Reading through the report it was interesting to come to the pages and reference paragraphs 2:42 and 2:43 as what is indicated there is pretty well how things were when I was at PTK 1978-82 to be qualified for the mountain, bearing in mind that the heaviest load at the time was of limestone of approx 1866tonnes, hauled by 2 main line diesels, and generally 421, 44, 45, 422 & 442cl, few of the 44cl especially Mk 1 had dynamic brake operating and 45cl were usually the trailing engines down the hill and we did not use dyno if only on the 2nd engine.
We only had BP connections and worked with GCV in ip from MV, to Summit Tank where the GV's were set to HP, holding 5psi in the brakes all the way down to Unanderra, the train was examined by qualified brake examiner at MV, a 2 hour provedure.
To qualify for the GC trains we had to have 3 trips of full load & under 3 lighting conditions, day, afternoon and night allowing weather conditions eg dew on the track. 2 trips down had to be strictly by air, and only if passed then (by the loco inspector) could you use dynamic brakes on the 3rd trip, if both were working, waste of time if only one was working anyway.
On arrival at Summit Tank, grades were set to HP, with Brake Pipe Pressure set to a minimum of 70/75 psi rather than normal operating pressure of 60psi and continuity from guard and under load to the top of the grade for the descent. We had to bring the train to a stand on the straight short of the fire road, ideally with a minimum reduction of 7 or 10psi, with engine breaks released down to 10psi in Brake Cylinder. Once stopped, engine brakes were released allowing the engine to drop against the auto's usually you would move around 5 metres as the weight would pull the first couple of wagons a bit including the engines. Once stable, release train brakes, time before the train started to move even with the 5psi still applied in the GCV ports, was noted with the primary hope was that you would get the train recharged to at least 10.00 oclock on the Flow meter. At 12Km/h a minimum reduction would see how much impact it had but unless reduced to give at least 10psi reduction was made, you would go over 20Km/h, you needed to have train, therefore the brakes under control to prevent going over the 20Km/h
Some trains would hold at that speed and not get slower, which meant another small reduction was made to bring the speed down again, you needed to ensure that you did not have to go over 12Psi to slow the train otherwise you could be in trouble. Thing was that as you rarelly got the flow metre showing full recharge without Dyno's whatever was not fully recharged meant you lost more air without any braking ability in the reduction. If all going well you released the brakes at 5Km/h, and again the amount of recharge as indicated with the flow meter would determine the next and any subsequent application.
If you got to 12Km/h and the flow meter had not gotten off the bottom needle then you would give a 10-12 psi initial application and bring the train to a stand, apply the engine brakes fully and then release the train brakes, the hope was that the flow meter recharge would get the needle back up to at least the 9 oclock mark before the train pushed the engines forward, when starting to move you put the engine brake handle to slow/graduated release so as to prevent skidded wheels and help the recharge timings.
The key to non dyno working was to get to the water board tunnel with brakes coming off and the lighter grade meant you would get the whole trains air recharged, in case you had to go away at Dombarton, but also so you had all things under control for the final descent. In the last section the key was for total control and when near Farmborough Heights to be really crawling.
The above working was without dyno working and you had around 7 minutes more in running time than with a dyno load, in each section. With both engines having dyno's, I never had a train that did not get the brakes fully recharged at each next application, some of them just. If you had the three trial trips each without the use of Dyno's you would be fully qualified for the mountain with or without dyno working.
When at Werris Creek following PTK when the MR recharge trains came into operation, even on a single 81cl with 2100 tonnes on the Up, it was possible to go down the range from Ardglen without using dynamic braking and get the air fully recharged every time, a real snack.
At the end of the day, the working back then meant as the driver you had to have your witts about you, and never, never ever treat the mountain without respect, and certainly not cheaply. I had some scary trips down the hill but usually only when it seemed the brake applications seemed to have taken a bit longer than normal, owing to the train picking up speed faster than expected. Once used to the trains, you usually found that each application and release were always done in around the same spots as you came down, for those who have read the poems and like about working trains down the blue mountains in steam days, as many worked down based on land marks for applying and releasing brakes, it was very similar on the Illawarra Mountain as well.
