolture and must be supplemented by buses.

[colinw]

Its a nice play to stay, and we'll definitely be returning.

The traffic on the NCL seemed to be very "clumpy" in nature. Bursts of activity with several trains in succession, then nothing for an hour or more.

Subjectively, late at night I seemed to be hearing a lot of diesels going through (but obviously couldn't see what was going on).

During the day, there seemed to be more Pacific National freights than QRN ones, not that I was watching the whole time (so it could very easily be a skewed observation).

[HappyTrainGuy]

Yep, freights always run in bunches. Outbound on a friday night is a good example. They do it because its quicker due to momentimum to keep the trains moving through the single track section.

[Stillwater]

So where are the southbound freight trains stopped and buched for the run to Brisbane?  Are they just sort of loaded on crossing loops over a distance of track, or two-three trains stacked at somewhere like Rockhampton, ready to make the mad dash over single track?

[HappyTrainGuy]

They don't exactly go in bunches/formation together (though they might depart in close timing and gain it on the run though crossing loops etc) when departing heading for Brisbane but they mostly start to bunch up on crossing loops on the way to the BSA due to the freight restrictions and available paths through Gympie-Brisbane-Southside/FI (I'm referring to night time travel btw). Northbound/night time is more noticable compared to southbound. The timetables also reflect that late at night as Nambour services suddenly drop off the map in certain directions haha, nah that would be more to do with demand.

[colinw]

Thanks for the informative explanation, HTG. 

[somebody]

AIUI ARTC despise that idea.  They'd say, well why don't we just have longer trains?  Yeah, yeah.  Passing loops, but they can be extended.