Railroad Australia: Tackling the World's Heaviest Trains | FD Engineering

they are the kings of the Australian outback we have to concentrate all the C some of the biggest

trains

in the

world

things go wrong with these things they usually cause a huge disaster on Epic Journeys across a hostile continent I don't know what We're going to do just reduce speed and honking, a nation depends on them, oh go boys, getting me and the crews that keep these metal monsters on the tracks hauling huge loads of food. Cargo and mineral riches over incredible distances. We're out of the way. out of nowhere that's for sure, big Big Country

trains

on Railroad Australia aboard one of the toughest train journeys on the planet, a super train crossing the scorching Australian continent, the main concern is that D runs non-stop for 2 days because sometimes you don't make it It's a man and a machine in the ultimate test of endurance on the rugged West Coast and a 100-car-long train, the workhorses of a billion-dollar industry, but what if Do trains stop closing the railway?

Down is not a very fun game and traveling on the most difficult rails for Nowhere is when they touch the train and an old Outback train begins to approach that is still in operation picking up the strangest passengers who have a long death in the sun , now the animal deserves death in the maintenance sheds of the Melbourne freight company. Logistics, three locomotives are getting ready for a marathon 6,000 km journey starting in Melbourne to Adelaide and then across the continent to Australia's most isolated city, Perth and back, like going from London to New York by train, of almost 2 km long and as tall as a two-story house, these super large trains supply the most isolated city in Australia if they do not pass through the supermarkets they begin to empty we have 42,000 T and we have around 1,650 M at maximum speeds of 110 km per hour drivers have a lot to worry about because of the gusts of wind that could blow their double-stacked containers off the tracks They buckled from the scorching heat as the floodwaters swept the tracks beneath them the train broke apart and at that moment We didn't know what was wrong, it's tough out there the first thing I'm going to do is check the oil level in the compressor and Graham Smith has to make sure these long distance workhorses can take on this hostile country.

We just take a general look around to make sure there are no leaking pipes or there are some rubber pipes outside. to make sure they haven't split, there has already been a casualty on the return journey from Perth, a set of wheels needs to be replaced on one of the Towering Refrigeration carriages, changing this wheel due to these bits of metal missing from the wheel as it rolls on the rail makes a thud so Thump Thump Thump Thump and that ruins the track surprisingly, it's easier to change one of these than to change a car wheel as long as you have a forklift and a locomotive weighing 126 tons. above me right now, especially on the nullo plane, these locomotives will unfortunately hit camels, camels and other wild animals and stray cattle, they make a big mess, just wash it off and send it again loading these Mega trains. machines with incredible strength that lift 30-tonne containers like cardboard boxes inside giant Crooms, milk ice and other perishables are loaded into refrigerated wagons in the desolate Nbor temperatures can reach a scorching 50° and more inside these carriages will be kept at -8, it's not just the desert you need Crossing between Melbourne and Perth there are also the Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills are horrendous, steep slopes that push a train to the limit a lot of wind there are a lot of curves the locomotives hate the curves trying to climb on the rails these hills are tough on the dry water on the line can wreak havoc the train will arrive here in a few hours and the forecast is for rain from Melbourne, 4,000 km away, to the mighty carriers of Australia Occidental, the

world

's largest and

heaviest

trains stretching upwards. 4 km long they wind through the inland wilderness over red-hot earth each train load can be worth up to $2 million a nation's economy depends on keeping these wheels turning night and day at the mine site carara 400 km northeast of the Perth giant Loaders are hard at work filling more than 100 carriages of a bulk train carrying iron ore or magnetite.

It's a massive operation last year. We ship 9.4 million tonnes and it's George SEL's job to keep everything moving by keeping these trains running between the mine and the port of Geraldton, 200 kilometers away, getting it off the trains and onto ships bound for the hungry. Chinese steel mills. George is the head of a multi-million dollar operation, half a million dollars a day just on ra Coss, the line, but he's in trouble today. The dangerously high tide and its rising currents have closed the harbor for those who have not heard of the rising tides before it is a fairly strong storm current coming out of the southern oceans and unfortunately for us, Champion Bay, where we have our port, it is.

Perfectly positioned to channel the rising title, extreme tides have halted loading of bulk or aircraft carrier Ilara Fortune, with other empty ships sitting at sea at this stage, Georgia trains are still running, as is unloading high technology. the facility is tipping two cars at a time, it takes less than 2 minutes to empty a rig right now or it's flooding in mountains but it's not coming out and that's a big problem all the time that ship sits there and we're not charging. As we fill the shed and begin to reach capacity, if the ilara does not sail on Friday morning we will be looking down or closing the route from the west across the continent to the tropics of far north Queensland.

Get ready for one of the wildest train rides you'll ever take on some of the toughest tracks and toughest terrain in the outback. This is the Savannah Lander and Lee Johns and Will Kemp are its drivers. I have never gotten up in the morning. and I thought me and I work, it's like no other job, spectacular scenery down there, you've got a crocodile attacking along centuries-old bush tracks, stopping to help stranded strangers, all in a day's work for this extraordinary relic of the past and Lee's adventure in the interior. Starts at can's ra workshops before the sun rises R mate, uh, sitting C they head out on an 800km round trip from can's in tropical far north Queensland, 420km west to the old post Foresight's advanced gold mining facility, it's humid outside and there's a mountain range to climb before they reach the Outback.

Light rain can be a bit problematic with the wheels spinning a lot. So where are we heading this morning over the Mallister Range towards Coranda? Through the rainforest. area, then what you get are the leaves of the trees in the rainforest that are on top of the track wheels, they go over the leaves, they crush the leaves into an oil and then they mix with the water, of course, they are they get very, very slippery, the right side is I'll give you good views thanks high up on the ridge, the weather is closing in, welcome aboard the Savanah Landa for whatever you're doing this week.

There are several different trips on board, whether you go to Marine or Cander, if the rain becomes heavier. These passengers may not be going anywhere. It's a clear afternoon in Melbourne, but at Thect Depot, the worry is the weather 700km away. Okay thanks. It's raining in the hills outside Adelaide and that could mean trouble for this train. The hills are probably rated one in 40, which is about as St as it gets, but with the length and weight of our train, the actual drag makes it a tougher ride for the guys. Mechanic Graham Smith has to make sure his engines are well armed for the fight, this box here has uh, I think there's 76kg of sand in there, plenty of sand for when the wheels start slipping.

Supply sand here through the nozzle and spray sand in that area after 24 hours of preparation and loading. MP9 is ready to depart for Perth, more than 3,000 km away. Drivers Mark Wolverson and Paul Matley will be in charge of the first stage of this transcontinental marathon. They will do the first leg from Melbourne and you should have the release and we. You're right to pass, you should get a signal any moment Roger, thanks to the control. Paul will drive straight when the light driver arrives while Mark does the paperwork and contacts track control. We have the light.

Come on, two observers will watch every inch of the train as it leaves the station checking for anything that could cause a problem an open door a loose hose a noise that is not right see you later the train pulls its own crew car its own mini hotel With five air-conditioned bedrooms, shower, kitchen and a living room, making it a home from home, boss Andrew sometimes joins his team on the trip to Perth to keep him in touch with problems his team encounters. drivers. 1,652 M for a gross weight of 5,043 tons, it is a great train. You on the return 3 MP9 are picking up speed, but it's an unusually tough and noisy drive through Melbourne's outer suburbs.

We're probably doing around 60 OD km per hour right now. That speed will take us 15 to 20 minutes to clear the on the outskirts of Melbourne, when you are on the nullor main line, speeds of 110 km per hour, when we get to Adelade, four drivers will get on, they will have their own car similar to this , although they will take you there and back, but Perth. 3 days left and the 3 MP9 is about to have problems. When they return to Adelaide, two other drivers will relieve them to take them to Ham and then another two drivers 3,000 km away, near the port of Geraldton, another train loaded with 7,000. tons of iron or magnetite have arrived at the carara port facilities a dangerous high tide has stopped the loading of ships but the trains going to the port are still emptying yes roog I reached B 13 to 16 that's all good, everything ok Roger mik regards this is the vital link between the mine and the dock side yes 761 that's pretty good can I activate the local brakes when you're ready?

See how local brakes are applied. These dump trucks can unload a 100-car train in 2 hours. Lasers are used. To guide the cars exactly to the correct position for tilt, today Mark controls the rollover and his computers monitor the movement of each car, but this morning the on-time arrival of each train is giving carara operations manager George Svel, a big headache, the boats cannot be loaded and the reserve is growing into a small mountain. We only have limited shed space at Gerald and once the shed space is full we have to close the railway. Closing the railway is not a very fun game at this stage.

We have room for two more TRs in the shed and then we may have cancellations and George's day is about to get worse at the mine, one of the loaded drivers also had problems. I just heard the noise from him. in the cabin and then I looked at the temperature gauge and there was sh it was up where it wasn't supposed to be and yeah, then I got out and had a look and southeast of Lake Andrew Williams, the freight train bound for Perth had gotten off. a bumpy start and then two more, what did you do?

Then it hit something hard and the emergency brakes locked on you, getting Mark, yeah, sorry Andrew, we're stopping buddy, we've lost air, okay, thanks, they lost air pressure. that goes from the locomotives through the train keeps the brakes off the wheels when you lose the brakes they activate automatically this train is not going anywhere here we are going to control 3 MP9 in ERS uh L we have lost an ear buddy just letting you know thanks mate there's a fair jump on the track, um, so we could have uncoupled some cars, um, that happened in this section before it can be quite difficult, Roger, thanks, we'll get back to the investigator.

I'll let you know guys you have to take the train to a stop every now and then you get off and walk around the train until you figure out what the problem is the possible concern is you might have D then another TR might show up and run towards the W, yes, just a hose bag that is no longer made. About six were made at the front, while fixing a loose air hose is simple, now the drivers have to pump the air pressure again and the air has to rise to get the train moving again, okay mate, this It is what we call the hose bank and This allowed us to allow the air to pass through the entire train and with that all the brakes were activated because all the air was separated.escaped from the train.

It's quite unusual for that to happen, but it can happen, it's actually quite lucky that the Di was in the front because, as you know, we're 1.6km long and according to the Murphy legends it's usually right at the back, but luckily, this time there will be no more excitement, it's okay, the boss likes the control in the back. He drives, thanks for all your help in telling us. Out there 3 MP9 is rolling again 30 km 3,000 km and more than half a continent still to cross from Melbourne 3,000 km north to the tropical cans where drivers Lee and Will and their Savannah Lander train fight through the Coranda mountain ranges to which your passengers are ready. the best outback adventure, but the train has to cross the mountains first and today that may not be possible.

The constant rain is turning what is normally a slow race into a constant battle for traction. That greasy track is surely making me happy at the moment. The various elements of nature conspire against them. Oil-filled rainforest leaves have settled on the tracks. They add water and a slippery film covers the tracks. Greasy tracks and a steep climb are the Train's worst enemy. Which I'm doing because I'm looking at my Speedo. Down here, which is what I can see when it starts to jump, of course, I can notice that my wheels are spinning, so what I have to do is release the accelerator very quickly, allow them to calm down again and then just gently. apply the accelerator again just hopefully, hopefully, it will get some traction so we can continue up this hill, the passengers have no idea the fight Le is having in front, uh, yeah, still slipping, leaves accumulating during a period of a couple of weeks and then Of course, that little bit of rain, as we said before, is really bad, so it's very difficult to deal with if we start to spin.

I quickly jump on this little pedal with my right foot down and that lets some sand fall under those. wheels, so I've been using that quite a bit this morning. I'd be surprised if there was anything there. We have pretty powerful engines these days. But it's still only driven through a single axle, so the power. Going to that axis tends to drive you a little crazy, but I've been here, where I was stuck before, still in the middle of the range and losing momentum in the worst part in the carara mine. George Sel's day has gone from bad to worse on top of a closed port that could close his

railroad

.

One of his chargers has sprung a leak and is out of service. She is looking over there. She is spilling liquid from below. I think she just throws some Co into the lake, so I'm going to jump up and take a look. I could go up in the air, there, can I take someone right up the rail for a 74 charger? I have a coolant leak, a charger down when there is a train waiting to be filled is bad news. George has to keep the operation going on both ends. If the tide changes, they will begin to fill the boats and this train will have to travel with huge steel cubes in these machines that eat up the 10 m.

Large amount of stock in a surprisingly fast time, it's fast and furious, but it also has to be precise, each shovel must be delivered to the wagon in the right way, the metal bucket can never hit the train, wagons or Hoppers alone They stay there a little. The center pin is more the weight that's holding them up that's keeping them there, so yeah, if we make contact with that, there's a good chance that we can, we can probably pull it off the pin and dislodge it, so we have to put in cranes and all that. lifting. putting it back into each load has to be the right weight, so I Got Dirt, my bucket, now this will weigh the dirt and spread it the right way.

If you can't get it right, there is the possibility of what they call a push and pull effect. Um, so while one of the cars is fully loaded and you're pulling it, the other one is trying to push it and your light car is inside, there's potential for that, just with the effect that you could take off the two loaders that do the work three puts more pressure. drivers, but despite deadlines, getting the job done correctly and safely is always more important than getting it done quickly. Quick work by on-site mechanics repairs the charger in just under an hour.

Put it back into operation. Look at this train and send. On their way, trains continue to run for now, but the port is still closed. The high tide has now become a super low tide. We now have low water levels in the harbor due to a surge. You have atmospheric pressure. and something pushes the water down, there is less tide in the port than expected, if the water level continues, we may have to sell the light ship and that means a dead end for the company, we will pay for the space in the boat we have.

Piles of used stock continue to build up on shore, storage sheds are now close to capacity, another 7,000 tonnes of ore is the last thing needed if there is another surge or any other weather event we could now jam the ship. here again and that will close the railway outside of Melbourne. Freight train 3 MP9 is moving again after going through a bad track warning check and we have been given the go-ahead to continue moving despite the train's unscheduled stop. We will return in time just before Victoria's border with South Australia. They will change crew at midnight. Changing of the guard.

The next team will have to be fresh for what is coming. Okay, have a good stay, see you, look, okay, yeah, we're ready. roll as soon as we get a green sign on top of mine on the green, the new driving team is Ricky Graham and Andy Bishop, ahead of them is one of the most difficult stretches of railway in Australia. and Adelaide are the Adelaide Hills, 50km of hairpin bends and steep steps, you go up and down a bit, but then you take the train up to a high hill, which is the top of the ADL Hills, they are hard work. for any train, but for this 1.6 km long monster weighing over 5,000 tons, they can be a nightmare, sometimes you don't make it, sometimes you save unfortunately and of course you get up and then you have to get off, so Yes, that is also a challenge. with your braking it reduces momentum and uh making sure you get to the end of a drop at track speed so you can maintain your momentum until uh CR at the top of the hill and rain is the last thing they need. downpour can cause problems without traction before the hills having to cross the Murray River on a narrow bridge built almost 100 years ago and that's quite spectacular because there is no railing around part of the actual bridge when the train slows down, it's a eerie experience as they approach, there is nothing between them and the 30m drop into the darkness below.

Getting ready now, after the bridge they reached the Adelaide Hills, the serious climb has begun and ominously the rain has returned, the queue is getting more intense now I feel it slipping a bit further, the train has taken quite a few curves, which creates a lot of resistance in the train, which aggravates the amount of tonnage we have, down 25 thousand hours at this time. Ricky needs to keep the momentum going or he risks plateauing. stopped a couple of times on the hill, actually near M lofty T, it's embarrassing but sometimes you can restart your train and lift the load again or sometimes you may have to have the Cavalry rescue you and He says they might send another locomotive and I'll hold you in front and help you over the top or a train might have to come from behind and give you a little push up the hill, Dro, at less than 20 km per hour. , as long as it's still moving.

I can feel he is really struggling so he doesn't like this right now, momentum is everything but they are slowly losing it, the speed of the train is dropping rapidly, let the engine do it and hopefully they will keep going , the three locomotives are pulling. There are 62 huge carriages, the wheels are crying out for more traction, they are singing, they are killing sand on the track, so to create a little more grip if we stop or have problems at the port of Geraldton, there is finally good news for the manager Railway, George. Now that the tide has turned and there is now enough water to support the load of the Ilara Fortune by the time we go to fill the bike to capacity. 70,000 tons must be loaded before the next high tide, when this ship is for sale. that will be over 5 million dollars on these HS we think we will leave on Friday morning we think we will have to keep the

railroad

running but there is also bad news with another 100 iron or magnetite cars heading towards the port there is a problem with the unloading Machinery all the emptying of the train has stopped supervisor Mark Horn has a warning message on his screen tilting he cannot go forward those two green lines if they are not up the car is not in position he will have to do it find a way to align the car with a push, go into manual and, uh, just push it forward, why not?

It's not Rong yet, he seems to have a fault in position, he doesn't want to get off, they have started loading the ship with the huge reserves are disappearing, there are other ships that also need to be filled and if Mark can't solve his loading problem soon, They will be left without a on the Savannah Lander Lee is still struggling with the wheels slipping in the wet, the engine of his The vintage train is working overtime climbing the steep grades. It's routine on wet roads. Lee has been manually adding sand. The sand is being blown under the wheel trying to get traction, so the sand is like grip, so it gets under it and crushes. the sand falls and creates something to stick to, instead of just being steel on steel, it gives you a little grip and it's doing the trick, the track in front starts to flatten out, you're finally getting full traction.

Soon gaining speed, the train they call the Silver Bullet shoots up again, but with speed comes danger. The Savannah Lander is a once-a-week service. Drivers forget it works. It's the last thing people expect to see. You are really dating death. Don't stop at a nickel. If you drive in front of us, we put on the emergency brakes, but most of the time the wheels lock up and start to slide, you are still doing 40 50 60 K per hour at the same time. The next city will have important work to do. I'll get it from here on out. There are no electronic signs.

It's too remote. A primitive railway safety procedure from the 1830s is still in use. Once we get to this point, things become quite antiquated. Your mobile phone is a more basic way to communicate with the wooden cane that you wield and carry a cane and then pass that cane around as you go. We need Bator's staff to use that piece of track that says MBA aladen as As long as we have this, we know that there are no other trains on the line between Melber and Aladen because they would have to have this in order to be there with this piece of wood on board that will allow you to travel. starts the Savannah Lander knowing for a fact that his train is the only one on the track, which is as good as Will sees something that makes him stop I just saw something I just want to double-check Will started Life as a Zookeeper which comes in handy in a bush train uh, it looks like there's a little fruit behind it, a little red flying fox just got stuck in the bar with the fence on the left side and you know, I know a lot of people think they're upset, but They have a long journey.

No, no animal deserves to die in the sun. There is a good reason why most people would leave this helpless animal to its fate. Some Australian bats carry a deadly virus that can make a simple scratch fatal to humans, but the will won't let this little F suffer, so the important thing with these is that if you're not immunized don't touch them, you'll just be protected. If you have had a common rabies vaccine, it becomes almost impossible to untangle the poor thing, but if the hole is not too big, there is no skeletal damage, then it shouldn't take too much, luckily for the new passenger, help is just around the corner. at the end of the track at the next stop, so, a friend of mine, Marjerie, is a wildlife keeper right at the post.

The office she runs Will and Lee deliver the fruit bat to the postmistress. I don't think the hole in his wings is that bad. Hello D. His store sometimes functions as an animal shelter. Oh yes, I want Margerie to have the right packing for her feisty new friend, don't fly away, stay there, ready, thanks Mar, everything will be fine, soon the Savanah Lander will be back on its way still more than a day away. their destination, passengers already have a story to tell. about the day they toured the Outback in the Batmobile at the carara loading facility in Geraldton George Sevel has a new problem delaying his multi-million dollar supply line, yeah yeah he's just not thereout, yes, the dump trucks that empty the trains or It doesn't work in the control room.

Operator Mark Horn is trying to figure out what's wrong with lowering the clamps. His computer alerted her to the problem. He now he needs human intervention. There seems to be a fault in the positioner. He doesn't want to go down, so I'll do it. I'll probably call a Sparky and get him to save me interruptions like these can stop trains and ships filling there's one parked offshore the Galaxy waiting patiently for its turn delays are hugely expensive yes give me a minute I've got the carriage no in positions This vault needs to be fixed and fixed quickly.

My position arm does not go down. Can you take a look and see what I'm doing wrong here? I'm looking at the plant alignment for the things that hold the train down when it's not tilting these super efficient machines can empty this train in less than 2 hours but when something goes wrong technology can be your enemy it has its little glitches it has its moments I think the technician can't find anything that is obviously wrong, that leaves the computer as the likely culprit, is it you, after all the drama, are you ready to move on or are you still waiting for a tip?

R mik, regards, all it takes is a simple click of the mouse to start the multi-million dollar download operation. and running again, copy peer and tenies finally got everyone heading towards the ship. Hey, health, crisis for the good news. George has managed to keep the trains running. We'll take ELA out to see him. We will bring the Galaxy and maintain continuity. operations, the car tilts and the boat sails well, we are ready, good job. Bound for Perth, the 3m9 is battling through the demanding slopes of the Anade Hills. The constant rain makes their fight for traction even more difficult.

There is a bit of rain at the moment so the track is quite greasy despite having three locomotives at full speed, it is sometimes slow on this notorious climb, the train speed has dropped below 10 km per hour, so there is a lot of balance between the dynamics of the train to control the speed of the train, but driver Ricky Graham has managed to maintain the momentum. not much, but enough to suggest that he is winning the battle with the mountain. There is one last climb before they get out of trouble. A final push to the top is a snail's pace, but at least they are moving and then down now the low mountain range through b.

And all the way to Ad Adela. The outer suburban stations are a welcome sight as the 3 MP9 picks up speed heading towards South Australia's capital. Another welcome site is the Rising Sun. It's been a long night, but this train still has a long way to go. The next leg of your journey is a 2,000 km ride through the infamous nbor plane. You get a sense of how big and wide Australia is and how much there may be nothing out there and the desert will have its own unique dangers waiting for you on Railroad Australia, a super 13,000 horsepower train that is what awaits us, the mountains against the mountain range of hell, they pay us a lot of money for this danger on the tracks, come on, how do you stop a 5,000 ton Jugger, not the farmers who move a whole sheep on the road, and us?

We've hit 110 and WIP its mid-thirties and the Outback hero with train problems, main air pressures going up and down a bit and an early morning run-in with one of the locals at the Port Botany docks in Sydney, the last containers are arriving. of a freight train that arrived overnight bringing thousands of tonnes of goods from the New South Wales hinterland, as the last container departs, the race is on to prepare the train for the difficult journey back from the docks from Sydney to the Great Dividing Range. to his Home Depot in Duo, 500 km away, the name stamped on the TR train belongs to this man.

Roger Fletcher used to hire trains to collect containers from his sheep farm and the Freight Depot, but a year ago he took the plunge and bought his own locomotives. a multi-million dollar bet that hopes to pay off we are a family business that started from scratch we only started with a couple of thousand sheep on the road and we just built it we are not a multinational but we try and keep control of what we have its workers are rushing to fill containers with bulk meat, wheat, cotton seeds and other products to sell on the world market.

It has to be done before the train arrives from Sydney, but between the train and the depot are these. The spectacular Blue Mountains are known for their wild beauty, but for trains they are deadly. Some of the steepest grades and curves in the country lose an engine on the climb up Relentless Mountain and you're in trouble. It will take three locomotives each with more than 4,000 horsepower to do the job. If something goes wrong with these things, it's usually a big disaster. Bypass driver John O Tinan. I just check the compressor oil to make sure it's in shape and ready for action.

These trains here last a long time. ping distance at heavy loads, so yeah, we check them every day, everything looks good, good joker Roger after checking the engine, jonno and his maneuvering partner, Andrew Brick, known as Bricky, have to put the train 3 m, only one meter and red light, right, friend. That is a red light, there is three-step protection. Shunting is one of the most dangerous operations on the railway. Those locomotive engines weigh 134 tons each. Come on, Jonno, if something goes wrong, it goes wrong because you've turned a blind eye or something. not following all the safety aspects, yes, deaths happen, the air brakes have to be disengaged, it has a lot of air pressure and if you just disengage it, it flies everywhere, it takes away from anything else you really need, buddy.

We are far away, fantastic Jono and Bricky have put together a huge 62-car train that is over a mile long. Now it's time to tackle the mountain from Sydney to Adelaide, where a freight train is about to travel more than 22,000km. the continent until the 3m9 transcontinental freighter began its journey in Melbourne headed west to Adelade and will now cross the Great Desert of the Nulabor Plain to the capital of Western Australia. Good day for it and, yes, I hope we get there in 2 and a half days. He's one of the four conductors for the next 32 hours, he and the others will live and work on the train when they're not out front at Loco's house, it's the crew car where they eat and sleep, this is the Box, uh We brought all our stuff just for the trip.

We're pretty good cooks, right? Yes, we are fantastic. Cooks just be silent, don't say it, don't tell our Wass, yes, don't tell our Wass in this gigantic 5,000 km round. On the trip they will need to bring their own fuel and a lot of it, between 52 and 53,000 liters of fuel. There are no bridges, tunnels or roads where they go, so the train can be twice the size and containers stacked on top of each other. like Lego at 6M tall, these vans are some of the largest in the world, they are twice the size of an average van, they are the same length, just twice the height, so they can get twice what you you get. 72 pallets there the double teing operation is fast and efficient the locomotives and cars of this train are worth $25 million a load another 2 million that is a lot of money and there is a tight deadline to load we have a 3 hour window to turn it around To get it out the The last cars of 3 MP9 are ready to be diverted to the rest of the Train, when it makes its Mega trip through the nullabor it will be Towing 72 cars a train that measures almost 1.8 km the equivalent of 18 football fields stacked double loaded to the maximum With food and other vital supplies for the distant city of Perth we will do an aerial test and then continue towards Perth 3 MP9 has been loaded as planned and is on its way. a good start to a difficult journey Yes, arrive on time, but on this route with 22,000 km of desert ahead Anything can happen north to Almadén 170 km inland from where the Savanah Lander is located on the second day of a 4-day trip to the former gold mining town of Porsa on a unique trip that is always full of surprises, the drivers and Lee have already conquered a tropical mountain range in the rain, stopped to rescue an injured fruit bat, and came close to be welcomed by a motorist aboard the land of Savanah for All those who have just joined us and welcomed back to our safe and regular passengers.

The Savannah Lander and its passengers have spent the night in Sleepy Aladen, a Dusty One hotel town that still relies on this weekly service. The train is old and the tracks it travels on are even older. the whole railway line was built to a really minimal standard, whatever the smallest amount of work they could do is what they did with the rails on this century old line, they are light and uneven, you can visually place it in the place where you know it one is taller. than the other and there are little kicks and falls everywhere the terrain is hard and unforgiving if there is a sign of trouble now is the time to find it if you are looking underneath only if you see something shiny silver probably that is something that is wrong so look below if everything is black and dirty uh everything is where it's supposed to be it's all clear for the 60's train they call the Silver Bullet it's time for this Outback classic to come out to the rail for Lee, it's going to be A tough day at the controls but he wouldn't trade this job for anything and I've been doing this for 8 years and it's still different.

Say good morning to everyone in the morning and leave. Alright. I like it a lot. Not long before the Savanah Lander reaches the worst section of track, Lee's prediction of a rough ride is spot on in this rugged country, there could be anything on the tracks, a spotter car that can drive on rails was dispatched. forward in search of danger, he left. Ride the surprise this morning pretty early and you'll be crossing all the way to forecast, and what you're doing is just checking for downed trees and making sure there aren't any large rocks or landslides in the area where you can check for rocks. . and landslides here, but you can't predict well the wildlife to your right, the Blue Mountains rising from sea level to more than 1,000 M.

It's a difficult place to lay a railway line, but machinists Simon Briggs and Mick Grantham have worn them. many times before that is what we have ahead of us the mountains with 1.2 km of train crawling behind these mountains are a great test for man and machine it will be a long and slow battle more than 100 km of winding tracks ahead some of the trains with the steepest grades this time we can handle it, we start the climb when we get to Valley Heights, the GR stiffens again so it will get steeper again, the engines are working a little harder now we are starting to lose some of our speed so we're currently at uh Notch 8 which is Full Throttle and uh we're going 51 km per hour but we're accelerating at 8 km per hour per minute so it's a pretty steep climb here a little bit Further ahead, it is the first of a series of tunnels that help open a path.

Across the rocky terrain, the train's horn must sound before they reach darkness, a vital warning to workers who may be on the line. The tunnels are over 100 years old and are dark and sunken, so one of the nicknames for them was "rat holes." It was like entering and exiting a h with small Burrows with poor visibility. Simon and Mick have to be especially attentive one down. Come on, the train is now well within range. It will take a grueling hour to break through the back of the mountain pass. hour at full throttle, all three Loos combined, 13,000 horsepower, are fully engaged as the train barrels toward the top, if you lose momentum here you could be dragged down to stall speed, stop now and get this monster going again it will be a night from just west of Sydney to South Australia, where the 3 MP9 freight train left Adelaide and meanders west bound for Perth, which is still two days away with a biscuit in the controls, slowly building the huge train up to its maximum speed of 110 km per hour. after extra carriages were added for the nullor crossing it is now a colossal 1.8 km long and weighs 5,000 tonnes, a giant train cookie pushing it to full throttle when you get a warning from train control, yes 9 UM 9112 I just put the man CRA.

I just reported that I heard some of them, um it looks like they're about to cross there mate, so keep an eye out there, I think it might be a farmer moving h of sheep, um and he hasn't warned. control so he doesn't know we've come and he doesn't know there are trains in the area uh and a train we're crossing has reported it so we just need to show a little caution on a train this size going at this speed, stopping is not aoption, we did it before in that instance. The farmers move a whole hour of sheep on the track and we're up to 110 and that half are white, so yes, they are a bit dangerous animals on the track.

A common problem here, drivers have to deal with them almost every shift. line at this point things could get complicated if we see him, hopefully, we can slow down before we hit him. Savannah Lander is making her way through the North Queensland Outback grasslands sharing the rails with local wildlife, well to her right, that's when The Skin hits the train and begins to approach Both Will and Lee used to be zookeepers . Wildlife is a big part of my life, it's a passion, something I've had forever. I can still talk about wildlife and educate many. the people on the train about it, it is only in this sense that the wildlife is out there, a few commons or two commons on the right side, there is time for one last closer encounter, this time with humans before the saan Lander arrive at your planned destination.

We leave here at 8:30 in the morning, so come here earlier, you will spend the night here, but before that there is a local tradition that must be observed. Yes, let's go for a ride on the train, of course. We'll let you come take a little trip around the angle with us. This only takes 5-10 minutes max, but they love it. They are here every week. They are looking forward to the time to rest before their 400 km. Return Trip I'm heading back to the cans, it'll take us two days to get there. Tonight, man, surprise, it's a little train with a big reputation and you're never too old to take a ride, oh what's wrong with me?

Savannah Lander, yes, we have. I'm dying to do it, I'm dying to do it, where's the damn piece of wood to knock on? Things could get interesting, we'll see 95 years, not bad, it might be the home run, but Lee and Will won't be. Moving forward by inertia is one of the most complicated climbs on the Train. What we are doing is climbing without forethought up the Newcastle Range, which is our highest point of the Savan Lander trip. We have a common waloo on the bridge where you guys. he's out of there, hey, this part here is known as high bridge, finally it's a little weird for us to have such high bridges in this far west, most of the bridges we're going to cross are pretty low, these wooden bridges They are made from local trees felled over 100 years ago, they are still standing strong, but must be inspected each year for termites that could weaken.

They are resistant and stable, but the leaves are not at risk. It's a long way to the rocks of North Queensland. to western Sydney, where the Fletchers freight train has finally climbed to the top of the Blue Mountains and is changing crew for the last leg of the journey. Inland waiting to take over are veteran driver Bernie Baker and his partner Anthony K. How are they? Your brother, hey, good man, she had two on the last one, she piled up the brakes are just coming loose there, so it should be sweet. Bernie is a legend among crews, he doesn't just drive trains, he collects them and today Mick has a gift for how great, oh beautiful, you've been. hanging out by that beauty thanks Mickey see you buddy beautiful it's a miniature of one of the other trains Bernie drives another one for his collection H back to d a nice healthy little 62empty container car train people arriving at the wave Bernie is a self-confessed madman of trains and has been for as long as he can remember all I wanted to do was finish school so I could join us it was in my blood, see because dad was a driver a little more photographers The adventures of Bernie himself, who saw trains , nearly cost him his life while trying to photograph a train from what he thought was a telephone monkey on the pole, as he always did.

I stuck my neck between the wires and was electrocuted. I spent 2 months in a comr and I blew my leg off, so I lost, I lost my right leg there under the KNE, yes, I woke up from a coma, one extra sock, what kind of crazy man chases trains and takes pictures of them, not to me, the train must return to base. I arrived at Duo this afternoon to pick up thousands of tons of cargo for the return trip, but at Fletcher Home Depot, 200 km away, they just had a major breakdown, man, oh my cotton baler, things are not working as well.

Operations manager Sha Magnuson has lost. one of their conveyor belts that load the containers had a little break in the end roller um the axles broke ripped off that's what this shipment of cotton seeds has to be packed and locked in containers for when Bernie's train arrives The train can not be delayed, these containers have to arrive at Sydney docks on time. We are loading about 75 containers today in total. We already have about 120 packaged. If they are late, the ships will sail without them. We'll just sit it in here, make a new shaft and orient it and hopefully put it all back together and start at 9:00.

Hopefully, Bernie's train is on its way and will arrive in a few hours if he can. We won't fix the conveyor belt in time. This cotton seed isn't going anywhere. Biscuit 3 MP9 drivers and Ryan have been warned that there could be a flock of sheep on the line. Do you think if there were any, they would have been at that level crossing back there, yes, they've been scanning The Horizon for signs of trouble, but they can't see anything, there are some here on the padic, but I can't see any around track. We just passed 49, so obviously we moved them. so we should be good to pick up speed and get back to normal oh yeah the checkpoint just passed about the 50km mark and there's no sign of any sheep um here so yeah she's completely clean and the Ryan's turn in the driver's cab. is about to finish with that well if we haven't run into anything it looks good in each 8 hour shift the local ghost will travel more than 600 km and burn 6,000 liters of diesel easily having the driver's relief means that these trains can go practically non stop Across desert country I will drive for 4 hours and then Darren will take over for the next four.

This train is headed to one of the loneliest places on Earth. There aren't many people here, for sure, every once in a while you see some campgrounds and, uh, some four-wheeler drivers, but not much else, the drivers joke about it being UFO country, but it hasn't been that long, The new driver, Phil, had a not-so-fun encounter around midnight one night and we crossed some big cattle and the next thing. A big light shined from above us, it illuminated the whole area just outside the whole locomotive and then it disappeared, it was only there for a split second, it was almost like an L helicopter, but we looked out the window and there were no helicopters. or anything I don't believe in you, but I can't explain what that was, so it was an unidentified fluid object.

I keep it to myself, people think I'm crazy just over the blue mountains west of Sydney, the hot streak of Fletcher drivers. Bernie and Anthony have met their end, the track controllers are holding them on a siding to make way for a passenger train to pass them on the single track section of the xbt line, that's him now leaving blindly, Now it's time to leave the afternoon AR. This is great. I have been on a diet until today. Can you believe it? Crawling through Rolling Hills again. Bernie can admire the total length of his 1.2 km train.

I'll see if I can take a look at the back. Yo, the train is good, quite colorful, all those boxes, right? Things aren't so relaxed at Fletchers Depot in Duo, yeah sure buddy, we'll have you in the shop where operations manager Sha Magnuson is trying to get his hands on a broken cotton baling machine. together again if the conveyor belt is not fixed in time it will be five less containers with a capacity of 120 tons almost $40,000 in cotton seeds Destined for China, that will not make it, but we will take it to the workshop, are you suitable?

Just as night falls, the repair work continues, the pressure is on to fix the conveyor belt, the Savannah Lander is steaming toward its next stop, but Lee's gauges tell him he has a problem, so I'm noticing that the main air. the pressure is between 100 and 125 it's just going up and down a little bit as we get along the air pressure is what causes the brakes to lose it and the brakes will lock automatically so I was wondering if we could hear something of air. leaking anywhere, which tends to happen when you go out of sight, have a lot of really tight corners and can put a lot of pressure between the two units, you'll get the job of checking it out.

Can you stand in the middle? Tell me if you can hear like one of the hoses is leaking, yes, a slight hiss, but it may not be the air when you accelerate, it doesn't amplify it or anything, if you want to stop and take a look at it, yes M. Savannah Lander makes her first unscheduled stop none of the drivers want to take any chances here eh I just have to go and check a part of the hose it's just a small anomaly there are no mechanics to turn to it's a problem they'll have to fix themselves.

I can hear a little hiss. The 3MP 9 Melbourne to Perth freighter is about to enter one of the world's largest natural spaces. This is one of the last electronic signs your drivers will see. Yes, due to the remoteness, there is no energy area to send signals. We will go under the Steuart Highway going to Allis Springs so once we go under that will be the last major road we see until we get to Curly which is 900 miles away, it's a single line for the next few 1000 km and it has to be shared, end up doing a double there in Cy, that mp7 is up, um MP9 cler, the only place these super trains can pass is on sidings long enough to fit in a 1 train, 8 km.

They're called Crossing loops and out here they serve another purpose, conductors use them to check each other's trains for problems as they pass by, you might see an open door or some hanging ropes or something MP9, you're all complete, good, thanks for that, you are complete with your meat in a thank you after the crossing it's time for a night crew change in the middle of nowhere cookie and Ryan will do the night shift this next stage is unique, perfect Absol in front Of them is the longest straight stretch of railway line in the world. We will keep our maximum speed at 110, there will be some small dips and small ups and downs, but other than that it is just a straight track. 478 km of straight track on the other side of the continent in New South Wales.

Bernie and his driving partner keep an eye out for stray animals that could wander onto the tracks at any time. Look where his partner is. Rock wall. Oh, she was the worst. They get underneath. They get tangled in all the ways. Motors that you know are on the axles. and they start cooking, luckily for them, there is something cooking in the taxi that smells good. Bernie's diet is about to take another hit in his perfect job with the perfect dinner. It's moments like these fiery condiments. Check out Anthony. Well, they pay us a lot of money.

Bernie may be enjoying the ride, but at the warehouse operations manager, Sha Magnuson and his team, are still desperately trying to fix the cotton loader, which has been out of service for 4 hours, they managed to rebuild a broken axle , but they need to fix it and get it working before Bernie's train arrives holding me there, it's been a tense race to get it out and see if we can get it started, but when sha turns the charger on again she's up and running, it looks like they finally won sweetly like children. They can load the remaining cotton seed to make the next train, so this box is already packed.

We should be fine. You know, we work together as one and we will be right. We will achieve it after a journey of 500 km and more. a famous mountain range Bernie's train arrived safely at the station on time, ready to be loaded for a quick return to the docks tomorrow we are here, it's been a long day, turn them off, tie them up and go home, but the lover of the trains, Bernie, can't. Don't wait to do it all again, it's a really good job, it's a really good job, deep in the interior, the Savannah Lander is still out of action.

Lee is trying to figure out why she has lost air pressure. A sound can be heard. little hiss, he hopes the culprit is a loose air hose, just as far as you can get is a lot. I don't know if you can see a lot of dust collecting on the stamps, so every now and then that creates a little bit. There is a problem, so just cleaning it is hot. Dusty job, but Lee finally figures out what's wrong. A latch that holds the rear door closed does not work properly. There we go, it works with the Train's air pressure system and is the reason for the unusual readings. your gauges, the back door wasn't closed properly, so,yes, the little trip switch that activates, is released from time to time and the Savannah Lander is soon back up and running, yes, this is, uh, Mount surprise, now we are.

I'm told there are about 70 people who live here, but Lee and I have only met six. The passengers will spend the night at the local hotel, but Lee and Lee have an engagement after work, so yeah, I mean, we were always happy to do something. A little different When the train gets here, Will and Lee can always rely on an invitation to a meeting, but tonight's meeting by the creek is not what they expected. There are dogs in chairs. What's going on here? Well, I thought we'd go. I went out to help Doug do some kind of meeting or something.

He's pretty flexible with his terms over the phone, but we went out here and he has some good friends of his who are visiting and they've been sitting. a chair for 20 minutes while cattle dogs in chairs can be fun, what hides in a watering hole is not, it must have jumped there from the stream, yes I have seen it here from time to time but after passing without stopping for the Night Cookie and Ryan are on the other side of the nullabor, but are still a day away from their destination of Perth. We've traveled about 750k so far, so overnight, which is a pretty good effort, Cookie has a treat for the conductors of a train in a siding waiting for it to pass, yeah buddy, um, just pass the location sign ahead, do you want a newspaper?

Yes, we'll take yesterday's newspaper, it's not very good vibes, but it will help if you want P, people throw one away. Have a good trip friends, 12 hours later, after running almost non-stop for 2 days, the train has returned to civilization after having crossed the continent. Well, we have traveled almost 22,000 K, so yes, we are looking forward to having to rest in a bed that is not. Don't move and, uh, yeah, take a good shower and rest for the way back. I'm very tired and I can't wait to get you down after the Locos. 72 fully loaded carriages that have been transported across the country to do the same by road would take over 100 trucks, yes 5,664 tonnes of train from Melbourne to Perth arrived safely at Forest Field from Melbourne to Perth, over 3,000 km , the end of one of the longest train journeys in the world.

That's it, they turned them off and we'll head home while the Savannah Lander is safely parked for the night in Mount, surprise will its drivers and Lee is taking a chance on one of the locals at a nearby cattle station. The freshwater crocodile is trapped in a waterhole. We got a rag or something to throw on his head. he's going to bounce Freshwater Crocs may be smaller than their saltwater cousins, but they can still pack a PCH, thank goodness there are train conductors around you, right? You got that part, yeah man, if I pass your way so you can get out or you.

Get in, get out, see where the deepest part of the stream is here, oh, down there, probably that way here it looks good, nice, so if you want to remove the back first, you're right, yeah, keep going, keep going, go on. Well, well, well, well, well, in this unique Outback train, its drivers and passengers have crossed a mountain range, saved a fruit bat, made way for a kangaroo on a bridge. They crossed and rescued a crocodile and their journey is far from over on Railroad Australia, fields of fire, the heat is There is a lot of pressure to get the sugar cane to the mill and things can go wrong, that's why we have to be on our game, a lost train where it is exactly at the moment you know they are waiting to load and might miss the boat. you have a port window and that's what you have to stick to, yes I can't block it.

This train has to leave this afternoon and a trespasser on the tracks, hey Will Will, yes, stops an Outback adventurer in the sugar fields. Farmers in far north Queensland are setting fire to their crops to get rid of excess vegetation known as litter, leaving only the flame-resistant, sugar-rich stem to be harvested as the fire rages from field to field, approaches to Kane's driver, Ray Stinger. Giles and his offsider Michael McNeel are transporting containers of freshly cut cane to the mill. All this walking keeps you in shape. They haven't found an easier way. Obviously, we have a 40 ton bath with a caboose in the back.

You have around 1,600 tons. There's a lot of weight behind you and you've got to know what you're doing and when you've got to do it, sugar is a 2 billion dollar industry in these parts, it's a constant battle to make sure the trains are on time and keep them going. so that the entire factory can continue. An entire region depends on drivers like Stinger getting the harvest from the fields to the factory as quickly as possible, the longer it remains burned without being shipped. to the mill and being crushed, the lower the sugar content of the can, the less money we will get, the ticking of the clock increases the pressure on Stinger and his fellow drivers, he has returned this load early, but tomorrow is another day, it is a great relief, really, to go all out. that way we can get up there and return before the end of our ship.

Tomorrow's trip will be the most difficult. Starting from Sugar Mill in Guu near Townsville, traveling 100km south to Milo and returning picking up at one of the more remote farms, the lines through the fields are rough and basic, they have a 200km round trip . The sky is clear today, but the forecast for tomorrow is for stinging fog and Michael will encounter a difficult day heading northwest, to the old gold mining shelters of the early Pioneers, where one of the great characters. of the Australian Railway, the Savanah Lander is halfway through a 4-day journey into the depths of the Outback after traveling from Can to the former gold mine Outpost of Foresight Drivers, Kemp and Lee John's will set out on the road return to the coast.

I'm just killing time today, a 10-hour race ahead of them, all that looking at pretty landscapes and stopping at streams and all that kind of stuff. No, I'm sorry, I can't do it. They have a strict deadline to return to base in cans, but before they are established. off will needs to go shopping for what could be the most important purchase of his life. He's just at the little gem dealership. Imount surprise my girlfriend, partner of her whatever you want to call her, you have been with her for about 7 years and you already know about her.

It's time to step up and that kind of thing, okay, precious, right? It's just fantastic. Hopefully he hasn't changed his mind on any previous agreement, but there is a long journey and a lot of work to do beforehand. he can make his proposal a great day today is the last day it is the most moronic sometimes it can be a very difficult day good morning everyone come out welcome aboard Lee is in front for the start of the long journey 400 km back to the cans, but keeping the It's not easy for Savannah Lander to run as planned, the tracks aren't fenced and the cattle are stubborn and unpredictable pushing some cattle up here, but to the right you can see why they're hanging around here is a stream that They're not the widest animals if you have 50 of them on the left and you have five on the right, you know the five on the right are going to go left, so we tend to overlook them, but um. yes it's not unusual to have them right up against the front of the train while you're cruising, the last thing you want is a support or worse yet a damaged train that can't return, yes there we go, that's how I thought. crosses to the right after crawling through the cattle Lee hits the gas but even in Cruise mode his eyes are focused on the track, he's raced enough times to expect the unexpected, suddenly he sees something on the tracks, hey Will, You're up, Lee. hits the brakes afraid he hit something just happened it's probably behind us hopefully it didn't move B has to run back to investigate from west of K 2,000 km south to Duo New South westes where the crews are at Fletcher Freight Depot Working flat out to load a train and move in just a few hours, the train must depart Duo for a 500km journey east to the port of Syd.

These containers should be filled and on the train by early afternoon for an overnight trip. To the port we have to be out today at 2:30, so we return to the port at 6:00 in the morning. The problem is that the train that is supposed to be loading has not arrived. Operations manager Sha Magnuson is trying to find out. Why not put our train on the GPS? We are exactly at the moment when you know that the news from train control is not good. We have our train which is only 6 km from the city and we have a control of all the train tracks. could give priority to the coal train, it's just that U Broad Meadow could let it go first and then we'll have an hour and a half wait.

You can't afford to lose 90 minutes of precious charging time, yeah, I can't afford it. he blocked this train it has to leave this afternoon the three Fletcher engines waiting just at the end of the track are towing empty containers but when the train arrives at Fletcher Depot they have to be removed before containers full of meat, cotton and wheat can replace them. He's going to lock us in. If Sha can't negotiate a green light for his train, how long will we be locked in? because he is seeing costly delays. It's expensive. We have to track the boxes to the port. 100 OD boxes at $350 each.

It gets a little strange, the fate of Sha's freight train is in someone else's hands, but this morning Sha is lucky, that's okay, buddy. Train control gives him the rest he needs and lets the Fletchers train first now that he has begun the race to assemble. a 1.2km train in just a few hours yeah mate it's Bernie on um 8148 how's Bernie? I'm very well, thank you Mr. veteran driver. Bernie Baker is in charge of the 4,197 tonne first leader. Oh, look at all those 100. Okay, we'll know we're alive tonight, so that's good, it's heavy and long, the three locomotives will pull 62 cars over the Great Dividing Range 1100 M high, almost 100 km wide, no There is room for a train of this size in the North Queensland cane fields a crop is being burned now it needs to be harvested and transported to the mill quickly before the sugar content starts to fall currently in the yard for M Stinger is one Of the drivers who have to make sure this happens, there is a lot of pressure, but from the time it is harvested until it is crushed is quite critical in the sense that the sugar content deteriorates in the case and things can go wrong, that's why we have to be on our game so you can make your career at At a reasonable hour, Stinger and his offsider Michael have done their train checks, but a thick fog is approaching and threatens to bring things to a standstill. .

You have to be more aware of what happens when it's when it's swampy. You have to give of yourself. a little more space to reduce visibility from the train is terrible, yes I can see their headlights, only there is a train in front of them on the same B line, uh, brother, the siding they are going to is not visible until the same last moment, but we're going to go right because there's only one line going in and out of the mill and, um, if you have a big problem here, it's going to stop the Loos from coming to bring the cane back to the mill and then Stop to the Loos delivering the next batch of empty containers to the contractors to slow down the entire process after the trains pass the stinger and Michael continues to tend his train through the fog.

It's probably the worst fog we've ever had. I would say visibility. It would drop to about 20M, yes at this speed your chances of making it to your cane shipment on time don't look good, but the fog shows no signs of going away anytime soon which makes matters worse, up ahead there are two roads very busy road that we are about to cross. cross the Bruce Highway, the train may be slow this morning, but the traffic is not yes, the fog is quite thick. L, we're just going to go through M, the park heading towards WS, clear, we just have to make sure there are no problems crossing because obviously.

If we have a deer flying on the road, it will also stop traffic and we will cause a lot of damage not only to machinery, but also to life and limb. You know, there are no barriers on this section of the road, only warning lights. Stinger. has his Loco's lights on but the fog is thick and motorists are in a hurry the driver sees Stinger's train at the last moment a close call Stinger will have a harrowing journey if these conditions do not improve soon Foggy North Queensland towards the east coast of the new southwest and Duo's Inland Center and we're ready to go oh you're ready Anthony okay the giant Fletcher Mate weight and cotton train is loaded and moving it's 62 cars long and has a 500 trip km ahead part of that over the Great Dividing Range one of the steepest climbs on Australia's railways as it leaves thewarehouse the workers verify that all the cars are in condition and ready for the difficult work ahead, so they are making sure there are no hand brakes and they are on, everything makes the noises it should, there are no air legs in the hoses and stuff like that, plus say hello to Jimmy.

The inland weather on the route Bernie is taking can make for extreme conditions, sometimes icy, yes you got frosty. The rails and sanders do not work properly and are sometimes so hot that the track can bend from the heat alone. Bernie had first-hand experience with the Buckle route. This terrifying video was filmed from the cabin of a train he was driving. Whoa man the wheels the Loos The wheels went off the track, but Bernie managed to stop before a full-scale derailment. Incidents like that remind Bernie how important his work is. These logos are worth five 55.5 million each, even damaging a logo.

You know that logo needs to be removed. service, you have to find a logo to replace that one, so there are higher charges on top of repairs, it all adds up, we get paid to keep ourselves alive and everyone else alive around us, you know, we don't get paid for a good appearance, which is better. I'd be broke if they paid me to watch Bernie has a town to go through before this big truck accelerates for the first serious hill so we have what we call Big C she's pretty steep it's Ste just make sure you have a good run . here we go Bernie has the easiest part of the trip: just fire up an 8 hour Hall to the top of these mountains, it will be night when they get there and another new team will take on the difficult descent down the ridge in the Dark, the Savannah Lander has had to make an unscheduled stop in the middle of nowhere.

Lee saw something on the tracks. It's up to Will to check it out. I'm just running back. I see. The train ran over a mysterious creature but it may have survived it's a snake I don't think you caught it anyway that's the good news luckily Will is a former zookeeper who knows his reptiles so it's a little follow up just sitting in the middle of the track is a small black headed p is not poisonous but not A pet, whether you know it's my affection for these guys, he often likes to stop to make sure he hasn't hurt it and It doesn't seem like I have it all to find it all right, all right, yes, adorable baby, yes, this year.

Say, snap, you have a good heart. Will's girlfriend, who he plans to propose to when he returns to the cans, is also a wildlife keeper, which has given him an idea. Now I asked Mel to come to the K station tonight when we bring the train. I told him that I actually ran over the snake and damaged its tail and that it is going to need veterinary attention. Put the bag on the ground. Put it inside the bag. There's no snake, of course, but yes. a ring, take it out, and hopefully all is well. I'm pretty nervous right now, you'll have to keep your mind on the train and the track ahead.

There are roads here that the Savannah Lander has to cross, but there are no grade crossings or warning lights, nothing to do. alert a motorist that a train is coming, we fear it, the Burke Development Highway crosses the 100 km per hour speed limit, many road trains use it, the only thing we have to protect us of course is a warning sign give in, it's a nervous time, big trucks passing 40m long can go 100km per hour on this road, visibility with this junction isn't the best either until you get right on top of it, so it's very important to slow down speed and make sure everything is clear before continuing.

The crossing can be made at a good speed Will's proposal is still on its way, but there's one last delay he can't avoid, the strange train that passed by and was still more than happy to get out and, uh, and steal it, yeah, Train Robbers after a bit. easy pocket money the best thing you can do is sit still the legend of Ned Kelly Australia's most famous Bush Ranger is still alive people think this is a joke a passenger laughed last week his head was blown off everyone take anything take gold coins they take 5 cent coins, they take where the original is, that is one of the most irresponsible parenting I have seen in the sugar cane fields.

The Stinger train has avoided traffic, but is still fighting through a thick fog, I hope this fog LIVES in the air or something. We head to a cane farm on the edge of the growing area, it's the longest trip on his list. If something happens here, if we have a problem or any delay, we have four, four of the locomotive behind us, we could go out 70 km. down the track at the farm Stinger is trying to get to the crop he is going at full speed the sun is hot and the fog that was hindering operations has finally lifted visibility is back to normal you can actually see for miles before Stinger and Michael can collect above the cut crop there are empty containers to leave on other farms, let me know when you are online.

I'll make it come back around a B, okay, let's drop 54 uh empty, head higher. where we are picking up some more empties and then we go up to six, we leave 87 and start picking up from 6. I think the tracks that the Stinger train runs on are narrow gauge, only 2T or 6 CM wide, half the width of the regular lines it makes. River crossings like this are even more precarious, there is a wind monitor that gives traffic an indication of how fast the wind is, whether we can cross or not, it's only 100 feet from the bottom for example, it excites me Every time you go through it, Stinger and Michael leave their last load of voids.

Now the train is shortened dramatically. It's just Loco and Brake Van. They make a comfortable and quick journey to the next bridge. The combined weight of the light going on the brake band is approximately 80 tons. and um, it's not St to have that combined weight on that span of the bridge, they have to uncouple and make the crossing one at a time. Loco first and then the remote control brake van, the brake van should release automatically when Stinger hits a button on the loc uh, the BR gang didn't come with a hit from the Loos, but today it's not going as planned.

Some Loos couplings catch it, whether it's in a corner or a lane or whatever it's still attached to, it doesn't come off. No I don't know what we are going to do after an 8 hour, 250 km race through the interior. Bernie Baker's freight train has arrived at the edge of the Blue Mountains, where there will be a crew change. How will the new drivers fare? in charge of getting the train safely down the mountains to Sydney Harbor Sydney, yeah, firecrackers and matches, man's got something to eat, man's got something to eat, see you mate, see you Monday night Tomorrow, okay, see you later, brother, okay.

The trip will require constant vigilance from drivers Mick Grantham and Simon Briggs in control of three locomotives that support the weight of a train more than a kilometer long three engines three of them all ready all working um and we have the 42,000 that will descend further of 1,000 M we go down steep slopes with 62 wagons carrying 5,000 tons of cargo pushing from behind, but for The Descent there is one last climb, now we are at full power climbing the zigzag bank, which is a slope of one in 40, which It means that for every 40 m Continue, go up 1 M on steel, you don't have much friction, compare it to the rubber of a car tire against bman, you have a lot of grip but still don't steal the train disappears in the first of a series. of centuries-old tunnels are built between 908 and 9 and 10, there are nine more after passing this one, so it is one of the places where you have to be a little careful with the train, the water drips through the tunnels, which you get on the rils I also tend not to go full power anyway there's a little less Ask Of The Wheels on the rails uh you can't take it for granted either oh don't take anything for granted the next sign is just around the corner The curve here is just before the big drop, so that's the start, only it's all downhill from here. 60 km of hard braking.

We'll take our time, which will simplify things that way if we're going a little slow. you're not going to burn out your brake pads, it's pretty much for the next hour, just run slowly down the hill with the brakes on these trains, they have two braking systems and on such a steep descent, both will work eventually, that's the brake of air. The red one is the automatic brake handle that activates the brake shoes on each wheel of the Train. The second system is called Dynamic Brake. The Three Locos generate electricity which powers the Motors that drive the wheels and returns to work through traction. traction The engines stop being an engine and begin to become a generator to prevent the train from escaping downhill.

The driver's reverse thrust causes the engines to work against the train instead of propelling it. You can't just put the brakes on and off whether you want to or not. You really have to plan. his apps are out, it's the early hours of the morning, but Simon is wide awake guiding this behemoth through the mountains keeping his speed constant, he brakes perfectly, they're pretty steep, he could mess this up pretty easily, the train and drivers work hard at this. 60 minutes downhill is a maximum effort if something is going to break this is the time when it is so hard on the trains that the safety authorities have installed a sophisticated detection unit on the side of the tracks to check that nothing is happening.

Hot Wheels has heated bearings uh it has drag detectors so if there's something hanging off the wagon it will detect that too. They'll tell us what type of alarm it is, um, what they think is wrong, what car it's on, what axle number it'll be on. the controls of the Savannah Lander, which is still 5 hours from the cans' destination after 4 days on the train, the afternoon shift is where you need to be most alert and is also the shift where you are probably most exhausted, tired and ready. over a weekend, but his most important task is ahead of him, proposing to her girlfriend with the engagement ring in her pocket and everywhere he looks.

Love is in the air, so now he's attracting his wife. Well, it's quite similar to what we do, don't you see? a pretty girl you like jumps up and down and keeps going like an idiot the train reaches the mountain range out of the cans and that's just as bad as the handling they have in the rainy season they obviously flow a lot more from here it's a steep descent and spectacular towards the sea through a series of historic tunnels, this is tunnel number 15, the longest tunnel in the Cordillera, just under 500 m long, six men. They only died in the construction of this tunnel, quite a dangerous job, all done.

Dynamite pick and shovel. Wills asked his girlfriend. s years old to meet him at the station oh you need to see the ring oh yes, she hopes to propose to him right there on the platform and to do so she has a cunning plan. I've been wanting to ask us something for a while and you know. That black-headed python we ran over today. I told her we hurt her so honey can you meet me at the dog station and I will give you the black headed python and you can take it straight home. I'm going to put this ring at the bottom of the snake bag if she says yes, cheer up if she says no, come hug me because I'll probably need it.

I am very nervous. Savannah Lander is back in the cans and Will is just minutes away from proposing to the love of her life. Will's G with adrenaline, excitement and nerves. There are half a dozen level crossings left and we will be safe. She gave him all the right signs, but the same can't be said for Traffic. Get a grip, this is the longest damn red light I've ever had to wait for. You're going to have to communicate by radio. Yeah, I just have to get on the train. Check guys on this red light. Sorry, oh yeah.

Control, just um, don't get to cs14. I just got a red light there, yes, just what you are on the Lev, this comes down to the fact that this rail mode is too light to be detected on the loop they have set up for these level crossings in cans. No, sorry, I still have a red at the last level crossing before leaving on a Saturday. God, I don't know what we're going to do, Stinger and her train are on the wrong side of a bridge, uh, not the brake van. You don't uncouple from the locomotive with the brake van so close that it is too heavy to cross, you must uncouple it.

If you can't uncouple the brake van from the bathroom, you have to call the mechanics or the Navy or boil MERS to make it rise. and doing so should be just a matter of flipping a switch, but the switch isn't doing its job, the brake van won't let go first. I tried, I'm doing about 10km now and the brake man wouldn't do it. To disengage, they have a tight deadline. Stinger has to think that in the race he is not allowed to have the Loco and the brake band, which has a combined weight of 80 tons or more, on the stretch at the moment he expects, if he accelerates faster, he can release it, no this time Sierra, but in the next race his plan works, the Fool makes thecross to the other side, good luck, we were able to solve the problem at that time and we caused a lot of inconvenience to many. of people Stinger then uses a remote control to cross his brake van, it's the last obstacle before Stinger and Mick collect their last containers of sugar cane, you have the right to return, a couple of couplings, okay, we have them all, It's like a racing car.

Pit Stop Stinger and Michael have to get in and out in the shortest time possible. Can we start dating? Yes, you have to keep leaving with more than 100 containers on your fingers. They are moving again, but something is not right. the wheels behind Stinger are screaming so we go down to the level track, the back of the train is still pushing us a little because we're still going down the back, but that's almost stopped and it's almost time to reconnect the energy so we can move forward. The Fletcher freight train is safely rolling down the mountain across the Sydney metropolitan system on its way to the harbour, but the work is far from over.

The conductors now have to break the cable. training to go to different yards I have to make sure I cut in exactly the right place, if I don't cut in the right place the wrong cars will end up in the wrong place and everything will get complicated from there, it should be like that. routine until there, have you put the brakes on me? One of them is that there is a deafening sound at the back of the train that has Simon worried. There's a lot of noise coming from one of the cars up here. I can hear it coming down the The line is not completely healthy now and we've been running for a while too.

There is definitely something wrong with the brakes. We'll see what we can do with that. They have limited time in the marshalling yards, so this brake issue is necessary. to fix it Mick, can you just give it a full service once it's fully equalized and remove them? Simon asks Mick to pump more air through the system to see if they can unblock the Rogue brake kit that won't clear it. I'll cut the wagon, buddy, yeah, I pulled the release lever, it went in and immediately came back out, so something's wrong and time is running out. Simon decides to disconnect the brakes of the truck and together we will isolate the brakes of this car and uh.

Put some cards on it to say that it is defective. The clock is ticking. We have to break the train. They will have to divert the defective carriage. The solution is quick and brutal. A dramatic end to a difficult journey that has taken this Mega train to travel 500 km. from farm to port across a mountain range and arriving at the docks on time, soon these containers will be on ships sailing to markets around the world God in cans, the Savannah Lander is stuck at a level crossing waiting a green light, they have this kind of timeout function, it's like 4 minutes until it turns itself off, it might turn itself off and then we'll clear it up.

Will's proposal will have to wait like the train. There are so many signs. Are you sure you want to do this right? Just 4 minutes, I'll wait. a timeout and try again 4 minutes A thanks buddy I don't know an hour too late a I apologize so much for this guys, there seems to be some kind of ghost in the machine. I get close. I don't have to get close. Well, you finally get permission to move, yes, on the wrong platform. Look, I'm so sorry. There are so many signs that we've been given the wrong damn platform. Will's girlfriend could be waiting on the other platform or maybe she's not waiting anymore.

I still don't see it so relief when you see it it's here yes oh little pimple it wasn't here oh yes here it is AR I know it's just that it's not there it's not okay how pretty would you marry me yes it's been an eventful journey one of The passengers will never forget a 400 km journey through the wilderness of the interior with surprise stops along the way. Oh, and finally a platform proposal. I better go collect the luggage, the end of a trip and the beginning of a new life. Beautiful, I couldn't. I've been better at anything The Stinger cane train is making worried noises They have a train of fully loaded sugar cane containers but the wheels are screaming Yes, give us a minute and this is the culprit Wheels stuck from a forgotten brake block Top blocks a plank of wood could have derailed Stinger's day, you're right, ah yeah, stop block, we're still there.

Mikey left to go get the ticket and didn't pull the stop block but we're still crawling a little but he's still on his way to complete his delivery yes you want to pull it out firmly there are a lot of cans in there about 13,400 tons that are worth more of $30,000 worth of cans not a bad day it's fishing now they have a 100km trip back to the mill no stops B gy approaching my yard come anyway bring yours in line please when reach the Mill in the fields, another fire will be lit in a few hours, Stinger and his cane train will leave again, they will not stop until the harvest is over, it has been a good end to the day, we would have arrived another half hour later, we would have had to wait the entire afternoon shift.

Loos left, it would have been 2 hours by the time we returned to the mill. Nies me, happy day. uh thanks we have fuel and we'll try Railroad Australia. Soon there will be all guns blazing. 4 hours to fix an FK track. We have to be careful. Coordinate everything so that it doesn't get in the way of others. Fail and it could cost you. Millions, it's an incredibly tight period to do it on a freight Trin with fuel problems, I can't see the locomotive in refueling mode and then it shuts down. I have no power here, worst place in the world to run out of power and maintain an Outback icon. on the rails if something's wrong it's my head on the chopping block presenting the undisputed heavyweight champions of the railway world Australia's giant iron or 2.8km long carriages worth 38,000 tonnes of iron or they thunder at through the iron-rich interior of northwest Western Australia crawling AE mountains from the minds of the pilra region 300 km to the ships waiting at Port Headland bound for China is an industry worth billions of dollars the engine of the nation's economy each train would have to be worth approximately $3.2 million $4 million we We are talking about a lot of money, a lot, a lot, the

heaviest

trains in the world, owned by mining giant Forcu, charge a high price on the tracks when the rails need fixing it means a stop, a stop for maintenance, we're talking 10's of thousands of dollars a minute, it's about to happen after this last train passes, a team of 60 people will spring into action , it is imperative that there is minimal disruption taking advantage of a scheduled maintenance stop, they We have only 4 hours to replace a 73 M section of track known as a bypass, it is where trains intersect.

Machines that can cut through the heavy steel rail will be needed, as well as heavy-duty cranes to lift the new section into place. Immediately start cutting the track and then the diggers on that side will start pulling the bypass down when they get the go ahead, everything has to work like clockwork, the diggers will then go up and start grading if you don't have the consequences. They are huge, the figures are astonishing, it takes six of these trains to fill a ship with everything worth more than 10 million dollars. three of these ships sail every 24 hours, yes Jim we are ready to take the track access authority, a call is made to train control and now it is just waiting for the track access authorization to be generated on the computer, the team has to take official possession of the track before we can get to work once we have the entire track, we will have the Ballance level and then CL will be lifted.

It happens Roger controls this track access Authority number 0102 this is it we now have possession so we start our time now and we are going to aim for 4 hours it is the minimum time for a job of this size but the line does not should be closed for longer, a rule of thumb is that one hour of runway occupancy was equivalent to about a million people, so every hour it was out of service was about a million people wasted from northwest Australia 1 , 1600 km south to Pur. Working late into the night to assemble the last cars of a 1.8km megatrain with a marathon journey ahead. 2,700 km left.

Phil Gared and Darren Blades are two of the four conductors who will work in relays to take the train practically non-stop. through the vast void of the lower half of the 6:00 p.m. 99 heads over the continent to Adelaide and then on to Melbourne, on a 3,000km journey that will take 3 days, 4,133 tonnes and we have 76 carriages, so it's a pretty big train moving back 1,795m at 6pm. 9 we are ready to leave I will bring you some lights in a moment thank you for eliminating fuel stops on the trip the train pulls two tankers with diesel of more than 50,000 L automatically fed to the engines 12 receiving but the The routine of one of the World's toughest train journeys puts a lot of pressure on the online system and I just want to know how the fuel levels are going on your locomotive.

Drivers have reported problems with the system. System technician Gary Aken is traveling to Adake to see what's going on. goes wrong, I have a remote set up in the locomotive control box and that sends a signal to my laptop telling me exactly what that locomotive is doing at the dawn crew change the next morning. They are over 600 km east of In Perth there is good progress but the rest of the journey doesn't seem so easy so the machine doesn't work yeah yeah okay the auto fuel system has continued to malfunction All night long. Gary AK still can't solve the problem when you're done and we have it as a blip at the start of the next shift, it's a problem that the new drivers will have to deal with and Ryan will have to deal with and it's not something you want to address this part of the world from Nall's plane across the continent. a port austa in south

australia

is the famous outback train that refuses to die still full of life after almost a century of operation the original gan service the train that conquered the desert between adelaide and alice springs connecting the red center of

australia

with statistics from the south and is It is still running today, not as far, but with the same fanfare from Port Augusta in South Australia, 40 km north to the township of Corn and Back Again.

The pioneers started this line. The volunteers continue. I'm a fan of Thomas Tank Engine Gone Wrong. my train sets got bigger as I got older, you know, the train guard is Ben Graay, 21, the safety and efficient running of the train, running on time, all that kind of stuff is up to me , engine number nm2, in any case. the regulator goes wrong get to what I've done first take a look at all my documents and all that kind of stuff and if something goes wrong it's my head on the chopping block a full train will leave tomorrow the rush is on getting there prepare everything on time doing a visual inspection of the firebox to make sure there are no leaks or leaks, it's a 150 year old line and an 85 year old train, nothing can be left to chance, but there is one thing they can't control the weather and The forecast for tomorrow is for strange conditions, apparently we are going to experience the wildest, harshest and coldest weather we have seen in 25 to 30 years in the Flinders Ranges.

They predict it will snow in the Flinders Ranges tonight. Transcontinental transportation. Train 6 PM9 is on the nullor plane, far from civilization, drivers Cookie and Ryan closely watch the worsening fuel situation. I think it's around 40,000 L that we used to get over and probably around 25 to get home, the automatic filling system that feeds the tanker locomotives that are towing are behaving erratically. If the fuel in the Locos drops too low, they will have to stop and refuel them manually in the crew cabin. Fuel technician Gary Aken is trying to find the fault. I can see the locomotive calling for fuel. and in fact I can see the Lo in refueling mode and then turning off the engines they are thirsty they burn over 800 liters of diesel per hour almost 100 times more than the average car they add a short stop to let another train pass Gary does some quick tests For the electrical reason, power was lost in the control box and you feel that the train is on a strict schedule, you can't hold it for long, others are running.

I don't have power here or it has these outlets, it means the drivers may have to manually override the system. Manually pumping fuel will mean extra stops and wasted time and lots of it, but the alternative is much worse if it runs out too much, you don't like letting it run too long because it starts to pick up trash. the bottom of the tank and that can start to block the filters and can give you different problems later on, soWe try to keep as many cookies as we can, taking advantage of the stoppage to pump out as much diesel as we can manually.

It won't be long before another huge freight train is heading towards it. You'll need to make sure you're free by the time you get through the cookies. Very clear by the time the freighter goes through the obstacles. Gary still can't fix the problem. There's no more. At that point, the rest of the way home will be a little uncomfortable or we will just have to stop, we will have to manually pump fuel and that will take up our time. The cookie is back in business at 6 p.m. 9. while Ryan logs his fuel consumption for another two hours and we're seriously going to have to put some fuel in it, there's still 1500km until Adelaide Gary needs to find a solution to the fuel problem or they'll be stopping a lot more. hundreds of thousands of dollars will not be delivered on time from halfway through the nullor plane north to the iron or pilb mines the trains have stopped and the track maintenance workers are at full speed they have less than 4 hours to replace a 73M section of track is an incredibly tight period to do so.

I really couldn't sleep last night. The gang has to replace what are known as turnouts, the points that direct a train onto a siding so another can pass, cutting them off at this point. and I'm about to set up the cranes as they prepare to cut this, the excavators are on the other side and they are preparing to pull this towards the shore, each person on the team has their own job to do and quickly some are in charge of heavy machinery others only have picks and shovels it's hard work made more difficult by the looming deadline after less than an hour of cutting dig scraping it's time for the big guys to move on the mission is to remove the old road line as fast as possible we're not trying to save it we're not being nice to it we just want to get it out as fast as we can it's a lightning fast demolition job 100 tons 73 M of steel rails and concrete sleepers scraped from rock ballast, the next graders come in to prepare the base for the new section, yes michael come back can you clean that cut up to the top?

You are at H, now three cranes are waiting to play their part. They are pretty heavy cranes, uh, we had to do some ground work in February for the cranes here, disassembly takes less than an hour, but that's the easy part. Lifting and aligning the new section requires precision and patience, and R enlightens the conductors of these enormous trains. They entrust their lives to these workers, they have to get this repair done exactly right. Road maintenance is so important. Basically, my life is in their hands if I cross a broken rail joint or something, potentially they could have a Dr. and potentially, that could be, you know, a catastrophic incident while the trains are stopped and the meter is reading a million dollars an hour, there was a crew change at 6:00 p.m. 9 Darren and Phil are back at the front, take the Bain line, cross at 400 pm4, the train is moving towards the vast expanse of the nullor, the mine is probably a little far away, a couple of minutes, what do you want you to come in or No?

Cookie and Ryan are relaxing. the crew car can't get any better than that when you're in the middle of nowhere they can B and Gary is still trying to figure out the fuel issue and just checking what your fuel levels are in that front spot mate, The tanks are running low and will have to stop soon to fill them manually. One of the locomotives has been malfunctioning electrically so I'm monitoring that remotely on my laptop, if you see it getting a little R just give us a call the crew cabin is a mini hotel designed for Off-duty drivers can rest, eat and relax.

People spend thousands of dollars to come here and look at the view and they give us the door for free, but up front at Loco the drivers have to do it. Always be alert and ready for anything 2 years ago, in the middle of the night, Darren was at the controls when disaster struck. It was midnight, so it was pitch black and raining, so our headlights weren't as bright as we continued down the hill. We saw more and more water and it seemed like as we went down a couple more rivers and got a little worried and finally when we got to the bottom, the water was actually running across the track, we were already doing 95 to 100 km.

An hour, so we were both breathing deeply and a little worried about what was going to happen when we crashed for the first time, it was like a small shock, but the guys that were in bed were actually thrown out of bed, we only saw trucks in Its The side cars on its side tracks washed away what was, it was a Once In 100e Rain event and all that water had run down the hill and formed a big lake right at the bottom, so when our locer passed over it, it allowed it to the water will push. all the ballast and every time another set of wheels passed it made things worse until a great Dr.

Darren and his team were stranded for days, we had to wait and it took about 2 days before anyone could arrive. Due to the flooding and isolation, we just slept on the coach as we normally would until they came to rescue us. Basically, they eventually flew them out in a small plane. It took 2 weeks to clear the only road that crossed. the continent and get the trains running again on this trip the problem is not the water it's the fuel the Locos' tanks are at worryingly low levels at the next crew change they will have to manually pump in as much diesel as they can.

This means more delays and less chance of getting this scare to its destination on time in South Australia. Torrential rain is the last thing the Rich Rail group volunteers want from the moment they light the match until Steam is about 4 hours in when they are getting their vintage steam train ready to race to the Outback with a full load of passengers. it will make the already difficult conditions more challenging I have to be careful of the wheels slipping if I skid excessively I can destroy the movement in the locomotive today the well-being of the train and its passengers will be in the hands of the Ben gy Guard it feels a little disconcerting because you know you have the same responsibilities as someone who's actually making a lot of money to do this, you know?

We are all volunteers. The train is ready to go XS in order. We have a red flag in case something goes wrong. Ben has decided to have it out exactly on time. We are just a tourist railway, but we say we will leave at 10:30 so we have to leave at 10:30 and that's how one minute is left. I just check with the driver everyone on board. Mr. driver ready for departure. All aboard. Everything is on board, except the guard. The crossing is activated. yes, we have to get back to my carriage, you can't go without it, the Richie steam train is on a journey into the past along a centuries-old route, the beginning of the original journey connecting southern Australia with its remote north, But it's far from a nostalgia trip for driver Neil and his team.

We're looking for moisture, any accumulation of water along the track, from overnight rain, that will make us slip. The line they travel on is old and short for some. of the harshest country in the area became more dangerous due to the rains overnight, we will take it a little more cautiously during the cut because there may have been some rock slides, it is an area where large rocks form and fine silt, so when it rains, the way the silt exposes the rocks and then they tend to slide down under their own weight after a while, so we'll be keeping an eye on squeezing through a cut so tight you can touch . the sides in the back Ben is constantly on the lookout for problems.

I can watch the train um pretty effectively, keep an eye on things and make sure nothing goes wrong. trees on the line kangaroo sheep all that kind of fun stuff, so yeah I'm seeing what's going on. At least I can be somewhat prepared when something goes wrong. It's an experience from another era of The Glory Days of Steam, when the railway was sometimes the only way, but there's no time to daydream for Neil, he's still there. struggling up a steep grade and making matters worse, the rain forecast has arrived, the driver has to be a little more sensitive with the controls in case FCO spins the wheels, if the wheels spin the train could lose momentum and stop , not far from the top of the rise suddenly just watered the tree in front of us one of the busiest mining railroads in the country is closed the trains carrying millions of dollars in iron ore are stopped the line has been closed so that a section can be replaced on the runway there is a flurry of activity you are simply leveling the ballast at the moment the result will go on top of that there is still a lot to do there is still the welding, the tamping and of course the crane lift to place the detour The first part of this job was to clean and remove a 73 M section of line.

They have less than 3 hours to replace it so that the trains can start running again. The second part is preparing the foundation for the new road. The Rock's ballast that holds the rails. instead it should be perfectly flat, we lower the bottom of the ballast level so that the top of the rail H level is correct and, yes, once we level everything, the guys will do a little digging by hand, but they will mainly work with the excavators this line is the strongest railway line that exists it has to be transports the heaviest trains in the world the rails can support wagons weighing up to 160 tons each 250 per train time is ticking we will do some activities at the same time To minimize the time three cranes are waiting to lift 100 tonnes of steel rails and concrete sleepers, all in one piece, swinging a piece of track with this weight exactly in position requires a lot of skill and a lot of effort. lifting power what it can't take is a lot of time, all guns will be firing shortly, the guys will be there, no one will sit down, everyone is ready to go, if they make a mistake they will have to pick it up and set it up again.

There are 2 hours left and there is still the most difficult part of returning to the mine. Millions of dollars or trains are stopped, which costs money and Ryan is back on the night shift on the SCT train. His automatic fuel system is still not working properly. Locos' tanks are getting very low. We're going to have to stop somewhere to put on some fuel. Cookie doesn't have to wait long. There's another train on the way and the controllers have taken them to a siding to let it pass. They only have a few minutes. to Pump fuel manually, but Ryan has discovered worse situations than they thought.

Neither of them are working now. Both stopped working in Auto. Before it was only the pump in one of the tanks that was working. Now there's double trouble, so we just have to pump. as much as we can every time we stop, uh and if we start going too low we'll just have to stop to pump fuel, it's frustratingly slow. I have to manually hold my finger on the button, uh, it's just a safety. In order not to overflow the tanks, we have to manually stand here and hold the button. Ryan is standing next to the main line with the other train, he soon won't be able to stay there for long.

This is also a closed cross, so we won't be able to get much in a long time by continuing the process. I said we might only have 1,000 liters in this rear engine right now, so we'll have to stop again later. Take some that go to the LI that you can. Don't let the toilet fuel tanks get too low if the engine starts to suck dirty diesel, they could fail. Ryan needs to radio the other train to see where he is while Cookie takes care of the fuel pump buttons on the main line side, so he be careful.

Call us when he comes near. I can see that the light here can't be very far away. Ryan has to wait alone in total darkness, at least he hopes to be alone. You always have to be a little careful with cattle and stuff running around, although you never know what they're doing, a lot of BLS have been spooked like jumping kangaroos, you just can't see them, but yeah, we're in the middle of nowhere that's for sure that you would do it. I don't want to hurt you like you have to be a little careful if I get bitten by a snake right now it will take a long time to get help because she would be in a lot of trouble but maybe when you are away. the N, maybe the dingoes get hit by m empty, other than that I think we're pretty safe, the driver of the other train radios his position, yeah Nar mate, thanks for that, we're aware of what you went through , so here it comes. he is in it he is 2 and 1 12 km away the stop finally arrives it has allowed them to pump fuel manually but not enough, they can no longer afford to be stopped any more no,Thanks friend, good luck, how are you? 6:00 pm. 9 has to get going, it's crunch time for Forter's inclined track maintenance team fixing the railway line in northwest Australia, they're racing against the clock to replace a 703m section of track, we're standing firm, stable, putting the lift in a crucial place.

P, this is the most complicated part of the mission, oh, we just put it on those platforms, mate, three tower cranes coordinating to lower 100 tons of track and sleepers to exactly the right position, but the measurement is supposed to be from there to there, although it's 2 hours away, so it has to get there this way, those ends of the rails have to go down this end, so, of course, it's more complicated than just setting the line in place, we just decorate the new points machine that's coming in and we're taking out the old shunt so this is a new motor coming in there's a switching mechanism and a motor that have to be installed for the points to work you don't have detection so there's the possibility of the switch being open. and the train can fall right into the straight and derail, so we're talking about two or 3 m sometimes, um with our setting, so it has to be pretty precise.

Are you happy with the S? Do you love me a little more? The pressure is on. a It's time to keep a cool head, how close is that mugy, just there for a little longer, is that right? Yeah, yeah, let's pull the rails guys, we just want to check that they're square too, oh, that looks pretty good. Center Center looks good, yes, come on, it stays perfectly in place. There was a big lift of about 100 tons that we had in the air and then, um, but the main thing was this part right below me here, so that's the most critical part of this, having the square switch point and we got a great relief. you have to make the most of the money, yes we are happy, now they need to make sure it stays there in less than an hour.

The heaviest trains in the world will pass by here picking it up and pointing it as soon as we get to the right. height we will start to go down B turn the tamping hand now you are lifting the track, you are also aligning the track and you are also consolidating the ballast under the supports so that it will hold the width of the TR Richie steam train had to make a sudden stop. There are tree branches on the line, some too large to risk a train passing over. It's been quite windy overnight, but it had the potential to cause a problem, but we'll just get rid of them.

Okay, the train is ready to go again, but they're on a hill, right at the top of the hill, the fire needs more cold, the engine needs all the power they can muster, we're always on the lookout for something that's not the case. . normal, something like that, it was relatively small, but it could have been quite big and could have become unpleasant for us, so we keep an eye on things and keep everything safe soon, the engine makes its way to the halfway point, reaching the historical. corn station hits on time these were the things you saw when you were a kid on all the tv shows and all the old movies they say there's a god there with his green flag and blowing the whistle and all the kids love to see you do this and and the big kids so yeah, it's just fantastic and here we go, a steam train may be a novelty, but for Ben it is also a big responsibility, he needs to be alert for any possible emergency, this time the problems on the train not the tracks P system Roger, thanks, I'll check, that's me, the emergency signaling system just activated so we need to go check and make sure everything is okay, did you press the panic button? in your car, can you find the driver?

Please look, they press it here, they press it here, yes, accidentally or yes, accidentally, okay, that suits me, yes, Andrew, anyone, everyone is fine, in your car, don't worry, right, false , Alam, good. going again, the train will soon return to its base at Port Austa, back on the main line, sharing it with modern era trains, a bit of fun for the passengers, all the passengers love it, the crews of the freight trains love CHS us how far We have come as a country on our railways. I just can't believe how eventful this trip has been today.

Workers on the Fort skew track replacement have less than an hour before the line will need to reopen. I think we're still TimeWise. Barely broke, the new track has to be welded to the old section and the rough joints ground perfectly smooth, all under the pressure of the clock. There is half an hour left to enter the window. The last stage is calling. on the ramming machine it brings the top of the rail to the correct level so we don't have sagging and it also aligns and vibrates the ballast under the supports and then that consolidates all the ballast and then we know we are safe it is the machine that is make sure the tracks are perfectly aligned the giant or the trains are ready to run again they still don't have permission to roll if the team goes over time every minute it will cost $177,000 the pr they have done it With only a few minutes to spare for a Triumph , but the only way to test if they have succeeded is to run a train over the top set for 20 km per hour for the first train just to be sure and then we will go up to 40. km per hour hundreds of cars the ultimate test, yes , we are all happy, now that I saw the train pass, it actually increased the speed while traveling there, we are pretty confident with the trip, it is a big relief and we get back to work on one of the richest railway lines in the world we will get more in the port and uh here we will get the boats moving from there everyone worked well we have everything up and running great day and we are finishing on time cookie and Ryan have I drove all night I don't know what time it is 7:00 the sun is just rising so this is the worst moment when you feel the most tired they decide to leave the fuel problem until the crew changes I think we have another It's an hour and a bit left when they stop.

Gary quickly goes back to work on the tankers. The train's tanks are almost empty. We just went down to 2,500 L and you don't really want to go below 1,500 L because then you start to have uh, pickup problems, if you get some dirty fuel in there, you will fill your injectors, there is a train that will pass them in a few minutes, they already have more of an hour delay and this fuel stop is critical, we have to feed manually and hopefully we will get around 5 or 6000 lers, which will be enough to return to Adlo when the other train has passed through B, has to start moving again and Gary should find out if he has fixed the problem.

Phil and Darren are back in the cabin close up. monitoring the fuel situation that has followed them throughout the trip, it has been a long and quite exhausting 5 days, but further ahead there is a group on guard at the end of that road, there is a ray of hope on the fuel front, the repairs running at the last stop they seem to have done the job yes, it is excellent news, the system is working perfectly. Adelaide is only 300km away and they should be able to make up some time. It's good to be back home, the trip is almost over.

Four drivers have been out. home for 5 days I traveled over 5,000km across the harsh emptiness of the Australian continent another team will take the train to their M destination but for these four it's the end of the line, they had about 4 days off so it was quite useful So I had seen my little one fall and my wife, so it would be great to be home. It's been a good 5 day trip and we got here a little late, lost a little time, but yeah, I'm looking forward to getting home and going to bed in a bed that doesn't move