Corinda to Darra - was triplication (NOW QUADRUPLICATION)

[johnnigh]

Uh oh... They're using the loop between Corinda and Allan Tce, and when the freight comes to a halt, those buffers clang-g-g-g-hhh
Is it going to be worse than the points (and a high point over which the old lines climb)

[ozbob]

There is driving training going on at the moment John, so a bit of stop starting.  Also instruction trains running around as well. Once things settle down I think you will find it much improved for all.

[johnnigh]

And now the gas pipe train is going up on the new electric line... I guess Citytrain won't be using it just yet, maybe when Richlands is finished and they really, really have to change timetables in a major way. 

[colinw]

Not sure if this is the right thread, but all this talk of coalies & the pipe train, etc., leads me to ask:

With the development of the coal traffic from the downs, which main line route out of Brisbane is the busiest now - North Coast Line or the Main Line to Toowoomba?

5 years ago the answer would have been NCL for sure, but now it must surely be a close run thing.

Which then leads me to - do we need a 3rd line all the way to Ipswich, or the Rosewood - Kagaru bypass line built sooner rather than later?  Surely the level of freight traffic running will severely impede the chances of higher suburban train frequency beyond Darra to Ipswich.

[O_128]

Id say lets do it properly and build 4 tracks right out to ipswich from the start seeing as there will also be the ripley spur and ipswich is going to boom

[skippy]

I see the new tracks around Susanah St are on an improved alignment. Is there any difference in the speed boards between the mains and the subs?

[johnnigh]

Freights are still running on the old tracks from time to time. Hopefully QR will give absolute priority to Citytrain and we'll see all those off-peak late runners (ten minutes not unusual) back on time.

Meantime, I'm holding my breath for timetable announcements...

[ozbob]

I see the new tracks around Susanah St are on an improved alignment. Is there any difference in the speed boards between the mains and the subs?

Not sure skippy, I will try to get down there and have a bo-peep.

[ozbob]

Went down to Susannah street Oxley, opposite Pannard to have a look this morning.  This is between Oxley and Darra on the quad.

In the 1940s there was a road connection between Englefield Road and Pannard, underneath the line, not sure when it was closed.  There was an extensive depot at the end of Englefield Road during the track amplification project.  You can walk down there now, all deserted and fences along the ROW.  It is a busy rail corridor now.











Looking across the line and up Pannard.  This is where the crossing underneath the original line was.  A local told me once that it usually flooded when it rained.





Photographs R Dow 6th August 2011

[mufreight]

Went down to Susannah street Oxley, opposite Pannard to have a look this morning.  This is between Oxley and Darra on the quad.
In the 1940s there was a road connection between Englefield Road and Pannard, underneath the line, not sure when it was closed.  There was an extensive depot at the end of Englefield Road during the track amplification project.  You can walk down there now, all deserted and fences along the ROW.  It is a busy rail corridor now.

Yes there was definately an underpass there, originaly a single span timber bridge with a low clearance, this was removed and replaced with a concrete culvert as an undertrack drain, the local kids continued to use this as a shortcut for many years to cross the lines at this point with the southern side being piped sometime before the 74 floods cutting it off.
The northern end of this culvert was still open prior to the duplication works and may still be.

[ozbob]

Few more from onboard down and up services between Darra and Oxley

The brickworks just down from Darra



Looking up towards Englefield road (extension).  This is the alignment that would have been used for the connection underneath with Pannard St.





Looking up Pannard St



Photographs R Dow 7th August 2011

[johnnigh]

Extraordinary Event: Passing loop at Corinda actually used
Stone train (low sided open wagons filled with non-ballast stone) waited an hour or so. While waiting a number of freights used the freight line, in both directions, even when there appeared to be opportunities to use the electric lines (usually preferred by controllers).

The standard practice is to use the 'down to town' electric lines for as much down traffic as possible, and the freight line for 'up the country', empties and the odd container freight.

The stone train is unusual, is TrackStar beginning work on Springfield?

[ozbob]

Thanks for the report of the observation John.  Just went past Corinda on EMU30, rails are not shiny on the loop so not many more.  The train was either a spoil train or probably ballast.  Not sure if trackwork has started yet on the further extension from Richlands to Springfield, as time permits might try to get out there and have a look.

[ozbob]

Couriermail Quest --> Demand is outweighing supply in the Corinda property market, regardless of train noise

[johnnigh]

I submitted the following comment to the Quest SWNews. I am not, as my comment suggests, very impressed by the sloppy journalism. The problem of excessive noise from that old bridge remains, as well as the failure to build a noise barrier - the few trees planted, supposedly to ameliorate noise, are falling over and being removed by Council. So, what value would a potential buyer, who wasn't deaf, put on a property that they would have to double glaze and install wall insulation to get back to some normal, compared to a property just a few metres away that was shaded by intervening properties?

What real estate agent would ever admit that a house price could ever fall? Journalism fails again. The point is that a specific property, in the shadow of the railway at a very noisy bridge that QR has failed to upgrade, is not one that would be as attractive as it was before the old bridge was brought back into service with the quadruplication of the line a couple of years ago.