awsgc24 said.....

Oaklands,
Looks as though all the yard has been regauged except for the silo siding adjacent to the silos themselves. This area needs ecavation of the dirt, old grain etc to get access to the sleepers.
They are still doing sleeper replacement in the yard.
All points have had the timbers replaced.

Greetings

Has the standardization been extended to the bins on the north side of the Urana-Oaklands Road level crossing?

I wonder if the line will be connected to the disused NSWR section to Boree Creek on The Rock branch in case it is reopened.

Cheers

Ray

Greetings

Has the standardization been extended to the bins on the north side of the Urana-Oaklands Road level crossing?

Yes.  There are some pics a few pages back or here:
http://pics.steamfreak.com/displayimage.php?album=189&pos=44

I wonder if the line will be connected to the disused NSWR section to Boree Creek on The Rock branch in case it is reopened.

Cheers

Ray

In effect it has I guess.  The former NSW line coming into Oaklands crossed the Urana road and came in past the turntable to the dual-gauge platform.  This was converted to BG, now SG again.  I don't think the actual rails are connected as such, and there is a big pile of dirt over the line near the crossing, and tar over the tracks in the crossing, and the rails cut just Up from the crossing.  But at a stretch you could say the line is connected. Almost. Nearly.  The NSW line doesn't look to be in very good condition, so connected or not, it is pretty academic.  A whole heap of work would be needed to get the section to Boree Creek back in action.

The main Oaklands line at Benalla has been entirely regauged and resleepered, apparently they have completed this part of the job a fair bit ahead of time. This may go someway in explaining the delay mentioned below.

Looks like there is going to be much grain to shift this season by all indications. I have had the following rainfall, August 65mm, September 75 mm, October to date 60 mm, looking very good.

The following is unconfirmed so beware,

Completion date for the Oaklands line conversion is october 31,  This is  a bit of a surprise as there are still some rough patches on the track like at Telford for instance. Mind you this is never going to be a 130 KPH track.

Layout for Benalla is still undecided, Victoria being the hold up. There is going to be a loop at the start of the line in the yard at Benalla the question to decide is how long it will be. As Victorian second hand materials are being used the only cost will be labour for a couple of days for the extra length. The choice being around 400 metres or around 800 metres long.

Currently the workers are excavating the base for the longer loop as this seems the sensible thing to do.......

............WHAT Victoria doing something sensible   hope,hope,hope

Are there any plans to regauge the turntable at Benalla? Will the new siding be on the east or west side of the lines?

--Bill

Are there any plans to regauge the turntable at Benalla? Will the new siding be on the east or west side of the lines?

--Bill

Benalla turntable was supposedly going to Shepparton, is this still the case?

I had a chance to drive from Oaklands to Yarrawonga yesterday. The Oaklands yard appeared almost finished although there was one track machine still there and a fairly big pile of sleepers still.
A crew of workers were at the Level Crossing at Rennie on the Riverina Highway.
Of most interest was the Tamping machine was at Mulwala NSW yesterday at about 1.00pm. Also the final track sweeping/forming machine?? Not sure of its correct name. So some progress there.
Im not trying to cut your lunch Woodford but this is a small update!!

I had a chance to drive from Oaklands to Yarrawonga yesterday. The Oaklands yard appeared almost finished although there was one track machine still there and a fairly big pile of sleepers still.
A crew of workers were at the Level Crossing at Rennie on the Riverina Highway.
Of most interest was the Tamping machine was at Mulwala NSW yesterday at about 1.00pm. Also the final track sweeping/forming machine?? Not sure of its correct name. So some progress there.
Im not trying to cut your lunch Woodford but this is a small update!!

The machine you refer to is called a 'regulator', sometimes a regulator is fitted with the 'sweeper' you refer to but it is known as a 'broom'

I had a chance to drive from Oaklands to Yarrawonga yesterday. The Oaklands yard appeared almost finished although there was one track machine still there and a fairly big pile of sleepers still.
A crew of workers were at the Level Crossing at Rennie on the Riverina Highway.
Of most interest was the Tamping machine was at Mulwala NSW yesterday at about 1.00pm. Also the final track sweeping/forming machine?? Not sure of its correct name. So some progress there.
Im not trying to cut your lunch Woodford but this is a small update!!

Quite welcome Burkey do not be shy about putting reports in anyone, not my projects, more the merrier  
Nice to see the tamper and Ballast regulator back on the scene have not seen them for ages. The crew you saw at Rennie is working its way along the line towards Oaklands doing a task i cannot recall the name (its on the tip of my mind,very infurating) of as It is something I never was instructed on when I did track work, they were/are doing something with the ballast though. Note: Also extra ballast is being put on where it is needed by a hi-rail tipper fitted with a ballast spreader.

It strongly looks like all major track work is now completed except for the yard work at Benalla.
Interesting bit is down at the bottom.........

Work done,

Oaklands,
This has been all regauged including the level crossing going to the Barley silos except the Barley silos section of the siding has not been regauged, I think. I would say the Barley silos have been given the option to do this at some future date.

Wangamong, Sangar and Warragoon,
These have all been regauged now.

Rennie and Sloane,
Sidings been removed.

Yarrawonga,
This has all been regauged except for the siding imediately the the east of the old station building, the points for it have been removed. The siding going to the silos to the east of the station has not been regauged but the points and around the first 30 metres of the siding have been done. Looks like these people have been given the option same as at Oaklands.
The turntable and its access track have been regauged. Question is there any SG steamers in Vic that will fit on the turntable.

Tungamah, Devenish and Goorambat,
sidings have all been removed.

St James,
Been regauged.

General,
All points have new timbers and all the bridges and level crossings have new sleepers, note: a lot of the level crossings have had concrete  sleepers installed. Along the line around 1 in 3 sleepers are either new or less than 5 years old.

Lifting and lining,
This has now been done all the way from just out of Benalla to just north of Sloane as at 1700 today. They must have got stuck into it the last couple of weeks. I would say will take around 3 weeks to reach Oaklands (I could be wrong though).

Been nice hearing a whistle at about 5pm over the past few weeks as the machines return to the Yarra yard!

A couple more shots of the finished track

Telford, looking towards Yarrawonga, 249 kilometer post centre,
[bigimg]http://images.fotopic.net/1yrg3a.jpg[/bigimg]


Sloane siding road, looking towards Oaklands, old Sloane silos background.
[bigimg]http://images.fotopic.net/1yrg3c.jpg[/bigimg]

Thanks for the pics and updates, woodford.  Looks like a decent railway again!

Removed silly comment about a turntable that wasn't regauged at all...

That track does look good.  

I wonder if ARTC would be just a tiny bit interested in using this as an alternate route north.  

Just pretend for a minute that it connected to the NSW section and it was in a condition usable.  My question is would signaling be up to scratch? Could freight go up there as is and what Speeds could they be expected to do on the Victorian sections.

In an emergency detour situation.

Cheers.

Interesting that the review of grain lines in NSW virtually recommended closing the line to Boree Creek:

http://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11349840-s30.htm

Thanks for the pics and updates, woodford.  Looks like a decent railway again!

Very interesting news about the Benalla turntable and approach being regauged.  Ready for J512 on the Violet Town market days?  

Err.... Sorry you have missread the post........
The turntable mentioned is the one at Yarrawonga. It would be very unlikely that Benalla's turntable will ever function again because of the cost of the signalling that would be required.

That track does look good.  

I wonder if ARTC would be just a tiny bit interested in using this as an alternate route north.  

Just pretend for a minute that it connected to the NSW section and it was in a condition usable.  My question is would signaling be up to scratch? Could freight go up there as is and what Speeds could they be expected to do on the Victorian sections.

In an emergency detour situation.

Cheers.

Signalling for the Benalla to Oaklands line has not been altered, so the line is still train order working. Longest loop is only around 400 metres long (I think, I am going from memory as a can't find the reference), points all manual controlled, Do not know about the speed that is outside may area on expertise but I would not think it will be over 80KPH (was 50 KPH over most of the line).
By the way there is only around a 15 metre gap between the end the line from Vic and the rails of the line going north.

Err.... Sorry you have missread the post........
The turntable mentioned is the one at Yarrawonga. It would be very unlikely that Benalla's turntable will ever function again because of the cost of the signalling that would be required.

Earlier posts in the Albury SG thread suggested a more appropriate approach to Benalla would be the signalling of the yard approach, rather than cross overs and the branch.  Would have made using Benalla turntable possible since the yard would have been made available for movements outside of the mainline.  Appears short sighted to me, but anyhow, Victrack must have decided to leave it out.

Regards
Brian

P.S Woodford, I have really appreciated reading your updates!  Thanks again for your contributions.

Err.... Sorry you have missread the post........
The turntable mentioned is the one at Yarrawonga. It would be very unlikely that Benalla's turntable will ever function again because of the cost of the signalling that would be required.

Earlier posts in the Albury SG thread suggested a more appropriate approach to Benalla would be the signalling of the yard approach, rather than cross overs and the branch.  Would have made using Benalla turntable possible since the yard would have been made available for movements outside of the mainline.  Appears short sighted to me, but anyhow, Victrack must have decided to leave it out.

Regards
Brian

P.S Woodford, I have really appreciated reading your updates!  Thanks again for your contributions.

Signalling down the north end of the yard at Benalla would have required another complete signal installation. From my expierence this would have added something like 500,000 to 1000,000 dollars (at least) to the project cost. I would practically guarantee that the reason why the up end crossover and the Oakland line points are together between the Broken river and the Nunn st level crossing is so they could all be protected by one set of signals.

The Line from The Rock to Oaklands is closed beyond Boree Creek.
Even when it was open, the line is a cat 4 branch line suitable only for branch line locos like 48s.
Simply not viable as an alternative route for anything.

Thanks for the pics and updates, woodford.  Looks like a decent railway again!

Very interesting news about the Benalla turntable and approach being regauged.  Ready for J512 on the Violet Town market days?  

Err.... Sorry you have missread the post........
The turntable mentioned is the one at Yarrawonga. It would be very unlikely that Benalla's turntable will ever function again because of the cost of the signalling that would be required.

Indeed...  Wishful thinking made me do it!  

In contrast to the photo of Telford that woodford has posted, here is one from the same spot on a very wet Saturday 6 June 2009, a few days after the regauging. Quite an improvement.

The gauge at the bottom of the photo is wider - as I was standing on the Level Crossing which had not been regauged at that time.

[bigimg]http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh69/mikesyd_photos/Telford.jpg[/bigimg]

Here is woodford's (much better quality) photo again for comparison

[bigimg]http://images.fotopic.net/1yrg3a.jpg[/bigimg]

Telford broadgauge - taken November 2008:

It seems that there have been more photos taken of Telford and other places on this line in the past 6 months or so than in the entire life of the line.

Telford has probably never been so popular!

Telford has probably never been so popular!

I know what you are getting at but..........

Probably being picky here but if you look in the shots you will see three groups of peppercorn trees, left and right past the silos and left side this side of the silos also mid left fore ground is an old shrub. These are all signs of old housing. In 1891 the area around Tungamah and Telford had a population of 700 to 800 around half of this being on alotments. Would not be a bit surprised if the Station area had a general store, a butcher and a baker and almost certainly a small brewery and possibly even a soft drink maker, not forgetting schools, Note the plural. Baddaginnie had this list around the same time and the area was around the same population.
In fact this is why I took the shot as an illustration of how things have changed.