Article: Newman challenged to get Rattler train back on track

[ozbob]

From the ABC News click here!

Newman challenged to get Rattler train back on track

Newman challenged to get Rattler train back on track

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has been challenged to help keep a Gympie tourist icon, the Mary Valley Rattler steam team, operational.

The Mary Valley Rattler service, in the state's south-east, has been suspended for the second time this year after two derailments.

A Queensland Rail (QR) safety regulator report is due for release next month but up to $1 million is needed for urgent track maintenance.

The Dagun Community Group's Kim Crawford says Mr Newman should use money from the sale of Mary Valley properties to help install new sleepers.

"I'd like to challenge Campbell Newman," he said.

"I understand that the money is tight - he's currently selling a heap of properties that were actually bought up for the [Traveston] dam project.

"I'd challenge him to maybe take the proceeds of the sale of just one of those properties, a good one, and use it to fund getting the QR track machine up here to help us lay some sleepers."

Mr Crawford says it is a huge job.

"It's a very slow job and it's the issue that we face at the moment with 6,000 sleepers needing to be replaced by June next year," he said.

"Now the machine that QR's got can do that much, much faster than we can.

"I don't want Campbell Newman to give us money, but if he's prepared to take the funds of one of the sales and use that to fund the track machine, that would be terrific."

[Stillwater]

The Mary Valley Heritage Railway continues to explore ways to raise $1 million to undertake major repairs to its Gympie-Imbil track.  The operation remains closed, pending the final report of the Queensland rail safety regulator.

Shell, which opened a new petrol outlet in Gympie recently, has donated 1000 litres of engine oil for MVHR locos after all stocks had run out and there was no money to purchase new supplies.

http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/railway-fuelled-by-donation/1595744/

Also, MVHR has reportedly begun selling off some rolling stock that's excess to requirements.

Want a new garden shed or office?  Maybe a place to park a noisy teenager or troublesome mother-in-law.  Contact: Jim Walker at jim@mvhr.org.au

[Stillwater]

MVHR paid staff served with redundancy notices.  Their jobs disappear in five week's time, unless The Rattler is allowed to resume operations.  Services remain suspended while the Queensland Rail Safety Regulator considers its report into the condition of the 42km of track, although the most recent derailment was due to a bogie spring on the coal tender, staff say.

http://www.gympietimes.com.au/news/rattler-to-derail-workers-gympie/1598767/

[Fares_Fair]

Valley Rattler looks to be on shaky ground

Sunshine Coast Daily
28th Oct 2012 8:00 AM

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news/valley-rattler-looks-to-be-on-shaky-ground/1599599/

THE future of the popular Valley Rattler is under a cloud, with Mary Valley Heritage Railway's paid workers receiving termination notices.

Manager Jim Walker was among the railway's 10 workers made redundant due to lack of funding and a series of events that caused major financial problems for the tourist attraction.

They have all been promised reinstatement if the Rattler gets back on track.

Mr Walker remains positive in the face of adversity.

"The termination notices are precautionary," he said. "Staff have been given five weeks' notice and advised the termination notices can be withdrawn at any time."

That is if the heritage railway receives good news from the rail safety regulator.

"When we are in the position to recommence operations, obviously we will rescind them immediately," Mr Walker said. "We are working on the assumption that we're going to resume operations."

Mr Walker said one staff member had left promptly after receiving a termination letter.

The rest are going about operations as usual, with maintenance, repairs and alterations being carried out.

A former track worker said the track had been wrongfully blamed for a derailment that led to a suspension of operations pending a safety report.

The anonymous source said springs in the tender's bogie had snapped, which restricted movement as it rounded a bend and forced it off the track.

Mr Walker said the tender had been altered during repairs by the previous owner, leaving insufficient clearance for the bogie to swing with the track's curve.

"The prime cause was the lack of clearance not allowing the bogie to swing," he said.

"There was a broken spring, but we're pretty sure that happened as a result of the incident. It was a brand-new break."

[Stillwater]

It may require the Mary Valley Rattler to close temporarily in order to press home to the management team that the old way of doing things can't be sustained.  Most years, The Rattler has received a grant from either the federal or state government, and the MBHR has come to rely upon this supplement to income.

Even the Mary Valley communities that rely upon The Rattler for the greater part of their tourism revenue believe it is time for new thinking at the top.

As one commentator said this week, 100,000 sleepers have to be replaced every 15 years, across the 46km line to Imbil.  That is just over 6600 a year to be replaced, but the pace of replacement has been much less, using a fettler crew of 3.5 people.  MVHR says it costs $150 to replace one sleeper (not only cost of sleeper, but transportation costs, wages etc).  That is just short of $1 million a year required, each and every year. 

With the exception of Gympie, stations along the line are maintained by individual communities, not the MVHR.

MVHR employs 12 people full-time, representing a wages bill of $700,000 annually.

All up, together with other expenditure liabilities, including the upkeep of the old Gympie railway station, the business requires an annual turnover of $2 million.  It employs people and has a general manager.  The volunteer association model is no longer appropriate.

Stations along the line are maintained by the individual communities, not MVHR.

The Rattler attracts about 40,000 visitors a year.

[#Metro]

That's a charge of about $50 per person.

[Stillwater]

$50 is the adult fare for the Wednesday and Sunday full run to Imbil.  Concession fare is $43, while children travel for $25 ($127 for a family).  The rest of the days involve half-runs up the valley, stopping short of Imbil.  Fares went up recently.

[Gazza]

That's a charge of about $50 per person.

SEQ really  does have the highest fares in Aus.

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Cash crunch threatens to silence the Mary Valley Rattler steam train