Hello,

Does anyone know the best depot and best conditions for Locomotive Drivers in Queensland with any of the operators?

Are there any Driver Only operation depots too?

Thanks

QR's North Coast Line is driver only between Brisbane and Townsville. Aurizon is currently installing infrastructure to permit driver only operations on the Blackwater System.

Aurizon has driver only depots at Fisherman Island, Maryborough, Rockhampton, Mackay and Townsville for the NCL.

PN has driver only depots at Moolabin  Rockhampton and Townsville for the NCL.

North of Townsville the North Coast Line requires two crew for safeworking to Cairns. There are no freight crew depots in Cairns, but QR has a depot there for passenger operations.

Given the choice of any - which you probably won't actually get....PNQ Intermodal at Rocky.

All DOO, CTC with ATP. Most, if not all are book off jobs to Maryborough and (I think) Mackay, Rocky is a pretty good town in which to live, the locos are (or at least were) quite comfortable to drive & the ride on them was exceptional and the working is predominantly step-on/step-off unless things have changed. I dunno if they still shunt Mackay with certain trains on arrival though.

However, unless things have changed, PNQ uses commercial motels for your away accommodation, not dedicated railway barracks, so noise can be a problem during the day & evening if you have a 2300 signon etc. IIRC there was a writeup in the RTBU/AFULE magazine about this specific issue.

Aurizon have different pay scales depending on your depot, so bear that in mind. IIRC, Fish Is is Freight 2, whereas the Coal depots get higher salaries - you can find out from their EBA's.

Hello,

Does anyone know the best depot and best conditions for Locomotive Drivers in Queensland with any of the operators?

Are there any Driver Only operation depots too?

Thanks

I've worked for both Aurizon and PN out of Townsville and both were OK to work for. Aurizon had the better EA out of the two at the time with the major difference being that PN didn't pay barracks so you'd sometimes be stuck for 24+ hours in a motel room not being paid. Both PN and Aurizon were using the Quest in Mackay for accomodation when I last worked there which was pretty good. They used to have a dedicated rail crew floor and most people were pretty considerate about noise. Both have had new EAs since I worked there so you'd have to have a look to see which is the better now.

From Townsville it's DOO south and TDO north but I'd consider Townsville a better place to live than Rocky (I reckon Queensland gets better the further north you go ). It also had more interesting work than just DOO 700 m container trains up and down. Having said that there's not a lot of work going at the NCL depots for either operator at the moment - especially with QUBE taking over the PN Mt Isa work which has left them with 20 or so spare drivers in Townsville.

This will be interesting.

These PDFs for Aurizon's operating regions show crew depot locations on the Mt Isa Line (Bulk Divison), Newlands, Goonyella and Blackwater and West Moreton systems (Coal Division)... however they may need updating, Charters Towers closed as a crew depot in 2014 and Aurizon no longer has a crew depot at Goondiwindi.

https://www.aurizon.com.au/-/media/project/aurizon/files/what-we-do/services/bulk-freight/fact-sheets/north-west-rail-corridor-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.aurizon.com.au/-/media/project/aurizon/files/what-we-do/services/coal/coal-rail-corridor-fact-sheets/goonyella-rail-corridor-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.aurizon.com.au/-/media/project/aurizon/files/what-we-do/services/coal/coal-rail-corridor-fact-sheets/blackwater-rail-corridor-fact-sheet.pdf

https://www.aurizon.com.au/-/media/project/aurizon/files/what-we-do/services/coal/coal-rail-corridor-fact-sheets/south-west-coal--freight-fact-sheet.pdf